Human Impact Project

Zia S., 35, an Afghan immigrant and father of five who served as a translator for U.S. troops for five years, was detained by ICE agents on Wednesday outside a USCIS office in East Hartford while submitting biometric information for his green card application. Zia, his wife, and children fled Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in 2021, fearing retribution for his work with U.S. forces. The family arrived legally in the U.S. in October 2024 on humanitarian parole and "boarding foils" from the U.S. embassy in Islamabad, and all seven family members had approved Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applications granting them a pathway to permanent residency. ICE transported Zia to a detention facility in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and issued an expedited removal order claiming he did not enter the country legally—a claim his attorney, Lauren Cundick Petersen, disputes. Petersen said Zia told her he feared returning to Afghanistan, where he faced death threats for his service to U.S. forces; according to No One Left Behind nonprofit, more than 300 Afghan translators and their family members were killed between 2014 and 2021.

Juana McIntosh, a Guatemalan national and spouse of a U.S. Air Force member, was detained by ICE during a green card interview appointment at a USCIS office in Atlanta while her husband was deployed overseas. She had been granted Parole in Place as a military spouse and was in the process of adjusting her status when she was taken into custody based on a previous removal order from 2012.

Approximately 10 days after the South Sudan deportation, five migrants from Jamaica, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, and Yemen were deported to Eswatini (formerly Swaziland). The deportees were sent to Matsapha Correctional Center, the country's main maximum-security prison. Jamaican national Orville Etoria was able to return to his country at the end of September, but four others remain detained without charge and without permission to receive visitors. According to lawyers, the U.S.-Eswatini agreement provided for the transfer of 160 deportees in exchange for $5.1 million. One detainee, Cuban national Roberto Mosquera, remains imprisoned in the country where he never committed a crime and has no family or friends.

ICE confirmed an active investigation at Trail King Industries, a trailer manufacturer employing about 500 people at its Mitchell headquarters and 770 total across plants in Mitchell, Yankton, and West Fargo, North Dakota. Tips surfaced about agents being seen at the facility. The company's VP of Human Resources declined to comment.

ICE raided four Colt Grill restaurant locations in Yavapai County, Arizona in mid-July 2025, detaining 28 undocumented workers on immigration violations. Restaurant owners Robert and Brenda Clouston and two undocumented employees, Luis Pedro Rogel-Jaimes and Iris Romero-Molina, were accused by federal prosecutors of smuggling undocumented workers from Mexico, paying below minimum wage, withholding overtime compensation, and creating a fake cleaning business to conceal payments. The raids resulted in approximately 200 job losses and closure of two locations; the owners' trial was scheduled for June 2, 2026 in federal court in Phoenix.

On June 11, a former president of the Spokane City Council sent out an alert over social media. Two men, in the county legally and seeking asylum, had reported for an appearance in immigration court there. They were then detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, commonly known as ICE, at a Department of Homeland Security office in Spokane. The former council member, Ben Stuckart, urged followers to disrupt that enforcement. Among those responding to the call that day was Bajun Mavalwalla II, a Petaluma native and military veteran who had relocated to Washington. The resulting demonstration became confrontational. Protesters blocked an ICE bus as the agency attempted to transport the two detainees to Tacoma for immigration hearings, deflating the vehicle’s tires. Several people were arrested. Mavalwalla was not one of them. But a month later, on July 15, he got a knock at the door of his Spokane home at 6 a.m. Ten FBI agents were on hand to take him into custody.

Ingrid Ayón, 23, grew up in Cottonwood, Arizona since she was 4 months old, speaks English fluently, and graduated from Mingus Union High School. Despite being undocumented and ineligible for DACA after President Trump attempted to kill the program during his first term, she worked two jobs to support herself and her family. On July 15, 2025, ICE raided Colt Grill restaurant where she worked, targeting the owners for allegedly smuggling and exploiting undocumented workers. During the raid, ICE officers used pepper spray to force workers out of hiding; Ayón was questioned, arrested, and detained for months at multiple facilities including Florence ICE processing center and Eloy Detention Center, where she reported harsh conditions including overcrowding, extreme cold, and a rash that went untreated. She was ultimately deported to Mexico, separated from her three U.S. citizen brothers and her family in the United States.

Mahdi Khanbabazadeh, a 38-year-old Iranian chiropractor, was detained by ICE on July 15, 2025, while dropping his child off at Guidepost Montessori School in Beaverton, Oregon. Video footage shows Khanbabazadeh pleading with ICE agents to allow his child to exit the car before his arrest. After he stopped cooperating, ICE officers broke his car window to take him into custody. Khanbabazadeh entered the U.S. on a student visa; ICE claims he overstayed it, while his family states he is married to a U.S. citizen and has already applied and interviewed for a green card. He is currently held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington. His detention occurred as part of a broader surge in ICE arrests of Iranian immigrants under the Trump administration.

On July 15, 2025, federal agents raided four Colt Grill BBQ and Spirits restaurants in Yavapai County, Arizona, and a location in Foley, Alabama, arresting 28 undocumented workers on immigration violations. Restaurant owners Robert and Brenda Clouston, both 61, were arrested along with two undocumented immigrants, Luis Pedro Rogel-Jaimes, 33, and Iris Romero-Molina, 29. According to a May 27 federal indictment, the four defendants conspired to transport and harbor undocumented workers from Mexico, operating a fake cleaning business as a staffing front to conceal payments. The workers were paid below minimum wage without overtime compensation, and the defendants avoided proper employment taxes. Approximately 200 employees lost their jobs when the restaurants closed. The investigation spanned three years.

Derlis Snaider Chusin Toaquiza, a 19-year-old Ecuadorian asylum-seeker and 11th grader at Grover Cleveland High School in Queens, was detained by ICE on June 4 at a scheduled immigration court appearance in Texas. An immigration judge granted him release on bond, and the Envision Freedom Fund posted a $20,000 bond to secure his release. Chusin reunited with his family on Friday after a month in detention, with his legal team arguing that ICE violated his due process rights. His asylum case remains pending.

On July 15, 2025, ICE agents arrested two men in a Walworth County, Wisconsin courtroom during traffic court proceedings. Court Commissioner Peter Navis demanded to see a warrant from sheriff's deputies before allowing the arrest, citing lack of lawful authority and a court order requiring warrants be presented before detention. Following the incident, three county judges confronted Navis over his handling of the arrests, told him he had misstated their position, and gave him an ultimatum to resign or be fired. Navis subsequently resigned.

Federal authorities conducted immigration enforcement raids on Glass House Farms facilities in Southern California between July 10-14, 2025, resulting in over 360 arrests. Jonathan Anthony Caravello, a California State University Channel Islands math lecturer, was arrested during the July 10 raid in Camarillo and charged with allegedly throwing a tear gas canister at law enforcement, though some accounts indicate he was attempting to dislodge a canister stuck under a wheelchair. Caravello was released on a $15,000 bond with arraignment scheduled for August 1. During the broader enforcement operations, one farmworker died after falling from a greenhouse roof.

Federal and state lawmakers toured the newly constructed Alligator Alcatraz detention facility in Florida's Everglades on July 12-13, 2025. The facility, built in eight days on an isolated airstrip, houses nearly 1,000 detainees with plans to expand to 4,000 capacity. Democratic lawmakers reported seeing detainees in cages with harsh conditions including extreme heat, insects, and inadequate sanitation facilities, while Republican officials characterized the facility as clean and well-functioning. The tour followed earlier Democratic attempts to visit the remote facility.

Mamadou Fadel Cherif, 56, was arrested by ICE on July 13 as he left his home in West Oak Lane. Cherif had been granted Withholding of Removal nearly 20 years ago after fleeing Guinea, where he was jailed by the government for protesting the 1998 presidential election. He has no criminal record, works legally in the United States as a dining services employee at La Salle College High School and as an Uber driver, holds a Social Security number and driver's license, and is the primary financial support for his wife (a green card holder) and four American-born sons, including a Marines reservist. His employer described him as "an extremely hard worker" whom students and staff love. While Withholding of Removal bars deportation to Guinea, ICE can attempt deportation to a third country; his attorney filed a federal court petition seeking his immediate release, arguing there is no likelihood of third-country deportation and he has been denied due process.

Rami Othmane, a 36-year-old Tunisian man and green card applicant married to a U.S. citizen, was arrested by ICE agents on July 13 while driving to the supermarket. He was held for 13 days at the downtown L.A. ICE facility (B-18) despite a settlement requiring detainees be held no more than 12 hours. Conditions included an open toilet, concrete floor sleeping, malnutrition, and extreme cold temperatures while he suffered from a brain tumor. After his transfer to an Arizona detention center and 13 additional days there, he was released on bail with an ankle monitor.

Jonathan Jarquín, a 17-year-old, was detained by ICE on July 12 while on his way to church with another minor, Emely Suaza. Suaza was released to her father, but Jarquín's mother says she has been unable to locate her son since. She says she only receives vague text messages about sponsorship from an unknown number, and that the attorney she hired has stopped responding despite being paid. She said she is afraid to come forward publicly to search for him out of fear she could be detained herself, and added she would rather have her son sent back to his home country than remain in uncertainty about his detention.

Lee Stinton, a 45-year-old Irish hairstylist from Northern Ireland who had lived in Key West since 2018, was detained by ICE on June 12 after being stopped for a traffic violation on his e-bike. During the stop, an ICE officer told him "You look Mexican" before taking him into custody. Stinton had valid work authorization and a pending green card application through VAWA (Violence Against Women Act) protection after his previous marriage ended in domestic violence charges. An ICE officer also threatened to detain Stinton's partner, DeVaun Davis, a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier and U.S. citizen, after seeing his photo on Stinton's phone. At Krome Detention Center near Miami, Stinton was held in severely overcrowded conditions—a cell designed for 10 people held approximately 100 men on a concrete floor with one toilet—denied vegan food despite being vegan, given limited access to showers and medications, and experienced obstacles contacting a lawyer. During his detention, Stinton was taken to a hospital where subdermal piercings were surgically removed without his consent while he was shackled to a bed. He also witnessed a detainee die after not receiving heart medication. Stinton is a valued community member with no criminal record who had been paying taxes since 2019; a local petition for his release drew over 1,500 signatures. After approximately one month in detention, Stinton was deported to London on July 12 and returned to Northern Ireland, where he has since engaged in therapy and part-time work. His case drew international attention with coverage in the BBC, Belfast Telegraph, and other outlets.

Tenzin, a 29-year-old Tibetan refugee originally from Nepal, arrived at Newark airport on July 12 and was detained after attempting to cross into Canada. He spent over six months in ICE detention in Batavia, NY, where his asylum case was dismissed by a judge due to an interpreter's illness, then targeted for deportation to Uganda under the Trump administration's pretermission policy. His attorney successfully intervened to have him deported to Canada instead, where he arrived on February 19.

U.S. Border Patrol agents raided Don Chilaquiles food stand in La Puente on December 3, 2025, detaining three workers. Video footage shows agents seizing a cash box from the stand and placing it in an unmarked vehicle. One worker fled to a nearby firetruck during the operation, and an accident occurred between an agent's vehicle and another car at the scene.

Federal ICE agents raided Glass House Farms facilities in Camarillo and Carpinteria, California on July 11, detaining dozens of farmworkers. Hundreds of community members gathered to protest, and federal agents deployed tear gas and smoke grenades on the crowd, injuring at least one city council member. Judith Ramos, a 22-year-old certified nurse assistant, was sprayed with tear gas when she arrived at the farm to support her father, a farmworker at the facility, and learned he had been detained. Rep. Salud Carbajal was denied entry when he attempted to conduct congressional oversight of the raid. National Guard troops in military vehicles also responded to the scene. ICE agents conducted a heavily armed raid on Glass House Farms cannabis facilities in Camarillo and Carpinteria on July 10, 2025, detaining 361 adults and 14 minors. A 56-year-old farm worker died after falling 30 feet from a greenhouse roof. Three men—undocumented farm worker Santiago, security guard George Retes (an Iraq veteran), and professor John Caravello—were arrested during the operation; Caravello was arrested after throwing back a teargas canister at agents.