Human Impact Project

A 67-year-old lawful permanent resident who has lived legally in the U.S. for about 50 years was held for eight days by CBP at San Francisco International Airport after returning from a trip to Guadalajara, Mexico, and landing in Fresno. He told the San Francisco Chronicle that agents removed him from his flight and transported him in handcuffs to San Francisco, where he says he slept sitting in a chair under lights kept on and struggled to manage his blood sugar despite having diabetes, hypertension and vision problems. His detention was reportedly linked to an old criminal record; he was later transferred to an ICE detention facility for several months before his attorneys secured his release. The case is part of a broader investigation that found 25 people were held more than 72 hours at SFO through July, 19 of whom were green card holders, despite CBP policy generally limiting custody to 72 hours.

César Cepeda Gomez, a Venezuelan delivery driver for Walmart who held a work permit and had an asylum hearing scheduled for October, was detained by ICE agents outside a Bloomington Walmart alongside a coworker. He lives in Bloomington with his partner and her child. ICE said he was being held at North Lake Correctional Facility in Michigan.

Manuel Alejandro Nadal-Ortiz, a Venezuelan man who came to the U.S. under an asylum claim and held a work permit, was detained by ICE agents outside a Bloomington Walmart while working as a delivery driver for DoorDash, Uber and Walmart. His girlfriend, Joanna Hanner, said his mother called her crying within minutes of the arrest, and the family spent the day calling detention centers before Ortiz reached them by phone that afternoon from Chicago, saying he was being transferred to a jail in Michigan. Hanner said Ortiz had no criminal record beyond a paid speeding ticket, closely monitored local ICE activity to avoid it, and was saving money to support his father in Venezuela. As of publication, Ortiz did not appear in the ICE detainee locator and his exact location was unknown.

José David Murcia Valdez, a 30-year-old Honduran refugee, fled Honduras six years ago after a machete attack cost him a finger and left scars across his arms and shoulders. He settled in Monterrey, Mexico, and worked for three years at a recycling plant until Mexican authorities arrived to check employees' papers and deported him back to Honduras. Unable to remain in Honduras because of the earlier attack, he returned to Mexico and joined a migrant caravan called Sueños sin Fronteras, attempting to bike more than 1,000 miles back to Monterrey in search of work.

Felipe Flores was deported alongside Daniel Ramirez as part of the same third-country deportation flight to Guatemala City. Before the flight, he spent days in cramped U.S. detention facilities without being able to shower or brush his teeth, followed by a 15-hour stint in handcuffs. After being released in Guatemala City, he was bused with other Mexican deportees across the border into Tapachula, Mexico.

Daniel Ramirez, a 30-year-old Texas resident born in Mexico's Tamaulipas state and raised in Brownsville, was detained by U.S. immigration agents near his home. Rather than being returned to Mexico, he was shackled and flown to Guatemala City as part of the Trump administration's third-country deportation policy, then bused across the border into Tapachula, Mexico, more than 1,000 miles from the U.S. border. Ramirez, who lived in the U.S. for years without legal status, said the transfer felt like "a punishment for us so we don't go back again." He later took a multi-day bus trip to Matamoros, near Brownsville, where he found work painting cars.

Ana Garcia's mother was arrested by ICE near downtown Mount Vernon, Washington, according to her daughter. Ana said the family was not allowed to see her before she was taken away. The five siblings are now navigating daily life without either parent at home.

The petitioner was detained at a facility in or near Vinton, Texas, though his exact facility and immediate custodian had not been reliably confirmed to him or his supporters at the time of filing. He filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, along with a motion for a temporary restraining order seeking to prevent his removal from the country and to prevent his transfer outside the Western District of Texas without advance notice. The court found it lacked jurisdiction to stay his removal because such claims are barred under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(g) as directly connected to execution of a removal order. The court did find it had jurisdiction over the underlying habeas petition itself, since it was filed in the district of confinement and named the facility administrator as respondent. The court noted that its jurisdiction would not be lost even if he were transferred to another facility after filing. The motion for a temporary restraining order was denied in full.

A man held at the Denver Contract Detention Facility in Aurora, Colorado filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his detention under 8 U.S.C. §§ 1225 and 1226, seeking release or, alternatively, a bond hearing. He argued that the government's interpretation of these statutes to deny him a bond hearing was unlawful. The court found this dispute had already been resolved in his favor by a recent Tenth Circuit decision interpreting the same statutory provisions. The court granted the petition in part, ordering that he receive a bond hearing within seven days at which the government must bear the burden of proving his continued detention is justified. The court also enjoined the government from denying him bond on the basis that he is detained under § 1225(b), and barred his removal from the District of Colorado except pursuant to a final removal order, in order to preserve its jurisdiction over the case.

Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican citizen and homebuilder who had lived in Houston for nearly 35 years, was fatally shot by an ICE agent on July 7, 2026, while driving his construction crew to a job site. He had no criminal record and was reportedly close to completing the process of obtaining legal status. DHS and ICE said he rammed an ICE vehicle and ignored commands, but witnesses and his family dispute this, saying he was shot through the passenger window with no officer in danger. His son Ronaldo said he learned of his father's death from a social media video rather than from authorities, and the shooting prompted protests, congressional hearings, and diplomatic complaints from Mexico. His brother, Victor Salgado Araujo, 44, who was in the vehicle, was detained for 54 days at the Montgomery ICE Processing Center, unable to attend the funeral, before being released in late August as the last of three witnesses freed from custody. His attorney, Ruby Powers, said Victor is expected to testify before a Harris County grand jury investigating the shooting and is pursuing a U visa while facing separate removal proceedings.

Pierre Damas Bel, a 20-year-old Haitian immigrant and recent high school graduate, died after being struck by a tractor-trailer on Interstate 70 near Springfield, Ohio, in what his family says was suicide. Bel had just begun his freshman year at Wright State University, where he was recruited to play soccer, and hoped to study neuroscience. He had a pending asylum claim with a hearing scheduled for October, and his father said his son felt he was 'treated like an animal' after ICE fitted him with a GPS ankle monitor. In a July Instagram post, Bel wrote that wearing the device gave him a feeling of 'shame and humiliation' he never imagined experiencing. The migrant-rights group Amica filed a lawsuit in June over the Trump administration's expanded use of GPS monitors, which at the time were being worn by about 50,000 people.

ICE Phoenix arrested two men during targeted enforcement actions in northern Arizona the week of August 2. Norberto Osornio-Gutierrez, a 50-year-old Mexican national with a history of immigration violations and past deportation orders, was arrested near Prescott. Dinesh Sapkota, a 28-year-old Nepali national who overstayed his visa, was arrested near Flagstaff following 2023 convictions tied to a 2022 arrest.

Federal and Tennessee state agents raided El Corralón, an immigrant-owned nightclub and restaurant in Memphis's Berclair neighborhood, in a pre-dawn operation dubbed 'Operation Corral Light' led by ICE's New Orleans field office. Witnesses said patrons and employees were corralled onto the dance floor, checked for identification, handcuffed, and loaded onto buses while children screamed for detained parents; advocacy groups estimated parents of at least 16 children were taken, leaving some as young as 7 uncertain about their parents' whereabouts overnight. DHS confirmed more than 120 arrests but has publicly identified only five detainees, citing prior charges including larceny, drug possession, domestic violence, DUI, assault, and prostitution, while the status of remaining detainees has not been disclosed. The operation stemmed from Tennessee Bureau of Investigation search warrants targeting alleged illegal gambling machines and narcotics rather than immigration status, prompting defense attorneys, the ACLU, the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, State Rep. Gabby Salinas, and Memphis's mayor to question whether it exceeded the warrant's scope. Advocates said many detainees were transferred to facilities in Mason, Tennessee, Alabama, and Louisiana, with some deported to Honduras within days; four people were released at the scene after showing documentation. Marco Urbina, the original target of the warrant, remains in federal custody facing an illegal re-entry charge.

Julio Alfredo De Ávila Hernández disappeared in Jalisco, Mexico, ten years ago after being tortured by a cartel. His parents and siblings later fled to the United States and applied for asylum, but an immigration judge ruled in April that they must continue their asylum process in Ecuador, Honduras, or Guatemala instead of remaining in the U.S. The family has filed an appeal to try to stay. Julio's sister, Alondra De Ávila, 26, crossed the border with her four-year-old son in 2024 to turn themselves in to immigration authorities and tell their story. "We want to stay here. I don't want my son to live what I lived," she said.

Sae Joon Park, 57, a Korean-born US Army veteran awarded a Purple Heart for injuries sustained during the 1989 US invasion of Panama, self-deported to South Korea last year after ICE threatened to detain him at a routine immigration check-in over old criminal convictions. Park had lived in the US since age 7, moving from South Korea to join his mother in Miami, and struggled with PTSD and drug use following his military service, leading to a 2007 drug possession conviction and a 2009 bail-jumping conviction. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul pardoned Park for both convictions, opening a pathway for him to seek to have his removal order vacated and legally return to the US. His attorney said the pardon does not guarantee his return. Park now lives in Busan, South Korea, separated from his two adult children.

Kwesi Menezes, a 35-year-old green card holder from New Jersey who had struggled for years with schizophrenia, died Aug. 30 in Guyana after overdosing on his psychiatric medication, months after being deported in April. His family says his mental illness was overlooked during his immigration case, noting he had been jailed after an assault on a police officer during what relatives described as a mental health episode, and later for a probation violation. He was transferred into ICE detention in November and placed on DHS's "Worst of the Worst Criminal Aliens Arrested" list in December, a label his mother and sister said ignored his mental health struggles. His family is now working to bring his remains back to the United States.

Gustavo Parraga Durán, a Venezuelan journalist who has been seeking asylum in the U.S. for nearly a decade, was detained by ICE agents during a traffic stop in Utah. He is currently being held at a detention facility in Washington state. His wife said he has no criminal charges, not even traffic tickets, and has lost his job while the family risks losing their home. Parraga Durán is married and the father of two young daughters.

Khalil, a 24-year-old Afghan man whose brother served alongside U.S. forces in the Afghan Army and another brother died fighting the Taliban as a pilot, was deported to the Central African Republic despite having been granted 'withholding of removal' by a U.S. immigration judge in August 2025, who found he could face persecution in Afghanistan. He crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in 2024 and was held in ICE custody throughout his time in the U.S.; he did not qualify for asylum due to a Biden-era policy requiring migrants to seek protection in other countries first. His immigration lawyer, Alma David, said his case shows the administration's effort to 'obliterate the global refugee protection system,' while a retired Marine colonel who supervised his brother said he fears Khalil could be killed if eventually returned to Afghanistan.

Milo Yiannopoulos, a 41-year-old British national and former Breitbart News editor, was detained by ICE agents at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport on August 27, 2026. He was moved to an ICE processing facility in Alexandria, Louisiana, before being deported to the United Kingdom about 24 hours later. DHS said he had legally entered the U.S. in 2019 but overstayed his authorization, and that an immigration judge issued a final removal order on July 22 after he failed to appear at a hearing. Yiannopoulos disputes this, saying he held a valid O-1 visa and later a green card through his 2017 marriage to an American man, which he claims was quietly canceled without notice. He said he was surrounded by roughly 15 agents, denied food for a day, and moved repeatedly to keep him from reaching his lawyer, and plans to challenge the removal in court. Far-right activist Laura Loomer claimed she had reported him to ICE, and border czar Tom Homan denied allegations of preferential treatment in the speed of his removal.

A Filipina nurse working at a Phoenix hospital's acute-care telemetry unit was taken into ICE custody at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Her family says she held a valid work permit and has no criminal history, and they remain unaware of the reason for her detention. Her boyfriend, who set up a GoFundMe for her, said her immigration case has a court hearing scheduled for September 4.

Indi Veitia, a 47-year-old Venezuelan asylum-seeker who lives in Indianapolis with her wife and worked her way up from a warehouse job to a corporate position, was detained by ICE officers while walking to her gate at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport during a work trip. She said plain-clothes officers slammed her against the jetway wall, handcuffed her, and transported her in an unmarked vehicle before transferring her to a detention center in Lumpkin, Georgia, where she spent 21 days in a windowless dormitory with more than 60 other women sharing four toilets and showers, at times without running water or power, describing the conditions as 'inhumane.' Veitia entered the U.S. on a work visa in 2019 and later applied for asylum, holding a valid work permit and driver's license while her application had been pending since 2020. She was released on bond after friends and her employer wrote supporting letters and secured lawyers, but now wears a GPS ankle monitor and must report to the ICE field office in Indianapolis under a court order. Her attorney said asylum applicants like her are 'low-hanging fruit' for detention despite following legal processes, while DHS said a pending asylum application does not confer legal status. Veitia said, 'I have done everything that the government have asked me to do.'

Alex Ramirez Gonzalez and Yan Vasquez Hidalgo, a married Cuban couple working in environmental services at SUNY Upstate Medical University, were detained by ICE after appearing for a scheduled immigration hearing in Mattydale, New York. The couple had fled Cuba, entered the U.S. in 2021, turned themselves in to seek asylum, and held valid work authorization. They said they were handcuffed and chained before being transported to a federal detention facility, where they were held for nearly four months, mostly separated from each other. In January, two immigration judges ruled they could not seek asylum in the U.S. but could pursue it in Ecuador, a country to which they have no connection; their lawyer appealed, and the case remains pending. They were released on bond, with one required to wear an ankle monitor, and have returned to their jobs and families in Syracuse. A third coworker, Mohamed Fofana, remains in ICE custody in Texas.

A Mexican man who entered the U.S. on a tourist visa in 2019 and remained after his authorized stay expired has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since 2020. He has a partner, financially supports two children ages 12 and 14, works at a local restaurant where he was recently promoted to shift supervisor, and has strong community ties. On August 28, 2026, he was detained by ICE agents at Oakland International Airport while preparing to board a domestic flight to Las Vegas with his partner, and was placed into removal proceedings. He has no criminal record in the U.S. or elsewhere. He suffers from severe sleep apnea requiring a CPAP machine, and without treatment risks a heart attack while in detention. He filed a habeas corpus petition raising Fifth Amendment due process claims and sought a temporary restraining order for immediate release and to prevent his re-arrest or transfer outside the district. The court granted the TRO, ordering his immediate release, enjoining his re-detention without a pre-detention hearing before a neutral decisionmaker, and barring his removal from the district pending further proceedings, with a preliminary injunction hearing set for September 15, 2026.

Hleb Matskevich, who came to the U.S. from Belarus at age 14 under asylum protections and later built a life in Palm Coast, Florida, where he owns two businesses, was detained by ICE agents at a Pennsylvania airport after flying in for his fiancée's grandfather's funeral. His fiancée, Alessandra Robinson, said agents cited an expired visa despite his pending case with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Matskevich is being held at Pike County Correctional Facility in Pennsylvania while the couple pursues a bond request and plans to marry while he remains in custody.

Ivan "Sergio" Chapparo, a shift supervisor at the Oceanview Diner in Berkeley who had worked there for more than six years, was detained by federal immigration agents as he was boarding a flight to Las Vegas at either Oakland or San Francisco International Airport. Friends say Chapparo, a father of three, does not have immigration documents and is currently being held in a detention facility. Restaurant co-owner Will Bishop described him as friendly and well-liked by customers and coworkers, and a friend set up a GoFundMe to help cover his legal costs.

A video circulated by Yakima Community Aid showed a person detained by immigration enforcement agents immediately after being released from Yakima police custody on a Monday. Yakima Police Chief Shawn Boyle said officers did not coordinate with ICE, explaining that ICE and other agencies simply monitor publicly available county jail rosters to learn release times. Boyle defended an officer seen in the video handing the detained person's bag of belongings to an ICE officer, calling the action reasonable given the situation. The incident prompted discussion at a town hall about the Keep Washington Working Act, which restricts local law enforcement from assisting federal immigration enforcement.

A relative of Brenda Dumas who holds a valid work permit was detained by ICE in Port Isabel and, after being held, was released with an ankle monitor, becoming one of more than 50,000 people the agency is tracking with the devices. The family member requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation from the federal government. Dumas said she now uses a phone app to track family members' locations and stays in constant communication with them out of safety concerns.

A court filing revealed that earlier this year four ICE vehicles sped past a stopped school bus with its lights flashing in New Jersey before heading toward an apartment complex where elementary school children were waiting for another bus. The children scattered and ran away in fear. Vanessa Cárdenas, executive director of America's Voice, said the incident showed immigration agents treating young children on their way to school as targets.

Bill Bassikissa Bounguiena, a Cumberland County corrections officer, was detained by ICE in South Portland in June 2026. The Sheriff's Office said he had been hired in August 2024, had no discipline issues, and 'demonstrated dedication to his duties' by often working overtime. He held an employment authorization document confirming he could legally work in the U.S. until 2030, and the Sheriff's Office said it had no further information on why ICE detained him.

A 51-year-old native of Mexico who entered the U.S. lawfully in 1993 and remained for 33 years while raising a family was detained on May 29, 2026, during a routine traffic stop after local law enforcement learned of his immigration status. He had been cooperating with immigration authorities, submitting applications for lawful permanent residency that were approved by USCIS and appearing for required biometrics appointments. The court granted his preliminary injunction petition, finding he possessed a constitutionally protected liberty interest and was entitled to pre-deprivation process before detention, ordering his immediate release.

ICE agents pulled 28-year-old Johnny Queda from his truck in Danbury, Connecticut, on August 27, 2026, as he drove home from a construction job. His fiancée, Kimberly Rivas, said Queda, who is from Ecuador and has lived in the U.S. for five years while pursuing citizenship, pays taxes, has legal representation and had no criminal history. "It's just so sad ... he does everything right," Rivas said. The arrest, captured on video by a local shop owner, occurred amid a broader week of intensified ICE enforcement in the city.

In April, immigration officers arrested a mother and her two children in Alamo Heights, Texas, while they were waiting for a school bus, according to the San Antonio Report. The case is cited as part of a broader pattern of ICE enforcement operations occurring near school bus stops across the country.

Aracelio "Mike" Hernandez, who came to the United States at age 4 and has lived there for 60 years, was picked up by ICE and is being held for deportation. His family describes him as a dependable, hardworking community member, a devoted husband to his wife Katie, and a loving father and grandfather. His family is raising funds for legal fees to fight his deportation and to support his wife and family during the ordeal.

Johnny Ojeda was detained by ICE agents on West Street in Danbury last week, according to video of the incident. His fiancée said he has never committed a crime and was in the process of applying to become a U.S. citizen. She said he was transferred to a detention center in Rhode Island and is scheduled to make his first appearance in federal court.

Jay Dabelus, a professional boxer born in the Bahamas who left as a child and spent more than two decades living in the United States, was deported to Cap-Haïtien, Haiti, saying he has never lived there and has no family or resources to rely on. He was among more than 50 people deported on the flight, including two minors, according to Haiti's National Office of Migration. The flight landed in Cap-Haïtien rather than Port-au-Prince because the capital's main airport is considered too dangerous amid gang violence. It was the second U.S. deportation flight to Haiti since Temporary Protected Status was ended for roughly 350,000 Haitians living in the U.S.

A man detained by the Department of Homeland Security and ICE at the McCook Detention Facility in McCook, Nebraska, filed a habeas corpus petition seeking immediate release from custody. The petition does not detail his nationality, family circumstances, employment, or the circumstances of his arrest. The federal court issued an order to show cause, requiring the government to certify the cause and duration of his detention and justify why the writ should not be granted. The court ordered respondents to file a return with supporting affidavits, a legal memorandum, and copies of any arrest warrant by September 2, 2026. The petitioner may file a reply by September 9, 2026. The court also enjoined the respondents from removing him from the United States or from Nebraska, and ordered that if he had already been removed from the state, he must be immediately returned.

The petitioner filed a motion for a temporary restraining order on August 28, 2026, seeking to prevent his transfer out of the Western District of Washington. Federal Respondents confirmed that he is currently detained at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington. Under the court's scheduling order, immigration officials are required to give 48 or 72 hours' notice before transferring him out of the district. Because his location was confirmed and no transfer notice has been issued, both parties jointly asked the court to withdraw the pending TRO motion. The court granted the joint motion and withdrew the TRO. The order notes that the petitioner may again seek emergency injunctive relief if federal officials later provide notice of a transfer.

A Danbury, Connecticut construction worker, identified by family as Edel Hernandez Cervantes, was tackled, kicked, and repeatedly tased by ICE agents on August 27, 2026, after he and coworkers noticed an ICE vehicle following them on their way to a job site and turned back home. Neighbors' video and a 911 call showed as many as five agents surrounding the vehicle, pinning him face-down, and shocking him with a Taser while he complained of hypertension and was reported to be convulsing. Family described him as an expert baker who once owned a bakery in Mexico known for bread made for Día de los Muertos and Three Kings Day, and who always kept the radio on and loved to sing. He was taken by ambulance to Danbury Hospital, where staff and ICE denied his family and an attorney access to him, telling them there was no record of him as a patient. Danbury Mayor Roberto Alves said he had already been transferred to ICE custody in Hartford before officials could intervene, and his whereabouts and condition remained unclear for days afterward.

Soumia Bensalah, a French Moroccan immigrant with a pending green card application, was repeatedly released from Pinellas County Jail and rebooked every 72 hours to be transported shackled to an ICE office and back, a practice she said left her exhausted and humiliated. Legal experts say these 'rebookings' circumvent federal rules limiting how long county jails can hold immigrants for ICE. ProPublica found Pinellas County rebooked 174 immigrants and Orange County, Florida rebooked 559 immigrants this way, far more than any other jails nationwide, due to a shortage of ICE detention space.

Johnny Queda, a 28-year-old construction worker from Ecuador, was pulled from his truck and taken into custody by ICE agents while driving home from a job site in Danbury, Connecticut. His fiancée, Kimberly Rivas, said Queda has lived in the U.S. for five years while working toward citizenship, pays taxes annually, and has retained an attorney. She said he had no criminal record, adding, "It's just so sad because he had nothing criminal going on. He pays his taxes every year. He has a lawyer. He does everything right." The arrest was part of a broader ICE operation in the Danbury area that detained more than 50 people in a week.

Moises Velasquez, a Venezuelan asylum-seeker with a work permit and an upcoming December immigration hearing, was pulled from his car by ICE agents in Lakewood while waiting for his shift to start at a barbershop. Cellphone video shows agents smashing his car windows before dragging him out; his fiancé, who was eight months pregnant, heard his screams for help over the phone during the arrest. His attorney, Bart Klein, said ICE had been searching for a Mexican national but arrested Velasquez by mistake and sent him to the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma even after realizing the error. Velasquez was released after his attorney filed a habeas corpus petition and has since returned to work.

Magistrate Judge N. Reid Neureiter is weighing whether to sanction ICE after the agency re-detained a habeas petitioner just four days after an immigration judge had found him suitable for release. The government has been given until Friday to explain why it should not face sanctions and has requested more time to compile the relevant information Neureiter requested.

ICE conducted a multi-day enforcement operation in Danbury, Connecticut, with the mayor estimating about 50 people detained by Wednesday, not including further arrests on Thursday. Surveillance video from a security camera near Kennedy Park, at a business owned by Maria Rivera, captured agents throwing, kicking, and kneeling on a man's head as he was arrested outside a local Botanica store. The area had previously drawn up to 200 day laborers each morning, but immigrants and residents now avoid it, and nearby business owners reported fear and declining customer traffic. Agents were also seen waiting near school bus stops and outside a daycare center. A local blogger documenting the activity said agents grabbed day laborers off the street without warrants. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said ICE had not explained why it was operating in Danbury and that he was exploring legal options to hold the administration accountable, while DHS confirmed the enforcement activity but declined to provide further details, citing operational security.

Cleiton Toledo de Souza was taken into federal custody on Tremont Street in Norwood after Homeland Security officers attempted to arrest him and he allegedly drove off, striking two parked vehicles, before running away and being caught. DHS said de Souza was wanted in Brazil for homicide and had prior DUI arrests, and that he entered the U.S. without authorization in July 2021, was arrested by Customs and Border Protection, and later released into the country. He remains in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

Jhonny Ojeda, a 26-year-old construction worker from Ecuador, was arrested by ICE agents on the street across from Danbury City Hall. His fiancée, Kim Rivas, said Ojeda had no criminal record, paid taxes every year, and had legal representation. The arrest was part of a broader ICE enforcement operation in Danbury this week.

Sofía Pineda Cardona, 20, and her parents, Nora Elena Cardona Bravo and Leonardo Pineda Hernández, were detained by ICE agents at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on August 13 while preparing to board a flight to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for a birthday celebration. The family, originally from Armenia, Colombia, had chosen to fly instead of drive for the trip. Sofía's boyfriend, Nicholas Kim, a U.S. citizen she had been dating for about eight months, was traveling with them but was not detained. The family had legally entered the U.S. on tourist visas and later filed an affirmative asylum application with USCIS; their attorney, Julio Moreno, said they had work permits and no criminal record. DHS confirmed the three had overstayed their authorized period and said their cases would go before an immigration judge. They are being held at Stewart Detention Center in Georgia, and their attorney has requested bond so they can continue their case outside detention.

Two men were detained by ICE agents in a Home Depot parking lot in Tacoma, Washington, after officers broke the window of their car. A bystander, Lance Braunwart, told N+ Univision that when he tried to record the license plates of the agents' vehicles, one agent appeared to try to hit him with the car even though there was enough room to leave. Braunwart said he and another couple stayed at the scene, located the wife of one of the detained men, and helped bring the men's truck and construction materials to her home. According to Braunwart, the two men had only gone to the Home Depot to pick up the last materials for a job they were completing.

Brandon Domena, a lifelong Passaic County, New Jersey resident and U.S. citizen, was detained by ICE agents for about five hours after a confrontation broke out while he and his family watched agents arrest a neighbor, reportedly a Mexican man wanted for domestic violence. Video showed agents in tactical gear restraining Domena face-down on a lawn and handcuffing him, with a witness saying his arm was nearly dislocated; he says he was left with bruises and marks on his hands. Domena said he repeatedly told agents he was a U.S. citizen, believes he was racially profiled, and was denied water, a restroom, medical attention and a phone call during his detention. DHS alleges he spit at and kicked an officer and was arrested on potential charges of assaulting, resisting or impeding federal officers, but he has not been criminally charged. He disputes DHS's account, says an agent later apologized to him, was released the same day, and has hired a lawyer.

Daniel, an 18-year-old, was arrested by ICE officers while sitting as a passenger in a parked car outside a 7-Eleven convenience store in Colorado. Officers pulled a weapon, smashed the car window, and beat him, leaving him with a broken wrist, a laceration to his hand, multiple cuts on his face and forehead, and an eye swollen shut for days. Arrest records show ICE agents did not know who Daniel was before arresting him and did not determine his flight risk. When he was taken to the hospital, ICE prevented a community member from seeing or speaking with him and denied him a phone call. The incident was cited in an ACLU of Colorado court filing detailing ICE's continued violations of a federal injunction requiring flight-risk determinations before warrantless arrests.

A native and citizen of Cambodia who was admitted to the United States as the child of a refugee in 1982 was detained by ICE on August 26, 2026, when she reported for a scheduled check-in. She had been under a 2004 final order of removal stemming from a 2001 California drug conviction, but was never removed and lived under supervised release for years. She was briefly detained again in August 2025 before being released under a class-action settlement requiring 14 days' notice before re-detention. In September 2025, a California court vacated the underlying conviction, and her motion to reopen her immigration case remains pending before the Board of Immigration Appeals. After Cambodia issued a travel document and the BIA denied a stay of removal, ICE revoked her release and took her back into custody, later scheduling her for transfer and removal by charter flight. She is currently held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center and filed a habeas petition seeking immediate release or a bar on her removal and transfer. The federal court denied her request for a temporary restraining order, finding it lacked jurisdiction to block her removal and that she had not shown a likelihood of success on her detention claims, while her underlying habeas petition remains pending.