Human Impact Project

A woman now in her 50s, adopted as a toddler from Iran by a U.S. Air Force officer, is facing deportation proceedings after discovering she was never formally naturalized as a U.S. citizen. She entered the U.S. on a tourist visa as a young child and overstayed in the 1970s, which excluded her from automatic citizenship under the 2000 Child Citizenship Act. She discovered the discrepancy in 2008 while applying for a passport, despite her adoptive parents having legally completed her adoption with a birth certificate listing U.S. citizen parents. Raised in the Midwest for 53 years with no criminal record, she fears deportation to Iran, a country with which the U.S. has no diplomatic relations and is currently at war, where she has no family, language connections, or memory of the country, and worries her father's military service and her Christian faith would put her at risk.

George Retes, a disabled U.S. Army veteran and combat survivor working as a security guard at Glass House Farms in Camarillo, California, was detained by ICE agents during a July 10, 2025 workplace raid despite repeatedly identifying himself as a U.S. citizen. Agents broke his car window, pepper-sprayed and tackled him, leaving him with a cut leg and chemical burns, then took him to a Navy base for DNA collection before holding him for three days at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles without access to a lawyer, phone calls, a shower, or a judge appearance. He was released without charges, having missed his daughter's third birthday. In February 2026, represented by the Institute for Justice, Retes filed a federal lawsuit challenging the government's claimed immunity for immigration enforcement officers, testified before Congress, and attended the State of the Union as a guest of Rep. Mark Takano. The same raid resulted in more than 300 arrests, the removal of 14 children, and the death of farmworker Jaime Alanis Garcia, whose family has filed a $47 million wrongful death claim against ICE.

The petitioner entered the United States without inspection in February 2004 and has lived here continuously since then, more than 20 years. He applied for a U-visa, was granted deferred action, and received employment authorization valid from March 2023 to October 2024 while seeking adjustment of status. On February 24, 2026, he was arrested by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for DUI alcohol, an allegation he disputes; the arrest did not result in criminal charges. Upon his release from county custody, he was detained by ICE and has been held at the Adelanto Detention Center for roughly six months. An immigration judge reportedly dismissed his removal proceedings on August 5, 2026, though records suggest a master hearing remained scheduled for September 2026. He filed a counseled habeas corpus petition arguing his detention without notice or a hearing violated procedural due process. The court agreed, finding the government's failure to provide pre-deprivation process unconstitutional, and ordered his release within 24 hours.

Court documents revealed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Diego conducted surveillance on activists through Operation Road Flare, targeting individuals who document ICE activities such as Jeane Wong and Arturo Gonzalez. The operation began monitoring activists on October 23, 2025, and documents describe confrontations at the 47th Street Trolley Station on November 18, 2025, where Wong was accused of throwing belongings at agents during a crowd altercation. Wong subsequently pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault on a federal officer and received home detention.

A 23-year-old woman was detained at a Border Patrol checkpoint on State Route 94 near Dulzura and charged with assaulting a federal officer after agents accused her of pushing an agent and throwing a punch. Body camera footage showed agents had found no evidence of criminal activity, falsely told her they discovered 'deleted evidence' on her phone, twisted her arm behind her back when she reached for it, and Tasered her as she turned to enter a holding cell. The Taser prong struck her breast, and her breastmilk was laden with blood for weeks afterward. Federal prosecutors dismissed the charge in August 2025. Her case is one of 22 assault-on-federal-officer cases filed in San Diego during Trump's second term, 10 of which were dismissed, a 45% dismissal rate compared to 8% during Biden's final year in office.

Since Trump took office in January 2025, federal prosecutors in San Diego have charged 22 defendants with assaulting federal immigration or border officers, but have dismissed charges against 10 of them—nearly half, an unusually high rate given typical federal conviction rates above 90%. In one case, a 23-year-old mother of a 2-month-old was accused of punching a Border Patrol agent at a checkpoint and was shocked with a Taser, requiring hospital treatment to remove a prong from her breast; body-worn camera footage obtained by her attorney later showed agents had found no evidence of wrongdoing before the confrontation, and the charge was dismissed in August. The dismissals contrast sharply with the Trump administration's claims that assaults on federal officers have spiked nationally by more than 1,000%, and with prosecution trends in other cities like Los Angeles, where federal prosecutors have lost six jury trials on similar charges.

An Ecuadorian asylum seeker who entered the US in October 2023 was arrested by ICE on February 22, 2026 and detained at California City Detention Facility. He had been working as an electrician since 2025 with no criminal history. The court granted his habeas corpus petition and ordered his immediate release, finding his detention violated due process.

Luis Beltran Yañez-Cruz, a Honduran immigrant, died while in ICE custody at the Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Imperial County. His daughter Jocelyn provided a statement read at a February 21, 2026 vigil calling for justice. Organizers documented conditions of medical neglect, overcrowding, and unsanitary conditions at the facility that they say contributed to detainee deaths.

Huabing Xie, a Chinese national, died on September 29, 2025, at El Centro Regional Medical Center after suffering a seizure while detained at the Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico, California. Xie had first been arrested by Border Patrol near Tecate on December 31, 2023, and released on recognizance, before being re-arrested in Indio on September 12, 2025, and transferred to ICE custody. Facility staff performed CPR and other life-saving measures before he was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His death marked at least the 20th death in ICE custody since Trump's inauguration in 2025, prompting immigrant justice groups to call for an investigation and public release of findings. On February 21, 2026, activists held an interfaith vigil outside the detention facility honoring Xie and another detainee who died there, citing concerns over medical neglect, overcrowding, and unsanitary conditions.

ICE agents arrested a man in downtown Santa Barbara after he allegedly slashed a tire on an ICE vehicle parked on East Carrillo Street. Community members and the man's parent followed ICE agents to the police station and filmed the incident. The Santa Barbara Police Department stated it was not notified in advance of ICE operations in the city.

Angie Rodriguez, a 24-year-old Colombian asylum seeker, was detained by ICE in July 2025 following a routine immigration check-in and sent to the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield, California. She discovered she was pregnant while in custody but received no prenatal vitamins, medical care, or nutrition education for weeks afterward. Facility meals were inedible to her due to their appearance and smell, forcing her to rely on costly commissary items like instant ramen, chips, and candy. After experiencing brown discharge, she was transported to an off-site hospital where she miscarried, then placed in medical isolation before her eventual release. Her case is among more than a dozen documented by the ACLU involving pregnant women held without proper medical care in immigration detention. Rodriguez has filed a lawsuit alleging unconstitutional detention, arguing that the stress of her arrest combined with inadequate food and lack of prenatal care may have contributed to her miscarriage.

Liam Azizi and his wife Hananeh Alikaram, Iranian converts to Christianity fleeing religious persecution, were separated after only Azizi received asylum approval. Alikaram's asylum request was denied and she is being held in Louisiana awaiting deportation to Iran, where she faces prosecution for her religious conversion.

Juan Parra, a tattoo artist, provided services at ICE protests and donated half the proceeds to support protesters. He was assaulted and detained for participating in a protest. He later spoke at a Pro-Palestine rally and encouraged support for protesters outside a detention center.

A mother of three was detained by ICE on February 18, 2026 at her workplace. She is being held in Adelanto, California, miles from her family who depend on her as their main provider. Her family states she has no criminal record and is fundraising for legal representation and bond to secure her release.

A noncitizen single mother of two US citizen children was arrested by ICE on February 17, 2026 in Victorville, California. She was charged as inadmissible under Section 212(a)(6)(A)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and detained at the Adelanto Detention Facility without being afforded a bond hearing. The court ordered that she must be provided an individualized bond hearing before an immigration judge within 7 days.

Three women employed at The Dots Corp, a printing and marketing business in Irvine, were detained by ICE officers on February 17, 2026, when four tinted SUVs surrounded their vehicle in the parking lot at 8:30 a.m. Officers showed a purported warrant through the vehicle's window before taking the women into custody. The City of Irvine stated its commitment to providing services to all residents regardless of immigration status.

A 22-year-old man is raising funds after his father was detained by Customs and Border Patrol in Ontario, California on January 26th. He describes his father as his only source of financial support. The fundraiser aims to cover legal costs for the father's case as well as his housing expenses.

Detainees at the CoreCivic-run Otay Mesa Detention Center threw handwritten notes attached to lotion bottles, deodorant bottles, and batteries over the facility fence to reach organizers and protesters holding weekly vigils outside. The notes alleged harsh conditions including going 280 days without fresh fruit, constant sickness, cold temperatures, inadequate medical care, confinement in small cages for discipline, and indefinite detention without court hearings. Detainees described living in one large room with no windows. Rep. Juan Vargas attempted to inspect the facility to investigate the allegations but was denied entry by officials citing ICE authority, and San Diego County supervisors were similarly denied access. The notes stopped after ICE restricted detainees' outdoor recreation time during the vigils.

Arturo Gonzalez, a San Diego community patroller, was arrested in Logan Heights. The San Diego ICE/ERO Office had previously released a statement regarding Gonzalez's alleged criminal history, which appears to be unrelated to the arrest.

A man was arrested by ICE at his family home in San Jose on February 14, 2026, following an Immigration Judge's decision ordering his detention without bond. The IJ found by clear and convincing evidence that he was a danger to the community based on recent incidents involving law enforcement in 2025. He challenged his detention claiming violations of his procedural and substantive due process rights, but the court denied his habeas petition.