Human Impact Project

Daniel Hidalgo-Argote was detained by ICE at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on September 2, 2026 while returning home from a work trip. He has lived in the United States for over 10 years, earned scholarships for his academic performance in high school, and graduated from Colorado State University with a degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering. He remains in custody awaiting a court date of September 21, 2026, while family and friends work with lawyers to seek his release on bond.

An 18-year-old Honduran student was traveling by bus from Houston to California to begin university studies on a scholarship when he was deported to Honduras instead. His mother is now searching for answers about what happened to her son during the trip.

Maria Rocha-Martinez, mother of U.S. Naval Academy midshipman David Garcia, was detained by ICE on Aug. 25 while attending a scheduled green card interview at a USCIS office. She had previously been granted parole in place, a protection sometimes extended to family members of active service members, and was in the process of obtaining a green card. She was transferred to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas and deported to Mexico despite efforts by Rep. Joaquin Castro, who had nominated Garcia for the Naval Academy, to intervene. DHS said Rocha-Martinez had a prior removal and unlawful reentry, but Castro described her as someone who was 'doing everything the right way' and 'raised a bright young man with good character who is serving our nation.' Castro said ICE denied his office's request to visit her in custody, citing a 48-hour advance notice requirement for congressional visits.

Rogério da Silva Lima, 42, a Brazilian carpenter and painter living on Martha's Vineyard, was taken into ICE custody with his teenage son Nycolas during their first fishing trip together near Menemsha after the U.S. Coast Guard boarded their boat and transferred them to ICE at Woods Hole. His employer, Rory Moreis, called him a 'hard worker' who was 'determined, dedicated, no limit to the hours or days to work,' while family friend Andrea James described him as 'a hard-working man' and his son as 'the kindest kid on the planet.' DHS said the pair entered the U.S. without authorization in 2021, that da Silva Lima's asylum claim was denied and his appeal dismissed in 2024, and both had been issued removal orders in 2023. His attorney, Amelia Ritenour, filed an emergency habeas corpus petition, and a community GoFundMe raised more than $17,000 for legal aid. Nycolas was released after four days into his adult brother's care, and a federal judge, Indira Talwani, later ordered da Silva Lima's release, ruling ICE had missed the 90-day statutory window to detain and remove him. He remained under the removal order and ultimately departed the U.S. unshackled on a civilian flight paid for by ICE, saying, 'It was the worst feeling in the world. I love my sons, and I did not want to leave them behind.' His sons Nycolas and Nayran remain on Martha's Vineyard to continue school and work.

Federal immigration agents, supported by state and local law enforcement, conducted an operation at China Buffet restaurant in Greeneville, Tennessee on September 2, 2026. Homeland Security Investigations confirmed that several undocumented individuals were detained, with witnesses reporting that around 10 to 14 people, some of Mexican origin, were held. Photos and videos shared by nearby witnesses showed the detained individuals sitting on a curb and in the parking lot behind the restaurant while officers stood by. The restaurant, located in the Fairgrounds Plaza, closed early and remained closed that evening. ICE described the matter as an active, ongoing investigation and officials have not confirmed an exact number of arrests.

Milo Morales, a 27-year-old Indianapolis man, was detained by ICE agents Tuesday morning while working at an east-side job site. His sister, Dulce Morales, an active-duty servicemember, tracked his phone to a parking lot off 38th Street and confronted an ICE agent who confirmed multiple people had been taken into custody at the site but would not say if Milo was among them. Because Milo has no criminal record, he was not assigned a federal identification number, leaving his family unable to track his location. Dulce described him as a hard-working man who is soon expecting a child, and said she feels disheartened as a servicemember watching her family targeted.

Loreto Javar, a 76-year-old Filipino national and green card holder who has lived in Fife, Washington since 1995, was detained by ICE during his U.S. citizenship interview in Tukwila. A retired hotel worker and married father of two who raised his family in the U.S. and had renewed his residency multiple times without issue, Javar has stage 4 prostate cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease requiring multiple daily medications. ICE alleges he failed to disclose a decades-old conviction related to a fatal altercation in the Philippines when he applied for his visa in 1995, though his daughter, Daisy Javar, says he has no U.S. criminal record. He has been held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma for more than two months, missing oncology appointments due to delayed meals disrupting his medication schedule, and has developed a blood clot. Advocates with the Tanggol Migrante Movement have pressed the Philippine consulate in Seattle and pushed for his compassionate release, gathering more than 150 petition signatures. An immigration judge extended his case to September 20, which his daughter said will cause him to miss another cancer treatment appointment.

Juan Francisco Areche Minaya, a 49-year-old Dominican citizen who has lived in Puerto Rico for more than 28 years with no criminal record, was detained in San Juan on August 11, 2026 by several masked ICE agents while waiting near a business for a friend who was picking up electrical materials for a job. He is the father of two U.S.-citizen children and the son of a U.S.-citizen mother, both of whom depend on him for financial and daily support, and he has two previously approved I-130 family petitions. His daughter, Darjeerling Areche, said he has 'been present throughout my entire life' and called his detention 'completely incomprehensible.' U.S. District Judge Gina Méndez Miró barred his transfer out of Puerto Rico and ordered a bond hearing under the First Circuit's ruling in Guerrero Orellana v. Moniz, but Immigration Judge Elvin Talavera Peraza denied him bond on August 21, 2026, citing an alleged flight risk; his habeas petition alleges the stop was racially motivated. The ACLU of Puerto Rico and the University of Puerto Rico's Immigration Clinic denounced the bond denial as part of a broader pattern of biased rulings. On September 1, 2026, the federal court dismissed his amended habeas petition without prejudice, finding he had not exhausted administrative remedies or presented a proper constitutional question.

An unnamed Cuban man detained at the GEO Group-run Montgomery ICE Processing Center near Houston, Texas, was arrested by ICE on July 22 and declared a hunger striker three days later. DHS says he entered the U.S. unlawfully in 1980, was ordered deported in 2004, and has prior convictions; he currently lacks legal representation and many of his court records are sealed. U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen authorized force-feeding, first via nasogastric tube and later approving a rare, nonconsensual surgical gastrostomy (PEG) tube procedure, with the order extended into September. DHS later said the man had resumed eating and drinking and was not being force-fed, though it remains unconfirmed whether the surgical procedure was performed. ACLU of Texas attorney Savannah Kumar and civil rights attorney Eunice Cho criticized the tactics as torturous, noting the case is likely the 19th in which ICE has sought court approval for involuntary medical procedures on hunger-striking detainees since January 2025.

An Iranian woman in her early thirties, a pro-democracy activist who said she had been threatened by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, fled Iran, crossed the Darién Gap, and arrived in the U.S. at the end of 2024, where a judge granted her legal protection from being deported back to Iran after finding she had credible fear of persecution. Despite that protection, she was deported on June 12, 2026, from Louisiana to the Central African Republic on a flight carrying roughly two dozen migrants from countries including Jordan, Armenia, Turkey, Georgia, and Afghanistan, under the Trump administration's third-country deportation agreements. Her attorney, Emily Trostle, said she was left in a country where she has no status, no connection, and no support network. She now lives in isolation, afraid to leave her apartment, and says local police have extorted her for cash. Her family said she could be killed if ever returned to Iran, and she fears execution if her situation changes once her temporary visa expires. Two other Iranian women originally scheduled for the same flight, whose asylum claims had been denied under a transit rule later vacated by a California federal court, received emergency court orders temporarily halting their removal.

The Gámez-Cuéllar family—parents Luis Antonio Gámez Martínez and Emma Guadalupe Cuéllar López, and their three sons Antonio (18), Caleb (12), and Joshua (14)—were detained by ICE on February 25, 2026, during a routine immigration check-in in Edinburg, Texas. The family had legally entered the U.S. in May 2023 through the CBP One asylum app and were in active asylum proceedings with a final hearing scheduled for September. Antonio was separated from his family and shackled during transport to an adult detention facility in Raymondville, while his younger brothers and parents were held at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley. Two of the brothers are award-winning mariachi musicians with McAllen High School's Mariachi Oro band, which has performed at the White House and Carnegie Hall and won eight state championships. After approximately 13 days in detention, bipartisan congressional pressure from lawmakers including Rep. Monica De La Cruz and Rep. Joaquin Castro, combined with a successful parole request by their attorneys, resulted in the family's release on February 28, 2026. The parents were required to wear ankle monitors and restrict travel to 75 miles from their home.

Hector "Alessandro" Negrete, who came to the U.S. from Mexico as an infant and lived in Los Angeles for decades, self-deported to Guadalajara in September 2025 after facing immigration enforcement fears under the second Trump administration. Nine months later, he received a letter at his old U.S. address demanding a $1,820,352 civil penalty for failing to comply with a 2009 deportation order he says he was unaware of. Negrete and his lawyers have twice provided evidence that he is living in Mexico, but officials have demanded additional documentation. He is one of more than 100,000 undocumented immigrants who have received DHS fines totaling more than $84 billion since the start of the second Trump administration through mid-July.

On September 20, 2026, immigration agents in Evanston, Illinois, mistook a U.S. citizen for a fugitive they were seeking and tried to handcuff him after he declined to show identification. The man was left bloodied, suffering injuries to his head, neck and teeth, and was taken by ambulance to St. Francis Hospital for treatment. Agents released him after determining he was not the person named in their warrant, and Evanston police are investigating the encounter.

A citizen of the Dominican Republic who has lived in Puerto Rico since entering the United States without inspection in 2008 was detained by law enforcement agents during an immigration enforcement operation at his place of work on September 1, 2026. He is married to a U.S. citizen, who had filed a relative petition on his behalf with USCIS that was approved in March 2023. Since his arrest he has been held at the GSA Guaynabo Detention Center and was reportedly denied a bond hearing. He filed a habeas corpus petition and an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order, arguing his detention falls under 8 U.S.C. § 1226 and that he is prima facie eligible for cancellation of removal. The court found he is likely entitled to a bond hearing under Section 1226(a) rather than mandatory detention under Section 1225, and held that he faces irreparable harm without one. The court granted the TRO, barring the government from transferring him outside Puerto Rico, ordered that he receive a bond hearing before an Immigration Judge by September 18, 2026, and held the underlying habeas petition in abeyance pending that hearing.

On Sept. 1, ICE agents raided a day laborer gathering spot near General Hart Playground in Woodside, Queens, detaining about eight men, the second such raid in three days. Workers say ICE has specifically targeted the site during a weekly mobile soup kitchen distribution, and the usual crowd of about 100 day laborers has dwindled to just a few people showing up for work. Local officials, including Assemblymember Steven Raga and City Council Member Julie Won, say the raids are part of a broader, deliberate pattern of ICE activity across western Queens in recent weeks, including incidents near 37th Avenue and 69th Street. DHS says its "Operation Rotten Apple" resulted in 2,197 arrests statewide between July 27 and Aug. 29, though nationwide data shows fewer than a third of those in ICE detention have any criminal conviction.

Jeyson Molina's wife was detained by ICE agents in Newark while working as a package delivery driver. The sudden detention has left the family seeking financial support for legal fees to secure representation. The family is raising $8,000 for lawyers as they navigate the legal process.

Noune Phompor, 47, a Laotian refugee who has lived in the U.S. since 1981 under indefinite refugee status, was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents during his lunch break at the Chipotle where he has worked since May 2025. Phompor's family says he committed crimes in his 20s while struggling with methamphetamine addiction but has not committed a crime since at least 2014, completing his supervision requirements. He is the sole provider for his partner, Joanna Mabrey, and their 1-year-old son, and is now held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma awaiting removal proceedings with a deportation date of October 20. Friends, family, and Port Angeles Mayor Kate Dexter have been working to secure him legal representation and intervene with lawmakers.

A federal magistrate judge in the Southern District of Georgia denied the Trump administration's attempt to dismiss a habeas petition filed by Ya'akub Vijandre, who has been held in ICE detention for nearly a year over his speech and advocacy. The ruling allows his case to proceed to a district judge for further review. Advocates say the decision is a step toward his potential release from custody.

A teenage asylum seeker identified in court records as E.L.A., now 19, was deported to El Salvador for a second time, prompting a federal judge to hold the Department of Homeland Security in contempt on September 25 for violating three separate court orders in the class-action case J.O.P. v. DHS. He had first been removed in March 2026 after missing biometrics appointments in April and October 2025, then returned to the U.S. in June after class counsel arranged for his asylum case to proceed. A July 29 court order found the government had breached the settlement, but he was deported again in September, less than three weeks after DHS issued internal guidance meant to prevent such removals.

A 67-year-old lawful permanent resident who has lived legally in the U.S. for about 50 years was held for eight days by CBP at San Francisco International Airport in March 2026 after returning from a trip to Guadalajara, Mexico, and landing in Fresno. He told the San Francisco Chronicle that agents removed him from his flight and transported him in handcuffs to San Francisco, where he says he slept sitting in a chair under lights kept on and struggled to manage his blood sugar despite having diabetes, hypertension and vision problems. He was later transferred to an ICE detention facility for several months before his attorneys secured his release. An investigation found 25 people were held more than 72 hours at SFO through July, 19 of whom were green card holders, making it the second-highest U.S. airport for such extended holds after Miami among more than 400 cases nationwide; Senator Alex Padilla subsequently visited the 3,000-square-foot CBP holding area at SFO to examine the conditions.