Human Impact Project

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tatyana Reisini and Kristen Roos, two Charlotte mothers, were chased by federal Border Patrol agents on November 17, 2025, while driving to the Southern Christmas Show. Agents surrounded their vehicle in a parking lot, pursued them into a residential neighborhood, and cornered them in a driveway where an agent pointed an assault rifle at Reisini's face and smashed the car windows with the gun, scattering glass onto her. Roos was 10 days post-surgery at the time. Both women were zip-tied and falsely imprisoned at an FBI office for approximately four hours. They were initially charged with assaulting federal officers, but the U.S. Attorney's Office voluntarily dismissed the charges on March 2, 2026. Video of the incident recorded by a neighbor received nearly 9 million views on social media. Through the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, the women filed a Federal Tort Claims Act notice against U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Department of Homeland Security, seeking $3 million in damages and attorneys' fees.

Daphy Michel, a 31-year-old Haitian asylum seeker who arrived at the southern border in 2022, died from hypothermia on March 2, 2026, after being released by ICE on February 27 or 28, 2026, under the Alternatives to Detention Program with an electronic ankle monitor. Michel had spent six months in Washington County Correctional Facility awaiting a preliminary hearing on misdemeanor charges stemming from an arrest for yelling due to untreated severe mental health issues. After her release, she was taken approximately 25 miles away to Pittsburgh and left at a bus shelter in sub-freezing temperatures (20–30°F) while wearing summer clothes, where she spent 24 to 30 hours alone before being found unresponsive. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner ruled her death a homicide. Her family plans to sue the U.S. government and other entities, alleging ICE failed to account for her severe vulnerability, including untreated mental health conditions and significant language barriers.

A man who entered the United States without inspection on October 3, 2022, was subsequently encountered by immigration authorities. DHS exercised its discretionary parole authority to formally parole him into the United States. On March 2, 2026, he was re-detained by ICE at Golden State Annex. He filed a federal habeas corpus petition on June 3, 2026, challenging his detention and seeking immediate release under the same conditions prior to re-detention, as well as procedures to prevent future re-detention without due process. On June 5, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California granted his petition, ordering his immediate release and enjoining ICE from re-detaining him absent exigent circumstances without providing notice and a pre-detention hearing before an immigration judge where the government must prove by clear and convincing evidence that he is a danger or flight risk.

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

San Juanita Guerra, a lawful permanent resident, was detained by ICE on March 2 at the Progreso International Bridge over a 1994 conviction involving an unloaded firearm. She was held at El Valle Detention Center for over three weeks before being released on a $15,000 bond and now wears an ankle monitor while her legal case continues. Guerra reported difficult detention conditions including inadequate access to water, medications, and medical care despite her heart and kidney conditions. She says she had completed probation and community service for the 1994 incident decades ago.

A U.S. District Judge in West Virginia issued a final notice to the federal government regarding continued unlawful detention of immigrants without individualized custody determinations. Judge Joseph R. Goodwin ruled that the government has repeatedly violated the Fifth Amendment by detaining immigrants without proper legal procedures. The judge warned of legal consequences for state and federal officials if the unlawful detention practices continue.

Emmanuel Damas, a 56-year-old Haitian who arrived in the U.S. under the Biden Administration's Humanitarian Parole program with a pending Temporary Protected Status application, died on March 2, 2026, from sepsis caused by an untreated dental infection. Damas was detained at Florence Correctional Center in Arizona and repeatedly reported tooth pain to facility staff starting in mid-February, requesting dental care multiple times but receiving only ibuprofen. After two weeks of complaints and developing difficulty breathing, he was taken to a Scottsdale hospital on February 19, but the infection had already progressed to septic shock and pneumonia. Damas died at the hospital. Representatives Ansari, Grijalva, and Stanton demanded a full investigation, noting he was the tenth person to die in ICE custody in the first two months of 2026.

On January 7, 2026, ICE agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renée Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, queer mother of three, and writer, in Minneapolis during a large-scale immigration enforcement operation called Operation Metro Surge. Good was in her vehicle when ICE agents approached; as she drove away, Ross fired shots through the windshield, striking her multiple times. Bystander and cell phone footage contradicted federal claims that Good had used her vehicle as a weapon. The shooting sparked national protests and investigations. Good's death, along with the killing of Alex Pretti within the same two-week period, contributed to the removal and demotion of Border Patrol Commander-at-large Gregory Bovino and the firing of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in March 2026.

A Venezuelan citizen on humanitarian parole was detained by ICE in March 2026 when she accompanied her husband to his scheduled credible fear interview at the Nashville ICE Field Office. After her husband received a negative credible fear determination, both were taken into custody and she was transferred to Richwood Correctional Center. The court granted expedited consideration of her habeas petition but denied her temporary restraining order request.

A Kazakhstani man who had been released on recognizance and enrolled in the Alternative to Detention program since 2023 was detained by security personnel at Fort MacArthur/Los Angeles Air Force Base after allegedly attempting to enter without authorization. ERO officers took him into immigration custody and transported him to Desert View Annex. The court ordered his release, finding his re-detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated procedural due process.

A Guatemalan citizen who entered the U.S. without inspection in October 2022 was detained by ICE on March 1, 2026 after encountering local law enforcement and admitting he had entered the country without inspection. This was his first encounter with ICE officials. A federal court ordered his immediate release, finding he could only be detained under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) rather than the mandatory detention statute the government cited.