Human Impact Project

An Iranian woman in her early thirties, a pro-democracy activist who said she had been threatened by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, fled Iran, crossed the Darién Gap, and arrived in the U.S. at the end of 2024, where a judge granted her legal protection from being deported back to Iran after finding she had credible fear of persecution. Despite that protection, she was deported on June 12, 2026, from Louisiana to the Central African Republic on a flight carrying roughly two dozen migrants from countries including Jordan, Armenia, Turkey, Georgia, and Afghanistan, under the Trump administration's third-country deportation agreements. Her attorney, Emily Trostle, said she was left in a country where she has no status, no connection, and no support network. She now lives in isolation, afraid to leave her apartment, and says local police have extorted her for cash. Her family said she could be killed if ever returned to Iran, and she fears execution if her situation changes once her temporary visa expires. Two other Iranian women originally scheduled for the same flight, whose asylum claims had been denied under a transit rule later vacated by a California federal court, received emergency court orders temporarily halting their removal.

The Gámez-Cuéllar family—parents Luis Antonio Gámez Martínez and Emma Guadalupe Cuéllar López, and their three sons Antonio (18), Caleb (12), and Joshua (14)—were detained by ICE on February 25, 2026, during a routine immigration check-in in Edinburg, Texas. The family had legally entered the U.S. in May 2023 through the CBP One asylum app and were in active asylum proceedings with a final hearing scheduled for September. Antonio was separated from his family and shackled during transport to an adult detention facility in Raymondville, while his younger brothers and parents were held at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley. Two of the brothers are award-winning mariachi musicians with McAllen High School's Mariachi Oro band, which has performed at the White House and Carnegie Hall and won eight state championships. After approximately 13 days in detention, bipartisan congressional pressure from lawmakers including Rep. Monica De La Cruz and Rep. Joaquin Castro, combined with a successful parole request by their attorneys, resulted in the family's release on February 28, 2026. The parents were required to wear ankle monitors and restrict travel to 75 miles from their home.

A citizen of the Dominican Republic who has lived in Puerto Rico since entering the United States without inspection in 2008 was detained by law enforcement agents during an immigration enforcement operation at his place of work on September 1, 2026. He is married to a U.S. citizen, who had filed a relative petition on his behalf with USCIS that was approved in March 2023. Since his arrest he has been held at the GSA Guaynabo Detention Center and was reportedly denied a bond hearing. He filed a habeas corpus petition and an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order, arguing his detention falls under 8 U.S.C. § 1226 and that he is prima facie eligible for cancellation of removal. The court found he is likely entitled to a bond hearing under Section 1226(a) rather than mandatory detention under Section 1225, and held that he faces irreparable harm without one. The court granted the TRO, barring the government from transferring him outside Puerto Rico, ordered that he receive a bond hearing before an Immigration Judge by September 18, 2026, and held the underlying habeas petition in abeyance pending that hearing.

On Sept. 1, ICE agents raided a day laborer gathering spot near General Hart Playground in Woodside, Queens, detaining about eight men. It was the second such raid in three days, and workers say ICE has specifically targeted the site during a weekly mobile soup kitchen distribution. The raids have caused widespread fear, with the usual crowd of about 100 day laborers dwindling to just a few people showing up for work.

Jeyson Molina's wife was detained by ICE agents in Newark while working as a package delivery driver. The sudden detention has left the family seeking financial support for legal fees to secure representation. The family is raising $8,000 for lawyers as they navigate the legal process.

Noune Phompor, 47, a Laotian refugee who has lived in the U.S. since 1981 under indefinite refugee status, was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents during his lunch break at the Chipotle where he has worked since May 2025. Phompor's family says he committed crimes in his 20s while struggling with methamphetamine addiction but has not committed a crime since at least 2014, completing his supervision requirements. He is the sole provider for his partner, Joanna Mabrey, and their 1-year-old son, and is now held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma awaiting removal proceedings with a deportation date of October 20. Friends, family, and Port Angeles Mayor Kate Dexter have been working to secure him legal representation and intervene with lawmakers.

A federal magistrate judge in the Southern District of Georgia denied the Trump administration's attempt to dismiss a habeas petition filed by Ya'akub Vijandre, who has been held in ICE detention for nearly a year over his speech and advocacy. The ruling allows his case to proceed to a district judge for further review. Advocates say the decision is a step toward his potential release from custody.

A teenage asylum seeker identified in court records as E.L.A., who entered the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor, was deported to El Salvador on September 1 despite protections under the class-action settlement J.O.P. v. DHS. He had previously been removed in March 2026, then returned to the U.S. in August after class counsel intervened so his asylum application could be adjudicated. While being held in immigration detention in Louisiana awaiting an asylum interview, he was reportedly told he would be transferred to another facility but instead was placed on a flight to El Salvador. A federal judge ordered DHS to explain who authorized the removal and how it will be corrected.

A 67-year-old lawful permanent resident who has lived legally in the U.S. for about 50 years was held for eight days by CBP at San Francisco International Airport after returning from a trip to Guadalajara, Mexico, and landing in Fresno. He told the San Francisco Chronicle that agents removed him from his flight and transported him in handcuffs to San Francisco, where he says he slept sitting in a chair under lights kept on and struggled to manage his blood sugar despite having diabetes, hypertension and vision problems. His detention was reportedly linked to an old criminal record; he was later transferred to an ICE detention facility for several months before his attorneys secured his release. The case is part of a broader investigation that found 25 people were held more than 72 hours at SFO through July, 19 of whom were green card holders, despite CBP policy generally limiting custody to 72 hours.

César Cepeda Gomez, a Venezuelan delivery driver for Walmart who held a work permit and had an asylum hearing scheduled for October, was detained by ICE agents outside a Bloomington Walmart alongside a coworker. He lives in Bloomington with his partner and her child. ICE said he was being held at North Lake Correctional Facility in Michigan.

Manuel Alejandro Nadal-Ortiz, a Venezuelan man who came to the U.S. under an asylum claim and held a work permit, was detained by ICE agents outside a Bloomington Walmart while working as a delivery driver for DoorDash, Uber and Walmart. His girlfriend, Joanna Hanner, said his mother called her crying within minutes of the arrest, and the family spent the day calling detention centers before Ortiz reached them by phone that afternoon from Chicago, saying he was being transferred to a jail in Michigan. Hanner said Ortiz had no criminal record beyond a paid speeding ticket, closely monitored local ICE activity to avoid it, and was saving money to support his father in Venezuela. As of publication, Ortiz did not appear in the ICE detainee locator and his exact location was unknown.

José David Murcia Valdez, a 30-year-old Honduran refugee, fled Honduras six years ago after a machete attack cost him a finger and left scars across his arms and shoulders. He settled in Monterrey, Mexico, and worked for three years at a recycling plant until Mexican authorities arrived to check employees' papers and deported him back to Honduras. Unable to remain in Honduras because of the earlier attack, he returned to Mexico and joined a migrant caravan called Sueños sin Fronteras, attempting to bike more than 1,000 miles back to Monterrey in search of work.

Felipe Flores was deported alongside Daniel Ramirez as part of the same third-country deportation flight to Guatemala City. Before the flight, he spent days in cramped U.S. detention facilities without being able to shower or brush his teeth, followed by a 15-hour stint in handcuffs. After being released in Guatemala City, he was bused with other Mexican deportees across the border into Tapachula, Mexico.

Daniel Ramirez, a 30-year-old Texas resident born in Mexico's Tamaulipas state and raised in Brownsville, was detained by U.S. immigration agents near his home. Rather than being returned to Mexico, he was shackled and flown to Guatemala City as part of the Trump administration's third-country deportation policy, then bused across the border into Tapachula, Mexico, more than 1,000 miles from the U.S. border. Ramirez, who lived in the U.S. for years without legal status, said the transfer felt like "a punishment for us so we don't go back again." He later took a multi-day bus trip to Matamoros, near Brownsville, where he found work painting cars.

Ana Garcia's mother was arrested by ICE near downtown Mount Vernon, Washington, according to her daughter. Ana said the family was not allowed to see her before she was taken away. The five siblings are now navigating daily life without either parent at home.

ICE officers arrested Jose Saul Canas-Guandique, a 49-year-old Salvadoran national, in Falls Church, Virginia on August 31, 2026. He is wanted in Colorado on felony charges including child sexual assault, solicitation of child prostitution, and using the internet to lure a child. He had lawfully entered the U.S. in 2004 but remained after his permitted stay expired, and he is now in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

Gilberto Jacobo Mata was taken into ICE custody on August 31, 2026 while on his way to work. He had lived in the United States for 14 years and was the sole income provider for his four children, ages 1 1/2 to 14. Family members describe him as a hardworking man who treated others with kindness and are raising funds to cover legal fees and support his children.

The petitioner was detained at a facility in or near Vinton, Texas, though his exact facility and immediate custodian had not been reliably confirmed to him or his supporters at the time of filing. He filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, along with a motion for a temporary restraining order seeking to prevent his removal from the country and to prevent his transfer outside the Western District of Texas without advance notice. The court found it lacked jurisdiction to stay his removal because such claims are barred under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(g) as directly connected to execution of a removal order. The court did find it had jurisdiction over the underlying habeas petition itself, since it was filed in the district of confinement and named the facility administrator as respondent. The court noted that its jurisdiction would not be lost even if he were transferred to another facility after filing. The motion for a temporary restraining order was denied in full.

A man held at the Denver Contract Detention Facility in Aurora, Colorado filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his detention under 8 U.S.C. §§ 1225 and 1226, seeking release or, alternatively, a bond hearing. He argued that the government's interpretation of these statutes to deny him a bond hearing was unlawful. The court found this dispute had already been resolved in his favor by a recent Tenth Circuit decision interpreting the same statutory provisions. The court granted the petition in part, ordering that he receive a bond hearing within seven days at which the government must bear the burden of proving his continued detention is justified. The court also enjoined the government from denying him bond on the basis that he is detained under § 1225(b), and barred his removal from the District of Colorado except pursuant to a final removal order, in order to preserve its jurisdiction over the case.

Victor Salgado Araujo, 44, was detained by ICE on July 7, 2026, after witnessing an ICE agent fatally shoot his brother, Houston homebuilder Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, while the two drove their construction crew to a job site. He was held for 54 days at the Montgomery ICE Processing Center, where he missed his brother's funeral. The three detained witnesses filed habeas petitions and sought U visas, and reported pressure from ICE to self-deport while in custody. Victor was released in late August 2026, the last of the three witnesses freed, and reunited with his family. His attorney said he is expected to testify before the Harris County grand jury investigating the shooting while pursuing a U visa and facing separate removal proceedings.