Human Impact Project

Cristian Vaca, a 28-year-old roofer from Ecuador who moved to Biddeford, Maine in September 2023, said ICE agents confronted him outside his home as part of the agency's 'Operation Catch of the Day' enforcement operation in Maine. Vaca said he was sitting on his couch when he noticed agents photographing him outside, and a video he recorded shows an agent telling him through his closed front door, 'We're going to come back for your whole family, OK?' while a child's voice can be heard in the background. Vaca lives with his wife and young son, has a Social Security number and work permit, pays income taxes, and has a scheduled immigration hearing.

A York County Jail corrections officer, who had worked at the jail for about a year after passing a criminal background check and federal work-authorization check, was arrested by ICE on Wednesday outside a scheduled immigration appointment in Scarborough. Sheriff William King said ICE did not notify his office of the arrest; the officer's family learned of it and alerted the sheriff. King described the officer as a valued staff member at a jail facing a staffing shortage. He remains held at a facility in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and King said the case has made him question ICE's stated focus on 'the worst of the worst.'

Joabe Barbosa, a 25-year-old Brazilian doctoral student at Roosevelt University on an F-1 visa, faces forced departure to Brazil after going unmatched for a required internship in his final year of clinical psychology studies. Without an internship placement, Barbosa must leave the U.S. within 60 days after the school year ends and may not be able to return to complete his degree, which he is on track to finish in 2027.

Federal prosecutors filed charges against two American citizens, including an 18-year-old, stemming from an ICE raid at a Hardin Valley construction site. The workers are accused of preventing federal agents from enforcing immigration law, with allegations that one used his truck to strike an ICE vehicle. Witnesses dispute the account, stating an ICE agent struck the teen's truck first before agents aimed guns and forcibly removed him from the vehicle.

ICE arrested Augusta Clara's partner on May 7 during a traffic stop in Worcester, Massachusetts. The next morning, ICE came to Clara's home demanding she return the car and sign paperwork. When Clara left her house with her 17-year-old sister and 3-month-old son, ICE stopped her car and arrested her. As Clara's mother arrived to take the baby, ICE agents attempted to arrest her as well and violently restrained Clara's sister, pinning her face to the ground. Neighbors gathered and protested, preventing ICE from taking the infant. Clara's sister and mother were arrested; Clara was also taken into custody.

Cecil Elvir-Quinonez, a 25-year-old Honduran national who has lived in the U.S. since 2014, was arrested on New Year's Eve 2025 after being stopped for speeding in Louisiana. She was separated from her two American-born children, including a five-month-old still breastfeeding at the time of arrest. While in ICE custody, Elvir-Quinonez discovered she was pregnant with her third child. She experienced heavy bleeding and cramps but received limited medical care beyond one emergency room visit. Her youngest child has been repeatedly sick since her arrest, and her five-year-old has developed new speech difficulties. Advocacy groups including the ACLU and National Immigration Project report that Elvir-Quinonez's case is part of a documented pattern: more than a dozen women have suffered medical neglect and mistreatment while pregnant in ICE custody, including cases of women shackled during miscarriages, denied prenatal care, and given inadequate nutrition. The advocacy coalition has urged ICE to release all pregnant detainees.

Makengo Nzeza was detained by ICE on January 23, 2026, while returning to the hospital after his wife gave birth via C-section to their newborn daughter. A member of First Parish Congregational Church in Saco and an asylum seeker from Angola who has lived in Maine for eight years, he was held at a facility in Burlington, Massachusetts, and later a county jail in Plymouth, where he described crowded conditions, little food, and no beds. After a bond hearing on February 5, a fellow parishioner drove to Massachusetts to help post his $2,000 bond, and he returned home days later. On February 15, he attended a Sunday service at his church to thank the congregation that had supported his family during his detention.

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.