Human Impact Project

Jenifer Gomez Hernandez, a 15-year-old girl from Chiapas, Mexico, was abandoned in Eagle Pass, Texas after suffering heatstroke and injuring her foot during her journey. She was last heard from on May 9, 2025, when a third person called using her phone before contact was lost. A migrant search and advocacy organization is asking the public for any information that could help locate her.

Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., was indicted on three counts of forcibly impeding and interfering with federal officers following a May 9 incident at Newark's Delaney Hall ICE detention facility. The indictment, announced June 10 by U.S. Attorney Alina Habba, carries a maximum sentence of 17 years if convicted on all counts. McIver has pleaded not guilty and stated she was conducting lawful congressional oversight duties. McIver and her attorney deny the charges and characterize the prosecution as political retaliation.

Viktoriia Bulavina, a Ukrainian immigrant married to a U.S. citizen, was handcuffed and detained by federal immigration agents immediately after a marriage-based green card interview at the USCIS office in downtown San Diego. She was held for five days in poor conditions, including an open toilet in view of guards, expired food, and denial of medication, before being released following media coverage and attorney intervention. She now faces removal proceedings.

A 33-year-old South Sudanese man was released on discretionary parole from Nebraska prison custody on May 2, 2025, and arrested by immigration authorities six days later. He was one of eight men, from six different countries, placed on a deportation flight to South Sudan on July 4, 2025, after being held for weeks at a U.S. military base in Djibouti. On February 25, 2026, U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy issued an 81-page ruling declaring the entire third-country deportation program, including his removal, unlawful, finding the government violated due process and the Convention Against Torture by giving detainees less than 16 hours' notice. He represented himself in his appeals.

Nestor Alejandro Umana Barquero, a 23-year-old Honduran citizen, was arrested by Durham police in May 2025 on misdemeanor charges, none of which required notification to ICE under North Carolina's new referral law. He was nonetheless referred to ICE, which issued a detainer on May 8, 2025, and he remained in the Durham County jail for more than 60 days. His attorney filed a habeas petition arguing he was being held on an improper judicial order; the same day the petition was filed, prosecutors dismissed the charges against him, but the judge denied his habeas petition. He was later confirmed to be in ICE detention in Texas before disappearing from the detention system, and could not be reached for comment.

A Border Patrol "targeted operation" traced to an April 15 noise complaint at a West Fargo apartment led agents to a van carrying seven people, six of them Mexican nationals ranging in age from 21 to 60, who were arrested for being in the country without authorization; the seventh occupant was a U.S. citizen. The six were turned over to ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations. One of those detained, Ruben Lopez-Rodriguez, has been federally charged with illegal reentry after previous deportation, having been removed from the U.S. at least three times and previously convicted in Texas of illegal entry offenses.

A small panga-style boat carrying migrants capsized off Torrey Pines State Beach near San Diego, killing four people including a 14-year-old boy and resulting in a 10-year-old girl missing at sea. The children's father is in a coma and their mother remains hospitalized. Five Mexican citizens have been charged with human smuggling resulting in death and other related crimes.

Two U.S. citizen children, ages 5 and 4, were deported to Mexico after their mother was lured to an immigration processing appointment under false pretenses. The mother, who was told she would be eligible for asylum and a work permit if she appeared for a routine check-in, was instead deported to Reynosa, Mexico along with her three children. The two youngest children are U.S. citizens who were deported without proper legal process or opportunity for informed consent from their mother.

A 37-year-old Guatemalan woman, identified in court papers as D.N.N., was arrested by masked ICE agents at a routine immigration check-in in Baltimore on May 7, 2025. She had previously been granted withholding of removal in 2012 after an immigration judge found she would likely face torture or persecution if returned to Guatemala, but ICE sought to deport her to Mexico as a third country. She was transferred from New Jersey to a tent facility in Texas and then to New Mexico, losing contact with her husband, young daughter, and lawyer along the way.

A 66-year-old legal permanent resident since 1967 and longtime legal assistant was detained by ICE at San Francisco International Airport on May 7, 2025, after returning from visiting his son, an active-duty U.S. Air Force member, in Japan. The detention stemmed from a 2009 misdemeanor DUI and drug possession conviction, though a CBP spokesperson later referenced additional arrests, including petty theft. After an immigration judge granted him relief and the government declined to appeal, he was released in early 2026 following nearly nine months in detention, including time at a facility near Bakersfield, California, and has returned home to San Diego. A GoFundMe campaign had raised tens of thousands of dollars to support his legal defense.

Leyvis Edi Velasquez-Perez was arrested by ICE in Chattanooga, Tennessee while on supervised probation after conviction for solicitation of a minor. He had prior convictions for driving without a license in Georgia and failure to obey traffic laws in North Carolina. According to ICE, he has no documentation of legal entry into the United States and is being held pending removal proceedings.

Rodolfo Hernandez-Yanez, 56, was arrested by ICE agents on May 6, 2025, in a rideshare parking lot along Highway 50 near Carson City while driving his children, aged 17 and 18, to school. He had attempted unauthorized entry in 2005, was turned away, and later entered illegally. He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2014 and received a deportation order in 2019; his appeals were denied in March 2023 and his petition for review was dismissed in May 2024. He was processed for deportation to Mexico as part of a broader ICE enforcement operation that arrested 33 people across northern Nevada in two days.

A pregnant Guatemalan woman became lost in the Arizona desert near the U.S.-Mexico border while attempting to cross. She navigated dangerous terrain while pregnant and provided a firsthand account of her experience.

Denisse Parra Vargas, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, was stopped for expired tags in North Austin on Thursday and later instructed to report to a processing center in Pflugerville on Tuesday. When she reported with her three children, ICE arrested all of them. Two of her three children are U.S. citizens. The family was deported to Mexico within 24 hours.

Bryan José Rojas Galofre, a Venezuelan immigrant married to a U.S. citizen, was detained by ICE on January 27, 2025, following a security checkpoint stop at Trump National Doral hotel during a honeymoon trip. Agents discovered an airsoft gun and marijuana grinder in his vehicle, leading to local drug paraphernalia charges and questioning about gang ties based on his tattoos. Despite an immigration judge granting him bond in April 2025, Rojas remained in federal detention until his release on May 6, 2025. His nearly three-month detention resulted in job loss, expiration of his work permit, loss of his home and vehicle, depletion of retirement savings, over $80,000 in debt, and significant family financial hardship. His immigration case remains pending with a hearing scheduled for 2028.

Akbor Miah, a Bangladeshi national also known by the alias Shahidul Islam, was arrested by U.S. Marshals in New York on May 6, 2025, and extradited to Florida in connection with the shooting death of Monica Islam, his sister-in-law, whose body was found along a road in Mount Dora in May 2025. Investigators said she was killed after leaving a convenience store in Eustis where the two worked together, and evidence including her DNA and a bullet was later found in Miah's car. ICE has lodged a detainer with the Lake County Jail requesting his transfer to federal custody after the criminal case concludes. Records show Miah first entered the U.S. in 2016, was arrested by ICE in February 2018, received a final removal order that November, was deported in January 2019, then re-entered the country and was released by federal authorities in March 2022.

Patricia Vázquez Topete, a DACA recipient who lived in California for 20 years, left the U.S. in May 2025 amid uncertainty over DACA's future and immigration enforcement under the Trump administration. She had come to the U.S. at age 12 after fleeing abuse in Mexico, was raised by an uncle in the Central Valley, worked in the strawberry fields of Salinas, and earned a scholarship to Fresno Pacific University before building a career in global banking. She has since settled in Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, and is preparing to pursue a master's degree in international business in Spain.

On May 6, 2025, ICE and HSI agents conducted unannounced visits to more than 100 Washington-area businesses, including nearly a dozen well-known restaurants, as part of a Trump administration immigration enforcement crackdown targeting employers suspected of employing undocumented workers. Agents requested I-9 employment verification forms and issued Notice of Inspection documents requiring record production within three business days at establishments including Chef Geoff's, Pupatella, Millie's, Chang Chang, Jaleo, Clyde's and Cynthia. DHS confirmed more than 100 Notices of Inspection were served and said no arrests were made during the operations. Restaurant owners, managers and industry members commented on the visits to the local food community.

ICE agents conducted a multi-day enforcement operation across northern Nevada, making 17 arrests on Monday, May 5, 2025, and an additional 16 arrests by noon on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in Reno, Sparks, Sun Valley, and Carson City. ICE officials stated that all arrested individuals had previous criminal convictions. Among those detained was Rodolfo Hernandez-Yanez, 56, who was taken into custody in a rideshare parking lot along Highway 50 near Carson City while driving his 17- and 18-year-old children to school in Incline Village; ICE said he had a 2014 involuntary manslaughter conviction and remained in the country after a 2019 deportation order was upheld on appeal. The operation prompted concerns from both the Nevada Immigration Coalition and the ACLU of Nevada about increased federal immigration enforcement in the state.

A 21-year-old Colombian woman who was eight months pregnant was deported from Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport. She had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in November seeking asylum but was subject to expedited removal. A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order to stop the deportation, but the order came approximately three hours after the flight had departed.