Human Impact Project

Solangel Manzanilla, a 68-year-old Venezuelan woman with valid work authorization and driver's license, was detained by Border Patrol on April 2 after leaving work at an LA Fitness gym in Fort Lauderdale. She had been in the U.S. for 12 years with a pending asylum claim. An officer noted she had a good profile but stated she had to be detained due to her immigration status. Her family has launched a fundraising campaign to cover legal expenses. Ángel Rafael Alvarado, a Venezuelan citizen, was detained by ICE on March 31 at 7:30 a.m. in Florida. According to his family, Alvarado was legally residing in the U.S. under a humanitarian parole program, had entered the country through proper channels, was in the process of applying for asylum, held a valid work permit, and had no criminal record or traffic violations. His family initiated a fundraising campaign to cover legal expenses.

Attorneys representing immigrants detained at an Everglades facility alleged in federal court that guards beat and pepper-sprayed detainees following a protest over lost phone access. The allegations claim state and federal officials violated a recent court order protecting detainees' civil rights. One detainee was thrown to the ground and severely beaten, another had a broken wrist, and officers pepper-sprayed detainees in their unit after phone access was abruptly cut off.

One person was killed and another injured after falling from a 30-foot wall along the U.S.-Mexico border near San Diego. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents discovered the two people around 11 p.m. Monday. One person was found unresponsive and died shortly after agents arrived, while the other was hospitalized with unspecified injuries.

Current and former flight attendants for GlobalX, the charter airline operating deportation flights for ICE, reported concerns about safety and humanitarian conditions aboard these flights. Flight attendants reported being instructed not to interact with shackled detainees, receiving inadequate emergency evacuation training for restrained passengers, and equipment failures including broken air conditioning and lavatories. Multiple attendants stated concerns about safety risks and their inability to properly care for passengers.

Cliona Ward, a 54-year-old Irish national who has legally resided in the United States for approximately 40 years, was detained by ICE after returning from a trip to Ireland where she visited her ill father. Ward, a green card holder, was questioned about criminal convictions from 2003-2008 related to drug possession charges. She claims these convictions were expunged. Ward is being held in an ICE facility in Tacoma, Washington, and is scheduled to appear before an immigration judge in Seattle to argue her case.

Gary Patrick McGuiness, a 39-year-old Irish citizen, was arrested by ICE in Los Angeles on April 1. McGuiness is registered as a sex offender and had previously been convicted of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, serving a two-year prison sentence. He remains in ICE custody while his deportation proceeding is underway.

The Supreme Court appeared likely to strike down President Trump's January 2025 executive order ending birthright citizenship, which sought to deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. to undocumented or temporarily present immigrants. The 14th Amendment's citizenship clause, ratified in 1868, has been understood for over a century to confer citizenship on nearly everyone born in the United States. Multiple federal courts have already blocked the executive order as unconstitutional.

On April 1, state and federal police raided an Airbnb party in an Austin suburb, arresting nearly 50 people including nine children. Agencies stated they targeted individuals in connection with a Venezuelan gang investigation. ICE arrested 35 individuals on unauthorized entry charges and deported many. Two drug possession cases against Venezuelan men were filed against individuals from the raid but were dropped by prosecutors.