Human Impact Project

A man entered the United States on March 31, 2023 and was encountered by immigration authorities. He was released on his own recognizance on April 3, 2023, but was re-detained by ICE on October 6, 2025. The court found that his prior release created a liberty interest and ordered his immediate release with conditions, requiring pre-detention hearings for any future detention.

P.R., a 42-year-old Cambodian national, was born in a refugee camp in Thailand after his family fled the Cambodian genocide. He entered the United States in 1985 at age three and lived there for 40 years. In 2010 he was ordered removed to Thailand, a country where he is neither citizen nor national. After completing his sentence in January 2025, he was held by ICE nine additional months before being deported to Eswatini on October 6, 2025.

K.V.V., a 49-year-old Vietnamese national, came to the United States as a refugee at age eight in 1984. After a criminal conviction he was ordered removed in 2007 and remained on supervised release for 18 years. ICE arrested him in March 2025 and deported him to Eswatini on October 6, 2025, without attempting deportation to Vietnam. His physical and mental health have deteriorated significantly in detention, with his family reporting weight loss and emotional distress.

Gustavo Santiago, a 13-year-old from Tamaulipas, Mexico, living in San Antonio, Texas, was detained with his mother on October 5, 2025, at a Border Patrol checkpoint. He has been sick multiple times in detention. When he had a fever, medical staff told his mother he was old enough to fight it off without medication. He was treated for a skin rash believed caused by poor water quality and suffered stomach pain and nausea attributed to unsanitary food preparation. He expressed fear of deportation and uncertainty about what he did wrong to be detained.

Aurelio was arrested on October 5, 2025, after a woman accused him of assaulting a child without providing evidence. Local police took him to the woman's house for identification, then booked him on assault charges and transferred custody to ICE the next day under a 287(g) cooperation agreement. The case was dismissed on March 26, 2026, after prosecutors could not obtain evidence from the arresting officer. Aurelio spent two months in ICE detention before posting bond in December 2025 and now wears an electronic ankle monitor while awaiting an asylum hearing.

A U.S. citizen was detained by federal agents during the Brighton Park immigration enforcement operation on October 4, 2025. According to Alderman Julia Ramirez, the man was driving one of the vehicles involved in the incident with Border Patrol agents. His mother, Elizabeth Ruiz, stated her 21-year-old son was being held in an ICE vehicle and had nothing to do with the confrontation. At least one other protester was also detained during the clashes that followed the shooting.

Federal prosecutors moved to dismiss charges against Dana Briggs, a 70-year-old Air Force veteran, who was arrested during a September protest outside an ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois. Briggs was accused of assaulting a federal officer after being pushed to the ground during a scuffle, but prosecutors determined the charges should be dropped. Briggs had no prior criminal history.

A video circulating on social media shows DHS agents arresting a woman outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles on October 4, 2025. The woman was arrested after she allegedly blocked a federal facility entrance and refused to comply with officers' orders. The woman's clothing became disheveled during the arrest. A witness account suggested the woman had pulled over to ask for directions.

A woman was shot by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Brighton Park on Chicago's Southwest Side near South 35th Street and California Avenue. According to DHS, agents claimed they were rammed by 10 vehicles and boxed in, and fired defensive shots after discovering the woman was armed with a semi-automatic weapon. The woman drove herself to Mount Sinai Hospital, was treated for her wounds, and discharged. The shooting sparked a protest of approximately 100 people, during which federal agents deployed tear gas and pepper balls. A woman was shot by Border Patrol agents during a protest outside the ICE detention facility in Broadview. According to DHS, agents claimed they were "rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10 cars" and fired defensive shots when a suspect attempted to run them over. The agency stated one driver who rammed the law enforcement vehicle was armed with a semi-automatic weapon. The woman drove herself to the hospital for treatment and was later released according to Chicago police.

Emmanuel González García, a 15-year-old with intellectual disability, speech impediment, and partial deafness, went missing on October 4, 2025, after wandering from his mother Maria García's fruit stand in northwest Houston. Houston Fire Department found him the next day, but Houston Police Department failed to link him to his mother's missing-person report due to a name discrepancy and instead contacted ICE, which transferred him to the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Maria had no way to know her son's location for five days until an immigration attorney called the missing-persons hotline on his behalf, and he underwent emergency appendicitis surgery while in custody. Emmanuel remained in federal detention for a total of 48 days despite his mother's pleas for his release, during which members of a local group, Autism Moms of Houston, held nightly vigils outside the facility in support.

New video footage from May 9, 2025 reveals details surrounding the federal arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka at Delaney Hall, a migrant detention center. Rep. LaMonica McIver and House colleagues had arrived for an unannounced visit when the arrest occurred. McIver was subsequently indicted for allegedly impeding the arrest and assaulting federal officers; she has pleaded not guilty.

Huabing Xie, a 47-year-old immigrant from China, died on September 29 after suffering a seizure while detained at the Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico. Staff began CPR and used a defibrillator after observing the seizure at about 2:13 p.m., but Xie was pronounced dead at 3:15 p.m. at El Centro Regional Medical Center. ICE records show Xie was first arrested by Border Patrol near Tecate in December 2023 and released, then arrested again in September 2024 in Indio before being transferred to ICE custody. ICE said it notified the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General, its own Office of Professional Responsibility, and the Chinese consulate, and that a public report would be posted online. This marks the second ICE custody death in California in two weeks, and immigrants' rights groups have called for a full investigation.

Spanish-language journalist Mario Guevara was arrested by police on June 14, 2025, while covering a protest in DeKalb County, Georgia, and charged with obstructing police, unlawful assembly, and improperly entering a roadway. After a judge granted him bond, ICE placed a 48-hour hold on him despite his work authorization and pending green card application. Guevara spent 110 days in ICE custody, including 22 hours daily in solitary confinement, before being deported to El Salvador. A federal judge questioned the legality of his detention. His attorneys argued it violated his constitutional rights to free speech and due process. The government claimed broad discretion to detain him as a deportable immigrant. Guevara stated he was targeted for his journalistic work documenting immigration raids rather than for any criminal activity.

Mario Guevara, an Emmy-award-winning Salvadoran journalist who lived in Atlanta for nearly 22 years and held a valid work permit, was arrested by ICE on June 14, 2025, while live-streaming a 'No Kings' protest in Doraville. He spent more than three months in immigration detention, much of it in isolation, separated from his wife and children who remained in the US. A Georgia immigration judge ordered his release on bond in July, and the ACLU filed legal challenges on his behalf, but the Bureau of Immigration Appeals closed his case and ordered his removal on September 19. DHS denied targeting him for his journalism, stating he was arrested for obstruction and deported due to a decade-old removal order. He was deported to El Salvador on October 3, 2025, and continued working as a journalist afterward, reporting from Central America and speaking at international press freedom conferences.

On Friday, October 2, 2025, federal immigration agents handcuffed Alderman Jessie Fuentes of the 26th Ward at Humboldt Park Hospital while she was confronting them about an arrest. Fuentes asked agents if they had a signed warrant before being handcuffed and led outside the hospital. Agents were at the hospital pursuing a person who had been injured and brought for medical care. The incident occurred during broader immigration enforcement operations across Chicago that included tear gas deployment and multiple arrests, including at least one U.S. citizen. Mayor Brandon Johnson stated that elected officials have a First Amendment right to document ICE actions and inform constituents of their rights. Governor Pritzker called for an investigation into treatment of children during a separate federal raid in South Shore.

On October 3, 2025, federal agents conducting an immigration enforcement operation in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood deployed tear gas near Funston Elementary School, exposing students, including first-graders, and traumatizing hundreds of children and families. Children playing on school grounds, eating at a nearby café, and walking home from school were affected, including toddlers as young as 14 months old at Luna y Cielo Play Cafe, where nannies rushed children to a back room as gas spread. Teachers, including Liza Oliva-Perez, were tear-gassed while protecting students, and parents like Molly Kucich abandoned errands to reach their children. Children have since shown signs of anxiety, nightmares, and fear of family separation, with some asking teachers and dolls whether ICE will come for them. The operation, part of a broader initiative dubbed 'Operation Midway Blitz,' also included a separate incident at 51st and Damen where agents threw a smoke bomb and detained a person, alongside reports of residential raids, helicopter operations, and use of pepper munitions against protesters.

Jorge was arrested at an ICE check-in at the federal building and deported on October 3, 2025—just two days before his daughter Maite was born. His wife Jessica, a U.S. citizen and elder care worker, was left alone to care for their newborn and her 9-year-old son Dylan on a single income. Jessica grew depressed and anemic during her pregnancy as she worried about Jorge's fate. Since his deportation, Dylan has struggled in school, Jessica has lost their apartment to eviction, and she is pursuing legal avenues for Jorge's return—a process attorneys say could take years. Friends pooled money for plane tickets so Jessica and her children could visit Jorge in Ecuador to meet their newborn daughter in person.

Governor JB Pritzker and Democrats on two congressional committees are calling for investigations into a federal immigration raid in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood, where families reported children were zip-tied, separated from parents, and held for hours. Federal agents from Border Patrol, the FBI and ATF arrested 37 people during the Oct. 1 operation at 7500 S. South Shore Drive. Rodrick Johnson, a U.S. citizen, said agents broke down his door and left him zip-tied outside for nearly three hours, while a neighbor said she saw children removed from the building without clothing. Lawmakers have sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem demanding details on the warrants used, the number of citizens detained, and why children were restrained and helicopters deployed.

Jesus Hernandez, a 46-year-old from Mexico who has lived in the United States for 25 years and is a father of three, was arrested by federal agents in Little Village along with his 21-year-old son Brian, who is a U.S. citizen born in the United States. Video showed both men being detained and led away in custody. Family members expressed distress at the separation, with a relative stating that Hernandez is the primary provider for his family.

Oak Park Township Trustee Juan Munoz was arrested outside the Broadview ICE facility on October 3, 2025, while protesting in a designated protest-free zone, and detained for about eight hours without being told why or what he was accused of. He testified on January 22, 2026, before the HART Truth-Telling Commission that then-Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino tackled him to the ground, that he was questioned by FBI agents without an attorney present, and that detainees had to share shoes taken from them during processing because conditions inside were unsanitary. Munoz said he was used as a backdrop for an interview Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem gave to a social media influencer, calling it propaganda, and said tactics he has observed used recently in Minnesota are likely a preview of what could come to Illinois. He is pursuing legal action over his treatment, which prompted a joint press conference from Oak Park's elected bodies denouncing his arrest.