Human Impact Project

Jesús, a 10-year employee at Westchester Hand Wash and primary breadwinner for his family, was arrested during ICE raids in Los Angeles in June 2025 and detained in El Paso. Immigration agents pressured him to sign documents without his glasses, and he unknowingly waived his right to remain in the U.S. He was deported to Mexico, leaving behind his wife Noémi and their four U.S. citizen children—Dhelainy (16), Esther (15), Angel (11), and Gabriel (6)—in Inglewood. The family has submitted a green card petition, but the application is backlogged and could take six years or longer to process, leaving the family separated as the children continue their education and activities in California.

An 11-year-old autistic girl was placed in foster care in Nebraska after her father was picked up by ICE in June 2025. The girl was separated from her parent and placed in the custody of the state.

Christian Cerna, a 28-year-old U.S. citizen from Paramount, California, was arrested by ICE on June 11, 2025, in an operation involving agents ramming his vehicle, detonating flash-bang grenades, and pointing assault rifles at the car while his partner and two young children were inside. The arrest came after Cerna attended a June 7 protest against ICE near a Home Depot in Paramount, where agent Eduardo Mejorado alleged Cerna struck him; Cerna and his lawyers say he swung his hand without making contact, and no injury to the agent was alleged. ICE/DHS filmed the arrest and posted the footage to social media, labeling Cerna a 'violent rioter'; Cerna later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault. A federal judge later described the arrest operation as part of a 'vindictive effort' by officials to 'impose extrajudicial punishment.'

Alberto Perdomo was detained on June 1, 2025, by immigration agents in Riverside while on his way to work. He is currently held at Adelanto Detention Center. Perdomo, the sole provider for his wife and four young children, was taken into custody following a traffic stop. Multiple plaintiffs, including named detainees and immigrant advocacy organizations, filed a class-action lawsuit against DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and other federal officials challenging the detention and recent enforcement sweeps.

Documents revealed in a federal lawsuit show that ICE officers detained up to 100 people at a time in a makeshift facility on the 10th floor of 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan in 2025, despite the Trump administration denying overcrowding. Internal emails and testimony from ICE officials themselves acknowledged the deteriorating conditions, including detainees lying on cement floors, inadequate food, lack of medical care, and failure to comply with a judge's order limiting occupancy. Detainees including Nuvia Ventura Martinez and Carlos Lopez Benitez testified about days spent in cells designed for only 12-hour stays, with no beds or showers.

A 23-year-old South American woman has been held at Richwood Correctional Center in Monroe for over a year despite an immigration judge's June 2025 ruling that she cannot be deported to her home country due to fear of torture based on her queer identity. The Trump administration has since sought to deport her to the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country where she has no connections, does not speak the language, and where LGBTQIA2S+ individuals face persecution. Her sister reports the woman has experienced physical and psychological decline during her prolonged detention.

Undocumented day laborers who volunteered to clear toxic fire debris in Altadena and Pasadena after the January 2025 Eaton wildfire were arrested in June 2025 ICE sweeps. Workers cleared roads and distributed water to fire victims without pay. ICE enforcement operations targeted job sites, Home Depot parking lots, and street vendors in wildfire-affected and recovery-zone neighborhoods. ICE arrested over 2,200 people in LA in June 2025 alone.

An immigration judge dismissed the deportation case against Narciso Barranco, a Mexican landscaper arrested in Southern California in June 2025 during a Trump administration immigration crackdown. Barranco, who came to the U.S. in the 1990s without legal status, is now eligible for legal permanent residency based on evidence that he is the father of three U.S.-born sons serving in the military. The Department of Homeland Security announced it would appeal the judge's decision.

Victor, a legal resident and father of two in Minneapolis, was detained by ICE in late May despite holding legal resident status. His family sought community support to pay legal fees for his release and cover basic living expenses while he remained in detention.

Homeland Security Investigations agents raided two locations of Buona Forchetta restaurant in San Diego's South Park neighborhood on Friday evening, deploying flash bang grenades and detaining multiple employees. According to the restaurant manager, at least four workers were detained during the operation. Community members gathered outside to protest, and San Diego Police were called to assist with crowd control, though they did not participate in the enforcement action.

Rep. Yassamin Ansari visited the Eloy Detention Center in late May and spoke with over 20 detainees who reported forced outdoor walking until fainting, manipulated air conditioning, and sickness. Ansari requested information from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about the reported conditions.

Yasmir Marquez, a Venezuelan man with a pending asylum claim and work authorization, was detained by ICE agents outside the Richard C. White Federal Building in El Paso immediately after his immigration hearing on May 29, 2025. Agents presented a Department of Justice document stating his notice to appear had been "improvidently issued" and that circumstances had changed, allowing for his removal proceedings to be reinitiated. A friend who witnessed the arrest said agents initially called him by the wrong name before detaining him. Marquez is currently being held at the Otero County Processing Center in Chaparral, New Mexico.

A Honduran mother and her two children, ages 6 and 9, were arrested by ICE agents at Los Angeles Immigration Court on May 29, 2025, as they left a courtroom. The 6-year-old boy has leukemia and missed a medical appointment for worsening symptoms. The family was transported to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas and placed in expedited removal proceedings. Their attorneys filed a lawsuit challenging the arrests as violations of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments.

Federal immigration authorities deported a 9-year-old Torrance Elementary School student and his 50-year-old father to Honduras after they appeared for a routine immigration hearing on May 29, 2025. Both were undocumented, and an immigration judge had ordered their deportation in September 2022, though they remained in the United States and appealed. The boy had attended the school since first grade. The boy stated he was unhappy about separation from his friends and remaining family members in California.

A Watsonville resident was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials at approximately noon on Tuesday, May 28, 2025, according to Your Allied Rapid Response Santa Cruz County. The advocacy group confirmed the arrest appeared to target one individual rather than being part of a sweep or raid. The detainee is expected to be held until brought to immigration court to determine deportation eligibility.

Miguel Angel López, a Livermore father deported to Mexico in June 2025, lost a federal court case on a statute of limitations technicality in April 2026. López, who lived in the U.S. for 27 years and worked as a welder, was detained during a routine immigration check-in and deported hours before a court order could have allowed him to stay. His family is pursuing an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court, with support from U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell, as a final legal pathway for López's return.

ICE agents arrested Paola Clouatre, a 25-year-old mother of two and wife of a Marine Corps veteran, at a USCIS office in New Orleans on May 27, 2025, following her permanent residence status interview. She was detained based on a final order of removal issued in 2018 that she was unaware of due to a missed immigration hearing by her mother. Her husband, Adrian Clouatre, is caring for their two young children while seeking to overturn the removal order through an emergency motion.

Maximo Londonio, 42, a green card holder who immigrated from the Philippines to the United States at age 12 and is the father of three living in Olympia, Washington, was detained by CBP agents on May 15 as he returned from a family vacation to the Philippines with his wife Crystal, a U.S. citizen, and their 12-year-old daughter. He was celebrating his 20th wedding anniversary during the trip. Londonio was pulled aside at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport upon landing and transferred to an ICE detention facility in Tacoma after receiving a notice to appear before an immigration judge. His wife and community organizers with Tanggol Migrante Network WA believe the detention may be connected to a 2002 guilty plea to grand theft when he was 19 years old, for which he completed his sentence and probation without issue. Crystal described him as hard-working, family-oriented, devoted, and the primary provider for their family. Londonio works as a lead union member at Crown Cork and Seal manufacturing company in Lacey, Washington, and his union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, called for his immediate release. The Port of Seattle Commission expressed being "deeply concerned" about the prolonged detention, noting that CBP's own standards generally limit detention to 72 hours. The Philippine Consulate was notified and has been coordinating with U.S. immigration authorities. Community members gathered outside the airport demanding his release.

Gonzalo Ladron de Guevara, a lawful permanent resident since 2003, was detained by ICE in May 2025 after returning to Chicago from Mexico where he had scattered his mother's ashes. He was held for seven days by CBP for secondary screening before being transferred to ICE custody and charged federally. The detention is linked to a dismissed felony fraud charge from approximately 13 years prior related to prescription fraud.

Jose Manuel Rodriguez-Quinones, a Cuban man with prior convictions in Florida, was arrested by ICE in April 2025 and placed on a deportation flight that was diverted to a U.S. military base in Djibouti after a federal judge found it violated migrants' due process rights. The flight, carrying eight men including fellow Cuban Enrique Arias-Hierro, held them in a converted shipping container, according to court filings. On July 3, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the lower court's order, and the flight proceeded, with Rodriguez-Quinones arriving in South Sudan on July 4.