Human Impact Project

Tuan Phan, a 44-year-old Vietnamese national, was deported to South Sudan in July 2025 by the Trump administration under a third-country deportation program. Phan had immigrated to the U.S. as a child, was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2000 for a gang-related killing, and was taken into ICE custody upon completing his sentence in March 2025. A federal judge initially blocked his deportation, but the Supreme Court later approved it. Phan was held in a gated, armed compound in Juba for over a year alongside seven other men with criminal convictions. He was repatriated to Vietnam on June 19, 2026, becoming the second person from the group to be returned to his home country.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and local law enforcement conducted an operation at Club Level nightclub in Texarkana, Arkansas on Saturday, June 19, 2026. The raid resulted in the detention of 21 undocumented immigrants. Local police framed the operation as a response to complaints about illegal alcohol sales to minors, though ICE involvement resulted in immigration-related detentions. The band performing at the venue and community members protested the raid.

César was detained by ICE and subsequently deported to Mexico, leaving behind his wife Gloria and their 9-month-old son Abel. Gloria now struggles financially without César's income, faced eviction, and is seeking funds to cover living expenses and travel costs to depart the U.S. and reunify the family in Mexico.

Orolua Eluonyechie, a Nigerian national, has been held in immigration detention for over two years, initially detained in Atlanta in April 2024 and later transferred to Allen Parish in southwest Louisiana. While detained, he has been injured by guards and placed in solitary confinement. He filed a federal habeas petition seeking release or deportation but remains waiting for judicial action as federal courts in Louisiana become overwhelmed with habeas petitions from detainees held in prolonged detention.

Dame Ka, an Upstate Medical University worker from Senegal who arrived in the U.S. in 2023, was detained by ICE at Syracuse Airport while traveling to Atlanta to watch World Cup games. Ka said plainclothes immigration officers approached him after he picked up his boarding pass, placed him in handcuffs (concealing them with a cloth), and took him to an office. He was released the same day with an ankle monitor. This is the fourth Upstate Medical University worker detained by ICE in the last year, according to union officials.

Joyce Basele, a 64-year-old nursing assistant from Kenya who entered the U.S. legally in 2005, was detained by ICE on June 18, 2026, during a routine check-in at a Houston ICE field office. For 14 years, Basele had complied with required immigration check-ins while under an order of supervision with a final removal order in place. She has no criminal history, pays taxes, works as a certified nursing assistant caring for children and elderly adults, and has a U.S.-citizen daughter whose petition to sponsor her mother was approved. Her attorney secured a stay of deportation to keep her in the country while a humanitarian petition is pending, but ICE has refused to release her from custody despite stating she will not be deported. Basele remains detained at a CoreCivic facility and spent her 64th birthday in detention on July 14, 2026.

A Mexican citizen who entered the United States in 2008 and held a valid work permit was arrested by immigration authorities on June 18, 2026, while getting into his car to go to work. He was detained at Philadelphia Federal Detention Center under the mandatory detention provisions of 8 U.S.C. § 1225 and denied a bond hearing. The court granted his habeas corpus petition and ordered his immediate release, finding that the government's detention was unlawful because he was not "seeking admission" under the statute, as he had been in the country for 18 years.

Elias Bautista, a 35-year-old Mexican national, was arrested after allegedly striking an ICE agent during a traffic stop near Americana Boulevard and Pointe Vista Circle in Orange County on June 16, 2026. According to Florida Highway Patrol, Bautista was in a vehicle that was stopped by FHP and ICE agents working together. When law enforcement approached, several people fled the vehicle. During the pursuit and confrontation with an ICE agent, Bautista allegedly struck the agent, causing a significant head injury, before fleeing the scene. Investigators located and arrested Bautista on June 18 during a targeted operation. He was charged with felony aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer. ICE officers and Florida Highway Patrol conducted a vehicle stop on June 18, 2026, near Americana Boulevard and Pointe Vista Circle. During the stop, Elias Bautista, a 23-year-old from Mexico, fled on foot and physically resisted apprehension. Bautista struck an ICE agent, causing a significant head injury, before fleeing the scene. He was apprehended days later and charged with felony aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer.

A long-term law-abiding resident of the United States, a noncitizen, was detained at the Western Tennessee Detention Facility pending removal proceedings without receiving a bond hearing. He filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus challenging his detention as violating due process rights. The court noted that he, described as a long-term law-abiding resident of the United States, had been held in mandatory detention. Following the Sixth Circuit's decision in Lopez-Campos v. Raycraft, which established that noncitizens are entitled to a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), the respondent agreed that a custody redetermination hearing was required. The district court granted the habeas petition to the limited extent of ordering that he receive a bond hearing within ten days or be released from custody, finding that Section 1226 guarantees only a hearing opportunity, not automatic release.

A Mexican national who fled Mexico in 2024 due to extortion threats and entered the U.S. without inspection was detained by ICE on June 18, 2026, pursuant to a warrant issued June 8, 2026. He had arranged for his young son to join him in the U.S., and the son was detained by immigration authorities upon entry in January 2026 before being released to his father's care as ORR sponsor. During the June 18 detention, approximately five vehicles surrounded the father and his son as they left their home; agents pointed guns and arrested him while his son remained in the vehicle. The court granted his emergency motion for temporary restraining order, ordering his immediate release and prohibiting re-detention without notice and a pre-deprivation hearing before a neutral decisionmaker.

Daniel, a man with severe intellectual disabilities (IQ of 47) and limited English proficiency, was arrested by ICE agents on June 17, 2025, while collecting recyclables in his east Los Angeles neighborhood. Under the conservatorship of his siblings for decades, Daniel understood Spanish but struggled with English and could not cope with loud noises or routine disruptions. Despite his inability to understand removal proceedings or consent documents presented in English, and without involvement of his conservator or judicial review, he was deported to Mexico under claimed voluntary departure. His nephew Christopher, a U.S. citizen, launched an extensive search using ICE's online tracker and contacted federal authorities, eventually working with legal aid group ImmDef to locate Daniel at Adelanto detention center. Daniel ended up in a hospital in Tijuana with no awareness his family was searching for him. After more than nine months, lawyers secured his parole and return to the U.S. A federal judge subsequently issued a temporary restraining order blocking ICE from detaining him if he returns, ruling that his deportation raised serious due process concerns.

All detainees at the South Florida Detention Center, a facility in Florida's Everglades known as "Alligator Alcatraz" that opened in July 2025, were transferred to other facilities in mid-June 2026. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security cited hurricane season safety concerns as the reason for the transfers. However, immigration advocates and lawyers dispute this explanation, noting the facility operated throughout the previous hurricane season without prior closures. Approximately 800 detainees have been transferred, with families and legal representatives reporting difficulty locating them and unclear information about their current status. The facility had faced persistent criticism and lawsuits over poor conditions, including worms in food, non-functioning toilets, flooding, denial of medical care, solitary confinement, and inadequate legal access.

Montgomery County Sheriff Maxwell Uy admitted that his office improperly transferred a person to ICE custody on June 18, 2026, in violation of the Maryland Community Trust Act, which prohibits local law enforcement from transferring individuals to ICE without a judicial warrant. After receiving backlash from Montgomery County Council President Natali Fani-González, Uy stated the transfer did not meet the act's exceptions and pledged to implement additional measures to prevent similar incidents.

Salah Sarsour, a Palestinian-born legal permanent resident and president of Wisconsin's largest mosque, was detained by ICE on March 30, 2026, after being pulled over by armed plainclothes agents in unmarked vehicles. He was held for 80 days in Clay County Jail in Indiana on an administrative warrant. During detention, his unmonitored diabetes caused significant health deterioration, he faced religious liberty restrictions and inadequate medical treatment, and he lost over 30 pounds, describing the experience as dehumanizing. On June 18, 2026, U.S. District Judge James Patrick Hanlon ordered Sarsour's immediate release, finding he had raised a substantial First Amendment claim and that ICE detained him in retaliation for his public advocacy for Palestinian rights. The judge rejected government arguments about foreign policy and national security threats, noting that immigration officials had been aware of his prior convictions from the 1990s for 25 years and had previously approved his legal permanent residency application. The Trump administration continues to seek his deportation, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio citing his activism as grounds for removal.

Dionicio Miguel Francisco-Gutierrez was arrested by ICE on Friday, June 14, 2026, while waiting at a bus stop in North Bergen, New Jersey, in front of his two children who were in school uniforms. The arrest was recorded by a bystander. According to federal officials, Francisco-Gutierrez has a prior criminal conviction for violating Pennsylvania's Controlled Substance Act, with previous arrests on drug charges in 2022 and 2023. Following his arrest, his two children were placed in the custody of a legal guardian that he had designated. North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco and Commissioner Hugo Cabrera condemned the enforcement action, with Cabrera stating that "the trauma inflicted on young children witnessing a parent or caregiver being detained is profound and lasting."

Friedrich Castillo-Ormeno self-deported to Peru in March 2026 after receiving a final deportation order and was approved for CBP Home incentive payments ($2,600) in April verifying his departure. In June 2026, ICE mistakenly identified him as a suspect in a violent incident in Stafford Township, New Jersey, where an officer was struck by a vehicle during an enforcement operation on Route 72. Federal prosecutors later charged a different man, Eduardo Cruz Garcia, with the assault. Castillo-Ormeno expressed concern that the misidentification could harm his reputation and affect his ability to legally return to the United States, as well as his U.S.-born daughter's documentation.

Olga Perez, a 47-year-old indigenous Mam language interpreter and community leader in Palm Beach County, Florida, was arrested during a traffic stop on I-95 in November 2025 and placed in ICE custody in Arizona. After seven months in detention and nine delayed immigration hearings, an immigration judge ordered her deported to Guatemala by July 6, 2026. She was released on her own recognizance pending voluntary deportation and made a surprise visit to her family and the Guatemalan-Maya Center in Lake Worth Beach before being deported. Perez had spent 30 years in the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant, volunteering as an interpreter and translator for indigenous communities in the region. Her deportation leaves behind four U.S. citizen children, ages 13 to 21.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported 72 Haitian asylum seekers, including 21 children and a 2-month-old baby, to Port-au-Prince on Monday, three days after President Biden suspended deportation flights to Haiti. The deportations occurred despite Biden's 100-day moratorium on deportations, which was limited to convicted criminals and suspected terrorists. The action followed a January 26 federal court injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton that blocked Biden's moratorium, which ICE used to resume deportation operations.

Mostly young Honduran men at the La72 migrant shelter in Tenosique said they are heading to Monterrey instead of the U.S., understanding they are not welcome. Some still attempt dangerous maritime crossings into the United States; others are captured, detained, and deported, only to try again weeks later. Some likely never arrive and their fates remain unknown.

Diego was arrested and is currently detained by ICE. His wife Rosali, who is four months pregnant with their second child and caring for their daughter full-time, is struggling to meet basic household expenses including rent, utilities, groceries, and transportation while her husband fights his case.