Human Impact Project

David Cardenas, 54, a Raleigh resident who fled Nicaragua and sought asylum in 2022, was detained by ICE during a routine yearly check-in appointment with USCIS in Charlotte. He suffered a medical emergency shortly after detention and was hospitalized at Atrium Health in Pineville, where ICE and the hospital initially blocked visits from his wife and children for a week. Following advocacy efforts and a press conference by immigrant rights groups and local leaders, ICE announced it would release Cardenas due to his severe health condition, potentially using alternative detention such as an ankle monitor.

A Guatemalan asylum seeker who fled to the U.S. in April 2024 was arrested on December 11, 2025, while attending a scheduled ICE check-in at 630 Sansome Street in San Francisco. She had been released on her own recognizance, complied with all supervision conditions, and had no criminal history. The court granted a temporary restraining order requiring her immediate release, finding her detention likely violated her constitutional due process rights.

Mohan Karki, a 30-year-old refugee born in a Nepal refugee camp whose family fled persecution in Bhutan in the 1990s, faces deportation to Bhutan by the U.S. government despite having no passport or birth certificate from that country. He has been detained for over eight months pending removal proceedings stemming from a teenage burglary conviction. His attorneys have stated that deportation could result in statelessness, as Bhutanese authorities have previously denied entry to other deportees.

Jose Gomez and his 13-year-old son were detained by ICE agents in unmarked SUVs in Eden Prairie on Thursday morning while moving their car after a snowstorm. The boy was tackled, handcuffed, and questioned about his legal status; he later required medical attention for an abnormal heartbeat triggered by the stress. Both are undocumented immigrants from Mexico; Gomez's family believes he was randomly targeted and says ICE lacked a warrant for his arrest. The boy was released to his aunt's house, but Gomez remained in ICE custody.

A man who had lived in the U.S. for 27 years and worked with a company for 17 years was deported after his wife was pulled over for a broken headlight. He had paid taxes, owned a home, and raised American-born children. The deportation occurred despite his lack of criminal conduct.

Andrei Bankevich, a Belarusian migrant granted relief from deportation, was detained by ICE in December 2025 despite having no legal authority to hold him. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger ruled in March 2026 that federal officials violated his due process rights by keeping him incarcerated in Muscatine County Jail for over a year, stating it was "untenable" that officials refused to comply with the law without a court order.

On December 11, 2024, Border Patrol agent Armando Flores shot and killed Isaias Sanchez Barbosa, a 31-year-old Mexican man with no criminal history, no prior U.S. entries, and no family in the United States, during a struggle near the Rio Grande in Starr County, Texas. A grand jury declined to indict Flores in June 2025, but Texas Rangers and federal investigators have kept the case open, and no body camera footage or complete official account has been released. An autopsy found three close-range gunshot wounds to Sanchez Barbosa's chest and forearm that fractured a rib and tore both lungs. A search of a nearby ranch, authorized by a warrant that went unfiled for months due to what officials called a clerical error, found no weapons, consistent with none being found on Sanchez Barbosa himself.

Viktoriia Bulavina, a 46-year-old Ukrainian woman who entered the US in September 2022 under the Uniting for Ukraine program, was detained by ICE on December 4, 2025, during a scheduled green card interview at the USCIS San Diego Field Office. She is married to US citizen Victor Korol. Bulavina spent three days in the downtown San Diego ICE facility, where she reported harsh conditions including lack of sleep, inability to change clothes or shower, cold temperatures, expired food, and inadequate privacy. Her attorney stated she had complied with all immigration procedures and was renewing her Temporary Protected Status when detained, with her legal team asserting her TPS application was approved in June 2024, while DHS claimed her TPS had expired in April 2025. She was released after five days in custody, with her TPS extension approved the day of her release.

José Gonzalez, a 53-year-old Mexican national and well-known manager at BiCE Ristorante in Palm Beach who also operates the Tacos Agave food truck, was detained by ICE on December 10 after a Florida Highway Patrol traffic stop for dark window tint while driving his nephew's truck on a supply run. Gonzalez claims he has a valid work permit and driver's license connected to an ongoing immigration or asylum case. He was transferred between multiple detention facilities before being held at Alligator Alcatraz in the Everglades. Friends and colleagues, including Table 26 owner Eddie Schmidt, described Gonzalez as someone who spent over 20 years serving the Palm Beach County restaurant community with dedication and generosity. During his 12 days in detention, Gonzalez reported cold conditions, open toilets, limited privacy, and approximately 80 people held in cramped cage-like conditions. Staff at the detention facility encouraged him to self-deport, which his 23-year-old nephew chose to do; Gonzalez refused. Community members organized vigils, rallies, and circulated petitions that gathered nearly 2,000 signatures calling for his release. U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel and Palm Beach County Commissioner Gregg Weiss organized a vigil on December 21. Gonzalez was released on December 22-23, and expressed gratitude for community support. His nephew remains detained at Krome detention facility after signing expedited removal papers.

A 20-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen named Mubashir was detained by ICE agents in Minneapolis while on his lunch break. Agents forcibly removed him from a restaurant, handcuffed him, and initially refused to accept his U.S. passport and identification documents despite his attempts to present them. He was held for approximately two hours at a federal building before being released after presenting identification. Minneapolis city leaders, including Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Brian O'Hara, characterized the detention as wrongful and unconstitutional racial profiling, while ICE stated their actions were based on reasonable suspicion.

ICE agents arrested Mubashir, a 20-year-old Somali American U.S. citizen, in Minneapolis's Cedar-Riverside neighborhood on his lunch break. Video footage documented agents slamming him against a door, placing him in a chokehold, and handcuffing him before detaining him for approximately two hours. Despite offering identification and having his citizenship verified, Mubashir alleged he was denied water and medical assistance during detention. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Brian O'Hara stated the arrest was racially motivated, while Governor Tim Walz requested a DHS review of ICE arrests of U.S. citizens in the city.

Jose Roberto Ramirez, a U.S. citizen and Red Lake Nation descendant who lives in Crystal, was detained by ICE agents in Robbinsdale on January 8 after they said he matched the description of an unrelated target with a criminal history. Ramirez now faces a federal charge of assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer, which he denies; ICE says he struck an agent after his phone was knocked from his hand, while his aunt, Shawntia Sosa-Clara, who filmed the encounter and called police for help, said agents struck Ramirez multiple times. Photos shared by the family show bruising on his wrists and neck. Robbinsdale police have said they do not assist ICE or ask about immigration status but will not interfere with federal operations except in life-threatening situations.

Nathan Griffin, a U.S. citizen and night manager of the Laugh Factory comedy club in Lakeview, was arrested by masked Border Patrol agents on October 24, 2025, outside the club at Belmont and Broadway during immigration enforcement operations on the North Side. Agents accused him of interfering with a federal officer and assaulting an agent by closing a vehicle door on the agent's leg while the agent was searching for a body-worn camera believed dropped during a prior immigration-related arrest. Video posted by the club showed multiple masked agents in full camouflage wrestling Griffin to the ground as bystanders screamed that he had done nothing wrong. Griffin's mother, Elaine Plybon, was also physically engaged with agents while attempting to stop her son's arrest. Griffin was initially charged with one count of forcibly assaulting, impeding, and interfering with a federal officer, facing up to 8 years in prison if convicted. Federal prosecutors dropped all charges on December 10, 2025, after a federal grand jury refused to indict him by returning a 'no bill.'

Santiago Zamora Perez, a 17-year-old Detroit student at Western International High School, was arrested by ICE on Sunday after Fraser police pulled him over for driving under the speed limit and called federal agents. Zamora and his mother were detained; he is a Venezuelan asylum seeker who entered the U.S. last year. At least four Detroit teens are currently held in ICE detention facilities.

A Homeland Security agent confronting a man about his visa status was briefly taken in an SUV against his will on Wednesday in Plymouth, Minnesota. Two people were charged in federal court with interfering with DHS agents: Oluwadamilola Bamigboye, 24, a Nigerian national who overstayed his student visa, and Rekeya Frazier, 26. The incident began when agents approached Bamigboye outside an apartment complex, leading him to jump into Frazier's SUV and demand she drive away, resulting in a brief pursuit that ended near a New Hope police station.

Alan Crenshaw, a 35-year-old Minneapolis resident, observed and filmed ICE arresting a U.S. citizen on December 9. As officers were leaving the scene, one agent leaned out of a car window and pepper sprayed Crenshaw. He is a named plaintiff in an ACLU lawsuit alleging ICE violated constitutional rights of observers and protesters.

Mubashir, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen of Somali descent, was arrested by ICE agents on December 9, 2025, in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of south Minneapolis. According to Mubashir and community organization CAIR-MN, ICE agents tackled him during the arrest despite his repeated statements that he was a U.S. citizen and his display of his passport. He was detained at Fort Snelling federal building after agents allegedly failed to identify themselves. DHS disputed accounts of the incident, claiming officers were investigating criminal immigration violations and that Mubashir resisted arrest. According to CAIR-MN, the arrests were part of a pattern targeting Somali neighborhoods and included multiple U.S. citizens.

Beata Siemionkowicz, a 57-year-old Polish-born green card holder who legally immigrated in 1995 and obtained permanent residency in 2003, was detained by ICE on August 2, 2025, while gardening in her daughter's backyard in Des Plaines, Illinois. DHS cited retail theft convictions from the early 2000s and alleged document fraud related to immigration benefits, as well as a claimed arrest warrant from Poland, though her daughters provided documentation from Polish authorities showing no criminal record there. Siemionkowicz worked as a commercial cleaner and hospice caregiver and was the sole financial provider for her household, which includes her two adult daughters, Claudia and Gabi. She has been held at Campbell County Detention Center in Kentucky, where detainees reported conditions including black mold and dead bedbugs; her daughter Gabi temporarily left nursing school to cover the family's mortgage, utilities, and legal fees. An immigration judge issued a deportation order on December 9, 2025, and her family has filed an appeal while working with Senator Dick Durbin to seek her release, with a final decision expected in summer 2026.

Vilma Cruz, a 38-year-old Honduran national, was arrested by ICE agents in Kenner, Louisiana during an operation called "Catahoula Crunch." Her 18-year-old son, Jonathan Escalante, a U.S. citizen, is now the sole caregiver for his 9-year-old sister and worries about being detained himself despite being a citizen.

Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents used chemical irritant to disperse a crowd in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis during identification checks. The incident occurred on Tuesday. Minneapolis City Council member Jamal Osman, a Somali American, was present during the confrontation.