Human Impact Project

A Venezuelan family who legally entered the U.S. through the CBP One program and were released on notice to appear in court chose to self-deport to Mexico after ICE arrested the husband and son. The family said ICE agents came to their home in New Mexico claiming a routine status check, detained the husband from his workplace, and took the son from a construction site. The remaining family members decided to relocate to Mexico rather than risk deportation to Venezuela.

Martin Romero was deported to Mexico while dealing with multiple serious health conditions including lupus vasculitis, hypertension, anemia, and kidney failure requiring dialysis every other day. His daughter created a fundraiser to help cover the costs of his medical treatment, medications, specialist visits, and transportation to dialysis appointments in Mexico, as the family struggles with overwhelming medical expenses.

Adelso Bravo, a 39-year-old house painter from Guatemala, was arrested by ICE agents on February 10 near his Syracuse home. After 18 days in the Batavia immigration detention center, he had a court hearing. With support from his wife, community members, and lawyers, plus $18,000 raised by friends and supporters, he was released on bond after 21 days in detention. Bravo had been living in Syracuse for over 20 years and had started his own painting business with a work permit.

High school students in Clovis, California walked out of class on February 10, 2026 in response to Trump administration immigration enforcement. The action followed the death of an ICU nurse during an immigration raid. The Clovis Police Department announced it was investigating up to six adults, including Fresno Resistance co-founder Alfred Aldrete, for potentially violating state law by inducing student truancy, though no arrests or charges have been filed. The LAPD also issued similar warnings to adults in Los Angeles who helped organize school walkouts, but only Clovis publicly named its investigation.

On February 9-10, 2026, ICE agents conducted an enforcement operation in Lower Providence Township/Trooper area of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, to apprehend Jose Manuel Cordova Lopez, a Mexican citizen who overstayed his H-2A visa. The operation involved over 20 unmarked vehicles and masked federal agents who pursued Cordova Lopez to a residential home, broke down doors, and detained him while two minors and other family members were present. Elected officials commented on reports that an ICE agent assaulted a family member, broken doors caused distress to children and families, and the operation disrupted the neighborhood and prevented school bus pickup.

Federal Border Patrol and Homeland Security agents took Jose Cordova-Lopez into custody after a hours-long operation at a home in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Cordova-Lopez, a Mexican national with no legal status, was wanted in connection with immigration proceedings and allegedly resisting an ICE officer's attempted traffic stop. Family members reported that agents broke down the door and used force, with claims that one family member was hit in the face. Children were present during the operation.

Google provided ICE with personal and financial information about Amandla Thomas-Johnson, a British doctoral student and journalist at Cornell University, in response to an administrative subpoena that had not been approved by a judge. Thomas-Johnson's data, including addresses, phone numbers, credit card and bank account numbers, was turned over approximately 90 minutes after his student visa was revoked. Thomas-Johnson subsequently left the United States for Canada and later Switzerland.

Teenage brothers Ben and Sam Luhmann, legal observers from Chicago, documented federal immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota and Illinois for months. They witnessed ICE raids including one in Shakopee where agents arrested someone in front of his children, and say their observations contradicted DHS public statements. The brothers compared the scale and tactics of operations between the two states, noting Minnesota had significantly more agents deployed.

The petitioner entered the United States on a visitor visa in October 2017, authorized to stay until April 2018. He filed for asylum in March 2018, shortly before his visa expired, and has since been granted work authorization multiple times, with his most recent authorization valid from August 2022 through October 2028. On February 9, 2026, he was transferred from local custody into ICE custody, where he was held under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) at a detention facility. He filed a pro se petition for writ of habeas corpus challenging his detention on procedural due process grounds and sought a temporary restraining order for immediate release. The government argued he should be required to exhaust administrative remedies and that he had received all process due under the statute, but failed to fully respond to the court's requests for documentation about his asylum status, work authorization, and custody determination. The court found that immigration authorities had been aware of and had authorized his continued presence in the U.S. for years after his visa expired, giving him a protected liberty interest in his continued release. The court granted his habeas petition, ordered his immediate release, and barred future re-detention without a pre-detention hearing unless exigent circumstances exist.

Rümeysa Öztürk, a 30-year-old Turkish doctoral student pursuing a PhD in child development at Tufts University on a valid F-1 student visa, was arrested by plainclothes ICE agents on March 25, 2025, outside her home in Somerville, Massachusetts, as she left to attend an Iftar dinner. The Trump administration revoked her visa and detained her based on allegations she supported Hamas, though government officials later acknowledged the action was tied to a pro-Palestinian op-ed she co-wrote for the Tufts Daily criticizing the university's response to divestment resolutions and Israel's war in Gaza. During her 45-day detention across multiple states—including New Hampshire, Vermont, and Louisiana's South Louisiana ICE Processing Center—Öztürk suffered at least 12 asthma attacks in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions without adequate medical care or access to medications. Tufts University administrators stated they found no information supporting the allegations against her and that she did not violate university policies; a colleague described her as "quiet, steady, and unshakably kind." U.S. District Judge William Sessions III ordered her release on May 9, 2025, finding serious claims of due process and First Amendment violations and noting the government's only evidence was the op-ed itself, with "no evidence here … absent consideration of the op-ed." An immigration judge subsequently terminated her removal proceedings, determining the Department of Homeland Security lacked legal grounds to deport her. In December 2025, a federal judge ruled her SEVIS record (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System) was wrongfully terminated and must be reinstated retroactively to March, and in January 2026, another federal judge determined the government's policy of arresting and detaining scholars for protected speech violated the First Amendment. Öztürk has since resumed her research and teaching duties at Tufts.

Staff at the South Texas Family Residential Center conducted raids on dormitories to confiscate and destroy letters and drawings from detained children describing conditions inside the facility. The raids followed a ProPublica article published February 9 that detailed children's accounts of conditions at the facility. At the time, many detained children exceeded the 20-day maximum duration specified in the Flores Settlement Agreement.

Roberto was arrested and detained by ICE while driving to work nine days after the birth of his son in mid-February 2026. He was held in detention for two months at an unknown location, then deported to Guatemala. His partner María was left alone to care for their newborn without support or knowledge of his whereabouts.

Owen Ramsingh, a Columbia resident and lawful permanent resident, was detained by border patrol at Chicago's O'Hare Airport in September 2025 after returning from visiting his father in the Netherlands. ICE cited a cocaine possession charge from his teenage years as grounds for deportation. After spending approximately four and a half months in detention facilities across Chicago, Texas, and New Mexico, Ramsingh was deported to the Netherlands on February 8, 2026, and banned from the United States for 8-10 years. His wife and daughter remained in the United States.

A Chinese citizen who entered the US without inspection in February 2024 was detained by ICE at a truck weight station in February 2026. He had established a life in the US with a wife and child and worked as a truck driver with no criminal history. The court ruled he was entitled to a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1226 and ordered the government to provide one within seven days.

Owen Ramsingh, a 45-year-old Missouri resident and green card holder, was detained at O'Hare Airport in September 2025 after Border Patrol discovered a felony drug conviction from nearly 30 years prior. He was deported to the Netherlands in February 2026 and is now rebuilding his life in his birth country while separated from his wife and teenage daughter. Ramsingh, who last lived in the Netherlands at age 5, is living with his reconnected father and reports experiencing nightmares from his detention.

Children detained at the Dilley family detention center in South Texas have been held in poor conditions including inadequate medical care, contaminated food, overcrowded spaces, and limited legal access. The facility, which reopened for family detentions under the Trump administration, has held over 3,500 detainees since reopening, with more than 1,700 children. Approximately 300 children have been detained beyond the legal 20-day limit. Individual cases documented by immigration attorneys include 5-year-old twins held for 8 months and a young girl who attempted suicide after immigration judges denied bond requests. Advocacy groups, journalists, and ProPublica have documented conditions through interviews, letters, and detention drawings created by children at the facility.

A U.S. citizen and Latina woman named Maria was stopped by ICE agents on a Salem street, during which officers broke her car window and pulled her from the vehicle. After discovering her passport, agents left. Maria sustained a concussion, torn rotator cuff, and bruised ribs from the incident.

Amalia Arrieta, an 18-month-old from Venezuela, was detained with her mother Kheilin Valero Marcano following an ICE appointment in El Paso on December 11, 2025, and transferred to Dilley Immigration Processing Center. Over weeks, Amalia developed severe respiratory symptoms including high fevers, persistent cough, and dangerously low blood-oxygen levels (dropping to the 50s). On January 18, 2026, she was hospitalized at Methodist Children's Hospital in San Antonio for 10 days, diagnosed with pneumonia, COVID-19, RSV, and respiratory distress. Upon discharge on January 28, doctors prescribed her a nebulizer, respiratory medications, and nutritional supplements. When ICE returned her to Dilley, detention staff allegedly confiscated her prescribed medications and breathing equipment. Her parents were forced to wait in daily outdoor lines to request treatment, often being denied. After lawyers filed an emergency habeas corpus petition in federal court, the family was released on either January 31 or February 7, 2026.

Obeth Eduardo is currently in ICE custody. His sister Mariana is raising funds to cover attorney fees for his legal defense and case preparation. The family states this is the second time they are facing an ICE enforcement situation.

An 18-month-old girl named Amalia was hospitalized with respiratory failure, pneumonia, COVID-19, and RSV after being detained at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center with her parents. After 10 days of hospital treatment, she was returned to detention on January 28 and denied access to prescribed medication, despite medical warnings that she remained vulnerable. A federal lawsuit and emergency habeas corpus petition led to her release on February 7.