Human Impact Project

Carlos Della Valle, a Mexican national and long-term resident of Chester County, Pennsylvania, was detained by ICE in December 2024 after being arrested at an airport in St. Thomas while on family vacation. He was held across 12 different detention facilities, including centers in Louisiana and Florida, and reported inhumane conditions during his confinement. Despite claiming a judge had declared him not guilty, Della Valle was detained under a 1997 deportation order. His wife Angela, a U.S. citizen, and supporters rallied for his release. He was released in late April 2026 after 258 days in custody and returned to his home in Chester County.

Maria Trinidad Loya Medina, a Mexican national who lived in Albany, Oregon for over 20 years and was the primary caregiver for her husband and two U.S. citizen children, was detained by ICE agents on January 10, 2026, during Operation Black Rose while shopping at a sporting goods store in Albany. She was held at Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington for four months. An immigration judge denied her bond request on February 4 after a brief hearing, despite evidence of strong community ties and no criminal history. On May 7, Federal Judge Grady J. Leupold ordered her immediate release, finding that the immigration judge violated her constitutional due process rights by failing to consider relevant factors and abusing discretion in denying bond. The judge cited documented harm to her family, including her husband's stroke and daughter's depression. ICE delayed her release until May 8.

A woman named Alicia experienced a miscarriage while detained by ICE. Medical staff performed invasive procedures and administered medication without her consent or clear explanation of her condition. After being informed of the miscarriage, she was immediately returned to detention despite severe abdominal pain and continuous vaginal bleeding. ICE denied her repeated requests for follow-up medical care for over two months. She was only diagnosed and treated for a resulting serious infection after her deportation.

Federal immigration agents were spotted at four Cook County courthouses on May 7, 2026, where they arrested at least one person. One person was detained at the Branch 23 & 29 courthouse for a misdemeanor property damage charge that was dismissed. Since February, federal agents have been at or nearby Cook County courthouses at least once a week, detaining at least 12 people at the facilities. Public defenders and watchdog groups said the arrests violate state law and undermine due process rights. The previous Tuesday, federal agents detained a man at the Clinton Blue Line station following his appearance at domestic violence court, using a taser and throwing him against a wall.

Brulan, a Haitian man who has lived in Marathon for 22 years and held valid Temporary Protected Status, was detained during a routine traffic stop on April 12, 2026, and deported to Haiti on May 7 despite a federal judge's order keeping TPS protections in place. Working three jobs as a bus driver, hotel worker, and restaurant employee, Brulan sent money home every two weeks to support as many as 50 family members in Haiti. In Haiti, he encountered armed gangs controlling highways and the capital, feared for his life, and remained confined to his brother's house. His lawyer filed a wrongful detention lawsuit, and Brulan was allowed to return to South Florida two weeks after deportation. Public records show only traffic citations in his background, and his restaurant employer described him as a "very good soul."

An immigration detainee with no criminal history was re-detained by ICE during routine non-detained lobby duties at the Dallas Field Office. The court granted his habeas corpus petition and ordered his immediate release, finding no evidence of any encounter with law enforcement other than ICE's re-detention. The court enjoined respondents from re-detaining him without clear and convincing evidence that he is a flight risk or danger to the community.

A man previously granted humanitarian parole filed a habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 challenging his detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The petitioner was being held in ICE custody and sought release from that detention. On May 20, 2026, the United States District Court for the Central District of California granted the unopposed habeas petition. The court ordered that he be released from ICE custody immediately on the original terms of his humanitarian parole. Additionally, the court ordered that respondents return all identification documents that had been confiscated from the petitioner.

Luis Enrique Cuellar-Padilla, an asylum seeker from Colombia, was detained by ICE after a court hearing despite having his credible fear application approved. He has been held for nearly 8 months and denied bond, with immigration officials claiming he is a flight risk due to insufficient community ties, though his legal team attributes the detention to the current anti-immigrant political climate. Since entering the U.S. in 2022, Cuellar-Padilla has maintained a stable job, attended all immigration appointments and court dates, and held an apartment lease.

Pedro Fernández, an undocumented Cuban national with a prior cocaine trafficking conviction, was detained by ICE agents in Hialeah, Florida on May 7, 2026. The detention was part of a broader ICE operation targeting undocumented immigrants with serious criminal convictions, including sexual abuse of minors, assault, drug trafficking, and other felonies. Fernández lacked documentation confirming legal residence in the United States and faces deportation proceedings.

Eliana G. was detained before her asylum court proceedings began in 2025. After losing her asylum case, she waived her right to appeal and elected to self-deport. Despite this choice, she remained in ICE custody across Arizona and Louisiana detention facilities for over seven months awaiting travel documents. A court designated Ecuador as her third-country deportation location despite her being originally from Honduras, but she has not been given an opportunity to contest this choice. She has two children, ages 10 and 2, living with family members in Western Massachusetts.

Maikel Rojas, a 45-year-old Cuban, was released from Alligator Alcatraz detention center in March 2026 after nearly five months in custody and subsequently issued a removal order requiring self-deportation by August 4, 2026. The order requires him to obtain a Cuban passport and purchase a one-way airline ticket while wearing an electronic ankle monitor. Rojas, who arrived from Cuba in 2004 and was convicted as an accomplice to a crime in 2005 with a 13-year sentence, faces uncertainty about whether Cuba will accept his deportation and fears re-arrest by immigration authorities.

A Newport man was arrested by ICE agents on Monday. According to ICE, the man has an extensive criminal record and has been deported four times previously.

Jeury Concepcion, 19, was chased down and taken to the ground by ICE agents near East Gun Hill Road and Hull Avenue in the Bronx in a case of mistaken identity. He was left bloodied and bruised, requiring several stitches. Concepcion was eventually released after producing his ID to prove he was not the suspect the agents were seeking.

Sanan Atou, 43, who spent most of his life in Michigan, was deported to Iraq despite not being an Iraqi citizen. The Detroit Free Press reported on his case, highlighting the circumstances of his deportation.

ICE agents conducted a 9-hour standoff at a residential property in Antioch, California, and arrested Miguel Antonio Blanco, who lived at one address. The agents were targeting Gerson Manuel Portillo-Escobar, wanted for human trafficking, who lived a few houses away at a different address. According to the family, agents were told multiple times they had the wrong person but proceeded with the arrest anyway.

A three-year-old girl was separated from her mother at the U.S.-Mexico border on September 16, 2025, and placed in federal immigration custody under the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). She was held in an ORR-funded foster home in Harlingen, Texas, where she was sexually abused by an older child in the home in November 2025. Her father, a legal permanent resident living in Chicago, filed a federal habeas corpus petition in February 2026 after ORR delayed reunification for five months despite his sponsor application being approved. ORR officials did not initially disclose the sexual abuse to the father. The girl was forensically examined and the allegations were reported to law enforcement. She was released to her father two days after the petition was filed.

ICE arrested Luis Manuel Saucedo-Cardenas, a 40-year-old undocumented immigrant from Mexico with a criminal record including assault, burglary, and drug offenses, after Chicago police released him despite being aware of a federal arrest warrant. Chicago police had detained Saucedo-Cardenas but did not transfer him to ICE despite multiple requests, citing the city's sanctuary policies.

Two immigrants, one with a scheduled check-in on May 25, 2026 and the other on May 27, 2026, sought emergency protection from ICE detention during their scheduled check-ins. The U.S. District Court for Massachusetts granted a temporary restraining order prohibiting ICE officials from arresting, detaining, or removing the petitioners during their mandatory check-ins. The court order is effective until June 5, 2026.

A Cuban man who entered the United States without inspection on March 18, 2022, and has since accrued no criminal history. He was detained by ICE shortly after entry, then released on his own recognizance in March 2022, during which time he established a life in the US with his spouse, who filed an Alien Relative Petition on his behalf in February 2025. On May 6, 2026, he was re-detained by ICE at a scheduled check-in without explanation, notice of changed circumstances, or a hearing. He was transferred to the Otero County Processing Center in Chaparral, New Mexico. On May 14, 2026, he filed a habeas corpus petition arguing his re-detention violated the Due Process Clause and the Immigration and Nationality Act. On May 27, 2026, the federal court granted his petition, finding that he possessed a protected liberty interest in his release, that a pre-deprivation hearing was required before re-detention, and that the Mathews factors weighed in his favor. The court ordered his immediate release within 24 hours and prohibited further re-detention unless ICE demonstrated by clear and convincing evidence that he is a danger to the community or a flight risk.

Masked federal agents detained at least six workers outside the Hilltop Community Children's Center in Pittsburgh's Knoxville neighborhood on the morning of May 6, 2026. The operation occurred in a parking lot across the street from the daycare while parents were dropping off children at a nearby elementary school. Daycare staff used whistles and a toy drum to alert neighbors. Three of the detained workers, employed by a local roofing company, were subsequently released; several others remained in custody.