Human Impact Project

Luis Enrique Cuellar-Padilla, an asylum seeker from Colombia, was detained by ICE after a court hearing despite having his credible fear application approved. He has been held for nearly 8 months and denied bond, with immigration officials claiming he is a flight risk due to insufficient community ties, though his legal team attributes the detention to the current anti-immigrant political climate. Since entering the U.S. in 2022, Cuellar-Padilla has maintained a stable job, attended all immigration appointments and court dates, and held an apartment lease.

Pedro Fernández, an undocumented Cuban national with a prior cocaine trafficking conviction, was detained by ICE agents in Hialeah, Florida on May 7, 2026. The detention was part of a broader ICE operation targeting undocumented immigrants with serious criminal convictions, including sexual abuse of minors, assault, drug trafficking, and other felonies. Fernández lacked documentation confirming legal residence in the United States and faces deportation proceedings.

Eliana G. was detained before her asylum court proceedings began in 2025. After losing her asylum case, she waived her right to appeal and elected to self-deport. Despite this choice, she remained in ICE custody across Arizona and Louisiana detention facilities for over seven months awaiting travel documents. A court designated Ecuador as her third-country deportation location despite her being originally from Honduras, but she has not been given an opportunity to contest this choice. She has two children, ages 10 and 2, living with family members in Western Massachusetts.

Maikel Rojas, a 45-year-old Cuban, was released from Alligator Alcatraz detention center in March 2026 after nearly five months in custody and subsequently issued a removal order requiring self-deportation by August 4, 2026. The order requires him to obtain a Cuban passport and purchase a one-way airline ticket while wearing an electronic ankle monitor. Rojas, who arrived from Cuba in 2004 and was convicted as an accomplice to a crime in 2005 with a 13-year sentence, faces uncertainty about whether Cuba will accept his deportation and fears re-arrest by immigration authorities.

A Newport man was arrested by ICE agents on Monday. According to ICE, the man has an extensive criminal record and has been deported four times previously. The article does not provide additional details about the specific charges or circumstances of the arrest.

Jeury Concepcion, 19, was chased down and taken to the ground by ICE agents near East Gun Hill Road and Hull Avenue in the Bronx in a case of mistaken identity. He was left bloodied and bruised, requiring several stitches. Concepcion was eventually released after producing his ID to prove he was not the suspect the agents were seeking.

Sanan Atou, 43, who spent most of his life in Michigan, was deported to Iraq despite not being an Iraqi citizen. The Detroit Free Press reported on his case, highlighting the circumstances of his deportation.

ICE agents conducted a 9-hour standoff at a residential property in Antioch, California, and arrested Miguel Antonio Blanco, who lived at one address. The agents were targeting Gerson Manuel Portillo-Escobar, wanted for human trafficking, who lived a few houses away at a different address. According to the family, agents were told multiple times they had the wrong person but proceeded with the arrest anyway.

A three-year-old girl was separated from her mother at the U.S.-Mexico border on September 16, 2025, and placed in federal immigration custody under the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). She was held in an ORR-funded foster home in Harlingen, Texas, where she was sexually abused by an older child in the home in November 2025. Her father, a legal permanent resident living in Chicago, filed a federal habeas corpus petition in February 2026 after ORR delayed reunification for five months despite his sponsor application being approved. ORR officials did not initially disclose the sexual abuse to the father. The girl was forensically examined and the allegations were reported to law enforcement. She was released to her father two days after the petition was filed.

ICE arrested Luis Manuel Saucedo-Cardenas, a 40-year-old undocumented immigrant from Mexico with a criminal record including assault, burglary, and drug offenses, after Chicago police released him despite being aware of a federal arrest warrant. Chicago police had detained Saucedo-Cardenas but did not transfer him to ICE despite multiple requests, citing the city's sanctuary policies.

Guillermo Mendez Lopez and Yesica Yanina Aguirre Aguirre sought emergency protection from ICE detention during their scheduled check-ins on May 25 and 27, 2026. The U.S. District Court for Massachusetts granted a temporary restraining order prohibiting ICE officials from arresting, detaining, or removing the petitioners during their mandatory check-ins. The court order is effective until June 5, 2026.

Armando Ducosquier Suarez, a Cuban national who entered the U.S. in 2022 and was released on his own recognizance, was re-detained by ICE at his scheduled check-in on May 6, 2026. ICE cited 'a change of circumstance' and 'national emergency declaration' but provided no explanation or pre-deprivation hearing. The court ordered his immediate release within 24 hours, finding the re-detention violated his due process rights.

Masked federal agents detained at least six workers outside the Hilltop Community Children's Center in Pittsburgh's Knoxville neighborhood on the morning of May 6, 2026. The operation occurred in a parking lot across the street from the daycare while parents were dropping off children at a nearby elementary school. Daycare staff used whistles and a toy drum to alert neighbors. Three of the detained workers, employed by a local roofing company, were subsequently released; several others remained in custody.

Milana Swope, a trafficking survivor who arrived in the U.S. on a fiancée visa in 2001, was detained by ICE in September 2025 during a routine check-in she had maintained for over 20 years. She received a removal order in 2003 after leaving an abusive first marriage but remained under ICE supervision while raising her child in the U.S. After nearly eight months in detention at ICE's Alexandria Staging Facility in Louisiana, Swope faces deportation to Russia, where she has not lived since the early 2000s and where ongoing conflict presents safety concerns. Her attorney states ICE has not previously sought her removal despite the standing order, and questions why the agency is not recognizing her status as a trafficking victim.

ICE officers stopped a vehicle on Springfield Avenue in Maplewood and arrested four men. The Maplewood Police Department was not involved in the incident and was not contacted by federal law enforcement to assist.

Javier Ramirez, a U.S. citizen, was detained for five days after being racially profiled by ICE during a traffic stop in Nashville. Body camera footage reveals ICE and state troopers targeting Black and brown drivers for minor traffic infractions while using fewer enforcement actions against white drivers.

Federal prosecutors have dismissed charges against 14 of 36 people who were arrested and charged with assaulting immigration agents during a winter enforcement operation. Prosecutors are continuing cases against the remaining defendants, including one case a judge has described as "perplexing."

ICE agents raided OK Service, a gutter company in Mount Oliver, Pennsylvania, on the morning of May 6, 2026, detaining six workers at a job site. Surveillance video captured employees running as agents chased them near the work location. The business owner stated that the workers had documentation showing they were in the immigration process, with at least one holding a valid green card. At least three of the detained workers were released within hours of the detention.

Yenniffer Natalia England, a 32-year-old DACA recipient and nurse's assistant with valid work authorization through 2027, was detained by Texas state troopers on February 16, 2026, after a traffic stop for a suspended driver's license. She was transferred to ICE custody and held at El Valle Detention Facility in Raymondville, Texas. During her nearly three-month detention, her two daughters, ages 12 and 14, remained without her care. Community supporters and family members organized protests calling for her release. On May 21, 2026, a federal judge granted England a writ of habeas corpus, ordering her release. She was released with the condition of wearing an ankle monitor. Yenniffer England, a 32-year-old DACA recipient and nursing assistant, was pulled over by Texas state troopers for an expired license in February 2026. She was arrested and subsequently detained by ICE agents after being tipped off by county jail staff. An immigration judge denied her bond and issued a deportation order, despite her legal DACA status and 28-year residence in the United States.

Jose Arnulfo Guerrero Orellana, an unauthorized immigrant from El Salvador who entered the U.S. unlawfully in 2013, was arrested at a traffic stop in Massachusetts. He is challenging the Trump administration's policy of mandatory detention for all unauthorized immigrants without bond hearings through a class action lawsuit, Guerrero Orellana v. Moniz et al. The case argues the policy contradicts the Immigration and Nationality Act and long-standing government practice. The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments on the case, with federal appellate courts currently split on the issue and Supreme Court review increasingly likely.

ICE arrested Gabriel Maror Ayuel, 55, a Sudanese national, in Nashville on May 5, 2026, following a months-long investigation. Ayuel was convicted of first-degree attempted murder in 2003 and sentenced to 20 years in prison, with additional convictions including aggravated assault, DUI, and felony flight to avoid prosecution. An immigration judge issued a final removal order in July 2008, but Ayuel remained in the United States for over 17 years in violation of that order. He remains in ICE custody pending removal.

Anton Bulgakov, a Russian national who entered the U.S. on a B-2 visa and filed for asylum, was detained by Arkansas police during a traffic stop on May 5, 2026. The officer stated Bulgakov had violated immigration law and took him to county jail, where ICE later transferred him to Jackson Parish Correctional Center in Louisiana. The court granted a temporary restraining order preventing his removal before his June 15, 2026 asylum hearing.

Sandra Orozco Velazquez was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in San Francisco. She filed a habeas corpus petition challenging her detention on due process grounds. The federal court granted a temporary restraining order for her release and then issued a preliminary injunction requiring ICE to provide her a pre-detention hearing before a neutral decisionmaker.

Cecilia, a 29-year-old pregnant Venezuelan asylum seeker, voluntarily surrendered to ICE with her three sons (ages 6, 9, and 12) on May 5, 2026, at the Centennial field office in Colorado. The family had walked to the U.S. in 2024 seeking stability, but lost their apartment and income after Cecilia's husband Ronald was arrested at an ICE appointment in November 2025. Facing homelessness and unable to support her children as her pregnancy became visible, Cecilia chose assisted voluntary departure. The family arrived in Caracas, Venezuela on May 13, 2026.

Jean Manuel Izquierdo, a 49-year-old Venezuelan father, was detained by ICE in Herriman, Utah, on May 5, 2026, as he was leaving his apartment complex to go to work. He is currently held in an immigration detention facility. According to his family, Izquierdo has no criminal record, holds valid work authorization, and is an active asylum applicant, but remains out of legal status. His family has launched a GoFundMe fundraising campaign to raise money for his bond and to support his case as it proceeds through immigration proceedings.

Bryan Rafael Gómez, a 27-year-old undocumented immigrant, was detained by ICE at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Rhode Island following his arrest by Worcester police on assault and battery charges. On April 28, 2026, a federal judge ordered his release after ICE and the U.S. attorney's office withheld information about an active homicide warrant from the Dominican Republic. After his release, Gómez disappeared and failed to report to ICE as expected. On May 5, 2026, a federal judge ordered Gómez re-detained after the withheld warrant information emerged. The judge criticized the conduct as a breach of trust and ordered a disciplinary review of the U.S. attorney's office, noting that had she known about the warrant, she would not have granted Gómez's habeas corpus petition.

Diego Armando Escalona Polanco, a 19-year-old Chipotle cook in Orlando, was detained by ICE agents following a Florida Highway Patrol traffic stop for a vehicle registration issue. Unable to afford legal representation and facing unfavorable odds in his case, Escalona signed paperwork to self-deport. He spent 42 days at Krome North Service Processing Center in Miami before being transported through four states in shackles and flown to Venezuela, where he reunited with family in Maracaibo after 11 years living in the United States.

Owen Ramsingh, a 45-year-old legal U.S. resident with a green card, was detained at O'Hare Airport in September 2025 after Border Patrol discovered a felony drug conviction from nearly 30 years prior. His green card was revoked, and he was deported to the Netherlands in February 2026, separated from his wife and teenage daughter in Columbia, Missouri. Ramsingh, who had not lived in the Netherlands since age 5, is now adjusting to life there while learning Dutch and living with his reconnected father.

Meenu Batra, a 53-year-old certified court interpreter with 35 years of U.S. residence and valid withholding of removal status, was detained by ICE agents on March 17, 2026, at Valley International Airport in Harlingen, Texas while traveling for a court assignment in Milwaukee. Despite holding work authorization and serving as a licensed interpreter for over 20 years in Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu, plainclothes agents arrested her based on a 2000 removal order. She was held at El Valle Detention Center in Raymondville for 45 days, during which she alleged denial of food, water, and medication. On April 30, 2026, federal judge Rolando Olvera in Brownsville issued a temporary restraining order ordering her release, finding the government lacked proper justification and had violated procedural protections and due process. Batra, a single mother of four U.S. citizen children, continues pursuing permanent residency through military parole based on her son's U.S. Army service.

Ytalo Pierre Montalvan Vasquez, a Peruvian citizen who was paroled into the U.S. to pursue asylum in March 2022, was re-detained at Adelanto ICE Processing Center. The petitioner had complied with all immigration procedures and had no criminal history. The court granted his habeas corpus petition and ordered his immediate release, finding his detention violated due process rights.

Estuardo G.C., who entered the U.S. as a 10-year-old unaccompanied minor in 2018 and was paroled into the country, was arrested in February 2026 during a Border Patrol roving patrol stop while driving. He has been detained ever since and has no criminal history. The court granted his habeas petition and ordered his immediate release, finding his detention without pre-deprivation process violated his constitutional due process rights. Madina Almazova, who entered the United States without inspection in 2023 with a valid I-94 and California driver's license, was served with a Notice to Appear in April 2023 for removal proceedings. She was taken into custody by immigration officials on December 13, 2026, and detained at the Karnes County Immigration Processing Center. The court granted her habeas petition and ordered her immediate release, finding her detention violated due process rights.

Chansarath Duong, a Cambodian refugee who entered the US as a child in 1982, was detained by ICE on May 4, 2026, after 25 years on supervised release. Duong had been living in the US under Orders of Supervision since 1999 following a 1997 drug conviction, but Cambodia has consistently refused to issue travel documents for his removal. The court granted a temporary restraining order requiring his immediate release, finding that ICE violated its own regulations by having an unauthorized officer revoke his supervision.

Manuela Hernandez, an asylum seeker from Colombia, was detained at California City's detention center for five months after her electronic monitoring device broke during a household accident in December 2025. She reported severe medical decline in custody, including fainting spells and a bacterial infection, while ICE pursued federal charges for property destruction. After her legal team filed a habeas corpus petition arguing the break was unintentional, she was released on May 4, 2026, and has reunited with her family while continuing her asylum case.

Diana Marquez Ruiz initially planned to self-deport with her two children on May 4, 2026, after her husband was removed from Aurora detention center. However, on the drive to the ICE field office, she became emotional and decided to turn back, unable to abandon her family dog in the United States. She and Cecilia had lived together and supported each other after their husbands' arrests.

On May 2-3, 2026, ICE agents arrested Chidozie Wilson Okeke, a Nigerian national who had overstayed his tourist visa since August 2023, during an enforcement operation near Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn. Okeke sustained injuries during the arrest and was taken to the hospital's emergency room. Approximately 200-300 anti-ICE protesters gathered outside the hospital in response, resulting in a five-hour confrontation with NYPD. Nine people were arrested on charges including obstructing traffic, blocking emergency entrances, resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration, reckless endangerment, and criminal mischief. During the protest, ICE vehicles were damaged, pepper spray was used against agents, and an ICE vehicle struck a protester; four NYPD officers and several DHS agents sustained minor injuries. On May 4, elected officials and community leaders, including City Council Member Sandy Nurse, rallied against the incident, citing direct coordination between ICE and NYPD and demanding the city respect sanctuary city laws.

Federal Magistrate Judge Joel Richlin ordered the release of Darwin Ortega Montufar from ICE custody on April 24, 2026, finding his arrest and detention violated his constitutional due process rights. Montufar was arrested on April 4 while going to work in Riverside County, held incommunicado for three days, and denied a bond hearing despite being compliant with ICE reporting obligations and having no criminal record.

Federal Border Patrol and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents, assisted by Texas Department of Public Safety, conducted an operation at a residence on Smith Avenue in a central Laredo neighborhood. Over 20 undocumented people were removed from the home. The condition of those found inside remained unknown.

Hana Francis, 26, was arrested at a sit-in demonstration in a hotel lobby on Southwest 2nd Avenue in Portland during May Day protests. She was charged with second-degree criminal trespass.

ICE Seattle took six people into custody who have serious criminal histories and are in the country without authorization, pending their removal. Those arrested include Miguel Salamanca-Alverez from Mexico with a felony conviction for five counts of assault; Angel Negrete-Villalobos with a felony conviction for first-degree assault and protective order violations; Alfredo Gallegos-Guillen with a history of assault arrests; Karla Daniela Gallegos-Holguin with a 2025 felony conviction for bringing methamphetamine into the country; and Bounlay Siackasorn from Laos with felony convictions for dealing meth, burglary, and theft.

A father named Marcus and his daughter are seeking community support and fundraising assistance following ICE enforcement activity under Operation Metro Surge. The family appears to be displaced and living in a campsite, with urgent appeals for donations to prevent the father's deportation.

Axel Gerardo Archaga Rios, an 18-year-old junior at Dunwoody High School who arrived in the U.S. at age 4 with his mother seeking asylum, was arrested by Dunwoody Police on March 27, 2026, for running a stop sign and driving without a valid license. He was booked into DeKalb County Jail under the 287(g) program, posted bond, and was released into ICE custody on March 29. Rios was transferred to Folkston ICE Processing Center near Brunswick, Georgia. His attorney filed a stay of removal and a motion to reopen his 2015 removal order to pursue asylum relief, but both requests were denied. Rios was deported to Honduras, where he subsequently adjusted to life with his grandmother.

Stephani Espinoza Fontalvo, detained at Adelanto ICE Processing Center, filed a pro se habeas corpus petition and emergency motion to prevent her removal from the United States. The federal court granted a temporary restraining order enjoining ICE from transferring or removing her from the Central District of California pending a preliminary injunction hearing. The court ordered ICE to ensure her appearance at the May 8, 2026 hearing.

Thirteen people were arrested during May Day protest activity in Portland on May 2, 2026, at two locations. Near the ICE facility in South Portland, five were arrested around 8:30 p.m. after protesters gathered to advocate for workers' and immigrant rights; police reported that protesters threw rocks and water bottles at officers, injuring two. Seven additional arrests were made during a hotel sit-in on Southwest 2nd Avenue.

Elder Yuvini Aguilar Macario, a 19-year-old senior and soccer team captain at Trion High School in Georgia, was arrested on May 1-2, 2026, following a traffic incident when officers discovered he lacked a valid driver's license. After being transferred to Walker County jail, ICE discovered a prior deportation order dating back 13 years to his mother's denied asylum application when he was six years old, and placed a detainer on him through the 287(g) program. He was transferred to Irwin County Detention Center and later to Folkston ICE Processing Center, approximately 300 miles from his home in northwest Georgia. Aguilar Macario described being shackled during transport and held in a caged section of a prisoner transport bus. He missed his high school graduation ceremony weeks later, though his classmates gave him a standing ovation when his name was called and placed his cap, robe, and photo on an empty chair. Before his arrest, he was a member of the soccer team and had begun taking welding classes at Georgia Northwestern Technical College. His attorneys have filed to reopen his immigration case.

Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian citizen, Fulbright scholar, and Columbia doctoral student in urban planning, had her visa revoked by DHS without explanation. ICE agents visited her building three times, twice without a warrant. She fled to the United States and remains in Canada.

Juan Gaspar, from a village near Quetzaltenango, was deported and signed a voluntary departure agreement. He reported that officers only collected a phone number but he received no message with stipend collection details a week after his expulsion.

Portland police arrested five people during a May Day protest at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in south Portland on Friday evening. Protesters gathered to advocate for worker and immigrant rights and to push for revoking the ICE facility's permit. Police reported that protesters threw rocks and water bottles at officers, injuring two. Portland police made multiple arrests during May Day protests on Friday, May 1, 2026, near the ICE facility in South Portland. Officers arrested nine people at a hotel sit-in demonstration, and additional arrests were made throughout the day and evening during protest activities near the ICE facility. Police reported that some protesters threw rocks and water bottles at officers, with one officer sustaining a non-life-threatening injury.

Reyna Isabel Funez Veliz, a noncitizen, is detained at ICE's Denver Contract Detention Facility despite an immigration judge ordering his release on an $8,000 bond. ICE invoked an automatic stay regulation to prevent his release while appealing the bond determination. The immigration judge later reconsidered and held that the petitioner's detention is mandatory under federal law.

S.A., a noncitizen from Cameroon who entered the U.S. in 2024, was granted withholding of removal to Cameroon on September 16, 2025. Despite this protection from deportation to his home country, he remained detained at the Adelanto Detention Facility for more than six months after his removal order became final. The court ordered his release within 24 hours, finding his continued detention violated due process since removal was not reasonably foreseeable.

A Mexican asylum-seeker who fled cartel violence in Michoacan in 2019 was arrested by ICE at her check-in appointment in Santa Rosa in May 2026, separating her from her three children ages 2, 13, and 19. After texting her daughter to bring the younger children home, she was held in a freezing cell with little food before being transported toward a detention center. Attorneys from the newly created Bay Area Habeas Network, led by attorney Jordan Weiner, filed an emergency habeas corpus petition and obtained a federal judge's order for her immediate release within hours. The woman told the Chronicle: "I feel like I have no peace. But I have faith and know that there are good people who will help us."