Human Impact Project

Leonel Geovanny Morocho-Arteaga, a 28-year-old Ecuadoran national, was arrested by ICE during a targeted operation in Danbury, Connecticut. DHS said he had entered the United States without authorization and was previously arrested by Customs and Border Protection in July 2021 before being released. The agency said agents found a large kitchen knife in his vehicle during the stop and that his child is under the guardianship of her mother. Morocho-Arteaga remains in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

Jordan Shafapay is being detained by ICE and facing possible deportation to Canada, according to a fundraiser set up by his loved ones. His situation grew more precarious after the unexpected death of his father, whose green card status Jordan had been under. Friends and family are raising money to hire an immigration attorney to fight his case.

Jorge Guzmán, a Venezuelan father of four who arrived in the United States five years ago seeking a better future for his family, was unexpectedly arrested by ICE while returning home from work in Miami. He was subsequently transferred to a detention center in another state, far from his children and family. His family is raising funds to hire an immigration lawyer to fight his deportation and secure his release.

A foreign national who entered the United States around 2008 was arrested and detained by ICE officers on August 26, 2026, without prior notice while he was on his way to work. He is currently held at the Philadelphia Federal Detention Center, with the government asserting he is subject to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A). He filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus challenging his detention. The district court granted the petition, relying on recent Third Circuit precedent holding that noncitizens already present in the United States are not 'seeking admission' and therefore cannot be detained under § 1225(b), but only under § 1226. The court ordered the government to release him immediately, temporarily enjoined his re-detention for seven days, and required that any future detention be preceded by a bond hearing before a neutral immigration judge. The court also barred the government from removing or transferring him out of the district pending that bond hearing.

Two volunteers working as legal observers for Danbury Unites for Immigrants were pepper sprayed by ICE agents during an encounter on Wednesday, with one of them hospitalized afterward, according to co-founder Juan Fonseca Tapia. Tapia said an ICE vehicle struck him as agents were leaving the parking lot. The hospitalized legal observer was treated and has since returned to volunteer work, the group said.

During Operation Metro Surge, ICE agent Christian Castro was involved in a shooting, and the Department of Justice initially charged two immigrants involved in the incident. The charges against the immigrants fell apart after evidence emerged that Castro and another agent had lied about the circumstances of the shooting. Castro has since become a fugitive from Minnesota authorities, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has resisted extraditing him, while the DOJ is now considering federal charges against Castro.

A Mexican woman who was eight months pregnant was pulled over by Lee County deputies over her vehicle's dark window tint, and her nephew, a U.S. citizen, was called to the scene to translate. The nephew said ICE agents then grabbed him and placed him in handcuffs without cause, telling the story of protesting his detention by saying he would sue. The incident occurred amid a broader wave of ICE arrests across Lee County neighborhoods that week.

Ledgar Ramses Delgado-Reyes, a 25-year-old Venezuelan man who entered the U.S. seeking asylum in 2023 and was granted work authorization, was reunited with his wife, Madeline Ramos-Delgado, in Las Cruces after posting a $14,000 bond following nearly a year in immigration detention. Reyes said he was called in to sign paperwork correcting an address discrepancy and was told it would be quick, but was instead detained by ICE officers. His attorney said an immigration judge found he had no criminal history, was not a flight risk given his U.S. citizen wife had relocated to be near him, and had a possibility of success in his pending asylum claim. His family raised the bond money through a GoFundMe campaign.

ICE agents carried out a raid early Wednesday morning at the intersection of Madison Avenue and Alderman Street off Palm Beach Boulevard in Lee County, Florida, detaining dozens of people using masked agents, armored vehicles and machine guns. Resident Ana Hernandez said neighbors live in fear of being stopped for being undocumented, while witness Hillary Hogue described the arrests as targeting hardworking people, not criminals. ICE released images of five men with prior arrests taken into custody but has not disclosed the total number detained, and immigration attorney Indera DeMine said courts in Miami are experiencing "mass chaos" from the surge in cases.

Julio Borrell, a 72-year-old Cuban mechanic who arrived in Florida during the 1980 Mariel boatlift, was arrested during a routine immigration check-in last December after 46 years of never missing an appointment. He was held about four months at the Florida detention facility known as "Alligator Alcatraz," transferred to a processing site in Eloy, Arizona, and then bused nearly two days to Tapachula, Mexico — a city he said he had never heard of, more than 1,100 miles from the nearest U.S. border crossing. Now surviving by patching tires on the street and saving for a room to rent, Borrell is the father of seven U.S.-born children, eleven grandchildren and a great-grandchild whom he can only reach by borrowed phone; he told his daughter, "I won't die in Tapachula." His case is part of a broader U.S. practice, tied to Mexico's Interior Repatriation Programme, of flying deportees far from the border into remote interior cities like Tapachula and Villahermosa.

ICE agents wearing masks boarded a Houston METRO bus to carry out arrests, prompting outrage among local residents. The incident drew public reaction over safety concerns for people using public transit in the city.

Luis Miguel Vallecillo has been held in ICE custody for nearly 10 months. His family says he suffers from a health condition that may weaken his immune system, raising fears about his wellbeing in detention. They say six of his relatives have already been deported.

Daraimi Bizo, a Cuban woman, said ICE officers detained her husband while the couple was traveling by car, leaving her alone with their baby. She shared her account publicly, describing the moment as distressing, and her testimony drew concern and solidarity on social media.

Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, a 24-year-old Venezuelan man, was shot in the leg by ICE agent Christian Castro through the door of his North Minneapolis home during a January raid connected to Operation Metro Surge. His partner, Indriany Mendoza Camacho, said agents fired as Sosa-Celis fled inside and then threw tear gas into the home, which had children present, before entering to detain him. Federal prosecutors initially charged Sosa-Celis and his cousin, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna, with assaulting officers using a snow shovel and broom, but surveillance video contradicted the officers' sworn testimony. A federal judge dismissed the charges with prejudice, and ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons acknowledged two officers may have lied under oath, placing both on administrative leave. Minnesota prosecutors later charged Castro with assault and false reporting, and he also faces a federal indictment for false statements; Texas Governor Greg Abbott refused to extradite him, prompting a lawsuit from Minnesota's attorney general.

The petitioner filed a habeas corpus petition on August 25, 2026, challenging her detention by immigration officials and seeking to stop her removal from the United States. She had previously been held within the District of Kansas, but by the time her petition was filed she had already been transported outside Kansas en route to a detention facility in Texas for her removal by charter flight. She sought a temporary restraining order to block her removal to an alternative third country, arguing due process required certain procedures first. The court held it lacked jurisdiction because she was not confined within the district at the time of filing, and found no evidence the government concealed her location or moved her to evade habeas jurisdiction. The court also concluded that 8 U.S.C. § 1252(g) stripped it of jurisdiction to enjoin execution of her removal order. As a result, the court denied the TRO motion and ordered respondents to file a status update on her removal by September 2, 2026.

The petitioner filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order after being told his removal from the United States would occur within hours. He also filed a habeas petition challenging his detention and pending removal. The court found that immigration authorities appeared to have failed to comply with the procedural requirements set forth in 8 C.F.R. § 241.4(l), which governs continued detention review. Given the imminent likelihood of removal, the court granted the TRO and imposed a stay of removal pending a ruling on the underlying habeas petition. The court denied the petitioner's separate request for an expedited hearing on the matter. No details regarding the petitioner's nationality, family circumstances, employment, or the location of his detention were provided in this order.

Cornelio Estrada-Gonzalez, a Guatemalan national living in the U.S. without authorization, was arrested by ICE on Aug. 22 during a targeted enforcement operation in Chantilly, Virginia, after he got out of a car his brother was driving and ran from officers before being caught following a brief foot chase. DHS said his criminal history includes convictions for assault, felony public records forgery, felony identity theft, driving while intoxicated, felony reentry after removal, and possessing or selling a fake driver's license, and that he had previously been deported in 2011 and 2016. He was issued a final removal order on Aug. 22 and deported three days later.

Emmanuel was detained by ICE at a license checkpoint and has since been arrested and held in detention. His wife, Jazmin, says he is the family's main provider and a hard worker who poses no threat to society. The couple has two children together, including a newborn only 20 days old, and Jazmin is still recovering from childbirth and on maternity leave from work. She is raising money to cover legal fees to help bring him home.

Miguel Sanchez-Clemente, 40, was arrested by the Bay County Sheriff's Office on August 25 after a traffic stop for a suspended registration revealed he was in the country without legal status. During the stop, deputies also found two minors in the vehicle who were undocumented and worked for Sanchez-Clemente. Investigators say Sanchez-Clemente admitted to an ongoing sexual relationship with one of the minors and was charged with sexual battery. He was placed on an ICE detainer following his arrest.

A man detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement filed a habeas corpus petition challenging the legality of his arrest and continued detention. The government argued he was lawfully held under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(1), the expedited removal statute, but the court found that provision did not apply because he was not 'arriving in the United States.' The court instead determined his detention was governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), which applies to noncitizens present in the country without admission. He was being held at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility. The court granted his habeas petition, ordering his immediate release, and directed the government to provide him a bond hearing before an immigration judge within ten days. The court denied the government's request to impose monitoring equipment on him pending that hearing. The government was also ordered to file a status report on the outcome of the bond hearing.