Human Impact Project

Pastor Molis Augustave, 33, a faith leader in York, Pennsylvania and former organizer with We Are CASA, was detained after West Manchester Township police stopped him over a reportedly broken headlight while he was driving for DoorDash and turned him over to ICE under the township's 287(g) agreement. He had an approved I-130 petition, a pending I-485 green card application, a pending motion to reopen before the Board of Immigration Appeals, and a federal habeas corpus petition, but was deported to Haiti after 19 days in detention alongside 38 other Haitians. An advocacy campaign led by his U.S.-citizen wife, Omara Boniface Nunez, briefly got him pulled from an initial deportation flight, but USCIS denied his green card application days later. While detained, he led a Bible study group and counseled a fellow detainee who was contemplating suicide. His wife and their two U.S.-born children, Isaac and Sofia, remain in York, where he pastored a congregation, and his Motion to Reopen remains pending.

At least seven undocumented farmworkers were arrested by federal officers while working in an orchard in the Naches Heights area outside Yakima on a Wednesday morning, according to the Yakima Immigrant Response Network (YIRN). Family members told YIRN that authorities lined up workers, handcuffed them, and questioned them about their immigration status; those detained were not H-2A visa holders. Evans Fruit, the orchard company, said officers had entered its property while pursuing a fugitive with an active warrant and that none of its own pickers were arrested. YIRN volunteers gathered information from affected families and deposited funds into detainees' commissary accounts, while the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project pledged to provide legal counsel to those detained.

A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order, later followed by a permanent injunction, requiring ICE to improve conditions at its 26 Federal Plaza detention facility in Manhattan. Detainees, including Sergio Alberto Barco Mercado, who filed a complaint after mass arrests at the site, were reportedly held on floors without beds, given only two meals a day, and denied hygiene products and access to legal counsel. The court found that ICE willfully violated prior orders and kept detainees in overcrowded rooms without adequate bedding, hygiene supplies, or proper temperature control. The rulings required ICE to provide sleeping mats, hygiene products, and legal access to those held at the facility.

José Alejandro Aponte, a 65-year-old Cuban man deported from the United States to Villahermosa, Mexico, stayed briefly at the Amparito Shelter and now rents a small room in the city center. When Forbidden Stories spoke with him in spring 2026, he had just been refused residency in Mexico. "I tried to comply with every rule. Now I'm in immigration limbo. I have no papers to go anywhere," he said, adding that he fears losing contact with his family because phone companies now require numbers to be linked to a valid identity document.

Humberto García, a Cuban national deported to Mexico after living 35 years in the United States, tried to travel through the mountains near Tapachula to avoid migration checkpoints. He was approached by three armed attackers who robbed him and shot him twice in the torso; he stumbled for nearly an hour before reaching a road where authorities took him to a hospital. After three days recovering, with no organ damage from the bullets, he had no choice but to return to Tapachula, where he said he was left with nothing to eat and nowhere to sleep.

Ana Sanchez Ortiz's mother, who has lived in the U.S. since age 16 and worked for years at National Beef Packing Co. while regularly checking in with ICE, was detained on Sept. 23, 2026, despite a 2011 citizenship petition filed on her behalf that never resulted in naturalization. Family members could not locate her in the federal detention system for several days, and although her daughter rushed diabetes and blood pressure medication to the local jail, ICE agents reportedly would not give it to her. The family later learned she was being held in California and traveled there to try to help her, according to Sanchez Ortiz, a senior bank branch manager who became a U.S. citizen through DACA after arriving in the country at age 4.

A Guatemalan man was detained by ICE agents near his home in Dodge City on Sept. 23, 2026, just days after he and his wife brought their newborn son home from the hospital. His wife said agents stopped the family as they traveled home and that her 4-year-old son watched his father be taken away. The man had previously sought asylum and protection under the Convention Against Torture after fleeing gang recruitment threats in Guatemala, but an appeals court upheld denial of his claims; he had been in the U.S. on a work permit that was not renewed. He is the breadwinner for a household of seven, including his wife, three children, his mother, and a younger brother who is deaf, and he told his wife by phone he expected to be deported to Guatemala after being held in San Diego.

A woman was detained by ICE agents outside her daughter's home while on her way to work, surrounded by three ICE vehicles with no warrant. She has lived in the United States for over 18 years and is described by her family as a hardworking mother who ensures her children are fed and attend school. She is currently held at a detention center in Otay, California, and her family is raising funds for legal fees.

Carlos, a recent graduate of Miami Beach Senior High who was preparing to begin college in finance, was detained by ICE and is being held at a Border Patrol facility. His family says he is being given little food, sleeps on the ground with only a paper blanket in cold conditions, and has suffered a recurrence of pancreatic pain that staff reportedly cannot treat because he is under 21. His brother describes him as hardworking and caring, noting he maintained top grades, played high school football, and enjoys mountain biking and helping others at the gym, and says his mental health is deteriorating in custody. The family is raising funds to hire a lawyer, seek bail, and fight his case before a judge.

Vova, a 23-year-old Ukrainian man seeking asylum in the U.S., was detained by ICE while traveling to Los Angeles. He is now held in a detention facility, sleeping in a large cell with other detainees, and faces an immigration hearing on October 1st. Friends describe him as quiet and kind, with interests in bow hunting, jiu-jitsu, aviation, and cars, and note that his mother and brother live in Poland while he has been building a life on his own in the United States. A GoFundMe campaign is raising money to cover his legal representation.

A man was detained by ICE on September 23, 2026 at around 8 a.m. while waiting at a bus stop. His daughter, Tiffany Yanez, described him as hardworking, loving, and well-respected by coworkers for his kindness and cooking. The family, including his wife who has health issues and barely works, is now facing financial uncertainty and is raising money to hire an immigration lawyer and cover detention-related expenses.

A 21-year-old Brazilian man was arrested by ICE at 7:30 a.m. on Sept. 23, 2026, while commuting to his job at a garage in Somerset. According to his habeas petition, he cooperated and provided his license, but when told he would be detained for overstaying his visa, an agent reached into the car, unbuckled his seatbelt and dragged him to the ground while other officers shouted "Taze him!" He entered the U.S. on a tourist visa at age 11 in 2016 and graduated from Diman Regional Technical High School in Fall River. He married his U.S. citizen wife in June 2024, and she was among dozens who submitted letters urging his release, writing that he "consistently tries to do good, support others, and be a positive presence." He remains in custody at Plymouth County Correctional Facility.

Florencio de León Olmos, an undocumented man from Guatemala who had received a final removal order in August 2025, was among those detained in ICE's sweep of New Bedford. Court records reviewed by The New Bedford Light did not show why he received the removal order or any criminal record. He could not be located through the ICE Detainee Locator, and he voluntarily withdrew his federal habeas corpus petition on Sept. 23, 2026.

June Sanson, a legal observer with the Rapid Response Alliance for Immigrant Safety and Empowerment who has lived in Collier County since 2009, said she was confronted by an ICE agent while monitoring enforcement activity at an Immokalee gas station. Sanson said the agent, whom she later identified as the same agent involved in wounding a U.S. citizen during the Sept. 23 Naples Manor raid, pointed his gun at her and demanded she move her vehicle. Sanson works with other legal observers to document ICE encounters for potential civil rights violations.

A man was struck by a car while ICE agents pursued him on foot near Jersey City's Liberty State Park light rail station on a Wednesday evening around 6:20 p.m., and the driver fled the scene. City officials said an ICE agent was also hit by the vehicle, with both the agent and the man sustaining minor injuries. Footage showed agents handcuffing the man on the sidewalk and placing him in an ICE vehicle before an ambulance took him to Jersey City Medical Center, where agents and the man later entered the emergency room. The mayor's chief of staff said Jersey City police were not involved in the pursuit or arrest and only responded afterward to complete an accident report, adding that such ICE operations "put residents and bystanders at risk." ICE said it had transported a patient in custody for medical evaluation and that standard protocols were followed.

Ariel Arias, a husband, father, and grandfather, was taken into custody by ICE agents in Houston on the morning of September 23, 2026 as he was leaving for work in his residential parking lot. His family says the arrest was unlawful and were unable to locate him within ICE's standard 24-48 hour processing window. Arias has a heart condition and relies on sublingual medication to prevent a heart attack, and his family is urgently trying to confirm his location so he can access it. They have appealed to Representatives Sylvia Garcia, Greg Casar, and Joaquin Castro for help.

A Colombian asylum seeker who fled to the United States in 2022 was detained without warning while attending a routine ICE check-in in San Francisco. He had previously been released from custody after DHS determined he posed no danger or flight risk, and he attended every scheduled check-in since then. He held employment authorization and a Social Security number, worked assembling ventilation and refrigeration equipment, filed federal tax returns for two years, resided in Fremont, California, had a partner of one year, and regularly attended a Mormon temple. In June 2026, he was arrested for an alleged DUI after being found sleeping in his parked car outside his home. He was not shown a warrant at his re-arrest and was subsequently transferred to the Central Valley Annex detention facility in McFarland, California. He filed a habeas petition and motion for a temporary restraining order, arguing his detention violated due process because he was not given a pre-detention bond hearing. The court granted the TRO, ordering his immediate release and barring re-detention pending further briefing and a hearing scheduled for October 8, 2026.

A witness described being followed by immigration officers from a Medford store to Emigrant Lake in July before he and a companion were taken into custody. His account was presented as evidence in a federal hearing examining whether ICE officers in the Rogue Valley complied with a February court order requiring individualized assessments before warrantless arrests. Government attorneys have disputed the allegations, and the judge has not yet ruled on the claims.

A Medford man testified in federal court that immigration officers surrounded his vehicle when he arrived at work in June, broke a window and handcuffed him before releasing him after determining he was not the person they were seeking. He told the court he had an active asylum application at the time. His testimony was presented as evidence in a hearing where lawyers argued ICE officers failed to comply with a February court order requiring individual assessments of flight risk before warrantless arrests.

ICE detained at least 21 people, believed to be agricultural workers at local cannabis farms, during raids conducted September 23-24 at farms in Ruch, West Medford, and Cave Junction, Oregon. The September 23 raids in Ruch and West Medford involved DEA, Customs and Border Protection, Medford Police, and the Jackson County Sheriff's Office, and resulted in 13 detentions, with eyewitnesses documenting a GEO Group passenger van loading detainees at the Medford ICE office. A separate raid on September 24 at a farm in Cave Junction involved the FBI, Josephine Marijuana Enforcement Team, Josephine County Sheriff, Oregon State Police, and ICE, with at least 8 people detained and GEO Group vehicles, including a Nissan Pathfinder and passenger van, observed on site. Advocates with Rogue Valley Migra Watch say these raids, along with a July 2025 raid that detained 17 farmworkers, represent the largest documented ICE operations in Southern Oregon and have questioned whether local and state law enforcement participation violates Oregon's sanctuary law barring such agencies from assisting federal immigration enforcement.