Human Impact Project

Melisa, a Maryland resident with a valid work permit and pending asylum case, was detained on December 15, 2025 during a routine immigration check-in. She had no criminal record and was employed full-time while preparing to start classes at Carroll Community College and planning her wedding. Her community is raising funds to help her hire an immigration attorney.

ICE agents detained Jose Martinez, a U.S. citizen and Coast Guard veteran, while he was sleeping in his cruise ship cabin during a Carnival cruise in the Caribbean. Agents tackled his wife Tamara Verhas and confiscated her phone to prevent recording. The couple was eventually released but forced to delete all photos and video documentation of the incident.

Rev. Kenny Callaghan, senior pastor at All God's Children Metropolitan Community Church in Minneapolis, was detained by ICE agents on January 7 while standing in solidarity with a Hispanic woman during a protest on Portland Avenue. Callaghan said agents pointed a gun at his face after he told them he was not afraid and offered himself instead of the woman they were approaching. He was handcuffed and placed in an unmarked vehicle for approximately 30 minutes. According to Callaghan, ICE agents then released him, saying "you're White. You wouldn't be fun anyway." Callaghan said the incident revealed to him that ICE raids are "really about fear and intimidation" and made him reflect on how such treatment is "some people's reality every single day of their lives."

Four enrolled members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe were detained by ICE agents in Minneapolis in January 2026 during a large-scale federal enforcement operation. The men were sleeping under a bridge near the Little Earth housing complex in south Minneapolis and lacked identification documents at the time of arrest, though at least one presented tribal identification. Three were transferred to an ICE detention facility at Fort Snelling. A 20-year-old Red Lake Nation descendant reported being struck by agents after identifying himself as a U.S. citizen. Tribal President Frank Star Comes Out called the detentions a violation of treaty rights and constitutional protections, arguing that enrolled tribal members are U.S. citizens by birthright under the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. The Navajo Nation reported that dozens of Native Americans had been questioned or detained during similar ICE operations, reflecting a broader pattern of agents failing to recognize or dismissing tribal identification.

A Nigerian national who had been released on recognizance and participating in an Alternative to Detention program for over two years was arrested by ICE agents during a routine ATD appointment on January 7, 2026. He had no criminal history and had attended all required check-ins, with a pending asylum application. The court granted a preliminary injunction ordering his immediate release, finding his re-detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated due process.

Federal agents conducted an enforcement operation at Roosevelt High School in south Minneapolis on January 7, 2026, around 3:30 p.m. as classes were ending. According to witnesses, agents tackled individuals and deployed chemical irritants on school grounds using unmarked vehicles. DHS stated the operation targeted a U.S. citizen who rammed a government vehicle and led agents on a chase, and that a teacher assaulted a Border Patrol agent as a crowd formed. Minneapolis Public Schools cancelled classes for the remainder of the week following the incident.

ICE agents arrested Mubashir Hussen, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen of Somali descent, in Minneapolis's Cedar-Riverside neighborhood during Operation Metro Surge in December 2025. Video footage documented agents slamming him against a door, placing him in a chokehold, and handcuffing him despite his repeated statements and multiple displays of his U.S. passport and identification. He was released after approximately two hours once agents confirmed his citizenship status. Hussen subsequently became the lead plaintiff in a class-action ACLU lawsuit, Hussen v. Noem, which documents a broader pattern of ICE and CBP detaining U.S. citizens, legal residents, and individuals with pending legal status across Minnesota. The lawsuit, supported by 29 sworn declarations, found that 100% of documented cases involved individuals with legal status, with Somali and Latino communities apparently systematically targeted based on appearance during Operation Metro Surge.

Two U.S. citizens were stopped by ICE agents in North Carolina. When the men began recording the encounter, agents attempted to stop the filming and escalated the stop to violence. Civil rights advocates stated the stop violated the Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.

A 17-year-old girl was detained by ICE agents along with her mother after agents entered their apartment complex. The family was transported to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, where the girl remained detained as of the article's publication.

A fifth-grade girl from Valley View Elementary was detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, along with her mother and stepfather. The school district lost contact with the family on January 9, 2026, and did not know where they were. Her detention was discovered when two schoolmates, who had been detained and then released, recognized her in the detention facility cafeteria. As of the article's publication, the girl remained detained at Dilley.

Luis Beltran Yanez-Cruz, a 68-year-old Honduran national who had lived in the U.S. for decades, died on January 6, 2026, at John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Indio while in ICE custody. He was arrested during an ICE enforcement operation in Newark, New Jersey, on November 16, 2025, and transferred to the Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico. While detained, he complained of vomiting, stomach pain, chest pain, and shortness of breath for over a week, but medical staff only provided pain pills without diagnosing the underlying cause. He was transferred to El Centro Regional Medical Center on January 4 after developing chest pain, then airlifted to JFK Memorial Hospital in Indio, where he was pronounced dead two days later. Medical personnel determined the cause was heart-related complications. His family was not notified until after his death and later questioned the quality and timeliness of his medical care.

A Cuban citizen who entered the U.S. through the CBP-1 Application in January 2025 was arrested for a moving traffic violation in Miami-Dade County, Florida on January 6, 2026, and subsequently transferred to ICE custody. He was later detained at California City Detention Facility in California. The court granted his habeas corpus petition and ordered the government to provide him with an individualized bond hearing within 14 days.

Angel Camacho, a Venezuelan asylum seeker with temporary protected status and a valid work permit, was arrested by Border Patrol agents at a Dania Beach station on January 6, 2025, despite being cleared and approved to perform IT work there. Camacho is married to a U.S. citizen, has American-born children, and was in the process of applying for permanent residency at the time of his detention. He spent 30 days detained at an Everglades detention facility before being released on bond.

Ken Ofori-Atta was released from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody on April 8, 2026, following a judicial order. His detention originated from administrative compliance flags linked to investigations by Ghana's Office of the Special Prosecutor into allegations of corruption during his tenure as Finance Minister. Ofori-Atta had entered the United States legally and his legal team argued the detention resulted from a procedural misunderstanding rather than criminal violations. He has reunited with his family in the United States.

Rebecca Pinyerd, a 70-year-old Filipina lawful permanent resident who has lived in the United States for over 40 years, was scheduled for deportation to the Philippines but the flight was cancelled after airline officials determined she was medically unfit to fly due to advanced kidney disease, thyroid complications, and uncontrolled hypertension. She remains in immigration detention at Clay County Jail in Indiana with no new deportation date announced. Her family has expressed concerns about her access to medical care while in custody and has called for an independent medical evaluation.

Joey Martinez, a U.S. Coast Guard veteran and U.S. citizen, was mistakenly detained by CBP officers aboard a Carnival Cruise Lines ship in Miami after being identified by name match with someone else who had outstanding warrants. Despite only his name matching and his other identifying information not aligning with the warrant, Martinez was forcefully removed from his stateroom, handcuffed, and held in an immigration cell until he could verify his identity with official documents. He was eventually released without charges, compensation, or an apology, and Carnival Cruise Lines did not inform him of the name issue before the ship's arrival despite allegedly being aware of it.

ICE took a 5-year-old girl and her mother into custody after Austin police responded to a disturbance call in the Oak Hill community on January 5th. Officers identified the mother had an ICE administrative warrant and notified federal authorities who took both into custody. The family says the child is a U.S. citizen and reports no effort was made to contact family or involve Child Protective Services before the ICE custody transfer.

Ramón Barraza, a 60-year-old Mexican national from Sinaloa who worked as a certified public accountant in Mexico and spent two decades installing ceramic tile floors in Phoenix, was pulled over near 75th Avenue and McDowell Road by unmarked ICE SUVs while driving to a job site. Plainclothes agents with no visible identification, who appeared to have tracked his truck using license-plate data, boxed him in, addressed him in Spanish, and handcuffed him, telling him 'you're the one we came for.' He was taken to ICE's Central Avenue processing facility, where he said he was held for 26 hours in an overcrowded, windowless cell with about 25 other detainees, given only a frozen bean burrito every six hours, no water or fruit, and was denied a phone call to his family for hours. An agent later prepared a 'voluntary departure' document himself, instructing Barraza only to confirm pre-filled personal information rather than answering open questions, and told him signing it would let his girlfriend later petition for his legal reentry.

A man granted withholding of removal to Nicaragua was ordered removed to Nicaragua on January 25, 2023, and granted withholding of removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3). He was released from immigration custody that same day. On January 5, 2026, ICE re-detained him and sought to remove him to Mexico, a third country not listed in his removal order. The court granted his habeas corpus petition and ordered his immediate release, finding that respondents failed to meet their burden to justify continued detention where removal to his country of removal (Nicaragua) was barred by withholding of removal.

Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres, a 42-year-old Honduran man with no criminal history, died on January 5, 2026 at HCA Houston Healthcare in Conroe, Texas after complications from congestive heart failure. He was detained by ICE on November 17, 2025 while on his way to work and initially held at Montgomery Processing Center before being transferred to Joe Corley ICE Processing Center on November 25. Despite repeated requests, he was unable to access medication needed to manage his congenital heart condition while in ICE custody. He was hospitalized on December 23, 2025 for worsening heart complications, admitted to intensive care on December 31 after multiple severe medical episodes, and died on January 5. His family faced a $4,000 cost to transport his body to Honduras for burial.