Human Impact Project

A close family friend, described as a father of two, uncle, and brother, was arrested by ICE. According to the organizer, he had worked and paid taxes in the U.S. for years without incident. The family started a fundraiser to help cover future costs related to his detention, citing uncertainty over his timeline in the detention facility.

A father was detained by ICE while at work in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Friday, August 21st. His daughter started a fundraiser to cover potential bail, which the family's lawyer said could range from $5,000 to $10,000, plus legal fees. The family describes him as 'the pillar' of their household.

Gustavo was arrested by ICE on a Wednesday morning while on his way to work. His wife, Flor Cecilia, who is unable to work due to health issues, and their children Kenia and Gustavo Jr. are struggling financially as a result. The family is raising money to hire an attorney to secure his release from jail and fight his deportation case.

Heriberto "Eddie" Reyes-Ochoa, a 34-year-old originally from Mexico who has lived in the U.S. for 20 years, was detained after a minor traffic accident near his home in Kiln, Mississippi. A Mississippi Highway Patrol trooper determined he lacked legal immigration status and took him to the Hancock County jail, where he stayed over the weekend before posting bond; ICE then took him into custody the next day and transferred him to the Adams County Correctional Center in Natchez, Mississippi. Reyes works in marine construction, has been married to his wife Catherine Cool, a U.S. citizen, for over a decade, and the couple is expecting their first child in January. Reyes had been pursuing lawful permanent residency through consular processing and was awaiting a visa interview when he was detained.

A Black man with no connection to an ongoing traffic stop was questioned and handcuffed by a US Border Patrol agent at an Orion gas station in Lake Worth Beach, Florida. Video shows the agent demanding his identification and telling him it was 'because you're an immigrant' before officers forced his arms behind his back and restrained him. He was released minutes later after a status check cleared him. A second man who appeared Latino was seized shortly afterward, and an older man filming the encounter was ordered to move away from the scene.

A Mexican mother of three said ICE agents attempted to detain her in Los Angeles during an enforcement operation in a residential neighborhood. A neighbor intervened, which prevented the arrest from happening. The woman said she now fears being deported.

More than 160 people were deported from the U.S. to Cap-Haïtien, Haiti, on a flight Thursday, the first such deportation since the Trump administration ended Temporary Protected Status for Haitians. The group included TPS holders who had lived and worked legally in the U.S. since 2010, as well as people of Haitian descent born in the Dominican Republic who are not recognized as citizens there. One deportee, Jean Diane Louis, told reporters he left Haiti at age 5, that his family lives in New York City, and that ICE detained him without questioning before sending him back. Upon arrival, Haitian immigration officials offered deportees a maximum of $65 along with food and water, and many said they had nowhere to go and no family remaining in Haiti.

Andrés, a Colombian immigrant living in College Point, Queens, was driving his wife and 6-year-old daughter home from getting food in late June when masked ICE agents in unmarked cars boxed in his vehicle and ordered him out. Agents used a vehicle registration lookup on his New Jersey plates to confirm his identity and immigration status before arresting him, even though he had no criminal history, a valid work permit, and an upcoming immigration court date. He spent about three weeks at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn before a federal judge ordered his release following a habeas corpus lawsuit. Since his release, his daughter has continued to break down in tears, and he now carries copies of his release papers in case he is stopped again.

Angel Acosta Ramirez, 43, a former mechanical engineer from Venezuela who later worked as an Uber driver in Branson, was pulled over by the Christian County Sheriff's Office for allegedly speeding near Highlandville in January 2026. Despite holding a valid work visa, he was arrested and jailed on an immigration hold, spending six weeks in the Greene County Jail before being deported. He had fled Venezuela in 2022 with his wife, Maria Fernanda Arrioja Romero, their infant son Santiago, and his parents, believing he had a right to remain in the U.S. Acosta Ramirez said the hardest part of his detention was being separated from his wife and not knowing what would happen to their young son. His wife was later held for months in the same Greene County Jail, which contracts with ICE to detain hundreds of immigrants daily. Acosta Ramirez said life since his deportation has been 'really hard,' with his family now struggling to earn enough money to survive.

Wendy Vanessa Triviño Carrillo, a Colombian woman from Cúcuta, has been detained for more than nine months at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana. Her father, Luis Eduardo, says she has experienced health problems while in custody and has appealed to the Colombian government and its Foreign Ministry for consular assistance. "We are not asking them to bypass the law. We are asking someone to look at my daughter's case, that someone listen to us," he said. The family is seeking more information about her immigration case, detention conditions, and medical care, and says that if she must return to Colombia they want it handled through proper procedures.

Mikel Junior Sanchez Ortiz, a 24-year-old Venezuelan man, was beaten and taken into custody early on August 19 while driving to work with his girlfriend, Haklin Olivares, 22, on Dawsonville Highway in Gainesville, Georgia. Olivares said several men in a truck stopped them, demanded their licenses, forced open the car doors, and struck Sanchez Ortiz until he bled before pulling him out; she was released after the men said her immigration status was in order but his was not. Sanchez Ortiz later told her by phone that his nose and mouth were injured internally, with a cut on his forehead and marks on his neck from being grabbed. Olivares said the men confiscated her phone and demanded she delete photos of the incident, and said she is uncertain whether they were ICE agents or bounty hunters. The couple has a pending asylum case with a court date scheduled for 2027, hold valid work permits and driver's licenses, and say they have no criminal record. Sanchez Ortiz is being held at Stewart Detention Center in southwest Georgia, and Olivares started a GoFundMe seeking $1,600 to support him.

Carlos Tellez Sanchez, a 35-year-old Venezuelan man who fled Venezuela and settled in Dallas, Texas in 2021, worked days at a car dealership and nights driving for Uber Eats to support his family. Though he held a 2021 Withholding of Removal order protecting him from deportation to Venezuela and had no criminal record beyond civil immigration violations, he was detained by ICE in December 2025 during what he believed was a routine check-in appointment. After nearly eight months in detention, he was flown in handcuffs to Liberia along with 19 other deportees, nearly 6,000 miles from his wife and newborn U.S. citizen son, whom he has only seen via video calls since the boy's birth. His brother, Juan Tellez, described him as 'a good person and hard worker' who 'doesn't deserve what happened to him.' He is now staying at a hotel in Liberia while deciding whether to seek asylum there or travel elsewhere.

Christopher Gil Ortíz, who had lived in the U.S. since childhood, was stopped by ICE agents on his way to work in Los Angeles and detained before being deported to Mexico, leaving behind his wife and two children. He was dropped in Tulum, had his belongings stolen in Cancún, and eventually settled in Mexico City's Tabacalera neighborhood, known as 'Little LA' for its community of returnees. He found support from New Comienzos, an organization helping deportees reintegrate into Mexican society amid an expected surge in deportations under the Trump administration.

Jonatan López, a man from Guatemala, was eating chips and drinking a soda on the steps outside a residential building in New Rochelle, New York, when ICE agents approached and began questioning him. Witness Brenda Figueroa, who recorded part of the encounter, described the detention as violent and said one agent who arrived later acted with particular aggression. Another witness said agents arrived in three unmarked vehicles, took a bystander's phone during the incident, and did not present a warrant despite repeated requests to do so.

An Oceanside, California man originally from Mexico was shot and killed during a robbery in Tijuana, according to his family. The killing occurred seven months after he was detained and deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A 1-year-old unaccompanied migrant child appeared in Arizona immigration court without legal representation and was told to file an asylum application before the next hearing or face deportation. This follows the end of a federal contract with the Acacia Center for Justice that had funded legal representation for over 24,000 unaccompanied migrant children. Nonprofits allege new government-contracted attorneys from USCRI have remained silent during hearings, leaving children to represent themselves despite a court order requiring continued legal services.

Adams County Health Department confirmed a laboratory-confirmed case of active tuberculosis involving a detainee at the GEO Group-operated Aurora ICE Processing Center. Officials said GEO failed to provide medical records, patient access, and housing or movement information required to investigate possible exposure among detainees, staff, contractors, or visitors, prompting a Public Health Order on June 25, 2026 requiring compliance with Colorado tuberculosis investigation laws. ICE denied any active TB cases at the facility and denied violating any laws or guidelines. As a lawsuit between the state and GEO Group continued, Colorado health officials asked a judge in August 2026 to force the company to allow investigators to complete the tuberculosis probe.

The petitioner, who had previously been released on bond, conditional parole, or humanitarian parole, was re-detained by immigration authorities on August 20, 2026. She is currently held at the California City Detention Facility. She filed a habeas corpus petition and motion for a temporary restraining order, arguing that her re-detention without a pre-deprivation bond hearing before a neutral arbiter violated the Due Process Clause. The government did not identify any facts or legal arguments distinguishing her case from several prior rulings in the same district finding such re-detentions unconstitutional. The court agreed, finding that the proper remedy for the government's failure to provide a constitutionally compliant hearing was her immediate release. The court ordered her released under the same conditions that applied before her August 20 detention, barred additional restrictions like electronic monitoring absent a future hearing, and required at least seven days' notice and a bond hearing before any future re-detention.

Kenia is currently in ICE custody, separated from her 2-year-old son Nico and her husband, according to a fundraiser started by her mother-in-law, Anne Limon. Kenia came to the U.S. legally as an infant on a visa that expired in 2015 while she was still a child, and she has no criminal history. A judge found her eligible for bond during a recent immigration hearing and allowed her release while she continues fighting her case, but her family needs to raise funds for the $1,800 bond and a fee for a Cancellation of Deportation application due by August 26.

Sylwester was detained by ICE in Pennsylvania on August 20, 2026, and is being held in a detention center away from his family in Brooklyn. His wife, Mariya, is raising funds for a licensed immigration attorney and an ICE bond ahead of his first court hearing scheduled for September 2, 2026. The family says they could not find pro bono legal help in Pennsylvania on short notice and describes Sylwester as the backbone of the family.

One of the Cuban men diverted from a Liberia-bound deportation flight to Equatorial Guinea arrived in Malabo still restrained, according to Meredyth Yoon, litigation director at Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta, who represents several of the group. The man has a serious abdominal condition requiring a colostomy bag that needs regular draining, but the hotel where he and roughly 40 other deportees are being held has no medical staff on site. Yoon described the scene as chaotic when the group arrived, with conditions at the facility reportedly worsening in recent months, including guards accused of withholding meals and, in some instances, choking or beating detainees.

Chief Magistrate Judge Scott T. Varholak ordered a habeas petitioner released after finding that ICE agents had violated an injunction issued by Senior Judge R. Brooke Jackson requiring agents to meet probable cause requirements before making warrantless arrests. Varholak wrote that the case was 'one in a series' in which the Department of Homeland Security 'appears to have simply ignored the law and detained an individual in violation of the law,' noting the government could not defend the decision. He set a hearing for September 10 for the government to address its 'apparent repeated violation of the law.'

Leonardo Sánchez Fernández, a 49-year-old Cuban lawful permanent U.S. resident from San Miguel del Padrón who had lived in Lehigh Acres, Florida, was deported by ICE to Equatorial Guinea under a third-country agreement despite holding valid residency until 2030. He had been detained by ICE at a gas station after a drug possession arrest and completing community service, then held at the Alligator Alcatraz facility before being flown for more than 36 hours from Alexandria, Louisiana without being told his destination. During a stopover in Liberia, witnesses said guards shoved him and he fell face-first onto the tarmac, aggravating a preexisting abdominal hernia and intestinal damage from an old stabbing injury and prior surgery. He is now hospitalized in Malabo receiving IV fluids without a passport, documents, consular assistance, toothbrush, or clothes, and may miss a scheduled surgery at Jackson Memorial Hospital. His mother Caridad and sister Dorty, in Lehigh Acres, learned of his location after seeing a video posted from Equatorial Guinea and have been trying to secure his release.

According to a viral social media post, ICE agents in the Pine Manor neighborhood of Fort Myers, Florida, grabbed several women, forced them onto pavement and against parked cars, and continued restraining them while a child stood nearby. The post claims agents threatened to shoot the women during the confrontation. The claims have not been independently verified by news sources.

Carlos Rodríguez López, a 35-year-old Cuban man who lived in Miami Gardens after 16 months in ICE detention, was placed on an August 20 deportation flight to Liberia under a U.S.-Liberia removal agreement. He and other detainees refused to disembark, arguing Liberia was not their country and would endanger them; Liberian authorities also refused to accept them. Instead of returning to the U.S. as expected, the plane was diverted to Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, where Rodríguez López and roughly 40 other deportees were met by masked police, searched, and taken to a hotel without passports or legal assistance. His wife, Igrayne Ribot Hernández, a U.S. citizen who runs a family business in Miami Gardens and has a nine-year-old daughter with him, said he had rebuilt his life after serving an 11-month sentence for a prior conviction and called the deportation to a country with no ties to him unlawful and inhumane. A habeas corpus petition filed in November 2025 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana remains unresolved, and Rodríguez López told Univision by video call that he considers the diversion an illegal deportation.

Five people the U.S. attempted to deport to Liberia this week refused to leave the plane upon landing and were instead flown to Equatorial Guinea, according to sources familiar with the incident. The group included three Cuban men, one Brazilian man, and one Cameroonian woman, who were told they would be returned to the U.S. but were instead forced to disembark in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. They are now being held with more than 30 other migrants previously sent there under a similar third-country deportation deal, which human rights groups have criticized for poor conditions and lack of legal aid.

Federal immigration agents detained three men in a white Jeep in the Westcott neighborhood of Syracuse, stopping the vehicle in the 400 block of Westcott Street. Witnesses said two of the men complied with ICE agents, but the driver tried to flee and was tasered several times before being tackled by ICE agents. Syracuse police officers, who initially stopped to assist thinking it was a local warrant execution, backed off once they realized it was an ICE operation and later only wrote a crash report at ICE's request. The men, who have not been identified, were taken to ICE's Central New York headquarters in Mattydale; the incident is one of more than 80 similar detentions reported in Onondaga County in the first two-and-a-half months of the year.

A woman, identified by her daughter-in-law Yajaira Gutierrez as her mother-in-law, was arrested by ICE agents who surrounded her car in Santa Fe while a baby on oxygen was in the back seat. Family members said agents told them they would break the car's windows regardless of what they did and would take her anyway. Gutierrez said the family could only watch as their relative was taken away, adding that "everyone has rights, but apparently in this country they don't."

Liam Tadeo, a 5-year-old just days from starting kindergarten, was detained by ICE agents alongside his father, Victor Martinez Nieto, after federal agents stopped their vehicle in Austin, Texas, while the family was headed to a soccer game. Both were booked into the CoreCivic-operated South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, where DHS said they would remain together pending Martinez Nieto's removal. Attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch said Martinez Nieto begged ICE to release Liam to his mother, as was done for the boy's 3-year-old cousin and uncle detained in the same stop, but ICE refused. Liam's mother said she could not say goodbye to her son, that his bedroom remains untouched, and that the family wants them reunited. His aunt described him in a GoFundMe post as 'a beautiful, intelligent, and big-hearted little boy.' DHS said Martinez Nieto, a Mexican national, had previously accepted voluntary departure in February before reentering the U.S. without authorization. Fuerza Migrante called on Mexican authorities to intervene, while U.S. Rep. Greg Casar called for Liam's immediate release and closure of the Dilley facility, and U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro said ICE denied his request to visit the family. Members of Congress have said children at Dilley have been denied medical care, and an immigration attorney said Liam will likely remain there for weeks with an uncertain future.

Two workers at Raymond's restaurant in Montclair, New Jersey were detained by ICE on a Wednesday morning while on their way to work, according to co-workers and public records. Both men are currently being held at Delaney Hall, a detention facility in Newark. ICE has not detailed the circumstances of the arrests.

Arcadio Zavala García, known as "Callito," was detained by ICE agents while walking home in New Rochelle, New York. A neighbor, Marisol Cuevas, recognized him as a friend of her father's and began recording as agents questioned him in English, a language he does not speak. Cuevas said Zavala, originally from Veracruz, Mexico, was known for being respectful and, as far as she knew, had no criminal record.

A 24-year-old Venezuelan man described suffering a broken nose, an injured mouth, and being beaten inside a vehicle during his detention in Georgia. He is now being held at the Stewart Detention Center. His girlfriend says the people who detained him were alleged bounty hunters.

Austin Connell, a concrete business owner who posts about politics online, was visited at his home in Carrollton, Virginia by Secret Service agents who had obtained screenshots of his private Instagram direct messages. Connell said he does not know how the agents accessed the private messages, which included anti-ICE content, and noted he had also publicly criticized ICE. "I'm for law enforcement—just not corrupt law enforcement," he said.

Maria Alejandra Gomez-Quiroz, a 21-year-old pregnant Colombian woman, was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol in June while fleeing violent guerrillas with her partner and planning to seek asylum. She was convicted of illegal entry on July 6 and has remained in ICE custody at the Dilley family detention facility in Texas for more than 40 days, now five months pregnant. Her sister, Kelly Ocampo, says the family paid more than $3,000 to someone posing as an immigration lawyer who sent a fraudulent letter on ICE letterhead falsely claiming Gomez-Quiroz's bond had been approved and she would be released. Ocampo says her sister has become 'very depressed' and has reported lower abdominal pain, while their mother is described as 'desperate.' DHS said Gomez-Quiroz remains in custody pending removal proceedings and disputed claims of inadequate medical care. She is one of at least 500 people detained at Dilley and one of four pregnant women held there, according to lawmakers.

Edgar Chacon-Miranda, 45, was detained by ICE agents in the parking lot of La Familia Health/Medical Center in Santa Fe as he drove his young daughter to a medical appointment, after apparently being followed from home. Clinic staff, including chief information officer Jasmin Milz, said agents blocked his vehicle and took him into custody without entering the building, and the child was later picked up by a family member with help from community advocates. DHS labeled Chacon-Miranda a 'criminal illegal alien' with an 'extensive criminal history,' citing 2018 battery, criminal sexual penetration, and child abuse charges, but court records show those charges were dismissed after the alleged victim declined to cooperate. His attorney, Allegra Love, said he has full legal custody of his children under a New Mexico family court order and received a U visa in 2022 for cooperating with law enforcement, which expired in May while his residency application remains pending. Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies criticized federal officials for citing the dismissed case without noting its outcome. U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández said ICE reported eight people detained in Santa Fe that day and called leaving the child in the parking lot 'cruelty.' New Mexico House Majority Leader Reena Szczepanski confirmed agents had followed the parent and child from their home.

ICE and Homeland Security Investigations agents entered private property in Brownsville, Texas, to arrest a man, while the property owner demanded to see a judicial warrant. According to local news reports cited in the post, immigration authorities told the Brownsville Police Department they would be increasing their presence in the city.

Masuma Khan, 64, a Bangladeshi immigrant with no criminal history who arrived in the U.S. in 1997 and has long worked at a local restaurant, was detained at the California City Detention Facility after a routine ICE check-in in October 2025. During her month in custody, she intermittently or never received medications for high blood pressure, hypothyroidism, prediabetes, and glaucoma, receiving asthma medication only two days before release and never getting eye drops; staff told her to buy medications from the commissary, which did not stock them. Since her release, Khan has suffered PTSD and ongoing health issues, and has become fearful of leaving her home. Advocates allege ICE uses intimidation tactics on detainees nearing release, including driving them to airport tarmacs to pressure self-deportation. Supporters are now urging California lawmakers, including Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, and Governor Gavin Newsom, to pass SB995, the Masuma Khan Justice Act.

Twenty deportees from the United States arrived in Liberia as part of a new agreement that could see up to 1,200 people sent there under the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. Liberia's justice minister said most deportees had committed migration-related violations and could seek asylum in Liberia. The U.S. agreed to extend visitor visas for Liberians and pledged $124 million in assistance as part of the deal, one of the largest third-country deportation arrangements pursued by the administration.

An Iraqi man showing early signs of dementia was arrested by ICE agents in his front yard after living in the United States for more than 30 years. A judge had previously ruled he would likely face persecution or torture if deported to Iraq, granting him legal protection from removal to his home country. Despite that ruling, he was taken into custody and held in Arizona ICE detention facilities. He was among a group of immigrants who remained detained even after winning protection from deportation to their home countries, according to an analysis of habeas corpus petitions.

A Colombian mother was separated from her two young children during a routine ICE check-in in Baltimore, despite a judge having ruled she would likely face torture or persecution if deported to Colombia. She was transferred to the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona. An Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting analysis identified her as one of a group of immigrants ICE continued to detain in Arizona even after judges had barred their deportation to their home countries due to humanitarian protections.

Wilmar Quintero, a 50-year-old transgender woman from Venezuela, fled her home country after she said police officers tortured her, carved out her breast implants and left her for dead for speaking out against civil rights abuses. She sought asylum in the United States and was detained for about three months in Michigan, where she said she was sexually assaulted by another migrant and mistreated by staff. Immigration officials deported her to Venezuela in April 2025, where she went into hiding, saying she remains afraid of police there.

Camila Toro de Paula, a 25-year-old transgender woman from Venezuela, has been held for nearly a year at a men's ICE detention facility in Jena, Louisiana, after being arrested during a routine immigration check-in at ICE's New York City office in August 2025. She fled Venezuela after suffering childhood abuse, including repeated rape by relatives and a homophobic stabbing attack by police, and sought asylum in the U.S. two years ago. Toro de Paula says she has been assaulted, threatened, placed in solitary confinement, denied water, and deprived of the hormone therapy she had received for years, after a policy protecting transgender detainees was eliminated in February 2025. She told The New York Times, "I'm afraid of dying here," and says she has resisted pressure to voluntarily return to Venezuela. Immigration officials cited felony assault and weapons charges as justification for her detention, though both charges were later dismissed and sealed.

Manuel Ernesto Hernandez-Umana, 46, an El Salvador national, was detained by ICE after a Coast Guard investigation confirmed his unlawful presence in the United States. He had been arrested on August 9 and charged following the capsizing of a boat near the Statue of Liberty that killed 27-year-old Sara Sanchez and her 5-month-old daughter, Antonella Garcia, both of Queens. Hernandez faces federal counts of misconduct and neglect of a ship officer resulting in death, as well as state reckless endangerment charges, and told authorities he entered the U.S. through Texas in 2007 after falsely claiming to be a citizen. He remains in ICE custody awaiting trial and will face removal proceedings after his criminal case concludes.

The petitioner is a Mexican citizen and asylum seeker who was previously placed in removal proceedings and released on his own recognizance. He complied with all immigration court hearings and check-ins, but was re-detained by ICE during a check-in on the day the petition was filed. His asylum application had been pretermitted and he was ordered removed on March 11, 2026, but he timely appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals on April 9, 2026, meaning there is no final order of removal. He is currently held in civil immigration detention in San Francisco, California. He filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus and a temporary restraining order seeking release pending further proceedings, arguing his re-detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violates due process. The court granted the TRO, ordering his release by 10:00 a.m. on August 20, 2026, and enjoining respondents from detaining him again without a hearing before a neutral decisionmaker.

An unnamed Cuban man detained at the Montgomery ICE Processing Center near Houston, Texas, was arrested by ICE on July 22, 2026, and declared a hunger striker three days later. DHS says he entered the U.S. unlawfully in 1980, was ordered deported in 2004, and has prior convictions; he currently has no legal representation. U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen authorized ICE to force-feed him, first via nasogastric tube and later approving a rare, nonconsensual surgical gastrostomy tube procedure, extending the order into September. DHS later said the man had resumed eating and drinking and was not being force-fed, though it remains unconfirmed whether the surgical procedure was performed. ACLU of Texas attorney Savannah Kumar and civil rights attorney Eunice Cho criticized the practice as torturous, noting it is likely the 19th such case since January 2025 in which ICE sought court approval for involuntary medical procedures on hunger-striking detainees.

Felipe was detained by ICE and is currently in custody, according to a GoFundMe campaign started by his wife, Jarilis Quiles. Felipe is described as the main provider for his household, and his family is beginning legal proceedings to fight for his return home. The family is raising funds to cover legal expenses and Felipe's basic needs during the immigration process.

Degnis Nelson Bofill Miranda, a 39-year-old Cuban-born percussionist, composer, and founder of the group Golpes Libres, was detained by ICE agents at Miami International Airport on August 19 immediately after returning from performances and a music conference in New York. He entered the U.S. legally in April 2023 through a State Department-backed music exchange visa program and has a pending asylum petition that had not yet reached its initial interview stage. His wife, Mara Delgado, said agents were waiting for him at the arrival gate and that he was initially not listed in ICE's detainee locator, complicating efforts to secure legal representation, before he was moved to the Krome North Service Processing Center. ICE said he had not complied with the terms of his 2023 admission but would receive due process, while Delgado said she fears he will be deported to Cuba and separated from her. Delgado described him as a beloved figure in Miami's Cuban music community who teaches local workshops, and fellow musicians publicly voiced support for him. A GoFundMe campaign for his legal defense raised more than $45,000 from over 500 donors within two days.

Emmanuel Nelson, a rising senior and defensive player for Port St. Lucie High School's football team, was pulled over by Port St. Lucie police for driving 45 mph in a 20 mph school zone on Southeast Lennard Road. During the stop, officers determined Nelson was not a U.S. citizen and that his work permit had expired, and they contacted ICE, which placed a detainer on him. Nelson was arrested and has been held for more than a week, first at the St. Lucie County Jail and now at the Broward Transitional Center, pending removal proceedings. ICE said Nelson legally entered the U.S. in January 2016 but later violated the terms of his admission.

Maria Del Carmen Negrete Raya, 39, a Mexican citizen, was arrested and charged with three counts of battery on a law enforcement officer after an encounter with ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers in Fort Myers, Florida. Authorities said ICE officers attempted to stop a vehicle registered to a non-U.S. citizen, and after the occupants fled, Negrete Raya confronted the officers, with one officer suffering minor injuries. Records show Negrete Raya entered the United States without inspection and filed an asylum application in 2023, and officials said she remains subject to removal proceedings. State prosecutors plan to seek reclassification of the charges as second-degree felonies based on her immigration status.

In a separate incident on Aug. 19, ICE agents pulled at least one person off a plane at Sea-Tac International Airport and arrested them at the gate, according to immigration attorney Jane O'Sullivan, who spoke with the detained person's travel companion. The detained person had overstayed a visa but had an active immigration application pending. O'Sullivan said 'a number of people' were taken off planes that day and later brought to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, though she could not specify how many were held. The arrests are part of a broader Department of Homeland Security enforcement effort targeting non-citizens with pending immigration cases at airports nationwide.