Human Impact Project

María Alejandra Rivas Martínez, a 19-year-old Venezuelan, was detained by ICE on April 10 after a state police officer notified the agency following a traffic accident in Miami, where she was struck from behind by a truck while driving her girlfriend to a medical appointment. She had entered the U.S. legally in 2019 with a tourist visa at age 13 and currently holds a valid work permit, Florida driver's license, and a pending asylum case. She was held for two days before being transferred to the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach, where she awaits an immigration hearing. Her mother, Eliza Martínez, said the family is distressed and considers the situation unjust, as her family, including her parents and partner, has launched a fundraising campaign to cover legal costs.

Priya Saxena, an Indian graduate student at South Dakota Mines, received notification on April 7, 2025 that her visa was revoked as part of a Trump administration criminal records check of international students. The revocation was triggered by a misdemeanor traffic conviction from 2021 for failing to pull over for an emergency vehicle in Meade County; a related DUI charge from the same traffic stop was dismissed after her blood alcohol tested within the legal limit. Saxena had previously disclosed these legal matters when obtaining her most recent visa in 2022. She filed a temporary restraining order against the government seeking a court order to remain in the country after completing her master's and doctoral degrees at the institution.

A 52-year-old Chinese woman died by suicide while detained at the Yuma Border Patrol station in Arizona after overstaying her B-1/B-2 visitor visa. She was initially detained in California and transferred to Yuma. Surveillance footage documented the incident, showing she created a noose. CBP records indicate required welfare checks were not properly conducted or were falsely documented, and medical intervention did not occur for nearly two hours after she was found unresponsive. Representative Pramila Jayapal called for accountability regarding CBP's failure to follow detainee safety procedures.

Rubén González, a Venezuelan national who entered the U.S. in 2022 with a pending asylum case, was detained by ICE on March 22 following a traffic accident in Clermont, Florida. González held valid temporary documentation, work authorization, and a temporary driver's license at the time, and his sister confirmed he had been complying with legal procedures. After police reviewed his documents at the accident scene, he was transferred to ICE custody and taken to an immigration detention facility in Jacksonville. Immigration rights organizations and attorneys have questioned the legality of detaining someone with active protected status following a routine traffic accident.

Adolfo Gutiérrez, an undocumented volunteer pastor who led the Spanish-speaking Casa Firme church in south Texas and ran a home remodeling business, was detained by ICE agents on March 18, 2025 while driving his daughters to school. His daughter Alondra said agents slammed him against his car door and took him away in a van without explanation. Gutiérrez, who had lived in Texas more than 15 years and was a father of three, was held at the El Valle Detention Facility near the border. His wife Eva Jasso started a GoFundMe to cover attorney fees, and his church held a fundraiser for his legal expenses as family, church members, and business clients rallied support. His family said he 'pays taxes and works hard.' He was later deported, and his case was identified in a Newsweek analysis of at least 65 faith leaders detained by U.S. immigration authorities since January 2025.

On April 4th, ICE agents detained a community member on Cranston Street in Providence's West End after chasing him down and crashing into his car. Providence Police responded to the crash and worked to disperse community members who witnessed the incident. Advocates argue this demonstrates police cooperation with ICE despite city claims of limits on such cooperation.

Solangel Manzanilla, a 68-year-old Venezuelan woman, was detained by Border Patrol on April 2 after leaving work at an LA Fitness gym in Fort Lauderdale where she worked in childcare. She had been in the U.S. for 12 years with a pending asylum claim, valid work authorization, and a current driver's license. An officer noted she had a good profile but stated she had to be detained due to her immigration status. Her family reports she has medical conditions requiring attention and has launched a fundraising campaign to cover legal expenses.

Adrian Gil Rojas, a Venezuelan national, holds Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and has been detained at El Valle Detention Center for more than two months. He has a two-year-old son in the United States whose mother witnessed ICE officers illegally arrest Mr. Gil Rojas approximately two months ago, leaving their young son alone and traumatized. Mr. Gil Rojas also served as a trial witness in a murder case in Clinton County, New York, where he testified despite fears of retaliation and helped secure a conviction. He is challenging his detention through a habeas corpus petition, arguing that 8 U.S.C. § 1254a(d)(4) explicitly prohibits detention of individuals with TPS status on the basis of immigration status. The government claims it can detain him based on speculative predictions that his TPS may expire on April 2, 2025, and that a pending motion to reopen his removal case may be denied, but the petition argues this violates the TPS statute's unambiguous prohibition and that his removal is automatically stayed while the motion remains pending.

Attorneys representing detainees at an Everglades facility alleged that guards beat and pepper-sprayed detainees following a protest over lost phone access on April 2. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction on March 27 requiring improved legal access and expressed frustration with slow compliance efforts during an April 13 status conference. The state and federal governments are appealing the injunction while claiming efforts to comply.

In Louisiana, ICE detained two mothers during routine check-ins and deported them within days to Honduras with their children. Three of the children — ages 2, 4, and 7 — were U.S. citizens, including a 4-year-old with Stage 4 kidney cancer who was deported without his medication or a chance for doctors to advise on his care. The mothers, identified by pseudonyms Rosario and Julia, have since filed a federal lawsuit in Louisiana alleging they were given no choice in whether their children would be deported with them and were blocked from contacting attorneys or family to arrange care. The suit seeks a jury trial, damages, and a ruling that the arrests and removals were unlawful, along with the families' return to the United States.

During a transfer in mid-April, dozens of men were gathered into a cell early in the morning with feet shackled and hands tied behind their backs. They waited hours while food sat visible through bars. When lunch was provided at 7 p.m. — only after another guard protested — the men could not reach plates with their hands. 'We had to bend over and eat off the chairs with our mouths, like dogs,' one man said. At FDC, upon arrival and after visits including from legal counsel, officers forced detainees to undergo invasive visual cavity searches. A 21-year-old Guatemalan man described being ordered to 'get completely naked, turn around, bend down, and get on all fours and cough.' An officer later admitted ICE detainees did not need such procedures.

On April 1, state and federal police raided a party at an Airbnb in an Austin suburb, arresting nearly 50 people including nine children. The FBI, ICE, Texas Department of Public Safety, and Hays County Sheriff's Office claimed they targeted individuals connected to a Venezuelan gang, but offered no substantiating evidence; ICE arrested 35 individuals on unauthorized entry charges, with many subsequently deported through civil immigration proceedings rather than criminal prosecution. Among those detained were three siblings, including a 16-year-old boy, whose mother holds Temporary Protected Status and says her children have no gang ties or tattoos, noting they attended the party because her daughter's boyfriend, a DJ, had been hired to perform. The mother and her attorney said the siblings were separated into different detention facilities, and that Austin police and the Hays County Sheriff's Office initially denied involvement when contacted about the children's whereabouts. Protesters later gathered outside a federal building in Austin in an attempt to block vans transporting detainees, including the 16-year-old, from leaving the facility.

Jeankey Jhonayker Castro Bravo, a 24-year-old barber from Caracas, Venezuela, was stopped while driving for DoorDash in the Austin area on April 1. After showing his Venezuelan passport, a DPS trooper called in ICE. DPS accused him of gang affiliation based on his tattoos and arrested him for drug possession. He was held in jail for six months before the felony ketamine charge was dropped in October. He was subsequently deported to Venezuela.

Omar Abdulsattar Ameen, an Iraqi citizen, was deported to Rwanda in April 2025 as the first of multiple deportations to the country. Rwandan authorities have acknowledged that seven additional deportees arrived in August 2025. The identities, origins, legal status of the seven August arrivals, and Ameen's current fate are unknown. Rwanda agreed to receive up to 250 deported migrants under an agreement with the Trump administration.

Tim, a Nigerian man, was transferred to the Batavia ICE detention facility in April 2025 after suffering a major concussion from a fall while finishing a federal prison sentence. He was discharged from a Massachusetts hospital with nine prescribed medications and orders for inpatient physical therapy. At Batavia, he went at least a month without medication and received only one physical therapy session before being deported in summer 2025. He now requires a walker and reports severe mental health issues and insomnia.

Antonio Vizcaino González, a dual Venezuelan-Spanish citizen, was stopped by Texas Department of Public Safety for ignoring a stop sign while driving near an Airbnb in an Austin suburb on April 1. ICE agents arrived and found narcotics in his inner waistband, leading to a ketamine possession charge. He bonded out into ICE custody but was deported to Spain in May. The drug charge was later dropped by prosecutors due to lack of cooperation from federal law enforcement.

Petronila Elizabeth Poma Perez, a 24-year-old from Guatemala also known as "Heidy," died after falling about 30 feet from the U.S.-Mexico border wall near San Diego in March, with another person injured in a similar fall. Body-worn camera footage released by Border Patrol shows she called for help for roughly 24 minutes before falling, as agents waited for fire department assistance rather than using a nearby ladder and a fire engine was initially led to the wrong location. She was pronounced dead at the scene after striking her head on a concrete platform at the base of the fence.

Cliona Ward, a 54-year-old Irish national who has legally resided in the United States for approximately 40 years, was detained by ICE after returning from a trip to Ireland where she visited her ill father. Ward, a green card holder, was questioned about criminal convictions from 2003-2008 related to drug possession charges. She claims these convictions were expunged. Ward is being held in an ICE facility in Tacoma, Washington, and is scheduled to appear before an immigration judge in Seattle to argue her case.

A Nicaraguan asylum seeker is a citizen and national of Nicaragua who has lived in the United States since September 2021. He is married and living with his wife in California. He fled Nicaragua after police beat him for participating in anti-government protests, fracturing his arm. He was detained by DHS upon arrival in the US but released in October 2021 on reporting requirements to ICE, which he never missed. On September 14, 2023, he applied for asylum and received work authorization. In April 2025, he reported for a routine ICE appointment and was detained without notice or hearing despite full compliance with check-in requirements. He was transferred between multiple detention facilities where he suffered inhumane conditions, including excessive heat in transport vehicles, contaminated food and water, and injury from handcuffs. An immigration judge released him on a $5,000 bond in June 2025, and he was placed in ICE's Intensive Supervision Appearance Program. On July 13, 2026, the immigration judge denied his asylum application and ordered removal to Nicaragua. He timely appealed. The federal court granted his preliminary injunction, prohibiting ICE from re-detaining him without a pre-detention hearing where the government must prove by clear and convincing evidence that he is a flight risk or danger.

An Argentine woman, who married an active-duty Coast Guardsman assigned to the cutter Mohawk earlier this year, was arrested by Homeland Security Investigations in April at Naval Air Station Key West. The arrest occurred after a routine security screening, required as the couple sought access to on-base housing, flagged her status. Officials said her work visa had expired around 2017 and she had been marked for removal a few years later. Naval Criminal Investigative Service personnel were also involved in the response before HSI took her into custody.​