Human Impact Project

Juan Tablante, father of Atlanta United midfielder Moisés Tablante, was detained by ICE during a traffic stop while traveling from Orlando, Florida to Atlanta, Georgia. Tablante has been an asylum applicant since 2016, holds a valid work permit and driver's license, and has no criminal record. He remains in immigration detention despite his pending asylum status.

Kevin González, an 18-year-old U.S. citizen with stage 4 colon cancer, pleaded with immigration authorities to release his parents so he could see them before his death. His parents, Mexican nationals Isidoro González Avilés and Norma Anabel Ramírez Amaya, were arrested near Douglas, Arizona on April 14, 2026, after attempting to reenter the U.S. following denied humanitarian and B1/B2 visa requests. They had been previously deported in 2011 and 2024, and were reported chained during court appearances while detained for weeks. A federal judge in Tucson ordered their release on May 8, 2026. They were deported to Mexico that day and traveled to Durango, where they reunited with Kevin on May 8. Kevin died on May 9, 2026, one day after the reunion.

Olivia Andre, a 19-year-old nursing student and asylum seeker from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was apprehended with her family in November 2025 while attempting to seek asylum. While her mother and two younger siblings were released in March 2026 following a court order, Andre remained detained at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas for approximately six months because she is technically an adult without guardianship of her siblings. During her detention, she experienced severe physical and mental health deterioration including weight loss of nearly 20 pounds, depression, insomnia, nightmares, suicidal ideation, headaches, and received no mental health care despite documented PTSD and depression. On May 9, 2026, a federal district court judge in San Antonio ruled that Andre's detention was unlawful because the government failed to establish she posed a danger or flight risk and that continued detention violated her constitutional right to due process. She was released and reunited with her family in Portland, Maine.

Oscar, a 32-year-old Honduran environmental activist who had fled death threats, was arrested at an ICE check-in appointment and moved to a Texas detention facility before being deported to Honduras. His wife Ana and their 7- and 9-year-old children were granted asylum and remained in Maryland. Oscar's lawyer filed a petition for him to rejoin his family, but processing faces dramatic delays. Oscar remains in hiding in Honduras, staying alone in an apartment and avoiding going outside. When he calls his children, he tells them he didn't leave them by choice.

Marco, a 61-year-old man who had lived in the U.S. for nearly 40 years and owned a contracting business, was arrested at a Home Depot in Maryland, detained for three months, and deported to El Salvador after an immigration judge dismissed his request for humanitarian relief. His 17-year-old son Mark, a U.S. citizen, struggled with depression and falling grades while taking on extra work and responsibilities to support his mother, who works at Burger King. Last week Mark graduated high school in Maryland, with Marco watching the ceremony via livestream instead of attending in person.

Herminia was held in immigration detention for eight months, separated from her 9-year-old and 16-year-old children. During her absence, the children's mental health deteriorated. Her young daughter had trouble sleeping through the night, and her teenage son considered dropping out of school to work and support his sister.

KO, a 41-year-old Guatemalan mother of three, was arrested at an ICE check-in appointment. When she told the officer that she had a 19-month-old child waiting for her at home, the officer responded that her child and she 'could die for all he cared.'

Hubert George Cole, a Honduran citizen who immigrated to the U.S. at age 11, was detained by ICE during his regular check-in on May 8, 2026, after 12 years of complying with supervision conditions. Cole's deferral of removal to Honduras stems from a long legal history: a former gang member with visible tattoos who was seriously injured in a 2007 drive-by shooting, he argued he would likely be tortured or killed in Honduras due to his tattoos and race, a claim supported by testimony from his sister and mother. In 2011, the Ninth Circuit found the Board of Immigration Appeals had failed to properly consider his expert witnesses and remanded his Convention Against Torture claim for further review, which ultimately resulted in deferral of his removal to Honduras. Despite this deferral, ICE served Cole with a Notice of Removal in 2026 stating intent to remove him to Mexico instead. A court granted a temporary restraining order requiring his immediate release and prohibiting removal without proper procedures.

Lourdes Minerva Coronado, a North Texas resident who had lived in the United States for more than 30 years, was arrested after a Flower Mound traffic stop for driving with a suspended license and no registration, and was subsequently detained by ICE. Her daughter, Karen Gonzalez, said Coronado had just been approved for a work permit and had no criminal history when she was detained. An immigration judge denied her bond request in July, classifying her as a flight risk, and on September 8 ordered her removed to Mexico; she has until October 2 to appeal while her family works to find and pay for an attorney. ICE said Coronado entered the country without legal status, and that it does not carry out removals while a timely appeal is pending; her arrest also came months after Denton County expanded its cooperation agreement with ICE to allow trained deputies to detain people suspected of immigration violations.

María Gloria Lopez Alcala, a mother of five who has lived in the U.S. for three decades, was detained by CBP on May 8 at International Bridge 2 in Laredo while returning from Nuevo Laredo after forgetting her ID. She had passed her citizenship test in November but never received an oath ceremony date, and her family says she also holds a permanent resident card. Officials told her family she is being held on suspicion of identity fraud, an accusation her family denies, and as of early August she remained at the Laredo Detention Center, where she developed a skin condition requiring medical treatment. ICE says her case remains in the adjudication process.

A long-term undocumented resident of the United States was detained by ICE officers on May 8, 2026, after fleeing from law enforcement during a traffic stop of a vehicle in which he was a passenger. Officers pursued him on foot for 5-10 minutes before detaining him pursuant to an administrative arrest warrant. He has lived in the United States for an unspecified extended period without having been admitted. He is currently detained at Mesa Verde Detention Facility. The court granted his petition for writ of habeas corpus and motion for temporary restraining order, ordering respondents to provide him a bond hearing before an immigration judge within 14 days pursuant to 8 C.F.R. § 1236.1(c)(8), where he must demonstrate he is not a flight risk or danger to community safety. If respondents fail to provide the hearing within 14 days, he shall be immediately released.

Zong Yang, a South St. Paul resident who legally immigrated to the U.S. as a child, was detained in February 2026 during Operation Metro Surge and deported to Laos in May over a 1999 felony burglary conviction in Wisconsin. Yang had never lived in Laos before and does not speak the local language. He is now permanently barred from returning to the United States and living in Vientiane with other deportees while trying to support himself through low-wage work.

Victor Manuel Rocha, a former U.S. ambassador to Bolivia and State Department official, was convicted in 2024 of conspiring to act as an agent for Cuban intelligence services for over 50 years beginning in 1973. Rocha obtained U.S. citizenship in 1977-1978 through false statements, concealing his communist affiliations and espionage activities. He is serving a 15-year prison sentence. In May 2026, federal prosecutors filed a civil denaturalization complaint seeking to revoke his citizenship, alleging he fraudulently obtained naturalization by lying about his ties to Cuba and the Communist Party and concealing his decades-long work as a covert intelligence operative.

Pin He, a native of China, was targeted for denaturalization for obtaining citizenship under the identity Pin He in 2013 after being ordered removed under the name Chun Di He in 1992. He applied for immigration benefits under a different identity the following year and obtained permanent residence in 2007 without disclosing his prior removal order.

Abdallah Osman Sheikh, a resident of Fairdale, Kentucky, was targeted for denaturalization for concealing that he possessed indecent digital images of two minors in July 2019 while serving in the Marines and posted such an image to social media. He also received an other-than-honorable discharge from the Marines for misconduct, disqualifying him from naturalization based on military service.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a denaturalization lawsuit against Abduvosit Razikov, a 46-year-old Uzbek citizen, alleging he obtained permanent residency and U.S. citizenship through fraudulent means. According to the complaint, Razikov paid for a fake marriage in 2005 to obtain a green card, organized additional fraudulent marriage schemes for others, and gave false statements during naturalization proceedings in 2012. The DOJ argues his citizenship should be revoked because it was obtained through fraud and concealment of material facts.

Kevin Robin Suarez, a native of Bolivia, was targeted for denaturalization after pleading guilty in 2020 to conspiracy involving the illegal purchase and trafficking of firearms through straw purchasers from South Florida to Bolivia and other Latin American countries for drug trafficking organizations. The conspiracy began in May 2016 and continued ten months after his January 2017 naturalization, during which he lacked the required good moral character.

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a case to revoke the citizenship of Baboucarr Mboob, 58, a native of Ndungu Kebbeh, Gambia, accusing him of concealing war crimes during his U.S. naturalization in 2011. Mboob, who entered the U.S. in 2002, previously served as a military police officer and orderly under former Gambian president Yahya Jammeh, and in 2019 testimony before The Gambian Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission admitted to participating in the 1994 execution of six fellow officers, naming five victims: Lt. Gibril Saye, Lt. Buba Jammeh, Lt. Bakary Manneh, Cadet Amadou Sillah and Lt. Abdoulie Bah. The case is part of a broader DOJ action against 12 individuals accused of offenses including war crimes, support for terrorism and sexual abuse of a minor, with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stating that those who concealed such histories during naturalization will face legal consequences.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil complaint in federal court seeking to denaturalize Salah Osman Ahmed, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Minnesota. Ahmed was naturalized in August 2007, months before providing material support to al-Shabaab, a designated foreign terrorist organization. In 2009, he pleaded guilty to one count of providing material support to terrorists after admitting to attending secret meetings in Minneapolis in 2007, traveling to Somalia in December 2007 to help build a training camp, receiving weapons training including on PKM machine guns, and raising money from the Somali-American community. He served three years in prison and was granted relief from supervised release in 2022. The DOJ contends Ahmed was not genuinely attached to U.S. constitutional principles at the time of naturalization and must prove by clear and convincing evidence that his citizenship was not obtained through fraud or misrepresentation.

Khalid Ouazzani, a native of Morocco, was targeted for denaturalization after pleading guilty in 2010 to bank fraud, money laundering, and providing material support to Al-Qaeda. He falsely swore attachment to the U.S. Constitution during his 2005 citizenship application and 2006 naturalization, while planning with others to support terrorism and sending tens of thousands of dollars to Al-Qaeda by 2007.