Human Impact Project

An undocumented immigrant entered the United States without authorization in 2020 and was recently detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pending removal proceedings. He is currently held at the Florida Soft Side Detention Facility in Ochopee, Florida. He filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2), which mandates detention without a bond hearing, arguing he should instead be subject to § 1226(a)'s discretionary detention scheme where he could be eligible for release. The court agreed with his statutory interpretation argument, finding that § 1226(a) applies to noncitizens already present in the United States, not § 1225(b)(2). The court granted his petition in part and ordered the government to provide him with a bond hearing as required under § 1226(a), but denied his request for immediate release.

Jose Espinoza Hernandez was arrested and detained by ICE outside his home in the early morning of April 2, 2026, when he was leaving for work. He is currently in removal proceedings and has a pending U-Visa application. The court granted his habeas petition and ordered his immediate release, finding his detention violated due process. Jose Espinoza was detained by ICE on April 2nd in the morning just outside his home as he was heading to work. His family launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds to support his case and bring him home.

A Venezuelan citizen who entered the U.S. on a B-2 visa in 2016 and filed for asylum within one year was detained by ICE on April 2, 2026 when she appeared for her scheduled asylum interview at the Los Angeles Asylum Office in Tustin, California. Despite maintaining lawful employment and having no criminal history over nine years, the interview was not conducted and she was instead transported to the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. The court granted her temporary restraining order application, ordering that she receive an individualized bond hearing within three days.

U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston ruled that Border Patrol and CBP agents violated a preliminary injunction during a July 2025 enforcement operation at a Sacramento Home Depot parking lot, where day laborers were detained without reasonable suspicion. Agents relied on broad assumptions about workers based on their appearance rather than individualized evidence of immigration violations, and submitted virtually identical detention forms for 11 people. The ruling came in response to a motion filed by the United Farm Workers to enforce the existing injunction. Thurston's order requires agents to document specific facts and reasoning for future detentions and prohibits warrantless arrests without assessing flight risk.

Omar Salazar, an SMU graduate and Dallas community leader, was detained by ICE for seven months after a traffic stop in Lubbock in August 2025, where he presented a Mexican ID and lacked a valid U.S. driver's license. Salazar was brought to the U.S. as a minor at age 11, did not qualify for asylum, and missed DACA eligibility by a few months. He was held at ICE's Bluebonnet Detention Facility while his case proceeded, and ultimately lost his immigration case, resulting in a deportation order with 60 days to voluntarily depart to Mexico. His legal team said an appeal could extend his detention another 8-12 months, and he would likely face a 3-6 year wait before reentry despite being married to a U.S. citizen.

ICE agents detained six Guatemalan workers, ages 18-40, while they were doing roofing and remodeling work at a home in Cambridge, Maryland, after traveling from Glen Burnie for the job. Coworker Bryan Polanco, a Dominican national with permanent residency who was not detained, livestreamed the arrest, accusing the homeowner of calling ICE and handing agents a ladder to reach the workers, and telling the homeowner, a self-described retired Marine, "You don't have to have hate in your heart... Live for them. Spread love." The wife of one detained worker, five months pregnant and caring for two children, said, "I feel so sad, desperate for my husband... we are here to move forward, not to do harm." Online claims alleged homeowner Karen Trevino called ICE to avoid paying roughly $10,000 owed for the job and threatened to call ICE again if the men returned, and that she was later arrested and charged, but Maryland court records showed no evidence of arrest or charges against her or her father, and both ICE and Trevino denied anyone at the property contacted immigration authorities; Trevino said she received threats afterward, and Cambridge police said they would maintain increased presence near the home. ICE said the arrests resulted from a targeted enforcement operation rather than a tip, claiming several of the men had prior removal orders and one had a prior reentry conviction, and that the workers resisted and attempted to flee before being detained. No charges have been filed in connection with the incident.

A Cuban national with a final removal order from November 1987 was re-detained by ICE on April 2, 2026, after not being in immigration custody since that time. ICE sought to hold him under 8 U.S.C. § 1231(a)(6) and evaluate him for third-country removal to Mexico without his consent. The court found ICE failed to demonstrate changed circumstances justifying revocation of his release and did not comply with procedural requirements. The court ordered his immediate release to the conditions he was subject to prior to detention.

A Venezuelan national with Temporary Protected Status was detained by ICE on April 2, 2026, after being stopped for speeding. She had been granted humanitarian parole in October 2022 and subsequently received TPS status. The court granted her habeas corpus petition and ordered her immediate release, finding her detention violated due process rights.

Luzvin Garcia Moran, a 28-year-old noncitizen from Guatemala, was arrested by Arlington County Police on April 12, 2026, for attempted sexual assault. According to ICE, Garcia approached a woman waiting for a rideshare, made sexually explicit comments, grabbed and pushed her into a wall, and physically assaulted her. The victim briefly escaped but he approached and assaulted her again before two bystanders intervened and called police. Garcia fled but was quickly apprehended by responding officers. ICE lodged a detainer requesting he not be released from custody. According to the agency, Garcia has an arrest record spanning 2020 to 2026 that includes charges for public intoxication, assault and battery, disorderly conduct, and probation violations.

A transgender activist and community organizer from Michoacán, Mexico, who has lived in North Carolina for more than 30 years, was detained by ICE following a traffic stop in Franklinton and transferred to Stewart Detention Center in Georgia. She is recognized for founding and directing Fuerza y Unión Múltiple (FUM), an organization supporting transgender people in rural areas, and for her long history of organizing at the North Carolina General Assembly on behalf of immigrant and LGBTQ communities. A fundraising campaign was launched to support her legal defense and detention-related expenses, with Raleigh Immigration Law Firm providing legal representation.

California House members Mike Levin and Sara Jacobs conducted an unannounced oversight visit to the Otay Mesa ICE detention facility in San Diego on May 11, 2026, following a federal court ruling that struck down a Trump administration policy requiring seven days' notice for congressional visits. During their visit, ICE handed Levin a letter outlining a new policy requiring two days' advance notice and written consent from detainees before members of Congress can speak with them. Levin criticized the new restrictions as an attempt to obstruct congressional oversight, stating that advance notice allows the facility time to prepare and conceal actual conditions.

Chicago area officials accused ICE of violating Illinois state law and a Cook County court order that prohibit immigration arrests at courthouses. ICE agents allegedly appeared at the Cook County Domestic Violence Courthouse on Thursday and arrested a woman there on March 13, defying protections signed into law by Governor Pritzker in October.

Subramanyam 'Subu' Vedam, 64, a legal permanent resident from India, spent more than 40 years in prison after a murder conviction that was later vacated amid findings that prosecutors had withheld ballistics evidence. Upon his release, ICE took him into custody based on a longstanding deportation order tied to an early-1980s drug conviction, even though he was days away from becoming a naturalized citizen. Immigration Judge Adam Panopoulos ruled that Vedam could remain in the United States, citing his spotless prison record, rehabilitation, academic study, and mentoring of nieces he came to know only while incarcerated. His sister testified in support of him, and Vedam said in a statement he was grateful for the support of his family and friends. DHS has until May 4 to appeal the ruling, and Vedam must still file a bond request before being released from custody.

The Colibrí Center for Human Rights' DNA database, which helped identify remains of missing migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border for a decade, has been inaccessible since fall 2024. The nonprofit's website has gone dark and communications ceased, leaving families like that of Irma Carrillo Nevares without hope of identifying their missing relatives. Arizona moved to dissolve the organization in December 2025 due to unfiled paperwork.

Protect Democracy, the ACLU, and partners filed suit against DHS, ICE, and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center on April 2, 2026, challenging a secret internal memo that authorizes agents to forcibly enter homes using only an administrative form instead of a judicial warrant. The lawsuit names six individuals affected by the policy, including Teyana and Garrison Gibson Brown, whose home was raided January 11, 2026, and Noe Alfredo Salguero, whose home was entered January 14, 2026. The memo, titled "Utilizing Form I-205, Warrant of Removal," was issued in May 2025 and kept secret until whistleblowers leaked it in late January 2026. Plaintiffs seek to vacate the policy and declare it unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment.

A Government Accountability Office report found that Camp East Montana, the nation's largest immigration detention center in El Paso, Texas, wasted $11.5 million on meals when no detainees were present and suffered performance issues due to a rushed opening. The watchdog's findings follow an earlier ICE inspection on April 2, 2026, that identified 49 deficiencies, including inadequate suicide prevention measures, unsecured equipment, staffing shortages, and failure to isolate a detainee with tuberculosis symptoms, which the GAO confirmed led to a tuberculosis outbreak. The facility, which has housed nearly 3,000 detainees daily since opening in summer 2025 and has recorded at least three deaths, received an acceptable rating despite the violations. The GAO recommended changes to ICE, the Army, and the Department of Homeland Security to prevent further issues.

Jesus Vazquez, a 25-year-old Fort Worth resident who came to the U.S. as a baby, was deported to Mexico in March 2026 after three months in ICE detention following an arrest during a routine ICE check-in in November 2025. His American citizen wife Cassidy and their four children, ages 6 months to 8 years, remain in Fort Worth while working with an attorney to find a way for him to return to the U.S., though he is currently barred from re-entry for 10 years due to a 2022 marijuana possession conviction.

ICE agents in San Diego arrested David Antonio Aviles Perez, 35, who is wanted in El Salvador for murder and had previously been arrested in Monterey, California in 2023 on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after allegedly swinging a machete at a man, then released under California's sanctuary law. El Salvador had sentenced Perez to 20 years in prison for a 2014 gang killing. He is being held pending removal to El Salvador.

Abel Ramirez, a man with schizophrenia who had two strokes, was detained by ICE and deported to Mexico without his family being allowed contact. He moved to the U.S. as a child and is now alone in Mexico. His family is seeking help locating him after he was last seen boarding a bus to Mexico City.

Enrique, brought to the U.S. at age three and raised there for 24 years, was stopped by a state trooper for a license plate light issue and taken into custody based on his Mexican passport despite lacking a driver's license. He spent three months in ICE processing with multiple court appearances before being granted voluntary departure. He is now in Mexico documenting his experience and attempting to maintain his business remotely while seeking residency.