Human Impact Project

Ricardo Aparecido Barbosa da Cunha, a Brazilian immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for over 20 years and owns a home and business in Massachusetts with his wife and two U.S.-born children, was detained by ICE in September 2025 after a traffic stop in Norwood, Massachusetts while driving to work. He had an asylum application and work permit after entering the country around 2005. Under a Trump administration policy issued in July 2025, DHS classified him as an 'applicant for admission' subject to mandatory detention and held him without a bond hearing in Buffalo, New York. He challenged the detention in federal court; a district judge ordered his release, and he was later released on bond. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected the government's interpretation, joining judges in nine of eleven federal appeals courts who have ruled against it. On October 1, 2026, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to review the administration's appeal, with the ACLU warning the case could affect thousands to millions of noncitizens detained under the same policy.

Carlos Moreno, a legally blind and hard-of-hearing asylum seeker from Venezuela, was detained by ICE agents in March 2026 as he and his wife, Wendys Martinez, left a Schuylkill County courthouse after paying a $277 noise citation for playing music at their Pottsville home. He was transferred through a York processing facility and Moshannon Valley Processing Center before being held for nearly six months at Cambria County Prison, about 200 miles from his family, where he says staff failed to keep his hearing aids charged, never repaired his broken cane, and did not provide promised translation services, leaving him reliant on other detainees and largely confined to his cell. Moreno said the conditions led him to abandon his asylum appeal; after the deadline passed, Martinez gave birth to their son alone on the Fourth of July while their four other children cared for themselves at home. Cambria County, which has earned more than $1.5 million detaining immigrants under a federal agreement, later transferred Moreno to facilities in Louisiana and then Texas to await deportation to Venezuela. The county's warden said Moreno received adequate care but declined to provide details, citing privacy and security procedures. A GoFundMe campaign has raised money for the family's legal fees, rent and groceries.

Assim Alkhawaja, a 53-year-old asylum seeker of Palestinian heritage raised in Saudi Arabia, was detained by ICE while dropping off Lyft passengers at a Camp Pendleton gate despite holding a work permit valid through 2030 and having no criminal history. He moved to Oceanside about two years ago to pursue graduate studies in human rights and holds a doctorate from the University of San Francisco. His sister Arwa, a U.S. citizen, said he presented his driver's license and work permit at the gate before being told to pull over and detained, then held for about eight days at Otay Mesa Detention Center. An immigration judge found he posed no danger to the community and was not a flight risk, ordering his release on $10,000 bond with a GPS ankle monitor and near-weekly check-ins. Before his arrest, he had sold his businesses in the Middle East to open Sands Coffee Roasters, which was nearly ready to open, and community fundraising has since supported him. Attorneys say he is among dozens of rideshare and delivery drivers detained at the base's gates under a 2025 pilot program in which military police call ICE on non-citizen drivers. His next immigration hearing is scheduled for October.

Ricardo Aparecido Barbosa da Cunha, a Brazilian man who entered the U.S. in 2004 or 2005, lived in Massachusetts with his wife and two U.S.-citizen children, ran a small construction business, and had a pending asylum application with work authorization. ICE arrested him while he was driving to work on September 26, 2025, and an immigration judge initially denied him a bond hearing. He filed a habeas petition, and a federal court ordered a hearing; an immigration judge then found he posed no danger or flight risk and released him on bond. The Second Circuit affirmed that ruling on April 28, 2026, and on October 1, 2026 the Supreme Court agreed to review whether the mandatory detention law the government relied on applies to people like him.

Darline Jean Baptiste, a 33-year-old Haitian woman, was arrested by ICE in Springfield, Ohio on Aug. 14 while returning home from work during what the agency called a "targeted alien enforcement operation," and has since been held at the Butler County Jail. She entered the U.S. through a Florida airport in November 2023 under a humanitarian parole program, financially supports two children in Haiti, and said she fled her homeland due to daily threats of violence. An immigration judge denied her a bond hearing, ruling he lacked jurisdiction because she was considered an "arriving alien," and later withdrew her bond request entirely. On September 23, 2026, she filed a federal habeas corpus petition in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, naming the warden of Butler County Corrections Center as respondent, supported by exhibits including her I-94, employment authorization document, an employer letter, and letters of support. In her court declaration, she said she is not a flight risk or danger to the community and committed to attending all future immigration court hearings if released. The government's attorneys filed a motion to dismiss her petition, and her attorneys filed a response in opposition on October 1, 2026.

Ivan, 27, a construction worker from Guatemala who has lived in Minnesota since 2019 with no criminal record beyond minor traffic violations, was arrested on September 11 after ICE agents ran his work vehicle's plates at a Columbia Heights gas station and followed him to a Menards parking lot. A federal judge later granted his habeas petition, but when he arrived at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis for release, five federal agents were already waiting and took him into custody at Freeborn County Jail. "I didn't even make it to see the sun," Ivan told MPR News by phone from the jail, speaking in Spanish. His attorney, Steven Appelget, had argued agents lacked probable cause or a warrant for the initial arrest.

A man was detained after being chased on foot across three lanes of Interstate 5 in Des Moines, Washington, in an arrest that a Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said was most likely carried out by ICE. Video of the incident, showing the man tackled by two vested officers and walked to an unmarked vehicle with flashing lights, was posted to a community site that tracks ICE activity. Washington State Patrol and the King County sheriff's office confirmed they were not involved in the arrest.

Federal agents used high-flying drones to track Abel Ávila Martínez, 48, of Buena Park, California, as he left his home before dawn Thursday, then surrounded his vehicle with about 20 Homeland Security Investigations agents in tactical gear as he prepared to drive away. Ávila Martínez, a Mexican national previously removed from the U.S. in 1999, surrendered with his hands raised after agents blasted him with searchlights and pointed weapons at him. He is charged with using fake Social Security numbers to fraudulently obtain credit, racking up at least $15,964 in debt, including a purchase at Guitar Center, and had filed for bankruptcy last year in an attempt to discharge the debt. He was one of at least four people arrested in a wider operation targeting alleged Social Security fraud schemes totaling over $140,000, which also included Walter Anastacio Castellanos-Pérez, José Alfredo Chávez-Cabello, and Verónica Espinosa-Cortés; a fifth suspect evaded capture and remains at large.

Edgar Vásquez Silva, a DACA recipient born in Mexico who moved to Mississippi with his family at age 3, lost his job as a deputy assistant with the Stone County Sheriff's Office after five years there. The Mississippi Department of Public Safety's Board on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Training (BLEOST) removed his certification because the board requires U.S. citizenship, even though his work focused on transport and jail supervision without carrying a weapon or making arrests. Vásquez Silva said the sheriff told him he tried everything he could to keep him employed, and Vásquez Silva, who said he supports President Trump, expressed hope of asking him for a path to legal residency.

The brother of Zolia Virgen Verduzco, who had lived in the United States for 45 years, was detained and deported to Mexico despite having legal counsel and ongoing documentation processes underway, according to Verduzco. She said her family had paid thousands of dollars in legal fees to try to keep him in the country. Verduzco shared her brother's story while attending a community rally in Tallahassee supporting other detained immigrants.

Enrique Hernández Díaz, a lawful permanent resident and owner of a roofing company, was detained by ICE agents at a gas station in Ypsilanti, Michigan, after agents intercepted a group of his workers while searching for someone with a criminal record allegedly connected to the vehicle they were traveling in. One of his employees was detained and taken away by agents. Hernández Díaz was handcuffed and held because he did not have his green card with him, and he said agents threw him to the ground, injuring his elbow, knee, and forehead, requiring a hospital visit. His wife, Roxanna Álvarez Cruz, arrived minutes later with his residency card; agents told her he would not be released until his immigration status was confirmed. After his status was verified, Hernández Díaz was released.

ICE agents arrested Welington Leonel Almara-Diaz at Meriden Superior Court in Connecticut after Judicial Marshal Services received a Warrant of Removal/Deportation stemming from a final removal order issued in October 2023, following his apprehension by Border Patrol near Hidalgo, Texas, in September 2022. Witnesses said about ten agents, some masked, entered the courthouse around 1 p.m., and video showed marshals blocking advocates as a woman fell to the ground during the confrontation. Advocates, including Middlesex Immigrant Rights Alliance member Miguel Castro, gathered outside after learning ICE was near the courthouse, and at least one person was injured during the chaotic scene. ICE said marshals impeded the arrest and protesters blocked officers' exit, prompting agents to use their training to 'gain control of the situation.' Connecticut officials and the ACLU are investigating whether the arrest violated state law restricting civil immigration arrests on courthouse grounds without a judicial warrant and rules on mask use by officers.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted 'Operation Safe Community-Indiana,' a five-day multi-agency operation from August 30 to September 3, 2026, arresting 426 people, mostly in the Indianapolis metro area. ICE said detainees included people with criminal histories involving assault, drug trafficking, fraud and identity theft, as well as alleged members of transnational gangs like MS-13, 18th Street and Tren de Aragua, but provided no case-by-case breakdown; an NPR analysis of ICE's own data found roughly 70% of those detained nationally have no criminal convictions. The operation involved 39 Indiana law enforcement agencies under the 287(g) program, following the state's FAIRNESS Act and an executive order from Gov. Mike Braun directing state cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett and Gov. Braun both said they received no advance notice. The operation disrupted daily life: a resident described witnessing a neighbor detained by unmarked SUVs, a west-side Indianapolis school's attendance dropped from 95% to as low as 40%, a Haitian market and Honduran restaurant near a Lawrence raid site reported an 80% sales decline and layoffs, and organizers canceled the Tippecanoe Latino Festival and another local Latino festival citing safety concerns.

Angel and Alex Tixe, Ecuadorian brothers-in-law working on a roofing crew repairing Mary Richards' 160-year-old farmhouse in Cornwall, Vermont, were detained on Aug. 8, 2026, after ICE agents in three unmarked SUVs surrounded the property. Reporting indicates the stop began when a passing ICE agent spotted the crew on the roof. Agents did not present a warrant or identify themselves despite Richards' repeated demands, handcuffing one worker in the yard while others fled, some hiding in a tree, before the men were taken out of state to a detention facility in Massachusetts. Angel, whose wife Maria Tixe has a pending asylum case, was released on bail after 15 days in custody and returned to Vermont. Alex, Maria's 30-year-old brother and father of an 18-month-old son, remained detained, with his sister-in-law saying she was still fighting for his release. "We aren't criminals," Tixe said. "We came to work and to help our children get ahead." State Sen. Ruth Hardy, who visited Richards and spoke with the crew manager, said the arrests appeared to reflect racial and ethnic profiling and called the incident traumatic. Migrant Justice and Addison County advocates organized support, and a GoFundMe for the men's families and legal defense raised over $7,600.

Mario Mata Cruz, a Salvadoran national with a pending Special Immigrant Juvenile Status application and no criminal record, was arrested by ICE on Long Island in October 2025 while driving to work with his brother. He had crossed the border at age 17 and obtained SIJ status in 2019, putting him on a path toward a green card. ICE transported him to Texas and deported him to El Salvador without a final removal order from an immigration judge or signed voluntary departure paperwork, which his attorney Ed Cuccia says was illegal. His lawyers sued the Trump administration, and the government agreed to return him from El Salvador over the summer, but instead of being released to New York where his brother lives, he has been held in detention facilities in Louisiana, New Jersey, and Virginia with no ties to those states. An immigration judge in New Jersey denied him bond, and a hearing on his green card application was scheduled. His case is part of a broader pattern NY1 documented of at least 132 cases where people were deported without final removal orders.

Michael "Sandy" Sims, 42, a Philadelphia lighting technician born in Ireland and raised in London, was detained by ICE agents at the San Jose airport on September 2 as he returned from a business trip. Sims, married to U.S. citizen Jennifer Sims since 2017 and the subject of an approved I-130 family petition toward a green card, had worked in entertainment lighting since 2002, including tours for Metallica, Usher, and Florence + the Machine. He was held at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield. DHS claimed Sims faced a domestic battery charge in Nevada, but his wife, his immigration lawyer, and a search of Nevada court records found no record of any such case. Sims was deported to the United Kingdom days before an October 8 bond hearing he and his wife had hoped would lead to his release. Friends and family started a GoFundMe campaign that had raised nearly $21,000 toward legal expenses.

Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban migrant and father of four who suffered from asthma, bipolar disorder and anxiety, died on January 3, 2026, at Camp East Montana, an ICE detention facility at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, following a physical altercation with guards. Fellow detainee Antonio Frometa Ascón, who knew Campos from Guantánamo, said he watched guards beat and handcuff Campos as he begged for his inhaler; other witnesses heard him scream 'I can't breathe!' before he was taken away and never returned. A separate detainee, Gonzalo, who had survived a 12-day journey through the Darién Gap marked by violence and robbery, described witnessing guards put a foot on a cellmate's neck during a protest over detention conditions, an account consistent with Campos's death. The El Paso County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide from asphyxia due to neck and torso compression. DHS maintains guards were trying to save Campos's life, while a GAO report found the facility's contractor failed to provide required reports and that evidence was missing or destroyed. No one has been charged; his death was among 37 detainee deaths in ICE custody reported since last fall, the deadliest year on record for the agency.

Renée Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, queer mother of three, poet, and legal observer, was fatally shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross on January 7, 2026, during Operation Metro Surge, a large-scale immigration enforcement operation in south Minneapolis. Good had positioned her Honda Pilot to warn neighbors of ICE's presence when Ross fired shots through her windshield as she drove away, striking her multiple times. Her wife, Becca, said they were simply trying to warn neighbors. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and President Trump called her actions 'domestic terrorism,' but bystander video, a New York Times analysis, Human Rights Watch, and an independent autopsy found she posed no imminent threat. Fellow protester Alex Pretti was killed during the same operation, and the following day protesters at the ICE Field Office in St. Paul were met with pepper balls, mace, and tear gas. The administration blocked a federal criminal investigation; Good's family filed federal lawsuits under Bivens and the Federal Tort Claims Act, and her case was presented at an Inter-American Commission on Human Rights hearing. Noem was later fired and Border Patrol Commander-at-large Gregory Bovino was removed and demoted.

Yehonatan Ovadia, a 35-year-old Satmar Hasidic rabbi and father of five from Rockland County, New York, remains in ICE custody at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center after being detained on August 28, 2026, when he appeared for a scheduled immigration court hearing in Manhattan. Ovadia moved to the U.S. from Israel in 2022 on a religious-worker visa; USCIS later denied his extension request on discretionary grounds, citing his participation in a November 2023 anti-Zionist protest at Ramapo Town Hall during which an Israeli flag was torn down. He was not accused of removing the flag, hate-crime charges were dropped, and he pleaded guilty only to disorderly conduct. His attorneys, including Eric Lee and Chris Godshall-Bennet, filed a federal lawsuit arguing he is being punished for protected religious and political speech tied to his activism with the anti-Zionist group Neturei Karta, and say the administration is conflating anti-Zionism with antisemitism. An immigration judge denied him bond, the government has designated Israel as his deportation destination, and dozens of chassidim gathered at the courthouse in support. DHS maintains he overstayed his legal status and will receive due process. Speaking from detention, Ovadia said, 'your struggle is our struggle and your liberation is our liberation.'

A green card holder was detained by ICE officers outside a Speedway gas station on West Michigan Avenue in Ypsilanti Township on the morning of Sept. 30, 2026. Witness Lanae Bass said she saw the man handcuffed on the ground with three immigration officers on top of him, screaming, and that he asked her to call his wife. After the man's wife arrived and showed his identification and green card, officers slowly released him; Bass said he had a bruise on his knee and red marks on his wrists. A crowd of community members gathered, blocked ICE vehicles from leaving, and Washtenaw County Sheriff's deputies were called to the scene to de-escalate the situation after ICE reported it as unsafe.