Human Impact Project

Hugo Elias Sanchez Trillos, a Colombian construction worker, was arrested in late June after ICE raided his home looking for someone else. He was held at 26 Federal Plaza for nearly three weeks (with a three-day break at Nassau County jail between June 26 and July 14), wearing the same clothes and never bathing. He lost nearly 20 pounds due to limited food access, receiving only two meals daily served cold in plastic bags. His sworn affidavit is part of a lawsuit seeking to improve conditions at the facility.

Geovani Maradiaga Ochoa, a Honduran immigrant who lived in the Bronx for 20 years with a U.S. citizen wife and daughter, was arrested at an ICE check-in and detained at 26 Federal Plaza for six days without access to shower or toothbrush. He stated he felt mistreated during detention. His sworn affidavit is part of a lawsuit by Make the Road New York, the NYCLU, and ACLU seeking to improve conditions at the facility.

Florida officials are refusing to confirm whether COVID-19 or other infectious diseases are spreading at Alligator Alcatraz, a new immigration detention center. A Venezuelan detainee recently collapsed with respiratory symptoms and was hospitalized, while relatives of other detainees report widespread illness at the facility. A former corrections officer also reported contracting COVID-19 shortly after starting work at the center.

A man named Orlin was taken into ICE custody for the second time after his family's dog discovered human remains at a home in Center Point, Alabama. His wife, Paulina Mejia, is now caring for their young daughter alone while managing their remodeling business. The couple had been cooperating with law enforcement in the investigation when ICE detained Orlin and transferred him to a detention facility in Louisiana.

Sarah Shaw, a New Zealand national living in Washington State and an employee of the state's Department of Children, Youth, and Families, was detained along with her 6-year-old son Isaac after attempting to re-enter the United States from Canada. Shaw had crossed into Canada to drop off her two older children before trying to return home, but officials cited an issue with her travel paperwork, saying she lacked proper advance parole documentation for re-entry even though her son had valid travel documents. The pair were transferred to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, where they were held without access to their personal belongings.

Alejandra Juarez, a Colombian national who lived undocumented in Florida for 20 years, was deported to Mexico, leaving behind her 16-year-old U.S. citizen daughter Pamela and her husband Temo, a naturalized U.S. citizen and former Marine. Her deportation was initiated following a 2013 traffic stop that exposed her undocumented status. A 2001 citizenship petition was rejected after she was accused of making a false statement during an asylum claim in 1998. Juarez chose to self-deport rather than face forcible removal, settling in Merida in the Yucatan with plans for her younger daughter Estela to join her. Temo remained in Florida to care for Pamela and maintain their roofing business.

A 15-year-old Manhattan high school student, Roger Iza, was arrested by ICE at a check-in appointment on August 9, 2025, along with his father. The pair were transported to private hotels in Louisiana and Texas where they were held incommunicado without access to phones or the internet, prevented from contacting lawyers or the outside world. They were deported to Ecuador on August 14, 2025, after just five days of detention in hotels rather than standard ICE detention facilities.

Amanda Trebach, a registered nurse and U.S. citizen working in intensive care units serving low-income communities in Watts, Compton, and South Central Los Angeles, was arrested by federal agents on August 8, 2025, while documenting immigration enforcement operations at Terminal Island in San Pedro as a volunteer with Harbor Area Peace Patrol and Unión del Barrio. Video evidence shows masked federal agents pinning her face-down to the pavement, kneeling on her head, handcuffing her, and placing her into an unmarked van. CBP accused her of jumping in front of vehicles and obstructing federal agents; witnesses and video disputed these allegations. Trebach, whose cell phone was confiscated without a search warrant, says agents did not identify themselves and told her to stop photographing. She spent approximately one day in federal custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles before being released without criminal charges. Her release followed demonstrations at the detention center and calls from local elected leaders, including Councilmember Tim McOsker, who characterized the arrest as "apparently illegal and unconstitutional." National Nurses United, representing 225,000 registered nurses, celebrated her release. Trebach has continued documenting immigration enforcement operations and has been working to protect migrant patients from immigration raids; she reports that migrants in her community are now avoiding hospitals out of fear of encountering immigration enforcement.

ICE served search warrants at agricultural firms including Christensen Farms in Minnesota and Nebraska, and in Las Vegas. The 15-month investigation targeted companies allegedly knowingly hiring undocumented workers. Criminal warrants were issued for 17 individuals in a conspiracy involving fraud and money laundering. 133 workers were administratively arrested.

ICE arrested more than a dozen people who were found to be unlawfully present in the U.S. after responding to a request for assistance from the Fauquier County Sheriff's Office following the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Samuel Ojeda at a quinceañera. The sheriff's office said it asked local and federal law enforcement for backup to manage a crowd of more than 100 people so deputies could focus on the homicide investigation. ICE said some of those arrested had prior charges or convictions including illegal reentry, identity theft, and driving under the influence.

Roxanne, a 32-year-old transgender woman from Mexico, crossed the Texas border in January 2024 seeking protection from discrimination and violence. She was detained by ICE in Eugene and spent a month in detention. She testified in federal court on August 8, 2025, describing her experiences of physical, sexual, and psychological violence in her home country. U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken found her testimony credible and ruled for her release through a habeas corpus petition, criticizing ICE's written statements as containing "serious inaccuracies."

ICE agents arrested Kyungjin Yu, a South Korean immigrant, outside Camarena Elementary School in Chula Vista on the morning of August 6, 2025, during school drop-off. Yu's two children, who attend the school, were in her white Tesla at the time of the arrest; her ex-husband was called to take custody of them. ICE said Yu had overstayed her visa, which expired in 2017, and that an immigration judge had ordered her deported in absentia in July 2022. Officials said the arrest was made off school property. Yu is being held at Otay Mesa Detention Center.

ICE officers tackled and detained two protesters outside San Francisco's ICE field office on August 8, 2025, during an hourslong standoff; after officers fired pepperballs under a garage door, both protesters were released by 7 p.m. that evening. One of the protesters, Caleb Alexander Ranney, was later charged in December with two misdemeanors, assaulting a federal officer and destroying government property, related to the incident. His trial is scheduled to begin with jury selection, though the presiding judge is weighing a defense motion citing alleged government mishandling of evidence, following earlier rulings that agents unconstitutionally searched Ranney's backpack and that items taken from it were lost or destroyed.

Monsy Hernández, a DACA recipient who arrived in South Carolina as a child, self-deported at age 19 in 2017 after her mother was detained by ICE. Now living in Germany, she founded Onward, an organization supporting undocumented immigrants considering voluntary departure. The organization's membership increased during Trump administration deportation efforts.

Sabrina Medina, a 28-year-old pregnant U.S. citizen and mother of four, has been repeatedly detained by ICE agents searching for her undocumented husband, Jorge. On June 12, 2025, ICE conducted a heavily armed raid on her Huntington Park home, with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem present, arriving in about a half-dozen tactical vehicles and showing Medina a warrant with her husband's incorrect first name; agents removed Medina and her children during a room-by-room search but left empty-handed. Medina says ICE agents have since tracked her down four times, including an August 7 arrest while she was leaving a pregnancy clinic, during which she experienced abdominal pain. She said the August arrest stemmed from a 12-year-old shoplifting warrant. Medina expressed fear about her family's financial future and said she and her children would likely join her husband in Mexico if he is deported.

ICE agents conducted a search warrant operation on February 2, 2026, at a residential property in the 600 block of North Rural Drive in Monterey Park, California, approximately 0.1 miles from Mark Keppel High School. Multiple migrants were taken into custody, with the operation occurring early in the morning. The Monterey Park city government confirmed the federal enforcement action but noted that local police did not participate, consistent with California state law and local policy prohibiting municipal involvement in immigration enforcement.

Valeria Pacheco, a 21-year-old UNLV honors psychology student and president of the Español Club, was detained by ICE on Aug. 7 after landing in Denver to visit a friend before the fall semester. She had no criminal record, a valid Social Security number, work authorization, and a pending immigration case, but was held for 35 days at the Aurora ICE Processing Center. Her family and friends organized a GoFundMe that raised $8,866 to support legal fees, and an immigration judge granted her a bond hearing allowing her to return home on Sept. 10, though her legal case remains ongoing.

Leyla Navarrete, a Nicaraguan asylum seeker who has lived in Indiana for about three years and holds a work permit and Social Security number, was detained by ICE on August 7, 2025, during a scheduled check-in in Indianapolis, which triggered an expedited removal order. After a credible-fear interview found no credible fear and an immigration judge ruled he lacked jurisdiction over her bond request—though he said he would have set it at the lowest statutory amount—she remained held at the Grayson County Detention Center while eight months pregnant. On November 26, 2025, a federal judge in the Western District of Kentucky granted her habeas corpus petition, rejected the government's jurisdictional objections, and ordered her immediate release.

Florida's Alligator Alcatraz, a detention facility built in the Everglades by Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration and opened July 2, 2025, houses detainees in chain-link cages within tents on an abandoned airstrip. Detainees reported severe conditions including non-functioning toilets, fecal flooding, contaminated food with worms or maggots, extreme temperatures, lack of showers and hygiene supplies, denied medical care, and limited access to lawyers and phone contact. On July 7, one detainee was transported by ambulance to a hospital. The facility has been touted by the Trump administration as a model for mass deportation, while government officials disputed detainee accounts and denied media access. Legal challenges questioning the facility's jurisdiction and conditions have been filed, with over 250 detainees reported to have no criminal convictions or charges.

George and Esmeralda Doilez, U.S. citizens from Brawley, were stopped by Border Patrol agents in an unmarked vehicle while exploring the Jacumba area on their way to a dental appointment. The stop was conducted based on U-turns and a reported smuggling event. Agents found legally purchased cannabis. After approximately 30 minutes, they were released with a warning.