Human Impact Project

Ibrahim Topkaya, a 33-year-old medical doctor from Turkey working as a bioengineering researcher studying diabetes at Upstate Medical University, was detained by U.S. immigration officials after a GPS error rerouted him toward the Canadian border while he was returning from a trip to Niagara Falls with his visiting mother. Canadian border patrol turned him around with documentation confirming he never entered Canada, but U.S. officials detained him upon his return, and he is now held at the Batavia federal detention facility. His friend Omar Alsafadi said Topkaya has an approved asylum case, active work authorization, and a Social Security number, and described him as a well-respected researcher who has authored numerous medical papers. The Department of Homeland Security said Topkaya overstayed his authorized status after legally entering the country in June 2023. Topkaya has requested research materials to continue his work while detained, and his mother, visiting from Turkey for the first time in three years, has extended her stay while awaiting updates on his case.

A young Venezuelan man, a recent graduate of Orange County Public Schools, was detained by immigration authorities while traveling to start college. His father was also detained around the same time in St. Augustine, Florida. According to the report, the young man never made it to the university.

Ten deportees said officers used force against them after they refused to leave a flight to Liberia, a country several said they had no connection to, according to a New York Times account. Border czar Tom Homan said he doubted the specific allegations but that they would be investigated, while DHS separately called the newspaper's account a hoax. The incident adds to scrutiny over how the government verifies deportees' citizenship or ties before third-country removal flights depart, as the administration expands deals with African nations to accept people who are not their citizens.

Fernando Armando Valdes Perez, a 61-year-old man holding Cuban and Guatemalan citizenship who lived in Kendall, Florida, was arrested at Miami International Airport on July 10 during a joint operation involving ICE, the FBI, and CBP. ICE alleged Valdes had been a Cuban intelligence asset since the mid-1990s, infiltrating Cuban exile and dissident communities, and that he fraudulently obtained lawful permanent resident status by concealing his affiliation with the Cuban government. He was placed in removal proceedings and has since been deported from the United States.

Humberto Castro, a 59-year-old Venezuelan who has lived in Doral, Florida for eight years, was detained by ICE agents while driving to work. His daughter, Arianna Castro, said he holds a work permit valid until 2030 and has a pending asylum application, with no criminal record. He is being held at ICE offices in Miramar while his daughter tries to secure his release on bond. His case comes amid a wave of arrests of Venezuelans in South Florida that prompted two exile organizations to send Congress a report demanding oversight hearings and data on detainees with pending immigration cases.

A Maryland man named Aquino, described by his family as the sole provider for his wife and five children, was taken into ICE custody after being pulled over by police for a broken vehicle light. His family says it remains unclear why he was detained or why he continues to be held. Family friend Kristi Voigt said Aquino has lived in the U.S. for 23 years and called him 'a good man.' A GoFundMe launched to cover legal expenses and household costs raised more than $10,000 from 161 donors within three days.

Five Mexican men were detained by immigration agents overnight during a Labor Day weekend family camping trip at Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, after U.S. Forest Service rangers approached their campsite over a trash complaint and collected identification from the adults. Families say agents shook their tents around midnight, identified themselves as immigration officers, and took the men one by one while most children were asleep. The men remain in ICE custody at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma pending removal proceedings, and their families say the separation has been especially hard on the children, who now ask by phone when their fathers are coming home.

Five men from an extended family were taken into ICE custody during a Labor Day weekend camping trip in Granite Falls, Washington, after individuals who initially presented themselves as park rangers photographed the group's identification under the pretext of a "garbage warning." Around midnight, ICE agents returned, woke the sleeping families by shaking their tents and shouting, and detained the five men, who were the primary financial providers for their households. One of the men who had posed as a park ranger returned armed with a rifle as ICE "backup." The families, which include children ranging from 1 to 14 years old and a pregnant mother, say they were left without income and are now navigating rent, utilities, and legal expenses while raising money to support the five affected households.

Five men from Mexico were detained around midnight on September 5, 2026, during a family Labor Day weekend camping trip at Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest near Granite Falls, Washington. U.S. Forest Service rangers had visited the campsite earlier over a reported trash complaint, photographing adults' identification, before returning at midnight with ICE agents, who first identified themselves as police before revealing they were immigration officers. Children ages 1 to 14 were present when the men were taken away, and family members said they could not reach a lawyer or the detained men until after the holiday weekend. DHS said the men were transferred to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma pending removal proceedings, citing prior voluntary returns to Mexico, a 2021 driving-related arrest, and unlawful entry among the cases. Washington Governor Bob Ferguson called the detentions cruel and ordered his legal team to investigate the tactics, while U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal demanded answers about whether federal land management staff improperly facilitated civil immigration enforcement.

ICE agents detained Arturo Vasquez, a 48-year-old father with no criminal record, while he was a paying customer getting his family car washed in Culver City, California in June 2025; his teenage son was recorded on video pleading with agents as his father was driven away. In a separate incident in spring 2025, Cuban national Eduardo Nuñez Gonzalez was detained by ICE outside his North Miami home while carrying a bag of household trash to the curb; his family said he had no history of criminal charges. Rather than remain in a New Mexico detention facility for months contesting his case, Nuñez Gonzalez ultimately chose deportation to Spain. Both cases were cited amid a surge in ICE arrests, with Los Angeles-area arrests reaching a rolling average of roughly 100 a day, including a single-day record of 228 arrests on July 11. Data showed Latino immigrants were being arrested at 115 times the rate of other groups.

Jose Antonio Caballero-Nolasco, a 32-year-old Salvadoran national living in the U.S. without legal status, was charged with manslaughter and vehicular homicide after allegedly driving drunk the wrong way on the I-270 Spur in Bethesda/Montgomery County, Maryland, causing a head-on collision. The crash killed 46-year-old Musammat Shamima Begum and her 23-year-old daughter Areebah Jahin, and left an 8-year-old girl in their vehicle with life-threatening injuries. Caballero-Nolasco was treated at a hospital before being transferred to the Montgomery County Detention Center, where he is being held without bond. ICE lodged an immigration detainer asking local officials not to release him, though Montgomery County's sanctuary policies and Maryland's Community Trust Act make it unclear whether the detainer will be honored. His attorney said he is a construction worker who has lived in the U.S. for 10 years and is expecting a child with his girlfriend.

A 22-year-old Filipina registered nurse working in an acute-care telemetry unit at a Phoenix hospital was detained by ICE agents at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Her family says she held a valid work permit at the time and has no criminal history, and they remain unaware of the reason for her detention. She was transferred to the Eloy Detention Center, and her immigration case has a court hearing scheduled for September 4. Her boyfriend set up a GoFundMe page to help cover legal and financial costs as proceedings continue.

Katsiaryna Bartko, a 33-year-old Belarusian asylum seeker and thyroid cancer survivor, is being held at the CoreCivic-operated Midwest Regional Reception Center in Leavenworth, Kansas, where her partner says her medical condition has severely deteriorated. Lab records show her thyroid-stimulating hormone level spiked to more than 31 times the normal range, with dropping calcium levels causing pain, spasms and voice loss, and she has not been seen by an endocrinologist despite a referral. Days before a federal court hearing on her medical care, she was moved to a solitary isolation room and staff allegedly attempted to confiscate legal documents she had prepared for the hearing. Bartko entered the U.S. legally in 2022 and applied for asylum in 2023 after speaking out against the Belarusian government and the war in Ukraine.

Simranpal Singh, an Indian national who entered the United States through Arizona in June 2022 and was later released by immigration authorities, was arrested by an ICE officer during a commercial vehicle inspection at a weigh station in Newberry, Pennsylvania. At the time of his arrest, Singh had an outstanding warrant for wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy out of the Middle District of Pennsylvania, and he held a commercial driver's license issued by New York State. He is being held in ICE custody pending transfer to the U.S. Marshals Service before facing removal proceedings.

Molis Augustave, a Haitian immigrant pastor and DoorDash driver in York, Pennsylvania, was pulled over on September 4, 2026 for a burned-out headlight and expired registration, then handed to ICE under a local 287(g) agreement. He entered the U.S. legally in 2016 but lost Temporary Protected Status after the Trump administration ended TPS for Haitians in July 2026, despite having a pending green card application through his U.S. citizen wife, Omara Nunez, with whom he has two young children. He was transferred to a Louisiana ICE facility and moved toward a deportation flight to Haiti, but was pulled off the plane at the last minute after advocacy from his wife, church, and organizations including We Are CASA and the Haitian Bridge Alliance; 89 others on that flight were deported. Augustave says he was handled roughly during his initial detention, leaving him with ongoing neck and back pain, but has since become a source of support for other detainees, leading Bible study and counseling men who are frightened or losing hope. His wife filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court and an appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals, while local pastors and state Sen. Patty Kim held a news conference calling for his release.

Kira Inthisane, who is currently deployed overseas, started a fundraiser after learning her mother had been taken into ICE custody. Kira said she has spent her own resources on legal fees to try to keep her mother from being deported and is seeking donations to continue funding the legal fight.

A Colombian woman who entered the United States on a B-1/B-2 visa in December 2020 was detained by federal law enforcement on September 4, 2026, while attempting to board a flight at the San Juan airport. She has a pending derivative asylum application tied to a petition filed by her father with USCIS. After her detention, ICE officers at the Guaynabo office reportedly told her that if she did not accept voluntary departure, a Notice to Appear would be filed; she declined and was placed in civil immigration custody at the San Juan Staging Facility in Guaynabo. She requested a bond hearing on September 7, 2026, but before it was resolved, ICE informed her she would be transferred to a detention facility in Florida. She filed a habeas corpus petition and a motion for a temporary restraining order, arguing her detention violated her Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights and seeking to block her transfer and secure her release. The district court granted in part her TRO request, ordering that she not be transferred out of Puerto Rico and that she be given a bond hearing before an immigration judge by September 23, 2026, while denying her request for immediate release and holding the underlying habeas petition in abeyance.

Oscar Sanchez-Corona, who was brought to the United States at age 1 and attended Shawnee Mission schools, was detained by ICE agents on August 18 while pouring concrete at a construction site in Lawrence, Kansas. He was transferred through three facilities — Leavenworth's Midwest Regional Reception Center, Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana, and Camp East Montana in Texas — before being deported to Juarez, Mexico, separating him from the two elementary school-aged children he shares custody of in Johnson County. His removal was carried out through reinstatement of a prior removal order tied to a teenage misdemeanor property-damage charge and probation violations; DHS also cited a 2013 deportation after he failed to comply with a voluntary departure order and later re-entered illegally, along with convictions for drug paraphernalia possession, criminal property damage, and driving without a license, and arrests for DUI and illegal entry. A family friend, Skylar Roush, described him as "a regular American guy" who lived a peaceful life as a worker and father, and his daughter drew a picture asking ICE not to take him away.

Five men from Mexico, described as fathers and husbands who serve as their families' primary breadwinners, were arrested by ICE agents during a Labor Day weekend camping trip with their extended families at a campground in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in Western Washington. U.S. Forest Service rangers first visited the campsite under the pretext of a trash complaint and photographed the men's identification, and armed ICE agents returned around midnight, shook the families' tents, and shouted for the men to come out before handcuffing and taking them away, leaving women and children stranded without cell service. Four of the five men had no criminal record; one had a 2016 misdemeanor negligent driving conviction. The men are being held at an ICE detention facility in Tacoma, and their families are trying to raise about $100,000 for legal fees while fearing the men will be transferred out of state.

Federal ICE agents arrived around 6 a.m. Thursday, September 3, 2025, near Stoneybrook Court and Schaffer Drive in Frederick, Maryland's Taskers Chance neighborhood, searching for a man who had fled a vehicle stop. Agents occupied the area for nearly 40 hours, prompting residents to stay inside and skip work, while observers from the Western Maryland Immigrant Rights Collective monitored the scene. On Friday night, when agents ordered the block cleared, a couple dozen residents and observers linked arms and sat down to block a doorway, chanting 'We shall not be moved.' ICE vehicles drove onto a sidewalk, nearly striking City Council Vice President Katie Nash, and agents used batons, grabbed and pushed people, and dragged protesters off a porch, injuring several, some requiring hospitalization. No arrests were made, and it did not appear anyone inside the targeted home was taken into custody. Frederick police who responded did not assist the federal agents. City Council President César Díaz and Vice President Katie Nash said observers were not violent, with Nash stating, 'It's nuts. Now people are just not leaving their houses.' Frederick Mayor Michael O'Connor, Díaz, and the county executive publicly objected to the tactics, and a local representative called for a full investigation into the agents' use of force.