Human Impact Project

Rümeysa Öztürk, a 30-year-old Turkish doctoral student pursuing a PhD in child development at Tufts University on a valid F-1 student visa, was arrested by plainclothes ICE agents on March 25, 2025, outside her home in Somerville, Massachusetts, as she left to attend an Iftar dinner. The Trump administration revoked her visa and detained her based on allegations she supported Hamas, though government officials later acknowledged the action was tied to a pro-Palestinian op-ed she co-wrote for the Tufts Daily criticizing the university's response to divestment resolutions and Israel's war in Gaza. During her 45-day detention across multiple states—including New Hampshire, Vermont, and Louisiana's South Louisiana ICE Processing Center—Öztürk suffered at least 12 asthma attacks in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions without adequate medical care or access to medications. Tufts University administrators stated they found no information supporting the allegations against her and that she did not violate university policies; a colleague described her as "quiet, steady, and unshakably kind." U.S. District Judge William Sessions III ordered her release on May 9, 2025, finding serious claims of due process and First Amendment violations and noting the government's only evidence was the op-ed itself, with "no evidence here … absent consideration of the op-ed." An immigration judge subsequently terminated her removal proceedings, determining the Department of Homeland Security lacked legal grounds to deport her. In December 2025, a federal judge ruled her SEVIS record (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System) was wrongfully terminated and must be reinstated retroactively to March, and in January 2026, another federal judge determined the government's policy of arresting and detaining scholars for protected speech violated the First Amendment. Öztürk has since resumed her research and teaching duties at Tufts.

Staff at the South Texas Family Residential Center conducted raids on dormitories to confiscate and destroy letters and drawings from detained children describing conditions inside the facility. The raids followed a ProPublica article published February 9 that detailed children's accounts of conditions at the facility. At the time, many detained children exceeded the 20-day maximum duration specified in the Flores Settlement Agreement.

Roberto was arrested and detained by ICE while driving to work nine days after the birth of his son in mid-February 2026. He was held in detention for two months at an unknown location, then deported to Guatemala. His partner María was left alone to care for their newborn without support or knowledge of his whereabouts.

Owen Ramsingh, a Columbia resident and lawful permanent resident, was detained by border patrol at Chicago's O'Hare Airport in September 2025 after returning from visiting his father in the Netherlands. ICE cited a cocaine possession charge from his teenage years as grounds for deportation. After spending approximately four and a half months in detention facilities across Chicago, Texas, and New Mexico, Ramsingh was deported to the Netherlands on February 8, 2026, and banned from the United States for 8-10 years. His wife and daughter remained in the United States.

A Chinese citizen who entered the US without inspection in February 2024 was detained by ICE at a truck weight station in February 2026. He had established a life in the US with a wife and child and worked as a truck driver with no criminal history. The court ruled he was entitled to a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1226 and ordered the government to provide one within seven days.

Owen Ramsingh, a 45-year-old Missouri resident and green card holder, was detained at O'Hare Airport in September 2025 after Border Patrol discovered a felony drug conviction from nearly 30 years prior. He was deported to the Netherlands in February 2026 and is now rebuilding his life in his birth country while separated from his wife and teenage daughter. Ramsingh, who last lived in the Netherlands at age 5, is living with his reconnected father and reports experiencing nightmares from his detention.

Children detained at the Dilley family detention center in South Texas have been held in poor conditions including inadequate medical care, contaminated food, overcrowded spaces, and limited legal access. The facility, which reopened for family detentions under the Trump administration, has held over 3,500 detainees since reopening, with more than 1,700 children. Approximately 300 children have been detained beyond the legal 20-day limit. Individual cases documented by immigration attorneys include 5-year-old twins held for 8 months and a young girl who attempted suicide after immigration judges denied bond requests. Advocacy groups, journalists, and ProPublica have documented conditions through interviews, letters, and detention drawings created by children at the facility.

A U.S. citizen and Latina woman named Maria was stopped by ICE agents on a Salem street, during which officers broke her car window and pulled her from the vehicle. After discovering her passport, agents left. Maria sustained a concussion, torn rotator cuff, and bruised ribs from the incident.

Amalia Arrieta, an 18-month-old from Venezuela, was detained with her mother Kheilin Valero Marcano following an ICE appointment in El Paso on December 11, 2025, and transferred to Dilley Immigration Processing Center. Over weeks, Amalia developed severe respiratory symptoms including high fevers, persistent cough, and dangerously low blood-oxygen levels (dropping to the 50s). On January 18, 2026, she was hospitalized at Methodist Children's Hospital in San Antonio for 10 days, diagnosed with pneumonia, COVID-19, RSV, and respiratory distress. Upon discharge on January 28, doctors prescribed her a nebulizer, respiratory medications, and nutritional supplements. When ICE returned her to Dilley, detention staff allegedly confiscated her prescribed medications and breathing equipment. Her parents were forced to wait in daily outdoor lines to request treatment, often being denied. After lawyers filed an emergency habeas corpus petition in federal court, the family was released on either January 31 or February 7, 2026.

Obeth Eduardo is currently in ICE custody. His sister Mariana is raising funds to cover attorney fees for his legal defense and case preparation. The family states this is the second time they are facing an ICE enforcement situation.

An 18-month-old girl named Amalia was hospitalized with respiratory failure, pneumonia, COVID-19, and RSV after being detained at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center with her parents. After 10 days of hospital treatment, she was returned to detention on January 28 and denied access to prescribed medication, despite medical warnings that she remained vulnerable. A federal lawsuit and emergency habeas corpus petition led to her release on February 7.

Amalia, an 18-month-old Venezuelan girl, arrived in the United States with her parents Kheilin Valero Marcano and Stiven Arrieta Prieto through the CBP One appointment system and was living in El Paso while awaiting asylum processing. On December 11, 2024, the family was arrested during a routine ICE check-in despite complying with all immigration requirements and checking in regularly. They were detained at Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas. In early January 2026, Amalia developed a high fever, vomiting, and breathing difficulties. Despite her parents' repeated requests for medical care at the facility's clinic, staff provided only Tylenol. On January 18, her oxygen levels dropped critically to the 50s, and she was rushed to Methodist Children's Hospital in San Antonio, where she was hospitalized for 10 days and diagnosed with pneumonia, COVID-19, RSV, and viral bronchitis. After discharge on January 28, doctors prescribed nebulized breathing treatments and nutritional supplements. ICE returned Amalia to Dilley detention instead of her prior community, where staff confiscated her nebulizer, albuterol, and nutritional supplements. Her parents were forced to wait daily in an outdoor 'pill line' and were frequently turned away without her prescribed medications. After her attorneys filed an emergency federal habeas corpus petition, the family was released in February 2026. Upon release, they were transported to a shelter in Laredo without her medications, birth certificate, vaccination records, or money for travel. Amalia developed behavioral changes after detention, crying when separated from her mother. Her case is one of more than 500 infants and toddlers under age three detained by ICE since January 2025, according to documentation by MS NOW and The Marshall Project.

Seven emergency habeas corpus petitions were filed in North Dakota federal courts over three months, coinciding with a 75% national increase in ICE detentions over the past year. The petitions challenge a new policy denying bond hearings to many individuals arrested in the interior of the U.S. Two cases resulted in the release of petitioners.

A group of more than 30 Hispanic Texans filed a federal lawsuit in the Southern District of Texas challenging ICE practices that detain U.S. citizens and require proof of citizenship for release. The lawsuit alleges that immigration authorities violate constitutional protections against unreasonable arrests and due process rights. The complaint references a January 9 ICE raid in Donna, Texas, where agents allegedly detained U.S. citizens at gunpoint without a judicial warrant.

Children detained at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas are experiencing contaminated food, minimal education, inadequate medical care, and severe psychological distress. Since April 2026, approximately 1,800 children have been detained at the facility, with some families remaining for over six months. Court filings and accounts from detained families document children suffering from illness, malnutrition, behavioral regression, nightmares, and trauma, with parents reporting food contamination, denial of medical care for serious conditions, limited schooling, and prison-like conditions including constant surveillance and crowded sleeping quarters.

ICE agents detained a father outside Mayra's Spanish Preschool and Daycare in Boise on Friday, February 6, 2026, after he dropped off his child. Multiple agents using unmarked vehicles and wearing masks blocked in the man without providing a warrant, instead showing him a picture and asking for identification. According to court records, the man had a misdemeanor theft charge from 2024 but no active cases or warrants at the time of detention. The incident alarmed parents and staff at the school, which serves children ages 18 months to 5 years.

According to an immigration coalition post, ICE denied asthma inhalers to a 12-year-old child for 9 days while claiming it was pending medical review. The child experienced an asthma attack during lights-out and was found unresponsive on the floor by guards at 6 AM.

A 7-year-old girl and her parents from Venezuela were detained by immigration agents outside a Portland hospital emergency department on January 16 while seeking emergency medical care for the child's prolonged nosebleed. After three weeks at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, the family was released on February 7, though Congresswoman Maxine Dexter stated she was unsure why ICE approved their release. The detention marked one of the first confirmed cases of an entire family detained in Oregon during the Trump administration's escalated deportation campaign.

Detainees at Otay Mesa Detention Center threw notes in bottles over facility fences to communicate allegations of poor conditions, including inadequate food, constant sickness, and indefinite detention without court hearings. Organizers collected the bottles containing written messages along with items like lotion bottles, deodorant bottles, and batteries. Rep. Juan Vargas attempted to inspect the facility to investigate the allegations but was denied entry by officials who cited ICE authority. Detainees' written messages referenced conditions including alleged use of small cages for discipline and inadequate medical care at the detention center.

Animal rescue organizations across Minnesota's Twin Cities report a surge in pets needing care as immigration enforcement intensifies. Pet Haven in St. Paul is processing roughly 360 animals, while Animal Humane Society in Golden Valley has documented 7 pets surrendered due to ICE activity. Two German Shepherds were left behind when a woman in Elk River was detained and transported to Texas. Veterinary appointment no-show rates have jumped from 20% to 40%.