Human Impact Project

A Cameroonian citizen who entered the U.S. in December 2022 was arrested on June 1, 2026, by ICE agents in the lobby of the Sacramento ERO office after an Immigration Judge denied his asylum application and ordered his removal. He was transferred to Golden State Annex Detention Facility in McFarland, California. The court granted his habeas corpus petition on July 8, 2026, finding his detention violated due process because his removal order was not administratively final—he had timely appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals on June 16, 2026—and ordered his immediate release.

On June 6, 2025, ICE and federal agents raided Ambiance Apparel, a garment manufacturer in Los Angeles's Fashion District, detaining 40-44 workers, predominantly from Indigenous Zapotec communities in Mexico. Many were restrained with chains at the waist and ankles during arrest. Families gathered outside the facility to protest what they described as kidnappings, with detainees subsequently moved between multiple detention facilities, making family contact difficult. At least one worker was deported; others remain in immigration proceedings. A year later, affected families continue facing severe economic hardship, ongoing trauma, and family separation, with children left without primary breadwinners. The raid was part of a broader workplace enforcement crackdown that included multiple operations across Los Angeles and involved deployment of the National Guard.

A Honduran man who entered the United States on or about August 12, 2021, at age seventeen, and was processed by immigration officials as an unaccompanied child. He was released by the Office of Refugee Resettlement to his brother and a sponsor on August 23, 2021, and has a pending application for asylum and withholding of removal. On or about May 31, 2026, he was taken back into ICE custody after encountering law enforcement due to a driver's license related infraction. He was held at the California City Detention Center. Petitioner filed a habeas corpus petition and a motion for a temporary restraining order seeking immediate release, arguing his prior release by ORR created a liberty interest and that he was being detained under 8 U.S.C. § 1232 rather than mandatory detention provisions cited by respondents. The court agreed, citing prior similar rulings, granted the habeas petition, ordered his immediate release, and enjoined respondents from re-detaining him without notice and a hearing where the government must prove by clear and convincing evidence that he is a danger or flight risk. The TRO motion was denied as moot given the habeas relief granted.

ICE agents conducted an enforcement action in Santa Paula, California, where they removed a man from his truck in a parking lot and tasered him while he was on his way to work. According to community witnesses, agents pinned the man down as he screamed in pain, refused to provide formal identification, and threatened to mace neighbors who were documenting the incident.

Miguel Angel Tercero Raudes, a Salvadoran national who had been living and working legally in the United States for over a decade with a 2023 Withholding of Removal court order, was detained at a routine ICE check-in on May 29, 2026. He is married to a U.S. citizen and is the father of two U.S. citizen daughters. The government has indicated plans to remove him to a third country where he has no family or legal status, in apparent violation of his court-ordered withholding of removal protection.

A woman was detained by ICE in El Monte, California on an unspecified date after being followed from her home to a shopping mall. She was taken into custody at 11 am and transferred to LA County detention, then to Adelanto ICE facility. Her daughter Kandie Cortes is seeking funds for legal representation to fight the case.

A woman was taken into ICE custody while a passenger in a car on her way to a church event. She was reportedly going through the legal visa process and had legal representation. Her family is raising funds to cover immigration lawyer fees, legal filings, and other expenses while fighting for her release, as she is the primary caretaker for her sister who has leukemia and type 1 diabetes.

Herber Aquino, a father of four with no criminal record and an ongoing immigration case, was detained on May 27th by multiple armed, masked agents in unmarked vehicles during a work stop in Riverside. According to accounts, agents surrounded his work truck, forcibly removed him from the vehicle, drew weapons, struck his head, and transported him and his work crew in unmarked vehicles. His family launched a fundraising effort to cover legal defense costs, bond, and living expenses while his wife recovered from childbirth.

Federal officers in tactical gear and unmarked vehicles arrested a man outside his home in San Francisco's Sunnyside neighborhood on a Wednesday morning. Witnesses reported the officers, wearing vests identifying themselves as federal and police, restrained the man and transported him in vehicles without license plates. An activist later observed the man being escorted into the ICE field office on Sansome Street.

A father was detained by ICE agents on May 27, 2026, at 5:40 AM in Eastvale during a traffic stop while traveling to work with two of his brothers. Agents initially confused him with his older brother due to sharing the same name before ultimately detaining him. The father is the primary financial provider for his family, which includes his mother and three younger brothers, one of whom has autism. He has severe diabetes and requires daily medication. His family is seeking legal representation and financial assistance to secure his release and ensure he receives necessary medical care.

Juan Carlos Ramirez Diaz, a U.S. citizen from Oxnard, was pepper-sprayed, punched, kneed, tased, and slammed onto vehicle hoods by armed immigration agents while filming his father's arrest during an ICE raid at an auto body shop. He was transported to a hospital and then to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles before being released back to his family the following day. Ramirez later filed a legal claim against the federal government, seeking damages for his injuries and trauma, as part of a broader effort by people caught up in immigration raids to seek compensation.

A man who entered the United States in 2007 and had lived in the country for multiple years was detained by ICE on May 26, 2026, without being provided a warrant or notice of the reason for detention. The court found his detention unlawful due to denial of a bond hearing for over two months and ordered his immediate release, rejecting ICE's arguments for mandatory detention.

A Chinese national lawfully admitted on a B-2 visa in 2015 who overstayed and subsequently applied for adjustment of status was arrested by ICE officers without prior notice or warrant on May 26, 2026, during her USCIS adjustment of status interview. ICE alleged she was being arrested for visa overstay. After a bond hearing on June 17, 2026, where an immigration judge denied her release, she filed a habeas corpus petition. The federal court granted her petition on July 1, 2026, finding she had a liberty interest in remaining free from detention and ordered her immediate release, enjoining future detention without notice and a pre-detention hearing.

An Indian national who entered the United States on December 31, 2022, was detained by ICE on May 26, 2026, following a commercial vehicle inspection and transferred to Central Valley Annex Detention Facility in McFarland, California. He had no criminal history, was not subject to a final removal order, and had previously been paroled under INA § 212(d)(5). The court found his re-detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause and ordered his immediate release, enjoining respondents from re-detaining him without providing seven days' notice and holding a bond hearing before a neutral arbiter.

At least 20 detainees at Desert View Annex (Adelanto ICE Processing Center) in Adelanto, California, launched a hunger strike in mid-May 2026 to protest inadequate health care, food portions, unsafe conditions, and demand bond reform and accountability. The facility, operated by the GEO Group, experienced four deaths between September 2025 and March 2026. A lawyer with the National Day Labor Organization described the hunger strike as a last resort when other options have been exhausted. One detainee's wife spoke publicly about the inhumane treatment at the facility. The facility's population increased dramatically from 424 detainees in 2023 to 2,087 in 2025.

Sean Beckner-Carmitchel, a Los Angeles-based journalist and videographer, was covering a protest against ICE raids in Paramount when law enforcement moved to disperse the crowd using tear gas, percussion grenades, and other crowd-control weapons. A tear gas canister struck him in the head, exploding crystalline CS powder across his face; he sought emergency medical care but was not severely injured. He said the canister appeared to have been fired by Homeland Security Investigations agents, part of ICE. Nearly a year later, Beckner-Carmitchel filed a federal tort claim with the ACLU against immigration officers over the incident.

Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez, a 42-year-old DACA recipient who had lived in the United States for 27 years after arriving in 1998 at age 15, was arrested and deported to Mexico on February 18, 2025, during a green card interview at a USCIS office in Sacramento, California. Immigration agents cited a 1998 expedited removal order from her initial border crossing, despite her valid DACA status, lack of criminal history, and previous federal approvals to remain in the country. She was removed within 24 hours. Following a lawsuit by her attorneys, U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins issued a temporary restraining order on March 23, 2025, ruling the deportation a "flagrant violation" of her DACA protections and due process rights. Estrada Juarez was granted humanitarian parole and reentered the United States on March 30, 2025, at the San Ysidro border crossing, where she was reunited with her daughter.

Everlee Amelia Wihongi, a 37-year-old New Zealand citizen and lawful permanent resident who moved to the U.S. at age six, was detained by CBP at Los Angeles International Airport on April 10, 2026, upon returning from a family trip to New Zealand for an uncle's 80th birthday. DHS cited a 2014 felony conviction for THC possession in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, as grounds for detention, saying it rendered her inadmissible. During her transfer to the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona, she was forced to sleep on the floor while shackled for 14 hours, denied food and water, and not permitted to bathe. She was transferred between facilities in California, Texas, Montana, and Arizona without notice to her family or attorney, causing her to miss a scheduled legal meeting. Her brother Avaiiki said ICE was "largely unresponsive" and offered the family little more than instructions for his sister to "stay compliant." New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said consular officials were assisting but could not intervene in U.S. immigration decisions. DHS said Wihongi was placed in removal proceedings and will remain in custody.

A noncitizen in removal proceedings was detained at Adelanto ICE Processing Center on May 21, 2026 without prior explanation or hearing after missing seven biometric check-ins over ten months in the ISAP program. He had been released on his own recognizance in 2024 and was complying with release conditions while his asylum and withholding of removal application was pending. An immigration judge denied his post-detention bond hearing, citing Matter of Q. Li. The federal court granted his habeas petition, finding his detention violated due process because he was not provided pre-deprivation process and ordered his immediate release on the original conditions of release.

Etinosa Osahon, a 49-year-old Nigerian lawful permanent resident who came to the U.S. in 2002, was granted protection under the Convention Against Torture in 2012 after an immigration judge found Nigerian officials had tortured him, tying him to a tree, beating him, hanging him from a ceiling and forcing him to stare at the sun. He lived in California with his U.S. citizen wife and three U.S. citizen children and complied with ICE supervision for 14 years. In May, he was detained by ICE at what he believed was a routine check-in at the agency's Los Angeles field office and deported through Ghana toward Nigeria. After Ghanaian officials said he would be sent on to Nigeria, he fled into hiding in neighboring Togo, where his attorneys say he has contracted malaria and lacks legal status or medical care. A federal judge found the government likely acted in "flagrant violation" of his due-process rights and its own regulations by removing him without revoking his supervision or torture protections, and ordered officials to disclose his location and detail steps to bring him back.