Human Impact Project

Jeson Nelon Presilla Flores, one of seven people charged with stealing millions in jewelry, diamonds, emeralds, gold, rubies and designer watches in 2022, was allowed to self-deport to South America by federal immigration authorities before facing trial. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges prior to his deportation.

Osvaldo Damian Diaz Hernandez, a noncitizen who had been previously released on bond or conditional parole, was re-detained by immigration authorities on January 22, 2026 without being provided a pre-deprivation bond hearing. He filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his ongoing immigration detention. The federal court ruled that the Due Process Clause requires the government to provide a pre-deprivation bond hearing before a neutral arbiter before re-detaining someone who was previously released, and ordered his immediate release with the same conditions he had prior to detention.

A noncitizen who had been previously released on bond or conditional parole was re-detained by immigration authorities on January 22, 2026. He filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his ongoing immigration detention, arguing that the government violated his due process rights by re-detaining him without providing a pre-deprivation bond hearing before a neutral arbiter. The federal court granted his petition and ordered his immediate release with the same conditions he was subject to prior to his January 22 detention.

ICE agents detained five-year-old Liam Ramos and his father at their home in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, using the child as bait to gain entry despite the family having an active asylum case and no deportation order. Federal agents have detained children as young as four years old in ICE custody.

A Cumberland County corrections officer was detained by ICE agents Wednesday night in Portland despite having documentation showing he was authorized to work until April 2029. The officer had a clean background check when hired in February 2024 and was actively pursuing legal immigration status. Sheriff Kevin Joyce commented on the arrest, noting the officer's background and immigration status pursuit.

Emily Despain, a 21-year-old U.S. citizen from Tempe, Arizona, was detained by ICE for approximately four hours during a protest outside the ICE Phoenix Field Office on January 22, 2026. She said she was filming the demonstration when an ICE agent pushed her face-first into the ground during a brawl involving multiple protesters and agents, and that agents threatened to take her to Florence Correctional Center. She was released around 1:30 a.m. on January 23 without explanation or apology. The incident was one of several clashes between agents and protesters that night, part of ongoing near-daily demonstrations across the Phoenix area, and prompted Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes to gather accounts from witnesses at the scene.

Evaristo Kalonji, an asylum seeker from Angola with no criminal record, was detained by ICE agents on January 22, 2026 in South Portland. His pastor, Carlos Nzolameso, found Kalonji's car abandoned with keys on the floor. Kalonji was moved between detention centers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island while his pending asylum case awaits a court date scheduled for May 2028.

Former Customs and Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino is under criminal investigation for throwing a gas canister at protesters and observers in Minneapolis' Mueller Park on January 21, 2026. Video footage documents Bovino deploying the canister, which released green gas potentially containing carcinogenic substances. The Hennepin County Attorney's Office announced the investigation as part of 17 criminal cases involving potentially unlawful conduct by federal agents during Operation Metro Surge.

Francisco Gaspar Andrés, a 48-year-old Guatemalan immigrant, died on December 3, 2025, at The Hospitals of Providence East in El Paso after 93 days in ICE custody at Camp East Montana detention facility. He was arrested in Florida on September 1 and transferred to the facility on September 19, marking the first confirmed death there. His health deteriorated in mid-November with complications from alcoholic hepatic cirrhosis, low sodium levels, and kidney failure. He was hospitalized on November 16 and placed on dialysis and a liver transplant list before being pronounced dead on December 3. His daughter said during weekly phone calls he reported suffering from lack of food, lack of medical care, and terrible conditions, and stated: 'My dad was taken to the hospital when he was already dying, and it was too late.' Another detainee confirmed he had asked for help but did not receive it. His wife, Lucía Pedro Juan, was deported to Guatemala on November 28 before learning of his death. An immigration judge had ordered his removal on November 14, two days before his hospitalization. The El Paso County Medical Examiner attributed his death to natural causes stemming from advanced alcoholic liver cirrhosis with renal failure and internal bleeding, though conflicting reports indicate authorities also ruled it a homicide.

Ramiro Santiago Pacheco Martinez, a 53-year-old day laborer who has lived in Pomona, California for nearly two decades with no criminal record, was detained by Border Patrol/ICE agents on November 13, 2025 while waiting at a bus stop to get diabetes medication. He has serious health conditions including congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, diabetes, and a pacemaker, with a history of heart attacks. His daughter, Jax Santana, says he has not consistently received his medication while in custody at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, and according to community members, faith leaders, and advocates, he was denied heart medication for two weeks and required emergency heart surgery while detained. On January 21, 2026, community members rallied to demand his release, and the Pomona City Council subsequently passed a resolution calling on ICE to release him. Local, state, and federal lawmakers have written to the Department of Homeland Security seeking his release.

On August 23, 2025, about 40 people gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center to protest ICE raids. Jessica Ramirez Vasquez, a social worker and community volunteer, was detained after using a bullhorn during the protest. Officers fired pepper balls and rubber bullets at the crowd. Jessica was arrested and charged with felony assault on a federal officer. Livestream video documented the incident.

Yannier Vazquez Hidalgo, a Cuban man working at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Central New York, was ordered deported to Ecuador by an immigration judge. Hidalgo fled Cuba and married his husband in the U.S., requesting asylum based on persecution fears as a gay man. He was detained by federal agents in October during a routine ICE appointment in Mattydale. Though he passed an immigration test demonstrating a credible threat to his life in Cuba due to his sexual orientation, the judge ordered his deportation to a country where he has no ties and where he argues he will face persecution for being gay and Cuban.

Zharick Daniela Buitrago Ortiz, a 21-year-old Colombian woman who was eight months pregnant, was deported from Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport despite being in medical distress. She had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in November 2025 seeking asylum and was placed in expedited removal proceedings, during which her attorney said she was denied adequate medical care. A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order enjoining ICE from deporting her, but the order came approximately three hours after her flight had already departed.

Andranik Grigoryan, a New York resident detained at Miami Correctional Facility in Indiana, suffered a severe seizure on January 22—his first in nearly a year—after correctional medical staff failed to provide his prescribed anti-seizure medication (Keppra), which he had relied on for years to control epilepsy. He hit his head during the seizure and was left lying in a pool of blood before being taken to a local hospital for treatment. Upon returning to the facility the same day, officers pepper-sprayed him through a cell port while he was still recovering from the seizure and had difficulty standing, causing intense burning and respiratory distress, then moved him to another cell without letting him wash off the spray. The ACLU of Indiana filed lawsuits on his behalf on July 27 against Centurion Health of Indiana and unidentified correctional officers, alleging 14th Amendment violations; the Indiana Department of Correction said it had no statement, and Centurion did not respond to a request for comment.

An Ecuadoran woman seeking asylum was detained at Cumberland County Jail in Portland for five months. In January, ICE transferred her to Massachusetts without court authorization and then to Louisiana via air transport, removing her epilepsy medication despite knowing of her condition. During transfer she was shackled without food or bathroom access, and suffered multiple seizures in Louisiana while receiving no medication for days. U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin found ICE made false and misleading statements to the court, unlawfully detained her without a bond hearing, and deliberately disregarded her medical needs. The judge ordered her released, barred re-arrest, and ordered the government to pay her legal fees of approximately $15,000.

The Bishop Henry Whipple Building in Fort Snelling, Minnesota, which currently serves as a major immigration enforcement processing center, is located on Bdóte, a Dakota creation site that in 1862 became a concentration camp imprisoning thousands of Dakota and Ho-Chunk people during the Dakota Indian Wars. Local residents first raised concerns about the building's use for immigration detainment in 2019. In early 2026, at least three Indigenous people—Jose Ramirez (Red Lake descendant), a Dakota woman, and reportedly four Lakota men—were detained at the building, with Ramirez held for six hours following a confrontation with immigration officials.

Armande Namegni, a 30-year-old Cameroonian asylum seeker, was detained by ICE on January 22, 2026, during a routine immigration check-in in St. Louis. Officers reported finding a pending shoplifting charge on her record. Namegni stated the charge was misattributed to her and should have been cleared. Officers stated it appeared in the court system. She was transported to Phelps County jail in Rolla and remained in custody awaiting her asylum hearing. She was denied bond.

During an ICE operation in January 2026, federal agents detained dozens of Mainers, including asylum-seeker Evaristo Kalonji, a church organist from Angola with no criminal record. His pastor discovered his abandoned car and learned Kalonji had been transferred to detention centers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island while his asylum case awaits a May 2028 court date. Federal judges subsequently ordered the release of approximately 35 detainees. Many detainees spent weeks in custody, lost employment, and paid thousands in bonds before being freed.

An immigrant previously released on bond or parole was detained on January 21, 2026. The court found that the government violated his due process rights by re-detaining him without providing a pre-deprivation bond hearing before a neutral arbiter. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California ordered his immediate release with the same conditions he had prior to detention.

Micheline Ntumba, a Portland resident and mother of four from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was detained by ICE agents on January 21, 2026, after dropping off her child at Portland High School. According to her daughter, agents followed Ntumba home to her apartment parking lot near Deering Oaks Park, took her phone and wallet, and placed her in their vehicle without asking for identification or explanation. Ntumba has been in the United States for almost 10 years, has no criminal record, and has a pending asylum application.