Human Impact Project

An ICE enforcement operation in Newark, New Jersey on February 25-26, 2026 resulted in a multi-vehicle crash with injuries. ICE agents attempted to pull over a van during an arrest operation near a bus stop where fourth and fifth grade students were waiting for their school bus early Thursday morning. When the driver fled, the pursuit caused a crash involving multiple vehicles, including one carrying three children who were injured. The van driver was also injured and taken to the hospital. Armed and masked ICE agents were present near the bus stop, with some students reporting that agents followed them home. Ring camera footage captured the incident. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka criticized ICE's actions as reckless and dangerous, stating the operation violated New Jersey state law prohibiting law enforcement vehicle pursuits in densely populated areas without an immediate threat to public safety.

Yubizay del Carmen Torrealba Linarez, a 20-year-old Venezuelan single mother, was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents on Wednesday while traveling to her job at Backyard Farms greenhouses in Madison. She fled political violence in Venezuela after her family experienced violent repression by the Maduro regime, including a 2024 home invasion where agents beat her husband and threatened her 2-year-old daughter. She was paroled into the United States in December 2024 and has been awaiting an asylum decision. Her attorney filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court challenging the legality of her detention; a judge ordered her kept in Maine pending review and ordered the government to respond by Wednesday. Since her detention, her sister has been caring for her 4-year-old daughter.

Ramon Checo Hilario, a Providence Uber driver, was arrested by Cranston police on Feb. 26, 2026, after being wrongly identified as the suspect in a Jan. 27 theft of about $3,300 worth of sunglasses from a Cranston Sunglass Hut. Police linked the crime to Hilario through his car's registration despite differences between him and the surveillance footage, and ICE then detained him for 56 days, from Feb. 26 to April 23, before his release on bond. The shoplifting charge was later dismissed, and on May 27 Hilario filed suit in U.S. District Court in Providence against Cranston police, the city, an unnamed officer, Sunglass Hut, and a store employee, seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages for false arrest, malicious prosecution, negligence, and emotional distress.

A widowed undocumented Mexican mother describes losing her husband, Jesús Juárez Cruz, after he avoided seeking medical care due to fear of ICE deportation. The man died without receiving medical treatment. The widow, who requested anonymity due to concerns about Trump administration retaliation, shared her story through an Instagram post and news article.

Estela Ramos Baten was detained during a mandatory immigration check-in and deported to Guatemala with her teenage daughter Nory Sontay Ramos on July 4. Ramos Baten had lived in Los Angeles since 2016 and suffered from liver cirrhosis and high blood pressure. She died nine weeks after deportation from complications of liver cirrhosis. Her teenage daughter remained in Guatemala.

A 21-year-old Hispanic man identified as Juan Miguel Munoz Penalver died in Louisville Metro jail on February 26, 2026, while subject to an ICE immigration detainer. He had been in custody since February 14 on criminal assault charges and was held under an ICE detainer that could have extended his detention beyond his scheduled release. The death is under investigation by LMDC's Professional Standards Unit and Louisville Metro Police's Public Integrity Unit.

Luis Duque was driving his boyfriend Oscar to work in Charlotte when ICE agents stopped their vehicle during a traffic stop. The agents detained Oscar, who is in the process of becoming a U.S. citizen, without presenting a warrant. Oscar was taken to Stewart Detention Center in Georgia and given the option to self-deport to Mexico or wait months for a court hearing.

Carlos García, 42, the former mayor of Mérida, Venezuela, was detained by ICE agents on January 23, 2026, during what his wife Gaby Duarte described as a routine immigration check-in near their home in Butler County, Ohio. García fled Venezuela in 2017 after refusing government orders to suppress anti-Maduro protests, was removed from office, and was sentenced to prison by the Chavista-controlled Supreme Court; he crossed into Texas with his family in 2022, applied for asylum, received Temporary Protected Status, and worked as an Amazon delivery driver. His wife said he has no criminal record and fears torture if returned to Venezuela, where an arrest order remains against him. His attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition, but a February 10 hearing revealed DHS is instead seeking to deport him to Ecuador, a country where he has no family or support network. Duarte said, 'We are simply asking that he be allowed to defend his case where he formally requested asylum.'

Bradley County constables working under ICE authority participated in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in the Heritage Walk neighborhood of East Brainerd on Tuesday morning that resulted in multiple arrests. The operation targeted construction workers, with at least eight workers detained according to immigrant rights organizations. Hamilton County Sheriff Austin Garrett stated his office was not involved in the operation, which was conducted by ICE task force members including Bradley County constables operating outside their county.

Documents obtained by activists reveal that U.S. Border Patrol used the Escondido Police Department's gun range for training at least seven times between February and June 2018, paying $300 per use. The discovery came as the city was scheduled to meet to discuss an ongoing contract between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Escondido police.

Emmanuel Sackie, a Liberian-born naturalized U.S. citizen, was violently detained by ICE in a Family Dollar parking lot in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, despite possessing a driver's license and photo ID. He was taken to an unknown location and subsequently sent to the hospital. Sackie stated this was his first time in handcuffs and expressed that he was treated unfairly based on his race.

Two Iranian Christian converts have been held by ICE since December after appearing for a routine immigration check-in, despite being vetted at the border, receiving work authorization, and volunteering at a Houston church. One man had evangelized to Muslims in Iran, an offense that can carry the death penalty under Iranian law, and now faces deportation back to the country. Both are currently held at the Houston Contract Detention Facility. The Department of Homeland Security has stated that both men crossed into the U.S. without authorization in 2023 and 2024 and were released under the previous administration.

Anna Walker, 31, recorded a Homeland Security Investigations agent who confronted her in a Target parking lot after she followed his unmarked vehicle. The agent threatened her with arrest for impeding and took photos of her license plate. Five days later, Walker's Global Entry status was revoked without explanation. After HuffPost inquired with DHS, her status was restored within days. The article reports similar cases involving other individuals losing Global Entry privileges after observing or recording federal agents.

Doug Hayes, an 80-year-old criminal defense attorney, was pepper-sprayed and thrown to the ground by federal ICE agents in Santa Barbara after he intervened during the detention of a man in his 20s. Hayes said he approached the agents out of concern for the detainee, identified as 27-year-old Jack Randmaa, who was being arrested near the Santa Barbara County Probation Office on suspicion of vandalism after his tire was allegedly slashed. Witnesses said agents placed Randmaa in a headlock during the arrest, and when Hayes and other bystanders tried to intervene, agents pepper-sprayed Hayes and at least one other person. Hayes was not arrested or charged but said he plans to pursue criminal and civil rights lawsuits against the agents, alleging they interfered with his right to speak freely and violated his client's rights. Bystanders gathered to record and protest the encounter, which occurred on Carrillo Street outside the probation office.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested four people at the Mecklenburg County Courthouse on Tuesday. Three attorneys were present during the arrests and were accused of interfering, with one attorney attempting to physically stop the process. ICE warned that anyone impeding arrests in the future could face arrest themselves. Federal authorities have opened a criminal investigation into whether two ICE officers committed perjury by lying under oath about a shooting in Minneapolis. All charges were dropped against two Venezuelan men involved in the incident.

Joel Angel-Becerril, a 27-year-old DACA recipient from Omaha, was released from Sarpy County Jail on February 20, 2026, after nearly three months in ICE custody. His release followed a federal judge's mid-February order declaring his detention without a bond hearing unlawful. An Omaha Immigration Court judge subsequently dismissed his removal proceedings on Friday, February 24, 2026, finding that his DACA status provided protection against deportation. Angel-Becerril had filed a civil rights lawsuit with the ACLU of Nebraska, which intervened in the case.

Aldrin, a hardworking father and primary household provider, was detained by ICE in early January 2026 in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, after agents followed him and his wife home from work. His young daughters witnessed the detention from their home window. He was transferred out of state to El Paso, Texas, where he allegedly received poor conditions and was denied needed medical care, then moved to a detention facility in New Mexico. His wife has been unable to work out of fear of leaving their children parentless, creating severe emotional and financial hardship for the family.

An 11-year-old U.S. citizen girl recovering from a rare brain tumor was deported to Mexico on February 4, 2025, after immigration authorities detained her undocumented parents and siblings at a Texas Border Patrol checkpoint while the family traveled for her emergency medical checkup. The family was removed despite previously passing through the checkpoint with hospital and attorney letters. Since deportation, her health has deteriorated, with worsening seizures, muscle spasms, and loss of neurological functions, and she has received only one MRI instead of the recommended quarterly scans. Four of the family's five children are U.S. citizens, including an 18-year-old brother left to live alone in the family's Texas home for a year. The family has been living in an area known for kidnappings of U.S. citizens while awaiting a humanitarian parole decision filed through the Texas Civil Rights Project. Congressional members including Reps. Adriano Espaillat, Sylvia Garcia, and Joaquin Castro have advocated for the family's return, and the teenage brother attended the State of the Union as Espaillat's guest, describing his year alone as feeling 'trapped in a coffin.'

Anselmo Martin Matias, who had been released on $16,000 bond in 2019 during withholding proceedings, was detained by ICE on February 24, 2026, during his routine check-in. ICE told him he was being detained for "breaking the rules" due to his March 2025 guilty plea to reckless driving, which they incorrectly described as driving under the influence. The federal court ordered his immediate release, finding that due process requires a hearing before a neutral arbitrator when someone is re-detained based on alleged supervision violations.

A Nicaraguan man has been in immigration detention since February 24, 2026, after being arrested at a scheduled ICE check-in. ICE did not set bond and did not provide him with a custody review by an immigration judge as required under the Board of Immigration Appeals' decision in Matter of Yajure Hurtado. A recent DHS policy classifies anyone arrested within the United States and charged with being inadmissible under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i) as an 'applicant for admission' subject to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A), a change from prior policy that allowed for bond or conditional parole under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a). He filed a habeas corpus petition and ex parte application for a temporary restraining order seeking to prohibit his removal, transfer outside the Central District of California, and continued detention without a constitutionally adequate bond hearing. The federal court granted the temporary restraining order, ordering respondents to either provide him an individualized bond hearing before an immigration judge pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) on or before April 7, 2026 at 9:00 a.m., or release him from custody by April 7, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. The court set a hearing on the preliminary injunction for April 16, 2026.