Human Impact Project

Christina Pérez, a DACA recipient who has lived in the United States for 37 years, was detained by ICE on February 22 while walking to her car, in the midst of renewing her deferred action protection. She was transferred first to a facility in Broadview, Illinois, and later to a jail in Kentucky, where she was held alongside both immigration detainees and people facing criminal charges. When she was detained her son was 10 months old, and after seven months in custody he did not recognize her when she returned home. Pérez was eventually released after filing Form 42B, an application for cancellation of removal and adjustment of status, and said she wants other families in similar situations not to give up and to seek legal counsel quickly.

Camilo Quino, a Guatemalan national with a pending immigration case, was detained by ICE agents in New Bedford shortly after dropping his daughter off at school on a Tuesday. Video shared with NBC10 Boston showed officers breaking the window of his pickup truck before taking him into custody. His wife, Juana Tiniguarro, spoke publicly about the arrest, calling him "a hard-working man" and saying "they can't be doing that." Local officials and school administrators said they had received reports of agents near the school, though it was not established that the arrest occurred on school grounds. The arrest was part of a broader surge of ICE arrests in the New Bedford area that left families seeking information and support.

João Ferreira, a Portuguese legal permanent resident, was detained by ICE early Tuesday in Dartmouth alongside a Brazilian man while riding in a landscaping truck on his way to a job in New Bedford. Court records reviewed by The New Bedford Light show Ferreira had a 1992 case in Fall River District Court that was continued without a finding and later closed, a disposition generally resulting from completed probation, and a 2009 conviction for which he received probation. In 2019, he was stopped by Customs and Border Protection at Logan Airport and issued a notice to appear for removal proceedings, and he had filed a motion for a new trial on the earlier charges that court records show remained unresolved. He was identified as the only detainee in the outlet's review of the South Coast ICE operation who had faced felony charges in Massachusetts courts.

A New Bedford man from Guatemala, who arrived in the U.S. four years earlier and had work authorization while his asylum application was pending, was detained by ICE agents on Tuesday while on break from his job at an auto repair shop. According to his brother, identified only as Nicolás for fear of being targeted himself, the man did not immediately open his car door when agents approached, so an agent smashed the window to pull him out. Nicolás said his sister had also been arrested during a 2007 immigration raid in New Bedford. He later spoke with his brother by phone, who was being held at ICE's facility in Burlington, Massachusetts.

Dannick Massamba-Bankela, a corrections officer at the Cumberland County Jail, was detained by ICE agents after a scheduled appointment at the agency's Scarborough office. He came to the United States from the Republic of Congo in 2023, applied for asylum within three months, and held work authorization with no criminal record. He previously worked as a transportation coordinator for a Portland assisted-living facility and is the sole breadwinner for his wife and two young children, whom he told he loved before the appointment; a friend said she arranged him a ride that morning after spotting immigration officers near his home. His attorney, Christina Corbaci, said he entered legally on a visa and has a pending asylum claim, but ICE cited a visa overstay; she called him courageous, said he anticipated the detention, and plans to seek a bond hearing. He is being held at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Massachusetts and is the fifth known Cumberland County corrections officer detained by ICE, following the detentions of Nilton Ribeiro of Angola and a York County corrections officer. Friends and immigrant rights advocates gathered outside the facility in support.

Yeferson Francisco Sequera Ruiz, a 31-year-old immigrant from Venezuela, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and is being held in a Texas detention center. According to immigration, state and federal court records, he has no criminal convictions and is facing deportation.

Malena Chacón Santos, a 24-year-old Cuban woman who entered the U.S. legally in November 2024 through the CBP One app and applied for asylum, was detained by ICE in November 2025 after voluntarily attending a routine immigration supervision appointment in Dallas. She was transferred to the Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson, Texas, more than 175 miles from home, where she has remained for nearly 10 months. In February 2025, she married Juan Carlos Alvarez, a U.S. Army veteran who lives with disabilities including depression, anxiety and arthritis, and became stepmother to his three children. Alvarez drives three hours every Sunday to visit her, and the couple speaks by phone daily. Her attorney filed a federal habeas corpus petition in May 2026, which a judge denied with prejudice on August 4. Chacón Santos says she has no criminal convictions and is still awaiting a decision on her case.

Miguel Ixcuna-Ixcuna, a 30-year-old Guatemalan immigrant who had lived in the New Bedford, Massachusetts area for about 12 years and worked as a fruit and vegetable packer in Plymouth, was pulled from his car by ICE agents while driving home with his partner, Antonia Lucas, and their two daughters, ages 3 and 9. Agents blocked the vehicle front and back, took his identification, and removed him from the driver's seat with little explanation as his young daughters watched, frightened. He had no criminal record and is now held at the Burlington ICE Processing Center; his partner said he is worried about his daughters and family. His arrest came amid a multi-day ICE operation that detained at least eight people in the area, including fish house and seafood processing workers Israel Sam Cajuil, Arnaldo Lux, Kenshino Pierre and Oscar Abel Gutierrez; advocates said several had valid work authorization, and Mayor Jon Mitchell said most had no records beyond minor motor-vehicle violations. During the operation, agents tased a man who fled a stop, smashed a truck window to remove another person, and arrested a father near an elementary school. Attorneys have filed habeas corpus petitions in federal court in Boston, including one seeking to prevent Ixcuna's transfer out of state, while local restaurant owners reported sales fell roughly 50% following the sweep.

Aleks Latsabidze, 46, a native and citizen of the country of Georgia with a pending asylum case and a prior bid for employment-based permanent residence, worked as a commercial truck driver based out of New York. On August 15, 2026, he was involved in a collision between two semi-trucks on Interstate 80 near North Platte, Nebraska, after a truck merged onto the highway below the minimum speed limit and was struck from behind; the other driver, Jose Espinosa Salazar, 40, of Florida, was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators initially told Latsabidze they would not charge him and planned to release him, but after learning he was not a U.S. citizen, they contacted ICE, which requested he be held; he was booked into the Lincoln County Jail/Detention Center on an immigration hold the day after the crash. On August 24, Nebraska State Patrol announced he had also been arrested on suspicion of motor vehicle homicide following further investigation. Latsabidze filed a federal habeas corpus petition on August 19, arguing no immigration warrant was presented and that he never received a Notice to Appear. On September 21, a federal judge in Nebraska granted his petition in part, ordering the government to provide him a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) within seven days or release him immediately.

Nika, a 32-year-old Iranian woman who fled Iran after protesting the regime and losing friends in the government's crackdown, had been granted 'withholding of removal' by a US immigration judge barring her return to Iran. She was released from ICE custody on May 28, 2026, but was re-arrested days later during what officers described as a routine check-in in California. She was handcuffed, shackled, and placed on a deportation flight with roughly two dozen other migrants bound for the Central African Republic, a country she said she had never heard of or visited. Central African Republic is one of at least nine African nations that have entered agreements with the Trump administration to accept third-country deportees as part of a broader crackdown that has sent thousands of people to countries other than their own. Since arriving in Bangui, Nika has largely stayed indoors out of fear, been stopped by local police demanding bribes, and was hospitalized after contracting malaria. Her immigration lawyer is now filing a federal lawsuit seeking to bring her back to the US and reopen her asylum claim.

ICE agents detained an unidentified man at the corner of Prospect Street and Revere Avenue in Maplewood, NJ on the morning of September 21, 2026. As bystanders filmed the arrest, agents used what appeared to be license plate and database lookups to identify and call out the names and home addresses of observers, including Maplewood resident Darnell James, who was filming from his car with his two young children, and resident Liz Callahan, telling them to go back inside or return home. Callahan described the tactic as intended "to intimidate or suppress the community from being out and being responsive," and immigration attorney Kate Reilly called the use of government databases in this way "outrageous" and a possible violation of the Privacy Act of 1974.

Angel Arellano, 17, has taken on multiple jobs after his father, Adrian Enriquez, was detained by ICE and deported to Mexico in May following more than 25 years living in the United States. Angel now wakes around 5 a.m. to work at a welding shop before school, works with his father's former maintenance crew after classes, and washes dishes and busses tables at a restaurant in the evenings. He gave up playing football to help his older brother support their two younger brothers, ages 16 and 11, and at one point offered to drop out of school entirely to work full-time. Enriquez said from detention, 'What hurts the most is seeing them work so much.'

Elia, a mother of three who has worked as a housekeeper for nearly 20 years, was detained by police and placed on an ICE hold while traveling to see her dying grandmother in hospice care. Her daughter Sindy describes her as the family's devoted caregiver and provider, noting that her son Jonathan, who has autism, relies on her daily for support and advocacy. With Elia in custody, the family is raising money through a GoFundMe campaign to cover everyday expenses and anticipated legal costs.

Dammy Idowu, legally known as Ayomide Idowu, came to the United States at age six and was later granted federal humanitarian protection and deferred action valid through January 2028 due to neglect she suffered as a juvenile. She was homeless for most of high school yet achieved a 4.3 GPA, later graduated college with honors, and works full time as a data scientist. Despite having no criminal history, she was detained by ICE on September 21, 2026, and friends and family have retained a legal team across multiple states to fight for her release, restore her deferred action and employment authorization, and challenge a final removal order.

A man with a pending asylum application and a valid work permit was detained by ICE and remains in detention. He had been working legally with a Social Security number before his detention, and his family says they are struggling financially and emotionally without him. His son started a fundraiser to help pay for a lawyer, bond, and household bills as the family awaits upcoming court dates.

Kenchino Pierre, a 20-year-old asylum seeker from Haiti, was detained in New Bedford on Sept. 21, 2026. Federal court documents show an administrative warrant for his civil immigration detention was issued the same day he was taken into custody, even though he had a hearing scheduled at Boston Immigration Court for Sept. 29.

Lucas Santiago, a carpenter from San Luis Potosí, Mexico, was detained by ICE agents in South Austin on September 21, 2026, while driving to a job with his brother and a friend, one day after an ICE agent fatally shot 28-year-old Wilber Garces Perez in the area. His wife, Yesenia Esquivel Santiago, a lifelong Austin resident who met Lucas at Cristo Rey Catholic Church in 2016, said agents gave no explanation for his detention; the couple married in 2021, bought a home together, and had begun paperwork years ago to secure Lucas's legal status, which remains unresolved. Yesenia is now caring alone for their 14-month-old son, Yadiel, and preparing to give birth to their second child, after previously losing a first pregnancy at 19 weeks. Lucas remains held at a detention facility in Taylor, Texas, as Yesenia seeks legal help, income and child care while advocating publicly for his release.

Three undocumented brothers who shared a New Bedford apartment were detained together by ICE agents in a Market Basket parking lot during their weekly grocery trip. Their sister-in-law, Maria, said agents surrounded their car and were aggressive with the brother who was driving, twisting his arm behind his back. The brothers, originally from Honduras, worked in construction and as laborers, had no criminal records, and doted on their baby niece; their elderly mother has been deeply distressed by their detention. They are being held at Plymouth's ICE detention center.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested four people during a targeted enforcement operation in the Moab, Utah area. ICE said two were Mexican nationals with final removal orders or prior voluntary departures who had re-entered the country, while the other two were Turkish nationals described as being in the country without authorization, with no further details provided on their cases. Grand County Sheriff Jamison Wiggins said the operation was not relayed to his office in advance and called it an "unprecedented lack of information and communication," adding that administrative warrants were being served and that his office and Moab Police would not assist; ICE countered that it had notified local officials of the plans the prior Saturday and said it aims to be a good partner with local law enforcement. The Moab Valley Multicultural Center activated its emergency protocol, offering free rides and information to residents concerned about the ICE presence, and said agents were in the area from about 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., though it could not independently verify how many people were taken.

Following the mid-September enforcement operation that booked 13 people into the Burleigh Morton Detention Center, ICE activity in the Bismarck area increased further the week of Sept. 21, with a jail roster review showing 19 to more than two dozen people arrested by ICE in custody by Sept. 26. Two employees of Charras and Tequila, a Bismarck restaurant, were detained by ICE despite the owner's statement that they had documentation authorizing them to work in the U.S.; the restaurant closed temporarily afterward, citing fear among remaining staff. An ICE spokesperson said the two employees lack legal status and that work authorization does not confer it. About 75 people gathered Sept. 25 outside the William L. Guy Federal Building in Bismarck to protest the enforcement operations.