Human Impact Project

Two undocumented men fled from their vehicle during an ICE operation in Thousand Palms. One man was apprehended inside a business. Both men were confirmed to be undocumented; one had prior arrests for driving under the influence and drug possession, the other had two prior DUI arrests.

A Mexican agricultural worker first entered the United States in 1989 and most recently in 2000. He has lived in Napa, California with his wife, a U.S. permanent resident, and four U.S. citizen children, working as an agricultural worker. He was arrested by DHS in April 2016 and placed in removal proceedings under INA § 240; he was released on bond by an immigration judge that same year. In 2017, he filed an EOIR-42B application for cancellation of removal, noting his youngest son's emotional and behavioral health problems and the hardship his family would experience upon his removal. On May 12, 2026, he was detained by ICE without a pre-detention hearing and taken to the ICE Detention Facility at 630 Sansome Street in San Francisco. He filed a habeas corpus petition and motion for temporary restraining order seeking release and an injunction preventing re-detention without a hearing. On May 21, 2026, the federal court granted a preliminary injunction, finding that he has serious questions going to the merits of his Fifth Amendment due process claim and that he is likely to suffer irreparable harm. The court ordered that he cannot be re-detained without notice and a pre-deprivation hearing before a neutral immigration judge at which the government must establish by clear and convincing evidence that re-detention is warranted.

Federal agents stopped a man in Cathedral City, California and attempted to forcibly remove him from his vehicle despite his attempts to show valid driver's license identification. Agents dismissed his ID as fake and proceeded to pull him from the car. He was released only after his wife arrived with additional documentation. The man's hand was left bruised and bleeding during the encounter. The Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice reports this is part of a pattern of targeting individuals based on appearance.

Carlos Lool, owner and chef of La Granja Rotisserie and Fuego Rotisserie in South Los Angeles, was detained by ICE agents on May 10, 2026, while picking up supplies for a catering event. According to witnesses, masked agents followed their vehicle and forcibly removed Lool with guns drawn, placing him on the floor at gunpoint. The detention followed a report from a former employee claiming a firearm was kept at the restaurant in violation of Lool's parole conditions. Lool, originally from Guatemala and raised in Connecticut, has a criminal conviction from approximately 30 years ago for which he has already served his sentence. He now faces deportation proceedings while his children, employees, and businesses remain in the U.S., with supporters launching a GoFundMe campaign to cover legal expenses.

Milena Araya-Davis, a 27-year-old therapist and Palm Springs High School graduate, was arrested by ICE agents on December 15, 2025, outside a USCIS office in San Diego immediately after being told her green card application was approved. Araya-Davis was brought to the U.S. from Peru at age 4 and received DACA protection as a teenager, going on to earn a master's degree in marriage and family therapy. She was detained for overstaying a tourist visa from her childhood. During her seven-day detention at Otay Mesa Detention Center, Araya-Davis slept on the floor, shared a single sink with roughly 150 women, and received inadequate food and medical care, relying on other detainees for basic supplies and support. Her husband, a U.S. citizen whom she married in April 2025, was home waiting for brief phone calls during her detention. Araya-Davis has since shared her experience on social media, drawing thousands of responses from people fearing detention or worried about loved ones. San Diego County subsequently filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and private prison operator CoreCivic after being denied inspection access to the facility.

Miguel was detained by ICE on May 10, 2026, while sitting parked in his car. He has three children who are experiencing emotional distress from his absence. His family is fundraising for legal representation to fight his case and prevent his deportation to Mexico.

Three fruit vendors from Puebla, Mexico were detained by federal immigration agents on Monday morning, May 10, 2026, near Verde and Tremont streets in the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles. The detention occurred around 8:35 a.m. as the men were preparing to load their produce carts, in close proximity to Santa Teresita School, a Catholic elementary school. Video footage from a home surveillance camera captured the operation involving agents in unmarked vehicles. The three men were taken into custody and are being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center. Three people working on a truck in Boyle Heights were detained by apparent federal ICE agents Monday morning near Verde and Tremont streets, steps away from Santa Teresita School, a Catholic elementary school. Video from home surveillance showed agents rushing out of vehicles to detain the men around 8:35 a.m.

A long-term undocumented resident of the United States was detained by ICE officers on May 8, 2026, after fleeing from law enforcement during a traffic stop of a vehicle in which he was a passenger. Officers pursued him on foot for 5-10 minutes before detaining him pursuant to an administrative arrest warrant. He has lived in the United States for an unspecified extended period without having been admitted. He is currently detained at Mesa Verde Detention Facility. The court granted his petition for writ of habeas corpus and motion for temporary restraining order, ordering respondents to provide him a bond hearing before an immigration judge within 14 days pursuant to 8 C.F.R. § 1236.1(c)(8), where he must demonstrate he is not a flight risk or danger to community safety. If respondents fail to provide the hearing within 14 days, he shall be immediately released.

On May 7, an ICE agent pinned a man's arm behind his back while detaining him in the San Luis Obispo County Jail lobby at around 7:25 p.m., according to rapid responder Jennifer Guernsey, who witnessed the incident. As the agent exited the lobby, he hit the man's head on a metal door, and Guernsey said the man was screaming in pain.

ICE agents conducted a 9-hour standoff at a residential property in Antioch, California, and arrested Miguel Antonio Blanco, who lived at one address. The agents were targeting Gerson Manuel Portillo-Escobar, wanted for human trafficking, who lived a few houses away at a different address. According to the family, agents were told multiple times they had the wrong person but proceeded with the arrest anyway.

A woman was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in San Francisco. She filed a habeas corpus petition challenging her detention on due process grounds. The federal court granted a temporary restraining order for her release and then issued a preliminary injunction requiring ICE to provide her a pre-detention hearing before a neutral decisionmaker.

Meenu Batra, a certified court interpreter fluent in Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu who has lived in the U.S. since fleeing India about 35 years ago after her parents were killed in religious violence connected to their Sikh faith, was detained by ICE agents on March 17, 2026, at Valley International Airport in Harlingen, Texas while traveling for a court assignment in Milwaukee. An immigration judge had granted her withholding of removal status in 2000, and she has held valid work authorization for years, working in immigration courts for over two decades. Batra is a single mother of four U.S. citizen children, including her youngest son Jasper, who joined the U.S. Army shortly before her arrest. She was held for 45 days at El Valle Detention Center in Raymondville, where she alleged she was denied food, water, and medication. On April 30, 2026, federal judge Rolando Olvera issued a temporary restraining order for her release, finding the government lacked proper justification and had violated due process protections. Her attorney noted she has had only one speeding ticket in 30 years. Since her release, Batra has described feeling dehumanized by her detention and fears being re-arrested.

A Peruvian asylum seeker was paroled into the United States on March 12, 2022 to pursue asylum. He has complied with all immigration procedures and court orders, has no criminal history, and has established ties to the community. After an immigration judge issued a removal order, he timely appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals and requested a custody redetermination. On April 23, 2026, the immigration court denied his bond request, finding the immigration judge lacked jurisdiction. He was detained at Adelanto ICE Processing Center in California. On May 13, 2026, the federal district court granted his habeas corpus petition, finding that his continued detention violated his Fifth Amendment due process rights because he had a liberty interest in his prior conditional release status and was denied procedural safeguards before re-detention. The court ordered his immediate release subject to former conditions, prohibited future re-detention without notice and a pre-deprivation hearing, and ordered return of confiscated property.

Manuela Hernandez, an asylum seeker from Colombia, was detained at California City's detention center for five months after her electronic monitoring device broke during a household accident in December 2025. She reported severe medical decline in custody, including fainting spells and a bacterial infection, while ICE pursued federal charges for property destruction. After her legal team filed a habeas corpus petition arguing the break was unintentional, she was released on May 4, 2026, and has reunited with her family while continuing her asylum case.

Federal Magistrate Judge Joel Richlin ordered the release of Darwin Ortega Montufar from ICE custody on April 24, 2026, finding his arrest and detention violated his constitutional due process rights. Montufar was arrested on April 4 while going to work in Riverside County, held incommunicado for three days, and denied a bond hearing despite being compliant with ICE reporting obligations and having no criminal record.

A woman detained at Adelanto ICE Processing Center filed a pro se habeas corpus petition and emergency motion to prevent her removal from the United States. The federal court granted a temporary restraining order enjoining ICE from transferring or removing her from the Central District of California pending a preliminary injunction hearing. The court ordered ICE to ensure her appearance at the May 8, 2026 hearing.

A detained immigrant identified as Han filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus seeking immediate release and asking the court to prohibit his transfer or deportation without a hearing before a neutral decisionmaker. On May 1, 2026, the court issued a temporary order barring the government from deporting him until it rules on his custody status. A hearing was scheduled for May 4, 2026, and the government was ordered to respond by May 1, 2026.

A noncitizen from Cameroon who entered the U.S. in 2024 was granted withholding of removal to Cameroon on September 16, 2025. Despite this protection from deportation to his home country, he remained detained at the Adelanto Detention Facility for more than six months after his removal order became final. The court ordered his release within 24 hours, finding his continued detention violated due process since removal was not reasonably foreseeable.

A Mexican asylum-seeker who fled cartel violence in Michoacan in 2019 was arrested by ICE at her check-in appointment in Santa Rosa in May 2026, separating her from her three children ages 2, 13, and 19. After texting her daughter to bring the younger children home, she was held in a freezing cell with little food before being transported toward a detention center. Attorneys from the newly created Bay Area Habeas Network, led by attorney Jordan Weiner, filed an emergency habeas corpus petition and obtained a federal judge's order for her immediate release within hours. The woman told the Chronicle: "I feel like I have no peace. But I have faith and know that there are good people who will help us."

An asylum seeker from El Salvador living in Oakland since 2021 faced potential re-detention by ICE despite having deferred action status through a U visa application. ICE issued a reinstatement notice in October 2025 but had repeatedly acknowledged they did not have his removal file and had previously released him multiple times as neither a flight risk nor danger. The court granted a preliminary injunction preventing his detention without a pre-deprivation hearing.