Human Impact Project

A 20-year-old West Virginia man named Cody Lee Smith was arrested in January 2026 after allegedly threatening to murder ICE agents in the Clarksburg area. Smith made incriminating social media posts and called the ICE Tip Line on January 16th, threatening to kill any ICE agents he saw. He is facing charges of making terroristic threats and is currently held on a $75,000 bond.

A family of three from Venezuela—parents Yohendry De Jesus Crespo and Darianny Liseth Gonzalez De Crespo, and their 7-year-old daughter Diana—were detained by immigration officers in a parking lot at Portland Adventist Health on January 16, 2026, while attempting to seek medical care for the child's nosebleed. The family, who entered the U.S. through a port of entry in California and have a pending asylum application, is now being held at ICE's South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas.

Alicbiades "Alex" Lazaro Ramirez Gonzalez, husband of Yannier Vazquez Hidalgo, was ordered deported to Ecuador by an immigration judge one week before his husband received the same order. Ramirez Gonzalez fled Cuba with his husband and they married in the U.S., both requesting asylum based on persecution fears as gay men. He was detained by federal agents in October during a routine ICE appointment in Mattydale. Like his husband, he faces deportation to a country where he has no ties and argues he will be persecuted for being gay and Cuban.

A 26-year-old woman from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, identified in court records as Glenne Marceline Ouessi Tchissambou, entered the United States on February 15, 2025 and was placed in removal proceedings. She had fled Congo after being raped by police during armed conflict, after being mistaken for a Rwandan national. An immigration judge denied her asylum application but granted her withholding of removal to both Congo and Senegal on December 4, 2025. Despite this protection order, she remained in ICE detention with no apparent effort to remove her to a third country, prompting a habeas corpus petition seeking her release. In mid-January 2026, after about a year in detention, she was deported to Cameroon, a country with no connection to her case.

Juan Daniel Mendoza, a 17-year-old Morristown High School senior, was arrested by ICE on Jan. 12 while on his way to a Speedwell Avenue laundromat, one of 11 people detained in the area that day. He had entered the U.S. in 2024 as an unaccompanied minor under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. U.S. District Judge Evelyn Padin ordered his release from Delaney Hall Detention Facility on Jan. 15, ruling his detention violated due process and that he cannot be deported while his case is pending. Two days later, hundreds of residents, students and lawmakers rallied outside Morristown Town Hall to protest the arrest and broader immigration enforcement in the community.

Photographer John Abernathy was detained by federal ICE agents outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis on January 15 while documenting protests. During the confrontation, Abernathy threw his camera to a fellow photojournalist. He sustained injuries including chemical burns, pepper bullet wounds, and abrasions, and received a citation but no court date.

ICE agents detained Sebastian, a 16-year-old Ecuadorian asylum-seeker, in Minneapolis in January 2026 during an interior arrest while he was driving alone, seizing his phone after he called his father. Despite his father living in the U.S., Sebastian was labeled an "unaccompanied minor" and transferred to the Bridgeway shelter in Michigan, making it difficult for his family and attorneys to locate him. The case illustrates how the "unaccompanied minor" designation can impede family unity protections and legal access even when a parent resides in the country. While in custody, Sebastian reported receiving vaccines without consent.

ICE arrested 19-year-old Willmar High School student Suban Noor on January 12. She was reportedly held in custody for several days before being released.

Heber Sánchez Domínguez, a 34-year-old day laborer from Las Choapas, Veracruz, Mexico, who had lived in the U.S. for two years, died while in ICE custody at the Robert A. Deyton Detention Facility in Georgia. He was arrested on January 7, 2026, for driving without a license following a traffic incident, then transferred to the detention facility days later. On January 14, after about a week in custody, guards found him unconscious with a rope around his neck; resuscitation attempts failed and he was pronounced dead. His cellmate said he had complained of feeling sick beforehand, and his family said he was never allowed to contact them after his arrest. His brother Feliciano said, "We want justice because they should have given him medical attention," while his 102-year-old mother, Catalina Sánchez Domínguez, expressed anguish over his death. The Mexican Consulate and Foreign Ministry have requested a transparent investigation, and his family disputes the suicide finding, demanding answers about his medical care. He is survived by a wife and two children.

Ramon Menera, a naturalized US citizen born in Mexico, was detained by a US Border Patrol agent outside his home in a Minneapolis suburb on January 14, 2026, while walking with his five-year-old daughter. The agent cited Menera's accent as the reason for questioning. His citizenship was verified through federal records and he was released. The incident, part of Operation Metro Surge, has prompted legal challenges alleging racial profiling and civil rights violations, with lawsuits filed by the Minnesota Attorney General and the ACLU.

Misael Garcia Lopez, 48, spent 18 years building a life in Eugene, Oregon with his wife Valeria and three children—Leo, 11, Jasmine, 22, and Luis—working in landscaping, roofing, and other jobs. On November 19, 2025, ICE agents in unmarked vehicles conducted a traffic stop near Meadowlark Prairie minutes after he dropped Leo at school and arrested him for lacking legal status, despite his clean criminal record. Over nearly two months detained at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington, Garcia Lopez received support letters from family, friends, and community members attesting to his work ethic, kindness, and role as a devoted father. His 22-year-old daughter Jasmine, a U.S. citizen and certified nursing assistant, spoke publicly about his case despite her mother's fear. On January 15, 2026, Garcia Lopez accepted voluntary departure and was deported to Mexico, arriving with only 96 cents and no documents. His family remained in Oregon; months later, he watched via video call as his grandson was born.

Jessica Marlene Corrales-Duarte, a 32-year-old DACA recipient, was arrested by ICE on January 15, 2026, following a felony indictment for allegedly stealing approximately $5,500 in merchandise from an Ulta Beauty store in August 2025. Her DACA status was terminated in November 2025 following the indictment. She has been detained at Eloy Detention Center and is unable to appear at her scheduled Pima County criminal trial, raising constitutional concerns about her right to be present and confront her accuser.

A stateless man from Angola who had lived in the United States for 30 years was deported to Cameroon in mid-January 2026 despite holding legal asylum protections, removed without notice or due process. His removal was part of a secret December 2025 agreement between the Trump administration and Cameroon's government to accept deportees with no ties to the country. Between January and May 2026, four flights carried 36 people from Angola and nine other countries to Cameroon, most of whom had been granted protection from removal by U.S. immigration courts due to risk of persecution or torture. Two days before the first flight, the U.S. State Department announced a $30 million payment to the UN refugee program in Cameroon.

A nurse from Zimbabwe who had lived in the United States for 15 years and held legal asylum protections was deported to Cameroon in mid-January 2026 without notice. She was held in detention in Yaoundé under poor conditions with inadequate food and no legal documentation.

A 20-year-old student from Ghana with legal asylum protections was deported to Cameroon in mid-January 2026 as part of a secret third-country removal program. She was transferred in handcuffs and shackles and held in detention in Yaoundé without documentation or due process. Her removal was part of an undisclosed U.S.-Cameroon agreement under which 36 people from at least ten countries, many holding U.S. court protections against return to their home countries, were flown to Cameroon on four flights between January and May 2026. The arrangement coincided with a $30 million U.S. payment to the UN refugee program in Cameroon, announced two days before the first flight.

Farah, a 21-year-old gay Moroccan woman granted protection from removal by a U.S. immigration judge in August 2025, was deported by U.S. authorities to Cameroon in January 2026 without due process, then sent to Morocco after refusing to stay there. She had fled Morocco with her partner after her family discovered their relationship and allegedly attempted to kill her, traveling through six countries before reaching the U.S. border to seek asylum. Before her deportation, she spent nearly a year in ICE detention in Arizona and Louisiana, describing harsh conditions including extreme cold, thin blankets and inadequate medical care; her partner, denied both asylum and a protection order, was deported separately. She is now living in hiding in Morocco, fearing her family will track her down again.

Danna, who had legal immigration status, was detained by ICE in mid-January 2026 after being racially profiled. She and her 6-year-old child were transported to Texas while her 2-year-old remained with a guardian. It took one month to secure their release and reunite the family. Her husband was deported during this period, leaving Danna as sole provider.

An Ecuadoran citizen who has lived in the U.S. since 2007 was taken into custody by immigration authorities on January 15, 2026. The government classified her under mandatory detention provisions, but the federal court ruled she was wrongly classified and is entitled to a bond hearing under discretionary detention statutes. The court ordered immigration authorities to provide her with a bond hearing.

An employee at Pancho's Taqueria & Mexican Café in Circle Pines, Minnesota, was detained by ICE agents on January 15 while taking out the restaurant's trash, despite holding a valid work visa. He was transported to the Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, then to El Paso and later San Antonio, Texas, before being released and returned to Minnesota in early February after nearly a month in custody. The restaurant temporarily closed following the detention and later reopened with limited hours and restricted access. The owner launched a GoFundMe that raised $25,000 from customers and supporters to help cover legal fees that contributed to his release.

Gregory Bovino, a senior Border Patrol commander, appeared in Minneapolis in mid-January 2026 wearing a distinctive oversized green trench coat during ICE enforcement operations. Social media users posted comparisons of his attire to other uniforms, with videos showing crowds chanting. Bovino's presence coincided with federal enforcement following the January 7 shooting death of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE officer during immigration crackdown protests.