Human Impact Project

A woman adopted from Iran at age 2 and raised in the American Midwest is facing deportation proceedings despite having lived in the U.S. her entire life and considering herself fully American. She was excluded from automatic citizenship under the 2000 Child Citizenship Act because she entered on the wrong type of visa. She fears deportation to Iran due to her Christian faith and her late father's U.S. military service, and has no family or language connections to the country.

Imperial Valley activists gathered outside the Imperial Regional Detention Facility on February 21 for an interfaith vigil honoring Huabing Xie, a Chinese immigrant, and Luis Beltran Yañez-Cruz, a Honduran immigrant, who both died while in ICE custody in Imperial County. Organizers highlighted conditions of medical neglect, overcrowding, and unsanitary conditions at the detention facility, and called for accountability regarding the deaths.

Federal judges have ordered the release of pregnant and nursing women held by ICE, citing violations of ICE Directive 11032.4, which prohibits detention of pregnant and nursing individuals. Despite this policy, over 1,000 such individuals have been detained since Trump's second term began. Documented cases detail severe conditions including miscarriages without proper medical care, shackling during pregnancy and labor, inadequate medical treatment, solitary confinement, forced family separations, and contaminated food with worms and mold. A Russian family of asylum-seekers, including three children, was released from the Dilley Immigration Processing Center after more than four months in custody following legal challenges and media coverage. Congressional visits to detention facilities have documented medical care violations, prompting legal intervention and judicial action.

Jose Manuel Cordova Lopez was taken into federal custody during an ICE raid on February 9 in Lower Providence Township. Lopez originally came to the United States from Mexico on a legal work visa, though DHS stated the visa expired in 2021. A GoFundMe for the family has raised more than $10,000.

Special education teacher Linda Davis was killed when a man fleeing immigration officers crashed into her car. The incident involved a driver who was being pursued by ICE at the time of the collision.

Greggy Valerio Sorio, a 37-year-old green card holder, was deported to the Philippines after ICE denied his stay request despite severe medical conditions including inflammatory bowel disease, anemia, and a toe amputation requiring wheelchair use. Sorio's deportation stemmed from criminal convictions dating back over a decade, and ICE determined he was medically fit to fly despite advocates' warnings and his recent hospitalization. Community groups and immigrant-rights advocates condemned the deportation as a systemic failure, with 60 protesters rallying outside the detention center, and airline staff initially removing him from the flight after being alerted to his condition.

Alex Ramirez Gonzalez and Yan Vasquez Hidalgo, a married couple who work at SUNY Upstate Medical University, were detained by ICE for four months after appearing for a routine immigration hearing in October 2025. The couple, who arrived in the U.S. from Cuba in 2021 and had approved asylum status, were unexpectedly detained and separated during their detention in Batavia. They were released this week on bail while their asylum appeals are pending in federal court.

Lorth Sim, a 59-year-old Cambodian national and lawful permanent resident, was found unresponsive in his cell at Miami Correctional Facility in Miami County, Indiana on February 16, 2026, and was pronounced dead at 7:10 a.m. Sim had entered the U.S. as a refugee in 1983 and became a lawful permanent resident in 1986 before being detained by ICE following an immigration judge's removal order to Cambodia. The cause of death is under investigation. His death marked the seventh in federal immigration custody in 2026, prompting U.S. Congressman André Carson and other lawmakers to call for answers.

The Department of Justice filed a denaturalization case against former North Miami Mayor Philippe Bien-Aime, alleging he misrepresented his identity and immigration history during his naturalization process in 2006. According to federal prosecutors, Bien-Aime entered the United States in 1997 using a fraudulent passport under a different name, was ordered removed in 2000, but remained in the country under an assumed identity. The complaint also alleges he obtained permanent resident status through an invalid marriage to a U.S. citizen using a fraudulent divorce certificate.

Liam Azizi and his wife Hananeh Alikaram, Iranian converts to Christianity fleeing religious persecution, were separated after only Azizi received asylum approval. Alikaram's asylum request was denied and she is being held in Louisiana awaiting deportation to Iran, where she faces prosecution for her religious conversion.

An incident occurred in the Santa Ana/Irvine area involving women who were allegedly let go and then followed or kidnapped. The poster sought to provide context about the incident and requested updates if the women created a fundraiser.

Four journalists and an attorney were detained in Cameroon while investigating allegations that the US was deporting third-country immigrants to the African nation. The group was held at a state-run compound in the capital city of Yaounde, where police confiscated their equipment and one journalist was slapped by officers during the incident. The journalists were attempting to interview individuals recently deported from the United States who had previously been granted withholding of removal status. All five individuals have since been released.

A woman seeking asylum in Alaska was detained by federal agents and deported to Mexico along with her two youngest children, while her 18-year-old son remains held at Anchorage jail. The woman, married to a U.S. citizen, had applied for asylum from violence in Jalisco and had missed one hearing in her case. The woman's 5-year-old child was also detained.

Catholic investors led by Jesuit priests said private-prison operator GEO Group rejected a shareholder vote designed to review its operation of ICE detention facilities. GEO operates some of the largest ICE detention centers, including facilities in South Texas and Adelanto, California, which hold thousands of detainees. The investor group has called for transparency regarding facility operations, facility visits, and reported concerns about detainees being transferred to facilities in El Salvador.

Juan Parra, a tattoo artist, provided services at ICE protests and donated half the proceeds to support protesters. He was assaulted and detained for participating in a protest. He later spoke at a Pro-Palestine rally and encouraged support for protesters outside a detention center.

Senator Adam Schiff released a report documenting that ICE and CBP committed more than $144 million to weapons, ammunition, and tactical gear during the first year of Trump's second term, with ICE increasing weapons spending by 360 percent and CBP doubling its spending compared to 2024. The purchases include AR-style rifles, pistols, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and less-lethal weapons like tear gas and TASERs.

ABC7's special report investigates rampant prostitution and human trafficking along a four-mile stretch of Figueroa Street in South Los Angeles known as 'the Blade.' LAPD vice units patrol the area, focusing on identifying underage victims and connecting adults with resources rather than arrests. Officials are stepping up enforcement efforts as the city prepares to host major global events.

Immigration agents are using 18 U.S. Code 111, a federal statute, to detain American citizens who protest or document their operations. The Trump administration has increased use of the statute, with federal prosecutors charging approximately 12 times as many people under it in the first year compared to Biden's last year. Many cases have been dismissed or resulted in acquittals. Agents have charged individuals for recording and following officers. Senior administration officials have stated that recording agents in public does not violate federal law.

A federal judge issued a ruling criticizing the Trump administration's immigration enforcement actions for violating the law in its efforts to deport millions of people living in the country illegally.

A 3-year-old girl was separated from her mother at the U.S.-Mexico border and placed in federal immigration custody, where she was sexually abused by an older child in an ORR-funded foster home. Her father, a legal permanent resident living in Chicago, filed a habeas corpus petition to expedite her release after ORR delayed the reunification process for five months despite his sponsor application. The girl was released to her father two days after the petition was filed.

A 3-year-old girl crossed the U.S.-Mexico border with her mother and was separated from her parent and placed in federal immigration custody in Harlingen, Texas. While in a foster home, she was sexually abused by an older child. Her father, a legal permanent resident, filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court after experiencing months of delays in the reunification process. ORR officials did not initially inform the father about the sexual abuse, referring to it instead as an "accident." The girl was forensically examined and the allegations were reported to law enforcement. Following the legal petition, the father was reunited with his daughter two days after filing, after which he noticed behavioral changes including nightmares.

Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez, a 42-year-old DACA recipient, was arrested and deported to Mexico on February 18, 2026, after attending a green card interview at a USCIS office in Sacramento. Immigration agents cited an expedited removal order from her 1998 entry as a minor, despite her active DACA status and valid work permit. Within 24 hours, she was deported to Tijuana. A federal judge later ordered her return within seven days and restoration of her DACA status.

A Wilson County man spoke out against a rumored ICE detention center, expressing that he feels safer with undocumented immigrants than with ICE agents. Sheriff deputies responded to the man during his protest, though the ICE detention center plan was subsequently abandoned.

A U.S. District Court in Minnesota ordered ICE to immediately release Michael Opeoluwa Egbele, a Nigerian immigrant detained in January 2026, ruling that the government unlawfully revoked his supervised release without due process or prior notification. Egbele had entered the U.S. unlawfully in 2003, was charged with a drug offense in 2012, but was released on supervised release where he remained compliant for over a decade before his arrest during a routine check-in.

Noel Quintana, owner of Señor Machetes restaurant in downtown Madison, was detained by ICE at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport while returning from Mexico on a valid green card. The detention was based on a 2006 cocaine possession conviction that DHS said grounds for revoking his lawful permanent resident status. Community members organized fundraisers that collected over $50,000. Rep. Francesca Hong and other local leaders criticized the detention.

Karla Ruby Quinones Herrera, a noncitizen single mother of two US citizen children, was arrested by ICE on February 17, 2026 in Victorville, California. She was charged as inadmissible under Section 212(a)(6)(A)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and detained at the Adelanto Detention Facility without being afforded a bond hearing. The court ordered that she must be provided an individualized bond hearing before an immigration judge within 7 days.

Three women employed at The Dots Corp, a printing and marketing business in Irvine, were detained by ICE officers on February 17, 2026, in a parking lot. Officers surrounded their vehicle, showed a purported warrant through the window, and took the women into custody. The detention occurred days before a planned protest against ICE's new Irvine office.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained a mother and her three children, ages 18, 16, and 5, in Soldotna on February 17, 2026. The mother, Sonia Espinoza Arriaga from Mexico, is married to a U.S. citizen and arrived in the United States in 2023 with her children. The family was transported to Anchorage, with the oldest child held at the jail and the mother and younger children held in a hotel room with federal officers. An immigration attorney filed a habeas corpus petition challenging the legality of their detention.

U.S. Representatives Haley Stevens and Hillary Scholten are calling for answers regarding the December 2025 death of Nenko Stanev Gantchev, a 56-year-old Bulgarian national held at the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, Michigan. The lawmakers toured the facility and expressed frustration that the Department of Homeland Security has not responded to their inquiries about Gantchev's death, which ICE attributed to natural causes. A review of the death remains ongoing, and Gantchev's family has sought a private autopsy.

ICE agents in Minnesota are detaining immigrants and confiscating their documents—including work permits, IDs, and passports—then failing to return them upon release. According to immigration lawyers, this practice affects dozens of clients with valid legal status, forcing them to live without proof of authorization despite federal law requiring noncitizens to carry such documents. Judges have found ICE in contempt of court for defying orders to return documents, but the practice continues across cases involving asylum seekers, visa holders, and refugees.

Niury Guerra, a Cuban national and wife of a U.S. citizen, was detained by ICE during a scheduled green card interview appointment in Dallas. ICE cited a 2018 removal after an attempted unauthorized entry with a fraudulent passport and a 2022 unauthorized re-entry as the basis for her arrest. Guerra has no criminal record beyond immigration violations and remains held at a detention center approximately 200 miles from her family, including her 15-month-old daughter. Rafael Alambarrio, a Venezuelan asylum seeker and husband of a McKinney elementary school teacher, was detained by ICE on January 15, 2026 during a routine check-in appointment at the Dallas ICE office. He had a credible fear determination from 2023, was seeking asylum, and was waiting for his green card application to be processed as the spouse of a U.S. citizen. His detention occurred after the Trump administration paused processing of green card applications from 19 countries including Venezuela. He is now held at Prairieland Detention Facility awaiting a hearing scheduled for February 3, 2026.

Juan Martin Espindola Ramirez, a 27-year-old Nashville plumber with a legal work permit and no criminal record, was detained by ICE on February 17 while on his way to work. He has a newborn at home and was reportedly a crime victim granted a U visa; he was applying for a green card at the time of his arrest. The detention sparked community support and a GoFundMe fundraiser, while DHS issued a statement defending the arrest.

Immigration Judge Nina Froes terminated removal proceedings against Mohsen Mahdawi, a lawful permanent resident and Columbia University graduate, after federal authorities failed to authenticate a memorandum allegedly signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The document claimed Mahdawi's pro-Palestinian activism threatened U.S. foreign policy. The case was terminated without prejudice, allowing the government to appeal or refile deportation proceedings.

Omar's father was detained by Customs and Border Patrol in Ontario, California. He is Omar's only source of support. A fundraiser has been organized to help cover Omar's housing and legal fees for his father's case.

Detainees at the Otay Mesa Detention Center run by CoreCivic threw handwritten notes attached to lotion and deodorant bottles over the facility fence to protesters at weekly vigils outside. Notes described going 280 days without fresh fruit, constant illness, cold temperatures, and living in one large room with no windows. San Diego County supervisors were subsequently denied access to inspect the facility, and the notes stopped after ICE restricted detainees from outdoor recreation time during vigils.

Two men were arrested by ICE agents outside a church in Union City, New Jersey over the weekend. According to the church pastor, both men had been in the United States for over 10 years and were active church members. Local leaders and the congressional representative expressed concern about the tactics used, with officials saying the men were targeted for being undocumented.

Ofelia Torres, a 16-year-old Lake View High School junior with stage 4 cancer, successfully advocated for her father Ruben Torres Maldonado's release from ICE detention after he was picked up at a Home Depot in October. While in hospice care, she appealed to authorities and a judge agreed to release him. Three days before her death from cancer, she witnessed a hearing where her father won protection from deportation and the ability to pursue permanent residence.

ICE deported 363 pregnant, postpartum, or nursing women between January 2025 and February 2026, with 86 additional pregnant detainees in custody as of February 16, 2026. The agency reported 16 miscarriages in detention by late September 2025 and acknowledged inadequate medical care access. DHS stated a general policy against detaining pregnant women for administrative violations unless release is prohibited by law or exceptional circumstances exist.

Efrem Yemane Berhe, a Cincinnati business owner and father of two from Eritrea, was detained by ICE agents outside his home on February 16, 2026, after living legally in the U.S. for 15 years. His detention stems from a civil immigration matter related to a prior marriage. A judge denied his bond request on March 5 citing flight risk concerns, and his family is appealing the decision while he awaits a green card hearing scheduled for April 30.

More than 80 Minnesotans filed a lawsuit detailing use-of-force and intimidation by ICE agents. The lawsuit documents incidents involving excessive force and intimidation tactics used during enforcement operations in Minnesota.

Jairo Garcia-Hernandez, a 27-year-old from Guatemala, died on February 16 at Larkin Community Hospital in Miami while in ICE custody. He collapsed unexpectedly and became unresponsive despite life-saving efforts. According to ICE officials, Garcia-Hernandez had a long history of severe medical complications and was in poor health when taken into custody in January 2025 following a 2024 weapons conviction. The exact cause of death remains under investigation.

A grand jury indicted Braulio Jara-Alvarez on federal gun and drug charges after his arrest by Topeka police on an ICE detainer in February 2026. Jara-Alvarez faces charges including unlawful reentry after deportation, methamphetamine possession with intent to distribute, and illegal firearm possession. ICE took custody of Jara-Alvarez on February 20 following his arrest at the Shawnee County Jail.

Dmytro Kulik, a Ukrainian father who fled the war and arrived in the U.S. in late 2023 under the Uniting for Ukraine humanitarian program, was detained by ICE agents near a Walmart in Minneapolis in January while loading groceries. His wife and daughter's applications for conditional release were approved, but his remained pending when immigration authorities arrested him. Kulik fears deportation back to Ukraine where he may be forced to fight, and his family worries they could also be detained.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents vacated a Coast Guard facility at Terminal Island in San Pedro that had served as a staging ground for immigration raids across Southern California. Harbor Area Peace Patrols volunteers had been tracking agent movements since summer 2025. Rep. Nanette Barragán confirmed the federal departure on February 14-15, 2026. The status of the departure remained unclear, with officials uncertain whether it was permanent or whether operations would relocate elsewhere in the county.

Arturo Gonzalez, a San Diego community patroller, was arrested in Logan Heights. The San Diego ICE/ERO Office had previously released a statement regarding Gonzalez's alleged criminal history, which appears to be unrelated to the arrest.

An NBC News investigation found that Department of Homeland Security officers conducting Trump's immigration crackdown used less-lethal weapons including rubber bullets, tear gas, and pepper spray on protesters. Officers shot 13 people with guns and injured hundreds more. Courts in at least four states found that force was used inappropriately and indiscriminately. The use of these weapons began in late spring and summer in California and Oregon, expanded to Chicago in the fall, and reached Minneapolis where officers shot and killed two protesters.

Diana Butnarciuc was arrested by ICE agents during a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services interview for a permanent resident card in Las Vegas. Her husband, Patrick Baja, a Marine veteran, is seeking her release from Henderson Detention Center. Butnarciuc arrived in the U.S. in 2008, has no criminal record, works, and pays taxes, but faces deportation based on a 2018 removal order after her asylum claim was denied.

A 24-year-old Colombian woman, Nicolth Hernandez-Lucero, was detained by federal immigration agents in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday night while driving home. Her husband, Noah Lazega, recorded the detention and shared the encounter with NBC6. According to her attorney, Hernandez-Lucero entered the U.S. legally and has been in the country since age 15 with no criminal record, going through the asylum process with her family. Randy Cordova Flores, a 36-year-old Peruvian national with a pending asylum case, was pulled over by Springdale Borough police for a turn-signal violation and subsequently detained by ICE agents at the police station. Flores has no criminal history, valid work authorization, and has been complying with his asylum process for three years. His sister contends the stop was coordinated with ICE and that due process was not followed.

A 10-year-old U.S. citizen named Dylan recounted fleeing during an ICE operation that began near his school bus stop in Lindenwold, New Jersey on Thursday morning. Children waiting at the bus stop panicked and ran when they saw ICE enforcement vehicles, with Dylan running home in fear. The Lindenwold School District said the presence of multiple enforcement vehicles caused significant fear and confusion among fourth- and fifth-graders.

ICE agents were reported at a Boys & Girls Club in Olathe, Kansas on Friday morning, with teachers saying four or five agents looked through windows of the facility around 7:15 a.m. Children were moved to interior spaces without windows for safety. Community members quickly mobilized to gather outside the center in support, with approximately 40 people showing up to protect families and prevent wrongful detentions, including Kansas state Senator Cindy Holscher.