Human Impact Project

Aminata Seck, 26, a Kentucky State University graduate student, senior, and women's basketball player from Dakar, Senegal, was detained by federal officers at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport on Aug. 7, 2026, while preparing to travel with her team to a tournament in New York. Seck entered the U.S. on a student visa in 2019; her attorney, Sadiqa Reynolds, said she may have missed a visa deadline while recovering from back surgery and never received notice of a September 2025 hearing that led to an in absentia removal order issued Sept. 8, 2025. Reynolds said Seck has been moved among at least four detention facilities, has an ACL injury and torn Achilles requiring surgery, and received inconsistent medical care, including only ibuprofen at times, while DHS said she was referred to a hospital on Sept. 21 for knee pain. Attorney Hishem Alsalman said Seck has also experienced seizures. By Sept. 23, Seck was found hospitalized and appearing sedated, with hospital staff denying her attorneys phone or visitor access; her attorneys filed a motion to reopen her case in Memphis Immigration Court and a habeas corpus petition with an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order in federal court in Kentucky, prompting Chief U.S. District Judge David J. Hale to order the government to respond by Sept. 28. Kentucky State coach Amani Williams and Rep. Morgan McGarvey have both publicly supported Seck, with Reynolds saying the coach has treated her like a mother would her own child, and McGarvey stating, 'The Trump administration's cruelty knows no bounds but we will never let this become normal and we won't stop fighting for her.'

Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan man who entered the U.S. legally in 2024 through CBP One and worked as a DoorDash driver in Austin for about two years, was shot in the back by an ICE agent during a vehicle stop near Research Boulevard. He disputes DHS's account that he fled on foot, saying he never left his car, and no body camera footage of the encounter exists. He was discharged from Dell Seton Medical Center about four hours after being shot, still with a bullet lodged near his spine, and transferred roughly 140 miles to the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall. U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, who visited him, described him as 'in very rough shape,' in a wheelchair with a sling, bruising, and pain, and said a specialist determined he needs surgery to remove the bullet and could lose feeling on his left side without it. His attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, says he has been denied timely surgery, given only over-the-counter pain relievers, held in isolation, and denied consistent access to counsel; after speaking to reporters, staff reportedly confiscated his communication tablet and moved him to solitary confinement. DHS said he is receiving around-the-clock medical care but gave no surgery timeline, and noted he has a final order of removal and lacks legal status. His legal team filed a federal habeas petition and a visa application citing his status as a crime victim, while Austin Mayor Kirk Watson and Reps. Casar and Joaquin Castro called for an independent investigation and release of body camera footage.

Adwoa, a 21-year-old bisexual woman from Ghana, fled years of violence and ostracism after neighbors accused her family of witchcraft over her sexuality. Despite obtaining a US court guarantee that she would not be deported back to Ghana, she was instead sent to Cameroon, where same-sex relations are illegal and punishable by up to five years in prison. She has been held at a government-run detention facility in Cameroon for several months, describing her situation as feeling like "a criminal" and fearing she could be killed if returned to Ghana.

Misael Ramos, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America running for Austin city council, was arrested Saturday morning on a misdemeanor charge of "riot participation" tied to a protest against the shooting of Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a Venezuelan asylum seeker with a valid work permit who was shot by an ICE officer. Ramos denies any wrongdoing and plans to contest the charge; his attorney said, "I didn't see any riots... I saw people out there chanting and protesting." His campaign manager said Ramos joined the protest to show solidarity after hearing that an ICE officer had shot someone in the back.

Nathan 'Nate' Samudzi, a delivery driver from Yankton, South Dakota originally from Zimbabwe, was detained by ICE for a second time this year after reporting to the agency's Sioux Falls sub-field office. He was quickly transferred to a detention center and then to Minneapolis for a deportation flight, but a federal judge granted an emergency Temporary Restraining Order about 30 minutes before the flight was scheduled to depart. Samudzi holds a valid work permit, had begun the citizenship process, and had been under strict GPS monitoring since a prior detention in February; his wife, a local schoolteacher, said he complied with every condition. ICE told reporters Samudzi had a conviction for drug possession and distribution, but his attorney said this is false, explaining he has only a misdemeanor marijuana ingestion conviction from age 20 and a separate charge that was dismissed a year later. Judge Jerry Blackwell has ordered ICE cannot remove or transfer Samudzi from the District of Minnesota while his legal team pursues an emergency habeas corpus petition citing fear of persecution if returned to Zimbabwe, a country he has not lived in since age four. He remains held at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Fort Snelling, Minnesota, as family, friends, and South Dakota's congressional delegation seek updates on his case.

Jessica Trevino (also spelled Treviño), a DACA recipient in her mid-30s who arrived in the U.S. from Mexico as a young child and lived in Texas her entire life, was arrested by ICE agents on December 28, 2025, as she left church with her family in the Rio Grande Valley. Unmarked vehicles rammed the family's car in a Home Depot parking lot, agents struck her husband Juan with a baton, and shoved their 14-year-old daughter against the vehicle hard enough to bruise her. Trevino worked in an elementary school cafeteria and had no criminal record; her DACA status remained valid at the time. After nearly three months in ICE custody, she was deported to Matamoros, Mexico on March 25, 2026, despite disputing that she consented to a 'voluntary departure' order. Her three U.S. citizen children, ages 16, 14, and 13, remained in Texas with relatives. USCIS later moved to terminate her DACA status, citing unauthorized travel. Her family filed a federal lawsuit seeking her return and restoration of her status, though a federal judge has since recommended dismissal on jurisdictional grounds.

Masked ICE agents conducted an enforcement sweep along Speedwell Avenue in Morristown, chasing a man from the Lincoln Apartments toward a firehouse while a school bus of elementary students watched agents transfer handcuffed detainees between vehicles. Father Duberney Villamizar, a local priest, cut short Mass to witness the operation and said four to six individuals, including a car wash employee, were detained, with one released after producing legal documents. During the operation, a passing vehicle struck the open door of an ICE SUV in front of the school bus, which the priest said caused children to scream; DHS blamed a distracted driver and said no ICE officers were injured. Residents and officials questioned whether a Morris County Sheriff's officer had cooperated with ICE, which would violate New Jersey's Immigrant Trust Directive. DHS later identified three men detained: Noe Izara Rivera and Marco Vinicio Remache-Damian, who will face due process in deportation proceedings, and Cesar Armando Chilotillo, a previously deported individual who will remain in ICE custody pending removal. The arrests were part of a series of Morristown ICE sweeps that have unsettled Hispanic neighborhoods and prompted protests since January.

Adam Abdullah, a 31-year-old Somali auto mechanic and asylum seeker living in St. Paul with a pending asylum application, work permit and Social Security number, was arrested by masked federal agents on Dec. 12, 2025 during 'Operation Metro Surge.' Despite regularly attending ICE check-ins and having no criminal record beyond two parking tickets, he was moved between detention facilities in Minnesota, Kentucky and Louisiana over roughly nine months before being flown, shackled, toward Somalia but instead held at Guantánamo Bay's Camp Six alongside seven other Somali detainees, several also arrested in the Twin Cities. His attorney, Marc Prokosch, said calls with him were limited to five to ten minutes and possibly not confidential. Abdullah began a hunger strike over lack of information, after which he says guards beat him and placed him in a freezing solitary confinement cell; while detained, his mother died, and he says authorities denied him an international call and a request for voluntary departure to attend to her. The ACLU sued the federal government, arguing it lacks legal authority to detain immigrants overseas, and a judge allowed the case to proceed with a hearing set for October 14. Abdullah was deported to Somalia alongside eight other men, and his attorney said ICE also stopped publishing detainee location data.

A Russian woman who resides in Sarasota, Florida is being held by ICE at a detention facility in Eloy, Arizona, facing a bond of nearly $90,000 to secure her release. Her family says they do not have the resources to pay that amount as her immigration case continues. An immigration attorney suggested that such a high bond could be a government tactic to pressure immigrants into self-deporting when they cannot afford to pay.

Joselito Mateo Sam, 20, was taken into ICE custody while walking down a street in New Bedford, according to court filings reviewed by The Boston Globe. Probate court records show he entered the United States in 2024 at age 18, then moved in with two uncles in New Bedford and began working at a fish processing house. He was one of at least 34 people detained during a multi-day ICE sweep across the Massachusetts coast region, part of a broader operation that left families searching for information amid a tracking blackout. Local officials warned immigrants in the New Bedford area to stay home following the surge in arrests.

Two employees of Charra's and Tequila, a Mexican restaurant in north Bismarck, North Dakota, were taken into ICE custody, including the owner's nephew. The restaurant's owner said the workers held permanent resident status and valid, unexpired work authorization, and described remaining staff as "scared" and the team as "in shock" following the arrests, prompting the business to temporarily close. An ICE spokesperson disputed this, stating the two workers had entered the U.S. without legal status and would remain in custody pending immigration proceedings. About 75 people gathered on September 25 to protest outside the William L. Guy Federal Building in Bismarck, opposing increased ICE enforcement activity that left at least 19 people in custody at the Burleigh-Morton Detention Center that week.

Bryan Omar Sánchez, a Honduran man who had lived in Colorado for about a decade working as a gardener, truck driver, and pressure-washing business owner, was detained by ICE at his home on May 13 and moved through detention centers in Texas and Arizona. Despite a 2020 Convention Against Torture protection barring his return to Honduras and a pending asylum claim, he was placed on a nearly 22-hour flight to the Central African Republic on July 29 without his consent; one officer reportedly mocked him, asking 'Hey, Honduras, why are you going to Africa?' while Sánchez protested, 'Africa? I can't go to Africa.' Once in Bangui, he described being held in a shelter with restricted movement, facing language barriers and limited access to services, prompting Honduras' National Human Rights Commissioner (Conadeh) to demand urgent consular assistance and verification of his well-being. While detained, Sánchez represented himself in filings with Colorado's federal court, arguing he should not have been removed to a country he had never visited. U.S. District Judge Regina M. Rodríguez ruled that ICE violated his due process rights by giving him no notice or opportunity to challenge the removal, and ordered the government to return him to Colorado and release him without conditions such as GPS monitoring.

Luis Silas, a 58-year-old Mexican migrant, was detained by ICE agents in February 2026 while shopping for wood to build a bookcase for his wife near 43rd Avenue and Camelback Road in Phoenix. Agents appeared to identify him through his car's license plate and addressed him by name before throwing him to the ground during the arrest, injuring his arm. He was held for three days at the same ICE Central Avenue processing office where Ramón Barraza had been detained, given only one bean burrito every six hours and a single chance to shower. His son, Isaac Luis-Azamar, witnessed the arrest, intervened believing an agent was about to hit his father, and was himself arrested and accused of assaulting an ICE officer.

A Black U.S. citizen in Evanston, Illinois was tackled and beaten by federal agents believed to be ICE, who mistook him for a fugitive they were pursuing near Dodge Avenue and Howard Street. Video captured by witness Miguel Angel Olivares and another bystander shows agents using rough force, pinning him to the ground and appearing to strike him as he repeatedly stated he was a citizen. He suffered injuries to his head, neck and teeth and was treated at a local hospital, St. Francis. Federal officials said the man refused to identify himself and declined medical assistance, and that he was briefly detained for fingerprinting before being released once agents confirmed he was not their target. Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss confirmed the detention and release, while local police, eyewitnesses, and activist group Sanctuary Evanston disputed DHS's account, calling the incident a 'violent assault.' Evanston police, Illinois authorities, and the FBI are investigating, with body camera footage being preserved and witnesses interviewed.

Catherine came to the United States as an international student ten years ago, building a life and education in Utah. Her family says she was taken into custody on false charges and has been held for six months in a Louisiana ICE detention facility without receiving a trial or hearing. Family members describe her as a daughter, sister, friend, and student, and say she has been separated from her education and community throughout her detention. They are raising money to cover attorney fees, legal filings, transportation, and other costs as they pursue her case.

A Peruvian man identified in court filings as "John Doe," who has judicial protections against deportation to Peru, has been held in ICE custody in Massachusetts since July. After an appeals court struck down the Trump administration's third-country removal policy, a Department of Justice attorney argued the ruling wasn't yet in effect and sought to transfer Doe to another facility to put him on a flight to the Central African Republic. Doe's attorneys, including Mary Holper, obtained an emergency clarification from the appeals court reaffirming the policy was dissolved immediately, and a judge declined to lift the stay barring his removal, though he remains in detention. Flight data showed ICE charter planes continued flying to and landing in African countries used for third-country removals hours after the court's order, raising concerns the government may still be violating the ruling.

A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order, later followed by a permanent injunction, requiring ICE to improve conditions at its 26 Federal Plaza detention facility in Manhattan. Detainees, including Sergio Alberto Barco Mercado, who filed a complaint after mass arrests at the site, were reportedly held on floors without beds, given only two meals a day, and denied hygiene products and access to legal counsel. The court found that ICE willfully violated prior orders and kept detainees in overcrowded rooms without adequate bedding, hygiene supplies, or proper temperature control. The rulings required ICE to provide sleeping mats, hygiene products, and legal access to those held at the facility.

José Alejandro Aponte, a 65-year-old Cuban man deported from the United States to Villahermosa, Mexico, stayed briefly at the Amparito Shelter and now rents a small room in the city center. When Forbidden Stories spoke with him in spring 2026, he had just been refused residency in Mexico. "I tried to comply with every rule. Now I'm in immigration limbo. I have no papers to go anywhere," he said, adding that he fears losing contact with his family because phone companies now require numbers to be linked to a valid identity document.

Humberto García, a Cuban national deported to Mexico after living 35 years in the United States, tried to travel through the mountains near Tapachula to avoid migration checkpoints. He was approached by three armed attackers who robbed him and shot him twice in the torso; he stumbled for nearly an hour before reaching a road where authorities took him to a hospital. After three days recovering, with no organ damage from the bullets, he had no choice but to return to Tapachula, where he said he was left with nothing to eat and nowhere to sleep.

Mario David Coronado Juarez, a 36-year-old Guatemalan construction worker from Tuichilupe village in Comitancillo, San Marcos, died Sunday, Sept. 20, when his vehicle struck a tree and burst into flames in Grand Rapids, Michigan, while fleeing an attempted ICE traffic stop. He had worked in the U.S. for six to seven years to support his wife, two daughters and a son, and was building a house for his family. DHS said ICE officers had been trying to stop him to confirm his identity, mistaking him for a different Guatemalan man they were seeking, and that officers discontinued the pursuit and tried to render aid after the crash. Community members, including volunteer Karla Barberi of Cosecha Grand Rapids, described him as "a hard-working man for the working class" and "an honest man" who "was not a criminal." Grand Rapids Police Chief Joseph Trigg requested that Michigan State Police investigate, citing limited cooperation from federal agencies, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ordered an independent review. Rep. Hillary Scholten sent a letter to ICE demanding a transparent investigation, and the Guatemalan Consulate is coordinating repatriation of his remains while a GoFundMe and community vigil were organized to help his family, who could not initially afford the trip to begin repatriation proceedings.