Human Impact Project

Darwin Andres Gordon-Ruiz, 20, a Pittsfield High School 2025 graduate originally from Colombia, was arrested by ICE on Tuesday outside a Burger King parking lot. Witnesses described the arrest as violent and chaotic. He is currently being held at Plymouth County Correctional Facility and filed a habeas corpus petition. Gordon-Ruiz is also facing charges in Berkshire County Superior Court including two counts of rape and one count of providing alcohol to a minor.

Ramon Santoyo-Cristobal was a convicted Sinaloa Cartel trafficker sentenced to eight years in prison after law enforcement extradited him to the U.S. in 2020. Two years into his prison stint, ICE moved him into deportation proceedings.

Juan Benitez-Ortega was deported two weeks before his arraignment in Colorado on charges that he strangled his girlfriend. He was charged with second-degree assault but the case has been abandoned.

Elder Lopez-Avalos, a 27-year-old undocumented immigrant, was arrested by Nassau County police on May 10 on fire and arson charges connected to multiple vehicle fires in Freeport, including fires near a children's center parking area. ICE took him into custody on May 12 with assistance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and he remains in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

Wualter Jesus Travieso Soto, 29, was arrested February 1, 2025, and charged with felony sexual intercourse without consent with a child under 16 after the victim's aunt obtained guardianship and the girl reported multiple assaults. Soto, who entered the U.S. without authorization in 2023, remains in Flathead County jail on $200,000 bail with an ICE detainer. He pleaded not guilty at his April 9 arraignment, with his next court date scheduled for August 3, 2026.

Dinh Quy Nguyen, a Vietnamese national convicted in 1989 of attempted capital murder of a police officer and burglary, was arrested by ICE in Houston on May 5, 2026. Despite being ordered deported in 1997, he remained in the U.S. for over 15 years due to Vietnam's refusal to repatriate nationals who arrived before July 1995; he was released back into the community in 2011 after the initial removal order. He is currently held at Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, Texas, with preparations underway for his removal to Vietnam.

Carmelo Gonzalez, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, discovered his 11-year-old daughter Maria murdered in their Pasadena, Texas apartment in August 2023. Maria had been sexually assaulted and strangled; a neighbor was arrested and charged with capital murder. Gonzalez is a crucial witness in the case and had filed a U-Visa application, which is granted to crime victims and witnesses who assist law enforcement investigations. On January 26, 2025, Gonzalez was arrested for a first-time misdemeanor DWI offense and flagged by ICE. Despite his pending U-Visa application, he was taken into ICE custody upon bond release and placed on a deportation flight within a week. Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare expressed alarm, stating he had never seen a witness with a pending U-Visa application removed so quickly, and warned that such enforcement policies are deterring witnesses from cooperating in criminal prosecutions.

Miami Correctional Facility in Indiana received its first 15 ICE detainees as part of the "Speedway Slammer" agreement, a two-year contract to house up to 1,000 immigrant detainees. The facility, which sits on a former air force base near Kokomo, has a history of violence and understaffing, with over 400 violent incidents logged annually in 2019-2021 and custody staff declining from 367 in 2015 to 288 as of 2025. Indiana has spent at least $12.5 million on the arrangement but received less than $5.1 million in federal reimbursement.

Patricia Balbuena Soto, a 49-year-old mother who had lived in the United States for 30 years, was arrested at her workplace in Atlantic City on July 24, 2025, on criminal charges including home invasion burglary and weapon possession. She was transferred to ICE custody on July 25 and held at Elizabeth Detention Center in New Jersey, then Port Isabel in Texas. On August 5, 2025, she was deported to Mexico, leaving behind her 17-year-old U.S. citizen daughter. The teenager, an honors student, was forced to abandon her college plans and assume financial responsibility for herself at age 17.

Juan David Arango-Caicedo, a 28-year-old Colombian immigrant who had lived legally in the U.S. for over three years, was detained by ICE at a check-in appointment in May 2026. He became temporarily out of status when his lawyer failed to meet a deadline to file necessary paperwork following his marriage to a U.S. citizen, Nicole, despite having an approved green card petition from USCIS and valid work authorization. He was held at Moshannon Valley Processing Center while his wife pursued legal proceedings for his release. Arango-Caicedo was among 4,400 people whom federal judges determined were unlawfully detained by ICE during President Donald Trump's administration.

Carlos Lool, owner and chef of La Granja Rotisserie and Fuego Rotisserie in South Los Angeles, was detained by ICE agents on May 10, 2026, while picking up supplies for a catering event. According to witnesses, masked agents followed their vehicle and forcibly removed Lool with guns drawn, placing him on the floor at gunpoint. The detention followed a report from a former employee claiming a firearm was kept at the restaurant in violation of Lool's parole conditions. Lool, originally from Guatemala and raised in Connecticut, has a criminal conviction from approximately 30 years ago for which he has already served his sentence. He now faces deportation proceedings while his children, employees, and businesses remain in the U.S., with supporters launching a GoFundMe campaign to cover legal expenses.

José Contreras Díaz, a 30-year-old DACA recipient raised in Edinburg, Texas, was arrested by ICE agents during a routine check-in appointment in January 2026 and deported to Honduras despite holding valid DACA status. He missed the birth of his son, Mateo, while separated from his family. His attorney, Stacy Tolchin, argued the deportation was unlawful, citing a federal judge's ruling in a similar DACA case, and immigration officials agreed to facilitate his return. When he landed at Harlingen Airport on April 29, 2026, agents detained him again at the Port Isabel Detention Center rather than releasing him. He was released on May 7-8, 2026, after more than three months of separation from his family, and reunited with his wife and newborn son. Contreras said, "They detained me, sent me to a country I barely remember, and then gave me hope — the hope that I could come home, see my family, and hold my son again. Then that hope was taken away." DHS has stated it still intends to deport him, arguing DACA does not confer legal status, and he continues to face removal proceedings.

Darisbell Paola Quintero Morillo, a Venezuelan asylum seeker with a pending case, was detained by ICE on April 23, 2026, while attending a scheduled check-in appointment at the Dallas ICE Field Office despite her compliance with immigration requirements. She had entered the U.S. in April 2021 with her husband Gilbert Vicent, both fleeing political persecution in Venezuela. She was transferred to Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, where she discovered she was pregnant during medical evaluation. While in custody, she reported inadequate nutrition, poor food quality, and insufficient medical care, and requested medical attention multiple times due to pregnancy complications. Her attorney filed a federal court petition and emergency motion seeking her release on parole, citing her compliance history and lack of criminal record, but the judge denied the emergency motion. She subsequently miscarried while detained. After learning of the miscarriage from her doctor at the hospital, ICE officers cuffed her ankles to the hospital bed.

A Dominican Republic national who entered Puerto Rico in 2001 without proper admission was stopped by four ICE vans on May 11, 2026 while en route to work despite committing no traffic infractions or crimes. He is married to a U.S. citizen and has a one-year-old U.S. citizen child with a serious medical condition. A federal court denied his emergency motion for temporary restraining order and upheld his mandatory detention under Section 1225 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Cleon 'Uncle Lou' Williams, 62, a Jamaican-born owner of Uncle Lou's Entertainment Hall in Orlando's Mills 50 district, was detained by ICE on May 9-10, 2026, following his arrest during a raid by the Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco investigating alcohol licensing violations at his venue. ICE placed an immigration detainer on Williams due to an expired visa, and he was booked into Orange County Corrections Facility with no criminal charges filed. Williams has operated the prominent music venue since 2005 and is widely recognized in Orlando's music community for supporting emerging artists, offering free performance opportunities to hundreds of local indie bands over two decades. Community members including U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost and State Rep. Anna Eskamani expressed concern about his detention, with Frost visiting him in jail. Friends described Williams as 'a pure light and joy' and a pillar of the community, and fundraisers raised over $28,000 for his legal representation.

A Mexican citizen who entered the United States without inspection in November 1986 and lived in the country for nearly 40 years was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on May 11, 2026. The government initially claimed he was subject to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2), but the court found his detention governed by § 1226(a). The court granted in part the petition for habeas corpus, ordering respondents to provide him with an individualized bond hearing before an immigration judge within seven days, while denying his request for immediate release.

Maria Lidia Valle-Hernandez, a 28-year-old from Mexico, was removed from the United States on May 11, 2026, after attempting to fraudulently transfer her newborn baby to another undocumented immigrant to pay a debt to smugglers. She registered under a false name at St. Joseph's Hospital in Lake Saint Louis before giving birth in January 2024 and gave her hospital identification wristband to another woman to falsely claim the infant. Valle-Hernandez had been caught illegally entering the U.S. five times in August 2022 and was arrested for domestic assault in April 2026, which led to an ICE detainer. The newborn was taken into protective custody by Missouri Children's Division.

William Ortiz-Rivera, a man in his 70s with dementia, was released from the Aurora ICE Processing Center before 8 a.m. on May 11 without notifying his attorney or Casa de Paz, a local immigration advocacy organization that regularly assists people released from the facility. He boarded a bus and ended up in downtown Denver, miles from his senior living home, where he was lost for five hours in 83-degree weather with minimal money and possessions. Casa de Paz demands ICE coordinate releases with support organizations and release detainees during appropriate daytime hours, stating the facility has previously notified them of vulnerable individuals being released.

Rogelio Bolufé, a 44-year-old Cuban immigrant, initiated a 10-day hunger strike while detained at Torrance County Detention Facility in New Mexico to protest poor conditions and alleged confiscation of legal documents by CoreCivic staff. Within 48 hours of being taken to the Albuquerque ICE field office, he was transferred to multiple detention facilities across Texas, Alabama, Arizona, and Washington. Bolufé alleged the transfers constituted retaliation for his advocacy and complaints, and claimed he was denied medical care during the process, including being forced to sleep on cold floors in overcrowded conditions. He was appealing a deportation order and seeking a Green Card under the Cuban Adjustment Act. Bolufé was ultimately deported by ICE in May 2026.

Milena Araya-Davis, a 27-year-old therapist and Palm Springs High School graduate, was arrested by ICE agents on December 15, 2025, outside a USCIS office in San Diego immediately after being told her green card application was approved. Araya-Davis was brought to the U.S. from Peru at age 4 and received DACA protection as a teenager, going on to earn a master's degree in marriage and family therapy. She was detained for overstaying a tourist visa from her childhood. During her seven-day detention at Otay Mesa Detention Center, Araya-Davis slept on the floor, shared a single sink with roughly 150 women, and received inadequate food and medical care, relying on other detainees for basic supplies and support. Her husband, a U.S. citizen whom she married in April 2025, was home waiting for brief phone calls during her detention. Araya-Davis has since shared her experience on social media, drawing thousands of responses from people fearing detention or worried about loved ones. San Diego County subsequently filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and private prison operator CoreCivic after being denied inspection access to the facility.