Human Impact Project

Elvira Benitez, a Mexican-born woman who has lived in the U.S. for 36 years without legal trouble, was detained by ICE on March 10 during a routine check-in at the ICE office. An immigration judge found her a good candidate for permanent residency and she was released in December. The federal government appealed her case on the final day allowed, and she was re-detained and transported to Kentucky. Her family and local activists held a press conference regarding her case, with her attorney arguing the law does not require her detention.

ICE agents detained Reginald Toussaint, a Haitian with Temporary Protected Status, while he was picking up his wife from work in Birmingham, Alabama. Agents approached multiple unmarked vehicles and removed Toussaint from the family's minivan in front of his children. Toussaint stated he had valid TPS status. He was charged with impersonating a U.S. citizen based on an alleged pistol permit application from August 2025 where he marked the citizenship box. His wife disputes this characterization.

Federal immigration agents arrested a person outside the Culver City Police Department on Monday after the individual was cited and released following arrest for driving under the influence and weapon possession. The Culver City Police Department stated it was not notified in advance of the federal action and did not participate in the detention, emphasizing its commitment to not assisting with immigration enforcement under California law.

Rosalio Justia Xigua Ambrocio, a Guatemalan citizen who entered the United States in 2001, was detained by ICE officers on March 9, 2026, while on his way to work and is currently held at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield, California. A federal court granted his habeas corpus petition, finding his detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated due process, and ordered the government to provide a bond hearing within 14 days or release him.

Karla Sáenz, a 26-year-old transgender woman from Venezuela and organizer with Trans Queer Pueblo, was detained by ICE on March 9 during a routine immigration check-in at a USCIS office in Phoenix. She was held for a month at Eloy Detention Center in a men's unit, where she was denied hormone therapy, unable to shower for a week, and subjected to verbal abuse and medical neglect by staff. A federal judge ordered her release in April, finding her detention arbitrary and violating her due process rights.

Rogelio, a 39-year-old Guatemalan immigrant married to a U.S. citizen with five U.S.-born children, was detained by ICE for seven months after being stopped by local police in La Belle, Florida. He spent over six months at the Broward Transitional Center in deportation proceedings. A judge approved his cancellation of removal application, allowing him to pursue citizenship and a green card. Approximately 4,000 cancellations of removal are granted nationally each year.

Mahady Sacko, a 50-year-old undocumented Mauritanian national, was arrested by ICE in Philadelphia for illegally voting in seven federal elections between 2008 and 2024. Despite being ordered removed from the country in 2000 and placed under immigration supervision, Sacko remained in the U.S. and registered and voted in multiple elections. Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting, with violations carrying fines and up to five years in prison.

Adriana Laya, Miguel Alberto Caicedo, and their two children were detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas for two months following a routine ICE check-in in January 2026. The family, who entered the U.S. in 2024 under asylum parole, reported poor detention conditions including undrinkable water, constant lighting, and inadequate medical care for their son with kidney issues. Upon their release in mid-February, they discovered they had been evicted from their apartment in Las Cruces, New Mexico and lost their possessions, life savings, pet dog, and jobs. The family is now living in their car, their only remaining possession.

A federal judge in Oregon has restricted federal officers from using tear gas at protests at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland. The ruling limits law enforcement's use of force against demonstrators at the ICE facility.

Joseph Andrey Londono Rodriguez, a 6-year-old deaf student at the California School for the Deaf, was detained by ICE agents on March 3, 2026, during what his mother believed was a routine photo renewal appointment at an ICE office in the San Francisco Bay Area. His mother, Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez, an asylum seeker from Colombia who had been in the country for four years and was under a supervision order, was detained along with Joseph's 5-year-old brother. The family was deported to Colombia within days without access to hearing aids, cochlear implants, legal representation, or accurate information about their location. State officials alleged ICE misrepresented the family's location to obstruct legal intervention. California State Superintendent Tony Thurmond and congressional members requested an investigation and humanitarian parole to return the family, citing violations of due process protections.

The Trump administration issued an ICE directive requiring refugees to apply for green card status within one year of admission and return to custody for re-vetting, or face mandatory arrest and indefinite detention. The policy expands Operation PARRIS and replaces a 2010 memo that previously protected refugees from deportation for failing to adjust status. Refugees and advocates argue the policy is impossible to comply with because applications cannot be submitted until after the first year, while current processing times average 12 months. Two Texas refugees have been detained under this guidance and are part of a federal lawsuit challenging the policy as unconstitutional.

An man who was in ICE custody escaped from an ICE agent's vehicle near Chambers Drive and Sigman Road in Rockdale County, Georgia on Monday afternoon. The man had been arrested by Conyers Police on Saturday for a traffic violation and was being transferred by ICE when he jumped from the vehicle and fled. Law enforcement from multiple agencies established a perimeter and captured the man shortly after 3 p.m.

Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez, a Colombian asylum-seeker, was detained by ICE on March 5, 2026, after reporting for a routine check-in appointment at the ICE office in San Francisco. Her two children were detained with her; the older child is deaf and was separated from his hearing aids during detention. Attorneys were unable to locate the family, and ICE provided conflicting information about their whereabouts. The family was deported to Colombia three days after the arrest. California officials and immigration attorneys subsequently called for the family's return, citing the separation of a deaf child from necessary medical devices and lack of due process.

Ruben, 28, a Nicaraguan immigrant who had been living in San Francisco's Mission District with his brother Francisco since October 2022, was arrested on February 17 while arriving for his asylum appointment at the Sansome Street immigration court. Francisco and Ruben had worked together and lived as a unit for three years in the Mission, sharing meals and supporting each other as they built their lives in the United States. Ruben's prior immigration appointment had been changed without his notification, and he failed to file the necessary motion to explain his missed hearing, which proved fatal to his case. He was detained and transferred through multiple detention facilities—Mesa Verde in Bakersfield, a facility in Arizona, and Puerto Isabel in Texas—before being deported to Nicaragua on March 8.

Jefferson Fernando Cando Llano, 29, a father of one seeking asylum from Ecuador, was detained by masked federal immigration agents in an unmarked vehicle at a laundromat in Spokane on March 8. Friends who witnessed the detention filed a missing persons report because they could not identify the agents. The incident raised concerns among local police about secretive federal immigration enforcement tactics.

An asylum seeker from Ghana working as a health aide in Central Ohio is facing deportation to Uganda following a recent immigration hearing. The individual is seeking assistance after the government determined she should be removed to a country unfamiliar to her.

Ali Hussein Mubarak, a Yemeni national with Temporary Protected Status and father of four U.S. citizen children, was detained by ICE on March 6, 2026, three days after his TPS status expired on March 3, 2026. He owns a car dealership in Birmingham, Alabama and his wife is a U.S. citizen pregnant with their fifth child. The court denied his motion for temporary restraining order seeking immediate release from detention.

Jose Ernesto Aparicio Almendarez, a 20-year-old Honduran citizen who entered the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor seeking asylum, was detained by ICE after being stopped for driving without a license in Orlando, Florida. He had previously been released by ORR to a sponsor and has a pending asylum application. The court ordered his immediate release, finding his detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated due process.

Juan, a Honduran national who came to the U.S. seven years ago seeking asylum, was arrested by ICE during a traffic stop on a Virginia highway while driving to work. He had an active asylum case, work permit, and marriage petition to a U.S. citizen at the time of his arrest. After spending one month detained at Farmville Detention Center, Juan was released on bond following a habeas petition but now faces an uncertain asylum process with declining approval rates under the current administration.

Dung Van Trieu, a Vietnamese immigrant who arrived in the U.S. in 1991 as a lawful permanent resident, was arrested by immigration authorities outside his home on March 5, 2026. He had been living in the community on supervised release since 2006 after his removal to Vietnam proved impracticable following a 2004 conviction. The court ordered his immediate release, finding the government failed to demonstrate his removal was reasonably foreseeable and violated procedures for revoking his supervised release.

Armin Sadari Masihi, an Iranian citizen who had been on supervised release since 2012 after being granted withholding of removal, was detained by ICE officers at Burbank Airport while boarding a flight to Las Vegas for business. ICE revoked his release claiming changed circumstances for potential third-country removal, but provided no specific alternate country. The court ordered his immediate release, finding ICE violated due process and failed to follow proper revocation procedures.

Mirna Yesenia Alvarado Benitez, a citizen of El Salvador who entered the U.S. in July 2024, was initially detained and then released with conditions. On March 5, 2026, she appeared for a routine ICE check-in appointment, at which point the government placed her in expedited removal proceedings and detained her. The court granted a temporary restraining order preventing her removal while her habeas corpus petition is pending. Mirna Benitez, a Salvadoran woman who had been living in the U.S. for nearly 13 years and working as a school custodian, was detained by ICE after attending a scheduled appointment at an ICE office in North Chesterfield on December 7, 2025. Despite having attended regular ICE check-ins for years, applied for asylum with legal representation, and obtained a temporary work permit, Benitez was taken into custody without warning. She was transferred through multiple detention facilities—Riverside Regional Jail in Richmond, an ICE facility in Texas, and another in Louisiana—over 10 days, during which she reported mistreatment by officers, inadequate medical care, unsanitary conditions, and denial of access to legal counsel. She ultimately chose to accept deportation to El Salvador rather than remain detained, departing before Christmas.

Giovanny Alexander Alfaro Cruz, a native of El Salvador who had been on supervised release (OSUP) since 2016, was detained by ICE during his routine check-in on March 5, 2026. Cruz had a final removal order but was granted withholding from removal to El Salvador in 2014. The federal court granted his temporary restraining order, finding ICE likely violated due process by failing to follow proper procedures when revoking his supervised release, and ordered his immediate release.

Hai Nguyen, a Vietnamese national who has lived in the U.S. since 1993 and worked in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, was detained by ICE during a routine appointment. His detention stems from a decades-old marijuana charge from college that was expunged from his record. He now faces possible deportation despite previously being considered non-deportable because Vietnam would not accept deportees who arrived before 1995.

Two separate ICE detention cases involved individuals serving critical caregiving roles. Maher Tarabishi was detained while being the sole caregiver for his son with Pompe disease, who is completely immobile and dependent on his father for all daily care. Josué, a day laborer from El Salvador, was detained by ICE agents and reported that his heart condition went unaddressed during detention, with medication withheld and inadequate medical attention provided despite his history of heart attacks.

Axel Pecero, 25, a former Los Angeles County foster youth and advocate for youth in child welfare and juvenile justice systems, was detained by ICE in August 2025 after being stopped by Burbank police. After nearly eight months of detention at Adelanto ICE Processing Center, an immigration judge denied his bond request. Pecero agreed to voluntary departure to Mexico, leaving behind his 4-year-old son in the United States.

Over 1,100 Afghan refugees, many of whom served alongside U.S. forces, are at Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar. Since February 28, 2026, residents have experienced missile attacks and are housed in shipping containers. President Trump suspended their refugee resettlement program in 2025. The refugees remain in Qatar with unresolved immigration status.

Kevin Josue Torrez was detained on March 4, 2026 at Eden Detention Center while his asylum application remains pending. He filed an emergency motion seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent his removal and requesting immediate release or an individualized bond hearing. The federal court denied his motion, finding he failed to meet the requirements for emergency relief.

Leandro A.B.P., who entered the U.S. without inspection in December 2021, was initially detained then released on his own recognizance with restrictive conditions. After more than four years of compliance with all conditions, he was arrested and detained by immigration authorities on March 4, 2026, without notice or process. The court granted his habeas petition and ordered his immediate release, finding his detention violated constitutional due process rights. Ernesto Antonio Padilla Barrera was arrested and detained by immigration authorities on March 4, 2026, after previously being released under certain conditions. He filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his immigration detention as violations of due process and federal immigration law. The court granted his unopposed petition and ordered his immediate release under the same conditions as his prior release.

Arnoldo Jose Marquez-Pulido, 33, was arrested on March 4, 2026, outside a Sam's Club in Utica after resisting federal agents conducting surveillance based on reports of undocumented immigrants working as delivery drivers. During the altercation, Marquez-Pulido grabbed a Homeland Security agent's firearm and injured two investigators before being tackled. He faces federal charges of assaulting and resisting an officer and illegal firearm possession, with a potential sentence of up to 20 years if convicted.

Orlin Carrasco, 29, was detained by ICE agents on March 4, 2026, inside Robertson County Courthouse after appearing before a judge on traffic charges. Carrasco had entered the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor at age 17 to flee gang recruitment in Honduras. At the time of his detention, he had an active asylum case, a valid work permit, a driver's license, and was married to a U.S. citizen. He has been held in a Louisiana detention facility for over three months without a clear explanation or active deportation order. His attorney argues ICE is illegally detaining him under a void document and that his 2013 administratively closed case does not support mandatory detention.

Christian Manuel Laminia Guachambala, a 32-year-old Ecuadorian man and Manhattan resident, was arrested by ICE officers on March 4, 2026, during a vehicle stop near his building. He entered the U.S. in 2019 on a Spanish passport under the Visa Waiver Program and overstayed. The court ordered his immediate release, finding the warrantless arrest violated Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights.

Nadier Rodriguez-Pineda, a Cuban citizen who entered the U.S. in 2019, was re-arrested by ICE on March 4, 2026, during a routine maritime inspection on a fishing vessel in Florida. He had previously been released on bond by an immigration judge and had employment authorization through April 2030. The federal court ordered his immediate release, finding that his re-detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated due process.

Irvin Cruz Nape, a father of four, died on March 4, 2026, days after being released from the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. Cruz Nape reported heart attack-like symptoms while in custody but allegedly did not receive proper medical treatment. He had been detained by ICE agents in the fall after being mistaken for another target, and was granted bond and released in late February.

ICE is deporting crime survivors who have long been protected by Congress through programs like the U-Visa, Violence Against Women Act, and T-Visa for trafficking survivors. A multi-state class-action lawsuit challenges the Trump administration's 2025 ICE guidance that rescinds policies protecting these groups from deportation. Plaintiff Yessenia Ruano, a former Milwaukee teacher's aide with a pending T-Visa application, self-deported to El Salvador with her U.S. citizen children after ICE threatened her during a check-in.

Phanomphone Thiravong, a Laotian refugee who became a lawful permanent resident, was detained by ICE in Portland on March 3, 2026, after reporting to the ICE office. He had been living under Orders of Supervision since 2015 following a final removal order in 2012. ICE revoked his supervised release citing that circumstances changed making removal reasonably foreseeable after obtaining a travel document from Laos. The court denied his motion for temporary restraining order to prevent removal.

Alejandro Jose Petit Poleo, a noncitizen who had been previously released on bond or conditional parole, was re-detained by immigration authorities on March 3, 2026. The court found that the Due Process Clause requires the government to provide a pre-deprivation bond hearing before a neutral arbiter when re-detaining someone who was previously released. The court ordered Petit Poleo's immediate release with the same conditions he had prior to detention.

Mohamed Moula Ye was re-detained on March 3, 2026 after previously being released on bond or conditional parole. The court found that the government violated due process by re-detaining him without providing a pre-deprivation bond hearing before a neutral arbiter. The court ordered his immediate release with the same conditions he had prior to detention and required the government to provide seven days' notice and a proper hearing before any future re-detention.

Jorge Calderon Rivera, an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador who had lived in Omaha for approximately a decade with no criminal record, was detained by ICE agents on January 17, 2026, during a traffic stop while driving to work. He was held at McCook ICE facility for two months without receiving a bond hearing to which he was entitled. The ACLU of Nebraska and the Center for Immigrant and Refugee Advancement filed a federal lawsuit on his behalf challenging the detention. U.S. District Judge Susan Bazis issued an order on March 3, 2026, finding the detention had an "unlawful aspect" and directing immigration officials to provide Calderon with a bond hearing within seven days. An immigration judge later granted his release on bond, and he was reunited with his wife and three children. He remains in deportation proceedings.

Irvi Cruz, an undocumented Mexican national married to Rachel, a U.S. citizen public school teacher, decided to self-deport to Mexico with their two U.S.-born daughters after the 2024 presidential election. Despite building a life in New York over nearly two decades, including home ownership and stable employment, the family chose to leave voluntarily due to the political climate and deportation threats. Irvi departed first in early 2025 before Trump took office, with Rachel and the girls planning to follow after the school year.

Daniel Pino Alfonso, a Cuban national who entered the U.S. unlawfully in 2022, was arrested March 3 in Spring Hill, Tennessee for stealing approximately $6,000 worth of shoes and possessing $3,400 in cash as part of an organized retail theft operation. ICE issued a detainer against Pino Alfonso, who remains in county jail pending deportation proceedings. His accomplice, Yadián Pérez López, was also arrested. Both men were charged under Tennessee's organized retail crime law, and authorities indicated the pair may have targeted multiple stores.

Two bounty hunters, Garrett C. Willis and James R. Willis, were charged with felony threats of violence after confrontations with anti-ICE protesters in Minneapolis on March 3. During two incidents—one in the Phillips West neighborhood and another outside Hennepin County jail—the men pointed replica firearms at protesters and fired pepper ball munitions. Both men admitted to carrying weapons that resembled real firearms and using them against protesters.

ICE arrested a father near a Boise daycare approximately one month prior to the agency's public response. ICE stated the arrest was targeted and based on the man's 2024 conviction for theft by alteration. The agency clarified that officers were not at the preschool itself but detained the man about 200 yards away. The man's family requested anonymity.

Darwing Inocente Xitumul Morales, a Guatemalan worker, was returned to ICE custody after an immigration judge ruled he was a danger to the community and denied him bond on March 2. Morales had been arrested in New Bedford on February 11 and briefly released after a federal judge ordered his release and a bond hearing. He is now being held at Plymouth County Correctional Facility pending a hearing scheduled for April 23.

Luis Muñoz Pinto, a 27-year-old Venezuelan man, was deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador's Cecot prison in March 2025. He was accused of gang membership based on rose tattoos he obtained to honor his twin sisters. U.S. immigration officials identified the tattoos as Tren de Aragua gang symbols. A federal court later ruled that Muñoz Pinto and over 100 other deported Venezuelans must be allowed to return to the U.S. for due process.

Jimmy Jhunior Mayta Huarhua, a Peruvian citizen, entered the U.S. without inspection in May 2022 and was released on humanitarian parole three days later. After complying with supervision requirements for nearly four years, he was re-detained by ICE at a scheduled reporting appointment on March 2, 2026, without written notice terminating his parole. The court ordered his release, finding his detention without a hearing violated due process.

Masked federal agents pulled over Willy Wender Aceituno Medina, a Honduras-born U.S. citizen, and forced him from his vehicle. The incident was posted on Instagram by Democracy Now, a news organization.

Daphy Michel, a 31-year-old Haitian asylum seeker, died on March 2, 2026, after being released by ICE on February 28, 2026, under the Alternatives to Detention Program with an electronic ankle monitor. Michel had spent six months in Washington County Correctional Facility awaiting a preliminary hearing on misdemeanor charges that were ultimately dismissed. After her release, she spent approximately 24 to 30 hours in sub-freezing temperatures (22–30°F) at a bus shelter on Pittsburgh's South Shore before being found unresponsive. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner classified the death as a homicide, pending toxicology results. ICE does not include deaths occurring after release in its official tally of custody deaths.

Jendry Alberto Carillo-Gutierrez entered the United States without inspection in October 2022, was encountered by immigration authorities, and was subsequently granted discretionary parole by DHS. On March 2, 2026, he was re-detained by ICE. The court ordered his immediate release under the same conditions as before his re-detention and enjoined future re-detention without proper procedures.

Kamal Morales, a 40-year-old counselor at a South Bronx HIV clinic, was detained on March 2, 2026, during a routine immigration check and deported to Venezuela despite a pending federal court case and marriage to a U.S. citizen. Judge Michael J. McShane ruled on March 30 that Morales' re-detention lacked legal basis and ordered the government to show cause by April 7, but Morales was deported before the government responded. Morales had lived in the U.S. for 12 years, had no criminal record, and consistently appeared for required immigration appointments.