Human Impact Project

Carlos Martín Gonzalez, 26, and his older brother Óscar Alejandro Gonzalez, 30, were detained on July 7 after Carlos was pulled over by Florida Highway Patrol in Orlando for a traffic violation (tinted windows and invalid registration). Óscar Alejandro, who was visiting on a valid tourist visa and married to a U.S. citizen, was also detained under unclear circumstances when he arrived to help his brother. Carlos had legally entered on a tourist visa following their mother's death in October. After three days in county jail, both brothers were transferred to the Everglades immigration detention center, known as "Alligator Alcatraz." Their father, Martín Gonzalez, reported that the facility's conditions were inhumane—constant artificial lighting made it impossible to distinguish day from night—and that the brothers were held without case numbers or legal representation, unable to access their lawyer or consulate staff. Mexican consular officials warned of potential civil rights violations. After approximately 20 days in detention, both brothers were released without being charged with any crime and returned to Mexico through diplomatic intervention by Mexican consulates in Orlando and Miami, working with immigration attorneys and the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Pang Nhia Hang-Bailey, a Hmong refugee who arrived in the United States in 1978, was detained by ICE on July 30, 2025, during a routine annual check-in visit and is currently held at South Louisiana ICE Processing Center. Her green card expired in 1995 and was revoked in 2007 following a guilty plea to bank fraud charges in 2000. She faces deportation to Laos despite having lived in the U.S. for 47 years and having four adult children born in the country.

A Korean-born researcher and longtime U.S. legal permanent resident was detained by immigration officials at San Francisco International Airport for a week without explanation. According to his lawyer, he was denied access to an attorney during his detention.

Miguel Angel Ponce Jr., a U.S. citizen from Texas, was detained by ICE agents who mistakenly identified him as a wanted violent offender. He was handcuffed and held for approximately 90 minutes to two hours before agents compared his tattoos to a photograph and realized their error. After his release, agents allegedly suggested he shave his beard to avoid future confusion, a request Ponce found disrespectful and said he would never comply with. Miguel Angel Torres, a 14-year resident of Austin who worked as a cook, was detained by ICE on February 12, 2017, after dropping off their three daughters at school in Pflugerville. His wife, Irma Perez, says ICE officers in an unmarked van mistakenly sought to arrest her brother, Jose Manuel Perez, but detained Torres instead when he said he was not her brother. The family, including Torres's undocumented wife and three U.S. citizen daughters, abandoned their home and dreams of opening a food truck after the detention.

A Laotian refugee who entered the U.S. in 1981 was detained by ICE in July 2025 after 25 years of supervised release following a removal order. The court found the government failed to demonstrate changed circumstances or significant likelihood of removal, violating immigration law. Chief Judge Stephanie Rose ordered his immediate release and restoration to supervised release status.

Tae Heung "Will" Kim, a 40-year-old Korean American legal permanent resident and Ph.D. candidate at Texas A&M University, was detained by CBP at San Francisco Airport on July 21, 2025, upon returning from South Korea after attending his brother's wedding. He was held without access to legal counsel for more than a week and subsequently transferred to detention facilities in Arizona and Texas. The government initiated deportation proceedings based on a sealed 2011 misdemeanor marijuana conviction that Kim had completed and legally resolved. During detention, Kim was denied access to his asthma medication.

Nehemia Noel Fuentes-Banegas, a 26-year-old Honduran national living in Annandale, Virginia, was shot in the shoulder by a Fairfax County police officer after allegedly grabbing for the officer's handgun during a search of a wooded area. Police had responded to a domestic dispute call after Fuentes-Banegas armed himself with two knives, stabbed himself, and fled the home; he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and charged with attempted disarming of a law enforcement officer. Court records show he had faced an earlier felony strangulation charge from an April domestic violence case, which was dismissed after the alleged victim asked prosecutors not to proceed. Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid said her office does not block ICE from acting on detainer requests and that ICE is notified whenever an undocumented person is booked into the county jail. DHS said Fuentes-Banegas entered the U.S. without authorization through Texas in 2022 and was released pending immigration proceedings under the Biden administration; ICE has since lodged a detainer asking Fairfax County not to release him. The officer involved in the shooting was placed on restricted duty pending investigation.

A video posted online shows federal ICE agents detaining people near a Home Depot in Encinitas. A woman driving through the area recorded the encounter and spoke with NBC 7 about witnessing what appeared to be two men in custody with ICE agents present.

Wilmer Roberto Solano Dávila, a Venezuelan journalist and Uber driver with a pending asylum case, was pulled over by Customs and Border Protection agents while driving a rideshare fare near Haulover Beach. He had entered the U.S. legally on a journalist's visa in 2015, held Temporary Protected Status from 2021 until it lapsed in September 2025, and had a valid work permit and Florida driver's license, but was detained and held first at a Dania Beach processing site and then at the Krome North detention complex. He described being packed into an outdoor tent with as many as 250 people and no visible smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, or sprinklers, before being released on $5,000 bond after 19 days in custody and now wears an ankle monitor while his asylum case continues. Solano previously worked as a correspondent covering Venezuelan opposition politics and said he was attacked by government officials while reporting in 2011.

LA County Department of Animal Care and Control has taken in 28 animals from deported or detained families since June 2025, with pet surrenders nearly doubling after a series of summer raids. Children have come to the Carson Animal Care Center for painful goodbyes with family pets including Coco, a pug-beagle mix, and Bruce, a Labrador mix, after their families were ordered to leave the country.

Jorge Willy Valera Chuquillanqui, a Peruvian asylum seeker with no criminal history, was arrested by DHS agents minutes after completing routine immigration court proceedings on July 25, 2025. He had been living in the U.S. since December 2022 after being released on bond. The federal court granted a preliminary injunction ordering his release and prohibiting re-detention without a hearing before a neutral decisionmaker. The court found that ICE violated his due process rights by detaining him without proper procedural safeguards.

A human smuggler guided a group of undocumented migrants through the Arizona desert in extreme heat and allegedly instructed them to abandon one member who became dizzy and fell into a ravine, resulting in death. U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended the smuggler, Miguel Salomon-Lugo, on June 21.

Wilmer Chavarria, a U.S. citizen school superintendent, was detained for 4-5 hours at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport by customs agents upon returning from Nicaragua. Agents questioned his marriage and professional status, and repeatedly demanded passwords to his personal phone and district-issued laptop containing student information. After his devices were searched, Chavarria was released but subsequently had his Global Entry program membership revoked.

Jefersson Bladimir Alemán Beltrán, 19, was taken into ICE custody outside a Santa Maria jail on July 24 as his mother, Alba Beltrán, waited to bring him home after a judge dismissed the charges against him for lack of evidence. Beltrán says agents beat her son, who told her by phone that he was hit in the head and chest after declining to answer questions about his immigration status and asking for a lawyer. Jefersson, who entered the U.S. in 2019 at age 14 as an unaccompanied minor, graduated from Santa Maria High School, and works picking strawberries alongside his mother, is now held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, where support workers say he has shown bruising, a swollen neck, and back pain. Beltrán also alleges the sheriff's office tipped off ICE ahead of her son's release, a possible violation of California's sanctuary law.

Rutilio Zelaya Franco, a fencing industry worker who had lived in the country for 14 years without prior police trouble, was driving a delivery truck when he was pursued by ICE agents. During the chase, his truck crashed into a home; he fled on foot and turned himself in at the Loudoun County Courthouse two days later on July 24. After a judge released him on bail, Loudoun County Sheriff's Office deputies presented him with an ICE warrant, handcuffed him, and escorted him to waiting ICE agents. He is married with two children. Zelaya Franco is being held at a detention center in Cibola County, New Mexico, pending removal proceedings.

Animal shelters across Broward, Palm Beach, and Miami-Dade counties are seeing a rise in pets surrendered due to immigration enforcement. Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control has received at least 19 pets as a result of immigration detention in 2025. Rescue organizations report finding animals like Mud, a terrier mix suffering from starvation in a locked backyard weeks after a family was deported.

Sarah Shaw, a New Zealand woman living in Washington State, and her 6-year-old son Isaac were detained by US immigration at the Canada-US border on July 24 after attempting to return home from dropping off her other children in Vancouver. Shaw held a temporary immigration document allowing her to travel and re-enter the US. Officials identified an administrative error with her paperwork. The pair were transferred to the Dilley Immigration Processing Centre in Texas, where they are being held. They do not have access to their personal belongings.

Janeth Jazmin Jaldin Loza, an Alpine resident, was arrested by ICE agents on July 23. Reporters were unable to find any record of past convictions or pending charges against her in Wyoming court records.

Juan Barranco Castro, 56, a Jackson, Wyoming resident of 26 years, was arrested by ICE agents in the parking lot of Community Bible Church as he drove to work during a multiday immigration operation in July 2025. Friends said agents had been searching for another person who drove a similar vehicle and detained Castro by mistake. He was handcuffed, placed in leg irons and belly chains, and taken to the Sweetwater County Detention Center in Rock Springs before being transferred to a federal facility elsewhere. Court documents show no criminal convictions or pending charges against Castro. The operation detained at least nine people across Teton County, and Jackson restaurant workers and community members organized in response to his arrest.

K.N., a minor U.S. citizen, was arrested along with his sisters while approaching a construction site raid. Federal agents drove K.N. to his mother's home and held him outside the fence while asking him if his mother was "illegal," then threatened to take him into federal custody while demanding his mother produce identification. According to MALDEF's Federal Tort Claims Act claim, agents used K.N. as "bait" in an attempt to lure his mother, a lawful permanent resident, into the street to investigate her immigration status. MALDEF seeks $2.5 million in damages for personal injury and emotional distress.