Human Impact Project

Malena Chacón Santos, a 24-year-old Cuban woman who entered the U.S. legally in November 2024 through the CBP One app and applied for asylum, was detained by ICE in November 2025 after voluntarily attending a routine immigration supervision appointment in Dallas. She was transferred to the Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson, Texas, more than 175 miles from home, where she has remained for nearly 10 months. In February 2025, she married Juan Carlos Alvarez, a U.S. Army veteran who lives with disabilities including depression, anxiety and arthritis, and became stepmother to his three children. Alvarez drives three hours every Sunday to visit her, and the couple speaks by phone daily. Her attorney filed a federal habeas corpus petition in May 2026, which a judge denied with prejudice on August 4. Chacón Santos says she has no criminal convictions and is still awaiting a decision on her case.

Malick, a pseudonym for a Senegalese man who fled to the United States in 2023 citing safety concerns, had obtained a work permit and a legal protection called withholding of removal that barred his deportation to his home country. Despite this protection, he was placed on a deportation flight to Ghana under a third-country removal agreement, alongside another deportee, Rabbiatu Kuyateh. 'I had started a new life in the United States,' he said. 'I felt safe.' After arriving in Ghana, he was sent to a remote military camp guarded by soldiers with little electricity or communication. He filmed video showing Kuyateh being forcibly dragged into a van, and after the footage spread online, Ghanaian troops arrived at the camp at night with trucks of soldiers.

Nika, a 32-year-old Iranian woman who fled Iran after protesting the regime and losing friends in the government's crackdown, had been granted 'withholding of removal' by a US immigration judge to prevent her return to Iran. She was released from ICE custody on May 28, 2026, but days later was re-arrested during what officers called a routine check-in in California. She was handcuffed, shackled, and placed on a deportation flight with 17 other migrants to the Central African Republic, a country she said she had never heard of or visited. Since arriving in Bangui, she has largely stayed indoors out of fear, been stopped by local police demanding bribes, and was hospitalized after contracting malaria. Her immigration lawyer is now filing a federal lawsuit seeking to bring her back to the US and reopen her asylum claim.

Angel Arellano, 17, has taken on multiple jobs after his father, Adrian Enriquez, was detained by ICE and deported to Mexico in May following more than 25 years living in the United States. Angel now wakes around 5 a.m. to work at a welding shop before school, works with his father's former maintenance crew after classes, and washes dishes and busses tables at a restaurant in the evenings. He gave up playing football to help his older brother support their two younger brothers, ages 16 and 11, and at one point offered to drop out of school entirely to work full-time. Enriquez said from detention, 'What hurts the most is seeing them work so much.'

Teresa Ochoa Briseño was arrested and deported to Mexico about a week after her 17-year-old son, Luis Ochoa, was seen in a viral video being detained, pepper-sprayed, and having his wrist broken by ICE agents while recording an ICE operation in Alamo, Texas. ICE said Briseño had previously accepted a voluntary return to Mexico in July 2025 following an assault arrest, then reentered the country without authorization, and was removed again under an expedited removal order. Immigration attorney Carlos M. Garcia said the timing of her deportation so soon after her U.S. citizen son's video went viral was "too big a coincidence," suggesting it sent a message about the consequences of speaking out against immigration enforcement.

Dammy Idowu, legally known as Ayomide Idowu, came to the United States at age six and was later granted federal humanitarian protection and deferred action valid through January 2028 due to neglect she suffered as a juvenile. She overcame homelessness during high school to graduate with a 4.3 GPA, later graduated college with honors, and currently works full time as a data scientist. Despite having no criminal history, she was detained by ICE on September 21, 2026, and her family and friends have organized a legal team to fight for her release and to restore her deferred action and employment authorization.

Kenchino Pierre, a 20-year-old asylum seeker from Haiti, was detained in New Bedford on Sept. 21, 2026. Federal court documents show an administrative warrant for his civil immigration detention was issued the same day he was taken into custody, even though he had a hearing scheduled at Boston Immigration Court for Sept. 29.

Lucas Santiago, a carpenter originally from San Luis Potosí, Mexico, was detained by ICE agents in South Austin while driving to a job with his brother and a friend on September 21, 2026. His wife, Yesenia Santiago, said agents did not inform him of a traffic violation or other offense before detaining him. Lucas is now held at an immigration detention center in Taylor, Texas, while Yesenia cares for their 14-month-old son and prepares to give birth to their second child in a few weeks. The couple had submitted paperwork years earlier to try to secure legal status for Lucas, which has yet to be approved, and Yesenia now faces finding a lawyer, paying bills, and searching for child care and a job on her own.

A Guatemalan man died in a fiery crash in Grand Rapids, Michigan, while fleeing federal immigration agents. The crash occurred the same day an ICE agent shot another immigrant, Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, in Austin, Texas.

Three undocumented brothers who shared a New Bedford apartment were detained together by ICE agents in a Market Basket parking lot during their weekly grocery trip. Their sister-in-law, Maria, said agents surrounded their car and were aggressive with the brother who was driving, twisting his arm behind his back. The brothers, originally from Honduras, worked in construction and as laborers, had no criminal records, and doted on their baby niece; their elderly mother has been deeply distressed by their detention. They are being held at Plymouth's ICE detention center.

During a multi-day ICE operation in New Bedford, Massachusetts, at least eight people were arrested, including several fish house and seafood processing workers. Miguel Ixcuna-Ixcuna, a Guatemalan immigrant who had lived in the area for about 12 years and worked as a fruit and vegetable packer in Plymouth, was pulled from his car by agents while driving home with his partner, Antonia Lucas, and their two young daughters, who watched from the back seat as agents opened his door and removed him with little explanation. Also detained were New Bedford residents Israel Sam Cajuil, Arnaldo Lux and Kenshino Pierre, and Fall River resident Oscar Abel Gutierrez; advocates said several had valid work authorization and no criminal records, and Mayor Jon Mitchell said most had no records beyond minor motor-vehicle violations. The following day, agents tased a man who fled during a stop, smashed a truck window to remove another person, and arrested a father near an elementary school. Attorneys filed habeas corpus petitions in federal court in Boston to contest the detentions, including one to prevent Ixcuna's transfer out of state, while local restaurant owners reported sales fell roughly 50% as news of the operation spread.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested four people during a targeted enforcement operation in Moab, Utah. ICE said two were Mexican nationals with final removal orders or prior voluntary departures who had re-entered the country, while the other two were Turkish nationals described as being in the country without authorization, with no further details provided on their cases. ICE did not disclose where the four are being held, which part of the agency conducted the operation, or whether any had criminal convictions. Grand County Sheriff Jamison Wiggins said he was not notified in advance, and both his office and Moab Police said they did not assist with or participate in the operation, though officers did respond to a 911 call during a traffic stop where an ICE arrest occurred. The Moab Valley Multicultural Center activated its emergency protocol, offering free rides and information to residents concerned about the ICE presence, and confirmed ICE left the county alongside the Grand County Sheriff's Office, though it could not independently verify how many people were taken.

More than a dozen people were booked into the Burleigh Morton Detention Center after ICE and Homeland Security Investigations agents carried out enforcement activity in the Bismarck-Mandan area beginning Sept. 21. Of the 13 individuals, ranging in age from 19 to 58, nine had addresses in Bismarck, one had an address in St. Cloud, Minnesota, and three had unknown or unlisted addresses. The Burleigh County Sheriff's Department said it was contacted by HSI ahead of the operation and assigned a liaison, while local Bismarck police said they were not asked to assist.

Miguel Ixcuna, 30, who came to the U.S. from Guatemala about 12 years ago, was pulled from his car by ICE agents while driving home with his partner, Antonia Lucas, and their two daughters, ages 3 and 9. Agents blocked the vehicle front and back, took his identification, then removed him from the driver's seat without much explanation while his daughters watched, frightened. He worked as a fruit and vegetable packer in Plymouth and had no criminal record; he is now held at the Burlington ICE Processing Center, where an attorney has filed a habeas petition seeking his release, and he has told his partner he is worried about his daughters and family.

At least two dozen immigrants were detained by ICE agents in roadside stops and workplace encounters across New Bedford, Dartmouth, and Fall River, Massachusetts over Monday and Tuesday, according to immigrant advocacy groups. Advocates said people were picked up while getting gas, buying sandwiches at Market Basket, dropping off spouses at work, and at a Dartmouth Mall restaurant, with most of those detained from Ecuador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Gov. Maura Healey said many of those arrested had lived in the state for years with families, including a father with several children at home, including a 1-month-old baby, and an 8-year-old boy left waiting at school when his father was detained; New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell said at least eight of those detained had no criminal records beyond minor motor vehicle violations, and attorneys with the Habeas Project have filed petitions to contest the detentions and prevent transfers out of state.

Rent-stabilized tenants in East Harlem, mostly noncitizens from Ecuador and Mexico, say landlord Steven Croman and his staff have harassed them for years, including by asking about immigration status after ICE agents were seen at one tenant's door in April 2025. Tenants believe the questioning and a subsequent call from Croman were intimidation tactics tied to their immigration status. Croman's company has been accused by the New York Attorney General of illegally displacing rent-stabilized tenants to convert units to market-rate rentals.

Jorge (a pseudonym), a Guatemalan man who fled gang extortion threats and joined family in San Diego, was arrested by ICE during a raid on his construction worksite after working there for five months. He spent three months in detention, much of it in frigid holding cells where he slept on bare concrete with only a foil sheet, and developed bronchitis after officers allegedly made cells colder in retaliation for complaints; staff denied him hospital care. He said he signed English-language deportation papers he could not read after being threatened with years in federal detention, later learning the signing carried a 10-year reentry bar, and described being shackled during his deportation flight to Guatemala.

Carlos Arreaga, a Syracuse resident and active community member for eight years, was taken into ICE custody on the morning of June 26 while on his way to work, without a warrant, according to his family's GoFundMe page. He had filed for asylum in the U.S. and was held at the federal detention facility in Batavia, which has faced criticism for overcrowding and poor conditions. Despite a federal judge's order that he receive a bond hearing, Arreaga was repeatedly denied bond. His wife, Amelia, launched a fundraiser to cover legal fees and living expenses after his detention left the family without its sole breadwinner, and about 70 community members gathered at a vigil in Syracuse calling for his release. After roughly three months in detention, Arreaga was released and reunited with his family.

Leonardo 'Leo' Garcia Venegas, a 25-year-old U.S.-born citizen of Mexican descent working construction in Baldwin County, Alabama, was detained by immigration agents multiple times beginning in May 2025 despite presenting a valid Alabama REAL ID. In the first incident, armed agents raided a Foley construction site, tackled his undocumented brother, and held Garcia Venegas handcuffed for over an hour after he began filming and asserted his citizenship; his brother was later deported. Weeks later, agents detained him again at another job site, again dismissing his ID as fake despite him also providing his Social Security card. In a third encounter, officers followed him home, pulled him from his vehicle, tackled him, and shackled him. Never charged with a crime, Garcia Venegas testified before Congress saying 'I don't feel free,' and filed a federal lawsuit with the Institute for Justice against DHS officials, including Tom Homan and Kristi Noem, alleging Fourth Amendment violations, assault, battery, and false arrest. A federal judge in the Southern District of Alabama denied the government's motion to dismiss and temporarily halted warrantless construction-site raids, a ruling Garcia Venegas called 'a huge blow to lawless enforcement practices.'

A Senegalese woman deported to Ghana under a third-country removal arrangement was sent, along with other detainees, to a remote military camp with little electricity or outside contact after Ghanaian officials reacted angrily to viral video of another deportee being forcibly removed. Fearing she would be returned to Senegal, she attempted suicide by drinking bleach and was hospitalized before being deported back to Senegal anyway.