Human Impact Project

San Diego County Sheriff Kelly Martinez transferred 83 inmates to ICE custody in 2025, nearly tripling the 30 transfers made in 2024. The increase was driven by 53 federal ICE warrants, many issued under Operation Guardian Angel, a federal initiative using judicial warrants to bypass sanctuary law limits. The transfers included individuals with both violent and nonviolent convictions, and approximately 30 violated county policy. Community members, immigrant advocates, and some supervisors urged Martinez to end ICE cooperation, but she defended the practice as safer than community-based enforcement and declined to change the policy.

A federal judge in Boston ruled that the Trump administration violated the law by terminating the immigration status of nearly 900,000 migrants who entered the U.S. through the CBP One parole program. The judge found that the administration failed to follow required legal procedures when revoking parole status via email. The ruling reinstates the immigration status of those affected, temporarily protecting them from deportation.

Maria de Jesús Estrada Juárez, a 42-year-old DACA recipient with 27 years of U.S. residency, was arrested by ICE on February 18, 2026, at an immigration hearing in Sacramento and deported to Mexico the following day based on a 1998 expedited removal order issued when she entered at age 15. She had stable employment as a regional manager for Motel 6, no criminal record, and documentation of decades of tax payments and residency. U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins issued a temporary restraining order on March 23, 2026, ruling the deportation violated her DACA protections and constitutional due process rights. ICE granted humanitarian parole, and Estrada Juárez was returned to the U.S. on March 30-31, 2026, where she was reunited with her 22-year-old U.S. citizen daughter in Sacramento.

At least 25 people who received legal status protections under a court settlement for families separated by the Trump administration's zero tolerance policy have been detained or deported by ICE in recent months. A 23-year-old Honduran man who was legally living and working in the U.S. with proper documentation has been detained in Louisiana for five months and faces deportation. Federal officials have violated the legal protections granted to these individuals through the child separation settlement.

Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a 56-year-old nearly blind Rohingya refugee from Myanmar, was released from Erie County jail on February 19, 2026, after U.S. Border Patrol agents determined he was ineligible for deportation. Border Patrol agents dropped him at a Tim Hortons coffee shop north of Buffalo without notifying his family or attorney. Surveillance footage contradicted DHS claims that the location was safe and open; the store was closed except for the drive-thru. Alam, who spoke little English and required a cane to walk, went missing for several days. His body was found on February 24 near KeyBank Center, approximately four miles from the coffee shop. Local officials later ruled his death a homicide, caused by complications of a perforated duodenal ulcer precipitated by hypothermia and dehydration.