Human Impact Project

Josue Aldair Alfaro Herrera, a Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) petitioner, filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his prolonged civil immigration detention at Aurora Contract Detention Facility after ICE renewed his removal proceedings despite his SIJS status. The U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado granted the petition, finding that his prolonged detention violated his constitutional rights and the Administrative Procedure Act. The Court ordered ICE to immediately release Petitioner from immigration detention.

Federal immigration enforcement agents conducted raids in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood and Cicero on Wednesday, resulting in at least seven detentions including U.S. citizens and staff members of a city alderman. A crash occurred near Cermak Fresh Market involving a civilian vehicle and agents, followed by a tense standoff between federal agents and community members. DHS reported three undocumented immigrants were detained and six U.S. citizens were arrested for impeding and threatening federal agents.

Country music singer Frank Ray publicly disclosed that his brother-in-law, Juan Nevarez, a Mexican national with a valid work visa, was arrested by ICE at El Paso airport on Thanksgiving Day. Nevarez was detained at an ICE facility in Otero County, New Mexico, pending a hearing to determine his immigration status. DHS cited a criminal record from a 2023 dispute, though most charges were dropped and only a misdemeanor trespassing conviction remained. Nevarez's wife and four U.S. citizen children await resolution of the case.

ICE agents in unmarked vehicles chased a red car in Chicago's Dunning neighborhood, with one SUV striking the vehicle from behind. The car subsequently crashed into a tree. ICE agents detained an older man at the scene after the collision.

A September 30 ICE raid in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood detained dozens of Venezuelan migrants, with officials claiming they were members of the Tren de Aragua gang designated as a terrorist organization. A ProPublica investigation found that many of those arrested had no criminal records and the government provided no evidence tying them to terrorism or gang membership. No criminal charges have been filed against any of the 37 individuals detained in the raid.

The ACLU of Ohio filed a federal lawsuit alleging that ICE agents repeatedly violated federal law by making warrantless arrests without determining flight risk, detained individuals for weeks or months, and mistreated detainees. The lawsuit details cases involving people with valid visas, work permits, and U.S. citizens from Puerto Rico, suggesting possible racial profiling. The plaintiffs seek class action status and want courts to stop warrantless arrests and require compensation for those improperly detained.

A 17-year-old U.S. citizen was driving a friend home in Temecula, California, when an off-duty federal immigration agent, identified as Gerardo Rodriguez, pulled a gun on him during a traffic stop. The teen was held at gunpoint and detained on the roadside for nearly 20 minutes while being interrogated, until his mother arrived with his U.S. passport to confirm his citizenship. Rodriguez, believed to be an ICE or Border Patrol agent, was arrested on November 11 in connection with the incident. The case was cited as part of a broader pattern of immigration agents confronting individuals and demanding identification.

Esteban Rios Sosa, a Mexican national who has lived in Oceanside, California since 1988, was detained with his wife by ICE at the gate of Camp Pendleton while visiting his pregnant daughter, who lives on base with her active-duty Marine husband. Rios Sosa's son, a former Marine Sergeant, said the family held deferred action status tied to his wife's pending U visa petition and had valid work permits that should have shielded them from enforcement. After being fitted with ankle monitors and told to report for a routine ICE check-in, Rios Sosa was instead taken to a federal building basement and deported to Mexico within 24 hours, without notice that his status had been revoked. His son has accused ICE and DHS of discrimination and false accusations of criminal activity, and the family sued the agencies for violating federal law and due process rights. A federal judge later ordered the government to immediately facilitate Rios Sosa's return to the U.S. and restore his immigration status.

Domingo Tot Quip, a 31-year-old Portland resident from Guatemala and restaurant worker, was arrested at a bus stop in January 2026 during an ICE enforcement operation while heading to work. ICE agents mistakenly identified him as another Guatemalan man with the same first name and birthday who had a final removal order, despite Tot Quip having valid identification documents with him at the time of arrest. He spoke primarily an indigenous Guatemalan language, had no criminal history, and had never interacted with ICE before. A federal judge ordered ICE not to remove him from the country, but Tot Quip was deported to Guatemala one day after the order. His attorney, Kerry Doyle, alleged racial profiling was involved in the misidentification. After months in Guatemala, ICE acknowledged "the gravity of the inadvertent removal" in court records and agreed to return Tot Quip to the U.S. at government expense, with his return to Maine expected in August 2026.

Jose Eliezer Martinez-Andino, a 20-year-old mechanic from Raleigh, North Carolina, and father to a U.S.-citizen daughter, was deported to Honduras in April after agents detained him in Montana, denied him contact with attorneys for about ten days, and had him sign a voluntary-departure form despite his Special Immigrant Juvenile Status and work permit. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell found the removal denied him due process, calling the circumstances "coercive," and ordered the government to return him; he said he had been afraid in Honduras due to childhood abuse by his father. He flew back to Texas on Aug. 5 after about five months abroad, was held in CBP custody, and was then transferred to ICE custody at the Port Isabel Processing Center, where he awaits a bond hearing to determine whether he can continue proceedings closer to Raleigh. DHS has disputed his account, saying he entered the country without authorization and was released by the Biden administration, and denies he was blocked from contacting legal counsel.

Luis Alberto Ramirez Zavala, a Chicago-area man who had spent most of his life working as a ranch hand in rural Illinois, was detained by ICE during a routine appointment with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Missouri on July 18, 2026, regarding his pending application for legal status. He had no criminal record and had been following the immigration process for years to adjust his status. Ramirez Zavala was detained based on a removal order issued more than 30 years ago. He was transferred from a county jail in Missouri to an ICE detention facility in Texas and deported to Mexico approximately two weeks after his arrest. His daughter, Air Force Tech. Sgt. Wendy Gbeve, was present at his USCIS appointment and has been advocating for his release. Ramirez Zavala was married for 30 years to a legal permanent resident. His family expressed being heartbroken by the separation and sought funds for legal defense and support.

Cary Brown, a Jamaican national, was sentenced to three to nine years in state prison and was expected to remain incarcerated until at least 2029. ICE took him into custody in August to deport him before his sentence was complete. His case was cited as another example of ICE removing individuals from state prisons ahead of their scheduled release dates.

Diana Rodríguez Pardo and Jairo Alzate Elejalde, a Colombian couple with Spanish citizenship, were detained by ICE agents immediately after landing at Las Vegas International Airport, where they had traveled from California to celebrate a birthday. The couple had entered the U.S. legally about two years earlier under a visa waiver program and later filed for asylum before their 90-day authorization expired. They were separated and sent to different detention facilities—Jairo remained in Nevada while Diana was transferred first to Arizona and then to Denver, Colorado. Their two children, ages 8 and 16, are now being cared for by relatives, and the family is seeking an immigration attorney and raising funds to cover legal costs while pursuing a possible bail release.

Avishay Alon, a transgender former intelligence specialist with Israel's Unit 81 who later worked as a computer engineer at Amazon and Microsoft, was transferred from New Hampshire state custody into ICE custody on Aug. 20, a day after signing a parole certificate, and is now held at an ICE facility in Folkston, Georgia. Alon, who uses the name Allison, had been serving a two-to-six-year sentence imposed July 7, 2025, following a 2024 kidnapping conviction. A federal judge had previously noted that immigration detainers are capped at 48 hours and ordered the state to show cause. Alon separately filed a federal lawsuit in December 2025 against the New Hampshire Department of Corrections over housing in a men's facility and access to gender-transition care, with some claims still pending.

Curtis Wright, a 40-year-old Edmonton-born permanent resident who moved to Houston as a child and worked in the oil and gas industry, was detained by ICE at a Houston-area airport in November 2025 after returning from a work trip to Mexico. Authorities cited a drug possession conviction from when he was 17, involving Xanax tablets found in a car he was in, for which he had already completed community service. During nearly nine months in detention across several Texas facilities, including the South Texas ICE Processing Centre, Wright described freezing cells, contaminated water, poor food, and being denied medication for a chronic condition. His attorney pursued appeals and a habeas corpus request, but a judge ultimately ordered his deportation, and Wright gave up further legal fights. His fiancée Kayla Thomsen said their toddler daughter learned to walk during his absence, while his two older sons, ages 8 and 11, remained in Texas with their mother. Wright was deported to Canada and is now staying with his parents in Kelowna, B.C., planning an eventual move to Edmonton.

A Mexican national living in Maryland, whose testimony for the Justice Department against drug cartels led an immigration judge to bar his deportation to Mexico under the Convention Against Torture in July 2024, was released from custody that November but re-detained during a routine ICE check-in in January 2026 and held for six months in a Louisiana detention facility. In July 2026 he was deported three times in two weeks: first to Guatemala, which refused him and handed him to Mexican consular officials who also declined to take him; then directly to Mexico twice more after officials there initially refused him, and again after the administration terminated his CAT protection based on diplomatic assurances it said were provided by the Mexican government and deemed reliable by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and acting ICE Director David Venturella. He has been in hiding in Mexico since Aug. 1 fearing retaliation from the cartels he testified against, and U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher found the government likely violated his due process rights, ordering it to take immediate steps to facilitate his return within 200 miles of Baltimore.

A Mexican man in his late 40s, identified in court filings only as "John Doe" and a father of two, had cooperated with U.S. prosecutors in cases against Mexican drug cartel members and was granted deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture in July 2024. While living in Maryland, he was detained by ICE in January 2026 at a routine check-in and held for six months at a facility in Louisiana. Authorities attempted to deport him multiple times, first to Guatemala on July 10, which refused him and turned him over to Mexican officials, and then to Mexico, most recently on August 1 to a region with active cartel activity. He has since gone into hiding without money, belongings, or his phone, fearing the cartels he testified against will find and kill him. U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher in Baltimore ruled that the termination of his CAT protections likely violated due process and placed him in imminent danger, ordering the government to facilitate his return within 14 days and to hold him near Baltimore with attorney access if detained again.

Border Patrol agents in the San Diego Sector rescued two individuals in separate incidents in the East County mountains amid extreme heat. On Aug. 1, agents located a person lost in the Jacumba Mountains suffering heat exhaustion, disorientation and blurred vision after running out of water in roughly 107-degree heat; the person was airlifted and taken to a hospital for treatment. In a separate incident on July 26, agents using surveillance equipment spotted a person near Cottonwood Canyon who was unable to walk out unassisted; emergency responders carried the person out and transported them to a hospital. Border Patrol said both individuals were determined to be in the country without authorization and will be processed for removal after receiving medical clearance.

Martin Martinez-Ballinas, 38, a Mexican national, was transferred to ICE custody on July 22, 2026, after completing a federal prison sentence for illegal reentry at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and now faces deportation proceedings for the third time. He was previously deported in 2020 following a 2017 felony hit-and-run conviction in Maryland that killed 21-year-old U.S. Marine James Ray Walden III, who had worked as a cryptology analyst for the National Security Agency. After illegally reentering, he was apprehended by Border Patrol in Texas in 2021, sentenced to 15 months for unlawful reentry, and deported again in October 2022. He reentered again in 2023, was apprehended in Maryland, sentenced to 37 months in federal prison followed by a year of supervised release, and is now in ICE custody pending deportation.

Elton Purvis, a 55-year-old legal permanent resident from Trinidad and Tobago, Rastafarian priest, and father of nine U.S. citizen children, was detained by ICE at Boston Logan International Airport on May 13, 2025, while returning home for his sons' graduation ceremonies. A community fixture for more than 30 years, Purvis had Type 1 diabetes and was suffering from malaria upon arrival; he says ICE agents ignored his malaria symptoms for 12 days and confiscated his prescription diabetes and malaria medications. During roughly seven months in detention, mostly at the Geo Group-run South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, Purvis filed over 100 grievances, was found unresponsive in his cell at least three times, and was hospitalized multiple times for dangerously low blood sugar. Staff allegedly refused to accommodate his strict vegetarian, lactose-free diet required for religious and medical reasons, forcing him to eat leftover cornbread and filter dirty water himself. Purvis said he begged guards for help as he experienced shortness of breath, dizziness and hallucinations. He was deported to Trinidad and Tobago on December 6, 2025, and the ACLU Foundation of Texas filed a $10 million federal tort claim on his behalf, part of a nationwide effort that has filed more than 50 claims across 17 states and Washington, D.C. alleging medical and food neglect in immigration detention.