Human Impact Project

The Washington Post interviewed 16 former detainees of El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) to document conditions inside the megaprison where the U.S. has deported migrants. Detainees reported beatings, isolation, sexual assault, and other forms of mistreatment within the facility.

Rodney Taylor, a 46-year-old double amputee from Liberia who arrived in the U.S. at age two on a medical visa, has been detained by ICE for over a year. He was taken into custody 10 days after proposing to his fiancée, despite being pardoned in 2010 for a crime committed at age 19. His health and prosthetics are deteriorating during detention, and he was preparing community health services before his arrest.

Five men were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement near a construction site in East Austin on July 31, 2025, after a Texas Department of Public Safety traffic stop for a license plate violation. The men were taken into custody within 15 minutes and are being held pending removal proceedings. U.S. Rep. Greg Casar subsequently demanded answers from federal authorities about the arrests and the collaboration between state and federal law enforcement.

Pierre Reginald Boulos, a Haitian businessman and former presidential aspirant, was arrested by ICE on July 17 on immigration violation charges and remains detained at Krome North Service Processing Center. An immigration judge ruled he must remain in mandatory detention after determining he is subject to a detention regulation. Boulos, a lawful permanent resident born in New York who renounced his U.S. citizenship, is accused of failing to disclose involvement in a Haitian political party during his permanent residency application and collaborating with armed gangs.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers conducted an unannounced raid at a home in North Charleston, South Carolina on July 30, arresting Franklin Arce. Ring camera footage shows an ICE agent pulling a gun on Arce's partner Celeste Hernandez and shoving her back into the house while Arce was being arrested. Arce's family claims the officers never showed a warrant or provided their names and badge numbers, and Hernandez stated Arce was working toward legal citizenship with a court hearing scheduled.

Miguel Angel Ponce Jr., a U.S. citizen from Texas, was detained by ICE agents who mistakenly identified him as a wanted violent offender. He was handcuffed and held for approximately 90 minutes to two hours before agents compared his tattoos to a photograph and realized their error. After his release, agents allegedly suggested he shave his beard to avoid future confusion, a request Ponce found disrespectful and said he would never comply with.

Over 130 Venezuelans were deported from the U.S. to El Salvador's CECOT maximum-security prison under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, accused of gang membership. Released detainees reported enduring beatings, sexual abuse, inadequate food, and conditions including near-total isolation for months. The Trump administration paid El Salvador $6 million to house the men. Human rights groups documented allegations of torture and forced disappearance.

A human smuggler guided a group of undocumented migrants through the Arizona desert in extreme heat and allegedly instructed them to abandon one member who became dizzy and fell into a ravine, resulting in death. U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended the smuggler, Miguel Salomon-Lugo, on June 21.

Sarah Shaw, a New Zealand woman living in Washington State, and her 6-year-old son Isaac were detained by US immigration at the Canada-US border on July 24 after attempting to return home from dropping off her other children in Vancouver. Shaw held a temporary immigration document allowing her to travel and re-enter the US. Officials identified an administrative error with her paperwork. The pair were transferred to the Dilley Immigration Processing Centre in Texas, where they are being held. They do not have access to their personal belongings.

A Human Rights Watch report documents practices at three Florida immigration detention facilities (Krome North, Broward Transitional Center, and Federal Detention Center Miami) since January 2025. Detainees experienced overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, denial of medical care, degrading treatment, and restricted access to legal support. The report includes detailed accounts from 11 detained individuals and their families. Detention populations increased 40 percent.

Two Italian nationals, Fernando Eduardo Artese and Gaetano Cateno Mirabella Costa, are being detained at an ICE facility in Florida known as "Alligator Alcatraz" for immigration violations. Artese was stopped during a traffic stop and had an outstanding warrant for a driving violation, while Costa was arrested by ICE after serving time for domestic violence. Both men's families are seeking their release and cite detention conditions and access to legal representation.

A 5-year-old girl identified as a U.S. citizen was taken into ICE custody along with her mother after Austin police responded to a disturbance call and identified the mother with an ICE administrative warrant. The family has been unable to locate the child in government databases and is seeking custody arrangements so she can stay with relatives while her mother remains detained.

On July 21, 2025, Dan Mathers of Key West was arrested by a Customs and Border Protection agent while filming the agent detaining a Haitian immigrant on Eaton Street. Mathers was accused of threatening the agent and held for 8 hours at a facility in Marathon before being released. The Haitian immigrant was also later released. Mathers was unable to contact his family until approximately 9:15pm.

A Human Rights Watch report documents severe conditions at three Florida immigration detention facilities (Krome North, Broward Transitional Center, and Federal Detention Center Miami) between January and June 2025, including overcrowding at 249% capacity at Krome by March, denial of medical care, degrading treatment, and lack of access to legal support. The report details experiences of 17 detained immigrants, including a Green Card holder detained after a domestic dispute and a British entrepreneur with serious medical conditions whose treatment worsened across multiple facility transfers.

Three Cuban nationals filed a lawsuit challenging U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's use of I-220A forms to release them without proper parolee status. The plaintiffs, who were apprehended upon entry and subject to mandatory detention, allege ICE unlawfully misclassified their immigration status, which excluded them from eligibility for adjustment of status under the Cuban Adjustment Act. The case raises claims of Administrative Procedure Act violations, Fifth Amendment due process violations, and ultra vires agency action.

Mehrzad Asadi Eidivand, a 41-year-old undocumented resident, has been in federal custody since June after HSI agents arrested him and his wife at their home without a warrant. After taking a plea deal and being released in late November, he was immediately detained by ICE and has since been held at Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico, California. ICE has repeatedly asked him to sign a deportation order to Iran, where his attorney says he faces an execution order due to his opposition to the Islamist regime.

A family facing ICE enforcement operations decided to self-deport but were unable to bring their 6-year-old German Shepherd, Draco, on their flight due to airline size restrictions. The family surrendered the dog they had raised for over five years to the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control. Pet surrenders from families affected by recent immigration enforcement operations have occurred in Southern California.

An 82-year-old man from Pennsylvania was deported to Guatemala after being apprehended during a visit to an ICE office to replace his lost green card. He had lived in the U.S. for nearly 40 years and was granted political asylum in 1987. His family initially could not locate him and later learned he was in a hospital in Guatemala. Guatemala has an agreement with the Trump administration to receive deported immigrants of other nationalities.

Andry Hernández Romero, a gay makeup artist from Venezuela fleeing persecution, legally entered the U.S. in 2024 and passed a credible fear interview for asylum. The Trump administration deported him in March 2025 to CECOT, a maximum security prison in El Salvador, invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 as part of a broader deportation of 237 Venezuelan migrants. Hernández Romero was detained in CECOT for over four months before being released in July 2025 as part of a prisoner swap facilitated by the Trump administration, after which he was returned to Venezuela rather than allowed to remain in the U.S.

U.S. Border Patrol agents conducted an enforcement operation in a Home Depot parking lot in south Sacramento, detaining 12 people including 11 undocumented immigrants and one U.S. citizen. The operation, which included a Fox News camera crew, resulted in confusion when the U.S. citizen, Jose, was detained despite his wife's assertions of his citizenship. Border Patrol stated the operation was a message that the federal government can enforce immigration law anywhere in California.

Jose Manuel Castillo Jr., a U.S. citizen and volunteer with immigrant advocacy group NorCal Resist, was charged with depredation of government property after allegedly puncturing a Border Patrol vehicle tire during an ICE raid at a Home Depot on July 17. According to the DOJ, Castillo was seen walking toward a Border Patrol SUV and agents heard a pop and hissing noise before finding the tire slashed; a pocketknife found on him matched the hole's width. Castillo's attorney and the advocacy group dispute the charges, claiming he was merely documenting arrests and was not obstructing operations.

A temporary migrant detention center nicknamed 'Alligator Alcatraz' opened in the Everglades is experiencing significant logistical problems two weeks after opening. Detainees report relentless mosquito swarms, limited access to water, backed-up portable toilets, and poor sanitation conditions. The facility lacks permanent structures, electricity, and running water, creating challenging living conditions for both detainees and staff.

Elvis Garcia, 18, was detained by federal agents while driving to school on US 1 in the Florida Keys on Tuesday morning. Garcia, who is on temporary protective status and has been working toward citizenship with his mother, was taken to a Marathon detention center. The detention is part of an ongoing Border Patrol crackdown in the area where agents have been conducting roadside stops and pulling over drivers with pending immigration cases.

ICE agents arrested 38-year-old chiropractor Mahdi Khanbabazadeh outside a preschool in Beaverton while he was dropping off his child. According to ICE, he lawfully entered the U.S. in 2017 but overstayed his student visa. His immigration attorney states he married a U.S. citizen who filed a green card application and they were awaiting approval. The arrest marks the first confirmed case of an immigration enforcement action at an Oregon school.

Juana McIntosh, a Guatemalan national and spouse of a U.S. Air Force member, was detained by ICE during a green card interview appointment at a USCIS office in Atlanta while her husband was deployed overseas. She had been granted Parole in Place as a military spouse and was in the process of adjusting her status when she was taken into custody based on a previous removal order from 2012.

Mahdi Khanbabazadeh, a chiropractor, was arrested by masked ICE agents outside his child's Montessori school in Beaverton on July 15, 2025. Newly published video shows the arrest occurring outside the school. Khanbabazadeh was detained and is being held at a detention center in Tacoma, Washington.

In mid-July 2025, ICE raided four Colt Grill restaurant locations in Yavapai County, Arizona, detaining 28 undocumented workers. Restaurant owners Robert and Brenda Clouston and two undocumented employees were accused of smuggling undocumented workers from Mexico, paying below minimum wage, and withholding overtime compensation. The raids resulted in approximately 200 job losses and closure of two locations.

Democratic and Republican lawmakers toured Florida's new 3,000-bed immigration detention center in the Everglades, dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz." Democrats reported the facility as crowded, unsanitary, and bug-infested with inadequate sanitation facilities, while Republicans reported finding it clean and well-functioning. The state-arranged tour followed earlier attempts by Democratic legislators to visit the remote facility that was rapidly constructed on an isolated airstrip.

A California State University Channel Islands professor was charged with throwing a tear gas canister during an incident. In a separate immigration enforcement action in Southern California, a legal green card holder who was working toward U.S. citizenship was detained by ICE. The woman's husband expressed concern following her detention.

Rami Othmane, a 36-year-old Tunisian man and green card applicant married to a U.S. citizen, was arrested by ICE agents on July 13 while driving to the supermarket. He was held for 13 days at the downtown L.A. ICE facility (B-18) despite a settlement requiring detainees be held no more than 12 hours. Conditions included an open toilet, concrete floor sleeping, malnutrition, and extreme cold temperatures while he suffered from a brain tumor. After his transfer to an Arizona detention center and 13 additional days there, he was released on bail with an ankle monitor.

Jaime Alanis Garcia, a cannabis farmworker, died Saturday from injuries sustained during a federal immigration raid at Glass House Farms in Camarillo, California. Garcia fell approximately 30 feet from a greenhouse roof during the raid on Thursday and suffered a broken neck and skull. He was placed on life support and died after his family decided to discontinue his care. The raid resulted in 319 arrests of undocumented migrants and hundreds of protesters were present.

Federal and state lawmakers toured the Alligator Alcatraz detention facility in Florida on July 12, 2025, which houses suspected undocumented immigrants. Democratic lawmakers reported seeing detainees in cages with conditions including heat, insects, and limited access to facilities, while Republican officials offered different characterizations. The facility, built in eight days, currently holds nearly 1,000 detainees with plans to expand to 4,000 capacity.

An Instagram post shares a TikTok video allegedly showing ICE agents conducting a raid on Don Chilaquiles food vendor stand and detaining workers. The video also allegedly shows agents returning to seize the cash box.

George Retes, a 25-year-old U.S. citizen and Army veteran, was detained by ICE agents on July 10 while driving to work at a cannabis farm in Camarillo, California. During the arrest, agents used pepper spray and tear gas, physically restrained him by kneeling on his back and neck, and held him for three days without allowing him to contact an attorney or speak with a judge. The raid also affected other farm workers and children who were tear gassed. Retes was released without any charges being filed and is now pursuing legal action under the Federal Tort Claims Act for his unlawful detention and the force used against him.

Barbara Stone, a 71-year-old U.S. citizen, was handcuffed and detained by ICE agents outside of a San Diego immigration court hearing. Stone reported that she was affected by the incident.

According to a social media post, Border Patrol allegedly illegally arrested a U.S. citizen. The family reportedly does not know the whereabouts of the arrested individual. The incident was shared on Instagram with a video documenting the situation.

Jonathan Anthony Caravello, a California State University Channel Islands math lecturer, was arrested during a federal immigration raid at Glass House Farms in Camarillo on July 10, 2025. He was charged with allegedly throwing a tear gas canister at law enforcement, though some reports indicate he was attempting to dislodge a canister stuck under a wheelchair. Caravello was released on a $15,000 bond with arraignment scheduled for August 1.

George Retes, a 25-year-old U.S. citizen and Army veteran, was arrested by ICE agents during a federal immigration raid at a cannabis farm in Camarillo on July 10, 2025. Despite identifying himself as a citizen and an Army veteran, agents refused to check his identification, pepper-sprayed him, and held him in custody for three days without allowing him to make a phone call or speak to a lawyer. He was released with no charges and no explanation.

NBC6 reviewed dozens of 911 calls made from April through June 2025 from family members and employees at Krome Detention Center requesting medical assistance for detainees. The calls document cases of unresponsive detainees, chest pains, blood coughing, and other serious health conditions where facility staff allegedly did not provide adequate medical response. A recent report found detainees were held beyond the 12-hour limit and some did not receive required medical and mental health screenings upon arrival.

Two federal ICE agents arrested 27-year-old Jack Randmaa and pepper sprayed 80-year-old attorney Doug Hayes during a chaotic scene in downtown Santa Barbara. Randmaa, a volunteer ICE observer, was allegedly arrested after approaching an ICE vehicle on Carrillo Street, with agents accusing him of slashing a tire, though his father claims the charges are false.

Immigrants detained at ICE holding rooms at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan have complained of inhumane conditions including cramped quarters, inadequate food, inability to bathe or change clothes, and sleeping on concrete floors. Some detainees reported stays lasting up to 10 days in what were previously temporary processing areas, with allegations of insufficient medical care and limited communication with family and lawyers.

Immigrant detainees at a state-managed detention facility in the Florida Everglades are alleging conditions including lack of water, electricity issues, inadequate food, and excessive mosquitoes. Detainees from Cuba and Colombia have reported being denied access to bathrooms, showers, medicine, and legal representation. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has requested access to monitor the facility, while state officials deny the allegations.

Eduardo Guzman Garcia was pulled over in Henry County for a broken brake light on July 9, 2025, and subsequently taken to jail for driving without a license. The Henry County Sheriff's Office notified DHS after discovering an immigration detainer on him, and ICE agents arrested him at the jail. He has been held in an ICE facility in Atlanta since July 12, 2025, while his family continues working on his green card application.

The El Salvador government has acknowledged to UN investigators that the Trump administration maintains control over Venezuelan migrants who were deported from the U.S. to El Salvador's CECOT prison in March 2025, contradicting public statements by officials in both countries. The revelation came in court filings by lawyers for over 100 migrants challenging their deportations, with the U.S. having paid $6 million for El Salvador to house 300 migrants accused of gang membership.

ICE agents arrested a Guatemalan asylum seeker identified as Juan on July 8, 2025, minutes after he completed his immigration court hearing at the John E. Moss Federal Building in downtown Sacramento. The man had been complying with all court requirements, had no criminal record, and had not missed any previous hearings or check-ins. Despite receiving a new court date scheduled for October, he was detained by ICE immediately following his hearing. Volunteers from NorCal Resist assisted his family member in locating legal resources and using the federal detainee locator system.

ICE agents arrested Deivi Jose Molina-Pena, a 33-year-old Venezuelan on Temporary Protected Status, at a Walmart on July 7, 2025. The arrest was captured on video. The arrest occurred following tensions between American-born and immigrant delivery drivers working for Walmart's Spark service, with American drivers reportedly calling ICE hotlines to report the immigrants' locations. Molina-Pena suffered a head injury during the arrest and remains in ICE custody in El Paso.

The Trump administration deported over 260 migrants to El Salvador's CECOT prison in March 2024, a facility known for human rights abuses. Salvadoran officials acknowledged to UN investigators that the US maintains control of the Venezuelan men held there, contradicting public statements from both governments. Lawyers for the migrants argue the US government has misled courts about its ability to ensure their due process rights.

Anastasio Sanchez, a 51-year-old man who had operated a taco truck in East L.A. for five years, was detained by federal agents on July 6, 2025, near Whittier and Atlantic boulevards. Sanchez had paused his business due to ICE raids in the area but reopened out of financial necessity. He was transferred from Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown L.A. to Adelanto Detention Facility in San Bernardino County.

Nine anti-ICE protesters were tried for their roles in a July 4, 2025 demonstration outside an ICE detention facility in Prairieland, Texas. Eight defendants were convicted of material support for terrorism charges, with prosecutors arguing that wearing black bloc clothing assisted in the shooting of a police officer by protester Benjamin Song. Song was convicted of attempted murder for shooting the officer in the neck and faces up to life in prison, while other defendants face up to 15 years on the terrorism charges.

Chih-Ming "Petey" Feng, a Taiwanese national and cook at high-profile Dallas restaurants, was detained during an immigration check-in on November 6, 2025, for overstaying his visa since 2010 and a 2023 DWI misdemeanor. He spent 133 days in ICE detention facilities in southwest Texas before returning home to Taiwan. During his detention, friends in the Dallas restaurant community provided support by securing legal representation, accessing funds, and coordinating his release.