Human Impact Project

Approximately 500 detainees at the GEO Group-run Folkston ICE Processing Center in Charlton County, Georgia, launched a hunger strike protesting poor living conditions and alleged violations of asylum protocols while they await judicial hearings, according to family members, legal representatives, and detainee accounts. Attorney Samantha Hamilton of Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta said about 372 men in the facility's F building and K5 pod are striking, along with an estimated 150 more in other buildings, with the protest timed ahead of an Oct. 6 facility inspection. Detainees reported undrinkable water causing rashes and hair loss, inadequate food, sleep conditions and medical care, and said many have been held for months or years despite following legal asylum procedures. The facility, where a detainee died in 2024 after what ICE's own report called inadequate medical care, is being expanded under a $47 million contract to become the largest permanent ICE detention center in the country.

Jeffrey Jarquín, 35, a Nicaraguan exile who was a prominent figure in the 2018 anti-government protests against President Daniel Ortega, was deported from the U.S. to Nicaragua and immediately imprisoned at El Modelo, the same maximum-security prison where he had previously been tortured. Jarquín had fled to Miami seeking asylum but was arrested in February on an assault charge that was later dismissed; while still in custody, immigration agents began deportation proceedings, and his asylum claim was denied by an immigration judge in Louisiana in July. Advocates said Jarquín had agreed to be deported but asked to be sent to a third country rather than Nicaragua. His U.S. lawyer, Osley Sallent, confirmed the deportation, and a family member said he was taken straight to the prison upon landing in Managua. Activist Muriel Sáenz said the U.S. had sent him 'back into the hands of his tormentors.'

ICE agents reportedly detained a vanload of farm workers in California's Central Valley on Tuesday morning, part of a series of recent enforcement actions carried out across multiple cities.

ICE agents arrested approximately 10 people on the morning of October 6, 2026, in downtown Lake Hiawatha, a section of Parsippany, New Jersey, including landscapers and a restaurant worker who had lived in New Jersey for nearly 20 years. A resident said she witnessed masked, armed ICE agents in at least four vehicles blocking in a truck from a local landscaping company on North Beverwyck Road at about 7:45 a.m. during rush hour. Parsippany Mayor Pulkit Desai said local officials received no advance notice of the operation and were working to locate the families of those detained, while the Township Council discussed taking 'more aggressive and protective' measures for residents.

A whistleblower complaint from former FBI supervisory intelligence analyst Jill Fields alleges that Donald Trump directed the FBI to investigate protesters demonstrating against ICE operations in Los Angeles in February 2025. The complaint claims a dedicated 10-agent squad was formed to investigate protesters even after agents determined their activities were constitutionally protected. Fields says she was later removed from oversight roles and resigned, believing it was retaliation for objecting to the investigations.

In the unincorporated West Park community near Fresno, ICE agents detained several people, including a man taken into custody outside Saber's Mart/Market at Prospect and Jensen avenues, and a group of people—described as a man and woman by one source and four men and a woman by another—detained outside a home on Prospect Avenue as they arrived home from work. Resident Rose Arellano said she watched agents take the individuals without asking about immigration status, saying, "Nobody should have to go through our city in fear of randomly being taken simply because of the color of their skin." Resident Selina Castillo recorded cellphone video of the detentions near her mother's house. The West Park School District sent a notice to families stating it would not share immigration status information with authorities and asked parents to meet children at bus stops. Volunteers with the Valley Watch Network said they regularly assist families of detained individuals and people released from the Fresno ICE facility, amid a broader surge of ICE activity across Fresno and Madera counties.

A van transporting farmworkers from Selma to their jobs in Bakersfield was stopped by ICE agents on Tuesday morning, and everyone aboard was taken into custody, according to the Valley Watch Network, a rapid response group that tracks ICE arrests and assists detained individuals' families. The stop was part of a reported surge of roughly two dozen ICE arrests across Fresno and Madera counties that week, which advocates said involved roving patrols and traffic stops at places frequented by farmworkers and landscapers.

Maria Susana Esquivel Huezo, a Salvadoran woman married to U.S. citizen Rodney Brown, was arrested by Everett police during an August domestic dispute and taken to the Everett jail, where she was told she could be picked up the next morning. Instead, ICE took her into custody within hours and transferred her to a facility in Burlington, Massachusetts, then to a detention center in Louisiana the next day, and to Arizona a week later. Brown said his wife has lived in the U.S. for nearly 10 years, holds a valid work authorization card and Social Security number, has a pending asylum claim, and has regularly checked in with ICE. A source familiar with the investigation said ICE may have been alerted after her fingerprints were entered into the system following her local arrest. ICE said she was ordered removed by an immigration judge on October 2, 2026, and disputed Brown's characterization of her immigration status, while an immigration attorney not involved in the case noted that holding a work permit indicates she had already undergone a background check as part of a lawful asylum process. Brown has spent thousands of dollars on attorneys trying to keep his family together.

ICE New Orleans agents arrested three people at a busy intersection in Metairie on Tuesday morning, surrounding them in a business parking lot at Airline Drive and Clearview Parkway around 7:30 a.m. One of the individuals fled on foot into oncoming traffic, dodging vehicles across six lanes before agents caught and arrested him. ICE said all three were unlawfully present and are held in ICE custody pending immigration proceedings, but did not release their identities or reasons for arrest.

Eber, a two-year-old U.S. citizen, remains in Mexico in the care of María Estela Díaz and Miguel Maldonado Mendoza after his father was deported to Venezuela in early 2024 and his mother that February. The couple took him in because he needed surgery to remove half of his left lung due to a cyst and could not travel with his seven-year-old brother Isaac, who joined their parents months later. The surgery was successful and Eber has recovered well, though Díaz and Maldonado have faced financial strain covering his care and have turned to GoFundMe campaigns for support. His mother has registered the case with Venezuela's 'Gran Misión Vuelta a la Patria' program to speed up consular processing, but the family still has no confirmed date for the visa Eber needs as a U.S. citizen to enter Venezuela. Díaz said Eber no longer recognizes his biological mother and now calls her and Maldonado 'mama' and 'papa.'

Rep. LaMonica McIver faces an October 9 deadline to decide whether to seek a rehearing or Supreme Court review after a split Third Circuit panel declined in late August to dismiss criminal charges stemming from a May 2025 incident outside Delaney Hall immigration detention facility in Newark. McIver, who gave birth to her second child last week, was indicted in June 2025 on three counts of forcibly impeding and interfering with federal officers after prosecutors allege she used her forearms against two agents as they moved to arrest Newark Mayor Ras Baraka during a protest. She faces up to 17 years in prison, has pleaded not guilty, and argues she is immune from prosecution under the Constitution's Speech or Debate Clause, calling the case retaliation by the Trump administration for her oversight efforts. She is currently the only sitting member of Congress facing a federal indictment.

Samuel Nnamdi, a 45-year-old pastor and father of five at a small church in Mesquite, Texas, was detained by ICE agents on July 6 while on his way to his job at UPS, still in his work uniform, where he had worked legally for five years with employment authorization and no criminal record. He was later deported to Ghana, a country he had never visited and has no ties to, despite a 2019 immigration judge ruling granting him withholding of removal protecting him from being sent back to his native Nigeria, where he said gunmen had threatened to kill him for preaching. His attorney, Julie Justice, said he was not given proper notice before being deported. His case has been described as part of a broader pattern of third-country deportations, in which the government removes people to nations with which they have no ties through diplomatic agreements with foreign governments. Nnamdi now lives in hiding in West Africa, separated from his wife and children, two of whom are U.S. citizens, connecting with them through video calls before school and on weekends.

A father of five living in Santa Maria, California was detained by ICE agents on October 5, 2026, after being stopped near Allan Hancock College, where his daughter Abby is a student. Abby said agents followed their vehicle, forced her to hang up the phone, and asked for identification before taking her father into custody, later saying, 'My dad was kidnapped by ICE today.' According to Immigrant Legal Defense Center Executive Director Julissa Pena, he has lived in the U.S. since 2004, worked in local agricultural fields for over a decade, had no criminal record, and is raising five children, including two he adopted after their mother died; he also co-owned a father-daughter business called Carnitas El Pri. Pena said the nonprofit would 'fight for this father's freedom,' and his family launched a fundraiser seeking legal help. College officials said they had no advance notice of the arrest, which occurred amid a broader ICE operation across Santa Maria and Guadalupe that day resulting in at least 17 arrests at a jail, DMV office, health center, and market, prompting condemnation from local officials including state Senate leader Monique Limon.

Norma Bowe, a 69-year-old registered nurse, grandmother, and public health professor at Kean University who runs the Global Grace Health mobile clinic for undocumented and uninsured families outside Delaney Hall detention center, was grabbed from behind and thrown face-down onto the pavement by a masked ICE agent on Memorial Day. She had moved toward a wall of agents after seeing one drag a young woman across the ground, intending to de-escalate using skills from her decades as a psychiatric nurse. Bowe suffered a fractured kneecap, torn meniscus, concussion, whiplash, and bruising around her eye, requiring ER treatment, physical therapy, acupuncture, and ongoing neurological care, and still experiences headaches, sleep trouble, and limited mobility. She returned to volunteer at the clinic two days later and has continued since, despite receiving threats and harassment online after posting video of the incident. In July 2026, Bowe filed a federal tort claim through the ACLU of New Jersey seeking $500,000 in damages for assault, battery, and emotional distress, part of a broader effort of more than 50 similar claims filed across 17 states. Former students described her as someone who taught empathy and kindness and would never provoke harm.

A viral cellphone video shows a woman being surrounded by plainclothes, masked men and placed into an unmarked white van with DHS markings outside Los Angeles International Airport before dawn. In the footage she repeatedly pleads for bystanders to call 911, insists 'I'm not doing anything wrong,' and only gives her name after being pressed, while one man confirms he is an ICE agent citing an 'immigration violation' without further explanation. Social media users identified her as Jing Zhao, an Irvine, California special education teacher with an MBA who provided early childhood intervention and speech support to children with developmental needs. A parent of a child she once tutored described her as a patient, dedicated teacher who 'walked into our family and helped my child, little by little,' and expressed hope she would receive legal help and a fair process. Detention records later showed she was transferred to the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in San Bernardino County, though ICE has not issued a public statement confirming her identity or the specific violation alleged. Airport officials said federal agencies conduct independent investigations and that airport operations continued as normal.

Aminata Seck, a 26-year-old graduate student and women's basketball player from Dakar, Senegal, at Kentucky State University, was detained by federal officers at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport on Aug. 7, 2026, while preparing to travel with her team to a tournament. Her attorneys said she entered the U.S. on a student visa in 2019 and never received notice of a September 2025 hearing that resulted in an in absentia removal order. She was moved among at least four detention facilities, suffered seizures requiring hospitalization, and needed surgery for an ACL injury and torn Achilles, with attorneys describing inconsistent medical care. By late September she was found hospitalized and appeared sedated, prompting her attorneys to file a motion to reopen her case and a habeas corpus petition. A Memphis immigration judge reopened her case after finding she never received notice of the removal order, though she remained in custody, including time in solitary confinement at Grayson County Detention Center. Kentucky State coach Amani Williams and Rep. Morgan McGarvey publicly supported her, with McGarvey saying, 'The Trump administration's cruelty knows no bounds but we will never let this become normal and we won't stop fighting for her.' Her legal team announced she would be released on $2,500 bond on Oct. 6, 2026.

Martin Soto, a Peruvian immigrant and father of two, was arrested by ICE agents in February 2026 while buying diapers for his son in Kearny, New Jersey, and detained at the Delaney Hall facility in Newark. He helped lead a hunger and labor strike over poor food and inadequate medical care, and in late May agents transferred him overnight to solitary confinement at the Elizabeth Detention Center, where his attorney said he was held for months in what she described as retaliation for his activism. His wife, Gabriela Soto, a U.S. citizen, organized rallies outside the facility and said she lost her pregnancy in July after an emergency C-section, delivering the news to her husband while he was in solitary; his lawyer said he had suicidal thoughts during this period. Court records show an assault charge against him was dropped. After roughly eight to nine months in custody, a federal judge cited the length and conditions of his detention and lack of justification for continued confinement, and Soto was released and reunited with his family, though fitted with an ankle monitor despite having no criminal record. ICE data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit showed more than 700 detainees were transferred out of Delaney Hall, which advocates said was an attempt to break the strike; a Homeland Security spokesperson disputed the data's accuracy, and dozens of detainees at a Georgia ICE facility began a separate hunger strike the same week.

Protesters who had camped in a roughly 100-to-200-year-old Fremont cottonwood tree near Lochiel, Arizona, since late July to block border wall construction were removed by Border Patrol agents, who then tore down the tree. Sierra Club borderlands coordinator Erick Meza, a spokesman for the group, said more than 50 Border Patrol agents arrived before dawn on private property; protesters said as many as 200 agents entered during a sunrise prayer and meditation session. A cherry picker or crane was used to pull one activist from a platform about 60 feet up in the tree's branches before the tree was excavated. About a dozen people were arrested, with some later released, and ten others were cited; Customs and Border Protection confirmed the tree's removal, which cleared the way for a 27-mile double-layer border wall project under a $334 million CBP contract. Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway said his office was not involved in or notified of the raid. Three other protesters had previously been arrested by Cochise County sheriff's deputies in September and charged with disorderly conduct for protesting the construction.

Armelle Bondonga, a 21-year-old who came to the U.S. as a child from the Democratic Republic of Congo under her father's asylum case, was detained by ICE agents on August 12 during her marriage-based green card interview at the USCIS field office in Louisville. Her husband, U.S. citizen Terrance Bradshaw, and their 19-month-old U.S. citizen son were present when agents separated the couple; Bradshaw left with their son. Bondonga had a final removal order from November 2025 but was pursuing residency through marriage, with Bradshaw's I-130 petition still pending. Her attorneys argued agents lacked a warrant and unlawfully detained her, while federal officials called the arrest a lawful targeted operation. She was held for eight weeks at the Clark County jail in Jeffersonville, Indiana, after an immigration judge denied bond in September. Community members, including Sadiqa Reynolds, rallied on her behalf, and more than 1,300 people signed an open letter supporting her. A federal judge later granted her habeas corpus petition, finding her continued detention unauthorized since the 90-day removal period had expired, and ordered her immediate release.

A crew of five Ecuadorian roofing/construction workers were pulled over and detained by ICE agents while driving to a job site near Route 11 in Londonderry, Vermont. Several of the men had entered the U.S. during the Biden administration while pursuing asylum claims. A local resident captured video showing unmarked vehicles and the men being held against a vehicle during the stop. All five were transported to an out-of-state detention facility, but with legal assistance they secured bond hearings before an immigration judge and were eventually released. The arrests occurred amid months of heightened ICE activity in Vermont, including a March 11 raid in South Burlington that detained three people later released, prompting protests, lawsuits, and discussions among state representatives and local leaders about community protection measures.