Human Impact Project

Marvin Suazo, 43, self-deported to Honduras on May 25, 2026, after ICE agents raided his workplace and deported six of his employees earlier in the year. Suazo had lived in the U.S. undocumented since 2014 following a prior deportation, and chose to leave rather than risk arrest. His wife Maribel and daughters, including 23-year-old Samantha and 11-year-old Zhoe, both hold permanent residency or U.S. citizenship and remained in the country. Before his departure, the family took a final trip together along the East Coast, including a stop in Miami, following Samantha's graduation from Yale University. Suazo said goodbye to his daughters at the Miami airport before boarding his flight.

U.S. Senator Andy Kim, a Democrat representing New Jersey, was pepper-sprayed by federal ICE agents on Monday while attempting to de-escalate a confrontation between protesters and law enforcement outside Delaney Hall immigration detention facility in Newark. Kim had entered the facility to observe conditions firsthand and emerged to find ICE agents deploying an armored vehicle as a barricade. He positioned himself between ICE agents and protesters to prevent violence, but ICE officers deployed pepper spray and pepper balls on the crowd. Kim reported that his eyes and throat were still burning hours later. The incident occurred amid ongoing protests against detention conditions at the facility, where detainees reported poor food, lack of medical care, and non-functioning air conditioning.

An ICE enforcement operation targeting the Dover family occurred in a New Jersey residential neighborhood. The Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center documented the incident and issued a statement condemning what they characterize as a violent enforcement action that separated families and created fear in immigrant communities.

J.R., a 35-year-old Colombian with valid work authorization and an ankle monitor through ICE's Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, attended what he believed was a routine monitor maintenance appointment. ICE officers detained him instead, confiscating his ID and work permit. He was held overnight at the Aurora detention center despite having a pending appeal of his asylum case and was released the following day with assistance from Casa de Paz.

The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition filed a lawsuit against the Tennessee Highway Patrol over its partnership with ICE, alleging the collaboration violates multiple constitutional amendments and constitutes racial profiling. The lawsuit references a May 2025 operation in South Nashville where THP conducted traffic stops for minor infractions and ICE agents detained 20 people the first night, with nearly 200 arrested during the entire weekend. The complaint alleges warrantless detention, subterfuge use of traffic stop powers, and misuse of taxpayer dollars, and also cites ongoing THP-ICE operations in Memphis and a DUI checkpoint in Robertson County.

A leaked video from an ICE detention center in Louisiana shows detainees begging for food. Former detainee Victor Nery and Chris, originally from El Salvador, reported being subjected to hunger and poor conditions, with cells holding 90-110 detainees each.

Jaqueline (Jacky) Ramirez Juarez, an honors student at Cedartown High School in Georgia, was detained by ICE weeks before her scheduled graduation. The student, who planned to attend Georgia Highlands College to pursue nursing, faced an uncertain future as her family fought for her release while dealing with mounting legal fees. Her community launched a fundraiser to support her case. Despite her detention, she was recognized during graduation ceremonies for her academic achievements, with classmates and faculty honoring her despite her absence from the ceremony.

On May 18, 2026, ICE agents detained 31-year-old DACA recipient and community organizer Karla Toledo at her Tucson home without presenting a judicial warrant, despite her maintaining valid DACA status since age 1 and having no criminal record. ICE agents were reportedly searching for someone else when they arrested Toledo. DHS alleged Toledo assaulted a federal officer and illegally entered the U.S. in October 2024—claims she disputed using video footage showing her compliance and asserting she had legally used advance parole authorization available to DACA recipients. During the arrest, agents allegedly used force to prevent the door from closing and denied her attorney access. Her mother, Veronica Ortiz, held a press conference pleading for her release, and attorney Mo Goldman stated allegations of assault were fabricated, with surveillance footage supporting Toledo's account. Following community protests and statements by U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva, Mexican consulate representatives, and local nonprofits, Toledo was approved for a $1,500 bond and released from Eloy Detention Center. One day after dismissing an earlier deportation case, DHS filed a second notice to appear in immigration court against Toledo.

Martin Soto, a Peruvian detainee held at Delaney Hall in Newark, was forcibly transferred by ICE agents to solitary confinement at a detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey, after agents broke through a protester blockade in the early morning hours of May 25, 2026. His wife Gabriela, a U.S. citizen who was several months pregnant, had been rallying outside the facility in support of detainees who had launched a hunger and labor strike days earlier. Gabriela later lost her pregnancy in July after an emergency C-section performed when she was seven months pregnant, and said she had to tell her husband the news while he remained in solitary confinement.

Jairo Antonio Molina Moron, a 38-year-old Venezuelan national, was arrested by ICE Buffalo's Fugitive Operations Team and U.S. Marshals Service deputies during a targeted operation in Albion on May 24, 2026. Molina had been arrested by Yonkers Police Department in February 2025 for felony assault, and ICE lodged an immigration detainer, but local authorities refused to honor it and released him. He is now detained in ICE custody pending immigration proceedings.

ICE New Orleans conducted a week-long enforcement operation in Sevier County and surrounding areas in East Tennessee from May 24-31, 2026, resulting in 117 arrests. The operation targeted noncitizens, some of whom had prior criminal convictions. According to ICE, those arrested included individuals with convictions for assault, driving under the influence, and other offenses, though some may have faced immigration charges rather than criminal prosecution.

Daniel Romero, 18, a Colombian national and recent graduate of Ooltewah High School in Tennessee, was taken into ICE custody on May 18, 2026, during what his family believed was a routine appointment related to an immigration program. ICE cited missed check-ins and failure to submit required weekly photos as reasons for detention. Romero's family disputed the allegations, claiming the check-in app malfunctioned for four weeks and provided documented evidence of the technical error, but officials did not allow Romero to present this proof before his arrest. Records provided by the family indicated compliance with program requirements. He was held at Etowah County Jail in Alabama before being transferred to a detention center in Louisiana, where no bond, video calls, or visitation were allowed.

Javier Anibal Melgar was detained by ICE officers on May 15, 2026, while sitting in his vehicle with his 16-year-old son waiting for a school bus on Park Avenue in Bridgeport, Connecticut. ICE stated that Melgar is from El Salvador, entered the country illegally in 2005, and had a final removal order issued by an immigration judge in October 2006. Officers allowed Melgar to contact his wife to arrange transportation for their son before taking him into custody. Connecticut lawmakers condemned the arrest as a violation of ICE's sensitive location policies and called it executive overreach. Melgar's current location remains unknown.

Clara Linhares, a 17-year-old high school student, says her mother, Rita Linhares, 46, was detained by ICE shortly before Clara's graduation and is now held at the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, New Jersey, awaiting resolution of her immigration case. Clara told Status Coup's Jordan Chariton, and later a Brazilian outlet, that she has experienced worsening hair loss from alopecia, which she attributes to the stress of her mother's detention, and removed her wig on camera to show the condition. She said she lives with constant worry about her mother's health, as Rita has reported struggling to receive medication for glaucoma, anemia, high blood pressure, and circulation problems in custody, though DHS says she received adequate medical care. Clara also said she fears her father could be detained during a routine ICE check-in scheduled for the same day as her graduation.

Jose Danilo Diaz Sandoval, who had lived in the U.S. for nearly 20 years and was in the process of obtaining a green card, was detained and deported by ICE in January 2026. His granddaughter Malani, whom he was raising, is a survivor of the 2022 Uvalde school shooting. Diaz's wife is a U.S. citizen. After spending four months in Honduras, he returned to the United States following legal efforts by his family.

A U.S.-born mother of four was stopped at an ICE checkpoint in a residential area of Lafayette and detained despite presenting a valid Louisiana state ID and Social Security card. ICE agents accused her documents of being forged, handcuffed and shackled her at the ankles, and transported her to a USCIS field office for interrogation before moving her to South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile. An immigration attorney secured her release by submitting identification documents. ICE did not apologize and confiscated her Social Security card.

A man pursuing asylum in Maine since 2021 through official legal channels was unexpectedly detained by ICE for 21 days despite having documentation of his ongoing legal process. He was released and returned home to his wife and four children (two born in the U.S.), but his asylum case was moved to formal Immigration Court, requiring a defensive asylum case before a judge to avoid deportation. His family is raising funds for private legal representation to mount his court defense.

Sofia, 35, an undocumented woman with no criminal record who was brought from Ciudad Juárez to El Paso as a child, was surrounded by masked ICE officers pointing guns at her outside her Central El Paso workplace on May 22, 2026, while leaving during a shift break. She was handcuffed and taken to the Otero County Processing Center in Chaparral, New Mexico, where she was held for about 50 days before being released on bond with a GPS monitor and required check-ins with a deportation officer. Her mother said Sofia is now raising her two children, ages 11 and 16, after her husband died in a car accident six months earlier, and that the family cannot afford a private attorney for her upcoming removal hearing.

A Venezuelan man who fled to the United States in November 2021 was granted humanitarian parole and settled in Ennis, Texas with his wife and child, where he applied for asylum and temporary protected status. On May 22, 2026, ICE officers detained him after he was arrested and charged with assault causing bodily injury, a charge that remains pending. He was offered a custody redetermination hearing on August 14, 2026, but allegedly refused to sign the hearing request form. He filed a habeas corpus petition and motion for a temporary restraining order in federal court seeking release, arguing he was denied due process before his parole was revoked. The government argued his detention was governed by a different statute in light of recent Ninth Circuit precedent and that a material change in circumstances justified his continued detention. The court found he has a protected liberty interest but concluded that, given the pending assault charge, a post-deprivation bond hearing rather than immediate release was appropriate. The court ordered that he receive a substantive bond hearing within 14 days, with the government bearing the burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that he poses a danger or flight risk.

A 22-year-old transgender woman and Nicaraguan citizen was re-detained by ICE on May 22, 2026 during a scheduled check-in and transferred to the Northwest ICE Processing Center (NWIPC) in Tacoma, Washington. Despite identifying as a woman, Respondents housed her in a male detention unit where she experienced verbal harassment and fear for her safety. The court granted her motion for a temporary restraining order, enjoining Respondents from housing her in a male detention unit or solitary confinement, and ordered Respondents to either move her to appropriate housing or release her within 24 hours.