Human Impact Project

Miguel was 14 years old and aspired to be a teacher. He was held in federal custody for 167 days. This source is part of a broader CT Insider investigation into extended detentions of immigrant children under Trump administration policies that imposed stringent new requirements for their release. The article covers six children held in Connecticut federal custody, with detention lengths ranging from 118 to 505 days, many while their families awaited approval despite meeting all vetting requirements.

Jean, a 12-year-old from Haiti, was detained at the U.S. border and held in federal custody for 505 days, spending his 13th birthday in an ORR shelter in California and later a foster care program in New Haven, Connecticut. His family in Fort Lauderdale—his father, stepmother, and two sisters—had completed all required vetting, background checks, and home studies, yet the Office of Refugee Resettlement repeatedly requested documents his family could not obtain, including a Haitian death certificate from territory controlled by gangs. After his sisters were released to their stepmother, Jean remained detained; ORR cited a DNA test showing his father was not his biological parent, though his father said this changed nothing. A federal judge ultimately ruled the government's process "arbitrary and capricious" and ordered Jean's release in a case where the judge noted that unlawful detention "results in an injury that really can never be remedied."

Camila, a 5-year-old girl from Atlixco, Mexico, crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in summer 2025 and was detained in federal immigration custody for 118 days, separated from her mother who lived only a few miles away in New Haven, Connecticut. Unable to be taken by her parents due to their immigration status, the government classified her as "unaccompanied." During detention, Camila was held first in a CBP detention center, then in a Connecticut shelter where she was the youngest child present, and finally in an office building converted for federal use. She saw her mother, who has a pending legal residency application, for only one hour per week. A child psychiatrist's evaluation documented that Camila experienced nightmares, anxiety about family separation, and fear expressed through play. Her mother applied for custody but waited more than 90 days without receiving a decision, as the federal government repeatedly added requirements before deeming her application complete. Camila was released three days after her attorneys filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of her detention. She is now home with her mother and newborn brother, though she continues to experience separation anxiety and sleeps with her mother at night. During the same period, more than two dozen unaccompanied immigrant children were in federal custody in Connecticut on any given day, with some held for as long as 505 days.

Seyo Cecunjanin, a West Hartford restaurant and laundry business owner from Montenegro, was arrested by ICE on June 20, 2026, in a Dunkin' Donuts parking lot surrounded by five unmarked vehicles while with two of his sons. He was detained at Wyatt Detention Center in Central Falls, Rhode Island for approximately 12 days. Cecunjanin entered the U.S. in 1997 using a fraudulent passport and had an outstanding removal order, but had been permitted to reenter in 2024 and maintained valid work authorization at the time of his arrest. He owns two restaurants and a laundry business employing 15 people and has a pending permanent resident application filed in September 2023. U.S. Rep. John Larson and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, along with other members of Connecticut's congressional delegation, held a press conference and sent letters to ICE demanding his release, citing his valid work authorization and pending immigration case. Cecunjanin was released on June 26, 2026 (or July 2, 2026 according to another account).

Edvin Obdulio Barnica-Esquivel was arrested by ICE agents at Danbury Superior Court on June 22, 2026, on a federal charge of illegally reentering the United States after prior deportations. According to federal records, Barnica-Esquivel had been deported to Guatemala twice previously (in 2012 and 2019) and had recent local arrests in Danbury for assault and arson-related charges. ICE executed a judicial warrant issued by U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Dave Vatti on June 10, 2026.

Three foreign nationals were arrested during an ICE targeted enforcement operation in Danbury on June 16-17, 2026. Edwin Palacios-Rivera, a Peruvian national, was arrested and has previous arrests for domestic violence, criminal mischief, possession of burglar tools, violations of a protective order, criminal trespass, and interfering with police. Jose Espinoza-Ceraquive, an Ecuadorian national, was arrested and has pending charges for operating a motor vehicle under the influence and third-degree criminal mischief; he is subject to a final removal order issued in 2024. Jorge Tamay-Angulo, also an Ecuadorian national, was arrested during the operation, though ICE provided no additional details regarding his case.

Three noncitizens—Bruno Orlando Medina Mendoza and Jorge Manuel Escobar Quispe from Peru, and Raul Andrey Echavez Castro from Colombia—were arrested by New Britain police on June 5 as part of a sting operation targeting individuals attempting to solicit sex with minors. All three face charges including commercial sexual abuse of a minor and sexual assault. ICE lodged detainers seeking to prevent their release by Connecticut authorities.

ICE agents conducted a targeted enforcement operation outside a Danbury, Connecticut courthouse on June 4, 2026, detaining at least six people. Local law enforcement and officials, including the police chief and mayor's office, received no advance notice of the operation. DHS stated those arrested faced criminal charges including sexual assault of a minor, child abuse, kidnapping, and assault on police officers, though specific names and detailed charges were not provided. The raid sparked protests and condemnation from Connecticut Democratic officials, who criticized the use of armed and masked agents in the enforcement action.

Christian Espinosa-Sarango, 33, an Ecuadorian national, was arrested by ICE on February 13 after being released on bond by North Haven police. Espinosa-Sarango had been arrested in December as part of a child sexual exploitation sting and charged with enticing a minor and attempted sexual assault. ICE had lodged a detainer, but Connecticut's Trust Act prevented local police from holding him without a judicial warrant. During his ICE arrest, he allegedly resisted and attempted to flee, leading officers to break his vehicle window.

Juan Pablo Vasquez-Miranda was arrested by ICE officers on Wednesday in Hartford. At least one officer wore a mask and lacked clear identification, appearing to violate state law. Vasquez-Miranda had entered the U.S. in November 2022 on parole, which was subsequently terminated. He faced pending state charges for disorderly conduct, interfering with an emergency call, and strangulation/suffocation.

A 33-year-old man from Ecuador was arrested by ICE agents on February 14 outside his home on Lombard Street in Fair Haven, Connecticut, less than two hours before he was scheduled to appear in state court. According to ICE, the man was arrested on an immigration warrant. The arrest occurred as masked federal agents surrounded his car, smashed the passenger-side window, and handcuffed him. At the time of his arrest, the man had an upcoming court hearing on charges related to child exploitation, and his case was rescheduled to March 10.

Alejandro Josue Cervantes-Mencia was arrested by ICE officers on Lafayette Street in Hartford on May 18, 2026. Several officers wore masks and lacked clear identification, violating Connecticut's recently signed law prohibiting immigration officers from wearing masks during enforcement actions. According to ICE, Cervantes-Mencia entered the U.S. illegally in 2016 and had a final removal order issued by an immigration judge on April 5, 2022. He was also facing state charges for possession of a controlled substance and possession with intent to sell.

Javier Anibal Melgar was detained by ICE officers on May 15, 2026, while sitting in his vehicle with his 16-year-old son waiting for a school bus on Park Avenue in Bridgeport, Connecticut. ICE stated that Melgar is from El Salvador, entered the country illegally in 2005, and had a final removal order issued by an immigration judge in October 2006. Officers allowed Melgar to contact his wife to arrange transportation for their son before taking him into custody. Connecticut lawmakers condemned the arrest as a violation of ICE's sensitive location policies and called it executive overreach. Melgar's current location remains unknown.

ICE agents attempted to arrest Oscar Ocampo, a 41-year-old from Ecuador, on Exchange Street in New Haven while he was holding his seven-month-old son during a daycare drop-off. Neighbors and activists from the New Haven Immigrants Coalition emerged and recorded the encounter, urging the agents to leave. After approximately 20 minutes, the ICE agents departed without detaining Ocampo.

Feliciano Paulino Soares, a Brazilian citizen who came to the United States in 2021, was arrested by ICE in August 2025 while a passenger in a car in Connecticut. After filing a habeas petition, a federal judge sided with him in April 2026 and an immigration judge ordered his release on bond, finding him neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community. Four days after his release, Utah police stopped Soares for speeding on his way home to the East Coast, and ICE took him from the jail and transported him to a detention center in Aurora, Colorado. U.S. Magistrate Judge N. Reid Neureiter ordered Soares's immediate release and is considering sanctions against the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and ICE for unlawfully detaining him after an immigration judge had already determined he was suitable for release.

Rihan Shinwari, an 18-year-old Afghan high school senior at Cheshire High School in Connecticut, was detained by ICE on April 6, 2026, during a traffic stop. ICE detained him based on erroneous paperwork claiming his humanitarian parole had expired in October 2025, though court filings confirmed it remained valid until October 2026. His family had legally entered the U.S. on humanitarian parole in October 2024 after his father served as an interpreter for U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Held at Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Massachusetts for over two weeks, an immigration court judge set his bond at $1,500 and ordered his release on April 21, 2026. Rihan was released on April 22, 2026, and remains in removal proceedings; his attorneys sought reinstatement of his humanitarian parole.

ICE agents arrested a nursing student in his 20s from Southern Connecticut State University on Main Street in Middletown on Tuesday, April 1st, after following him from the courthouse and blocking in his vehicle at the intersection of Main and Court streets. Middletown Mayor Gene Nocera said local police were not notified of the operation and the man was not a city resident. In response, protesters gathered on Saturday, April 4th at Washington and Main streets to oppose the arrest and ICE enforcement activity in the area, with an additional rally scheduled for Monday outside the university library demanding the student's release. The Trump administration launched "Operation Catch of the Day," an ICE enforcement operation in Maine targeting noncitizens the administration claims have criminal records. ICE agents identified nearly 1,400 individuals for potential detention in Portland, prompting criticism from local officials and Democratic state leaders who questioned the tactics and raised concerns about impacts on Maine's Somali American community.

Federal officers drove through a crowd of protesters outside Hartford's federal building on January 8, 2026, striking at least one person with their vehicles. The protest was held as a vigil for Renee Macklin Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. Hartford police are investigating potential hit-and-run and assault charges against the federal officers involved.

Gladys Tentes-Pitiur, a 25-year-old Indigenous Shuar woman from Ecuador, was detained by ICE for 135 days at Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana after being arrested outside a courthouse in New Haven on July 7, 2025. She had fled Ecuador due to persecution and traveled through seven countries with her two young sons, surviving cartel kidnapping in Mexico before arriving in New Haven in November 2023. After an immigration judge granted her asylum on October 17, 2025, based on the violence she experienced in Ecuador, she was released on November 19 and reunited with her children. Her lawyer noted this was an increasingly rare outcome, with Tentes-Pitiur's case being the only successful asylum grant her office had achieved in 2025.

Zia S., a 36-year-old Afghan immigrant who served as a U.S. military interpreter, was detained by ICE on July 16, 2025, during a routine USCIS appointment in East Hartford, Connecticut, for biometric processing related to a Green Card application. Despite having lawful parole status until October 2026, no criminal convictions, and approval for humanitarian parole due to Taliban threats, he was moved to a detention facility in Plymouth, Massachusetts. A federal judge issued a 72-hour stay to prevent his deportation, and after nearly three months in custody, a second immigration judge ordered his release on a $15,000 bond on October 9, 2025. The government's subsequent motion to reverse the release was rejected on October 21, 2025. Zia was reunited with his wife and five children in Connecticut. His son Rihan was also detained by ICE in Plymouth during this period.

On October 15, 2025, ICE agents conducted a raid at a car wash in Hamden, Connecticut, detaining between seven and eight people. Among those detained were parents of school-age children. Witnesses reported seeing masked agents in tactical gear and unmarked vehicles; one person was slammed to the ground and another was placed in an unmarked van. An agent allegedly threatened a witness who inquired about detainees. Hamden's mayor, town council president, state legislators, and immigrant rights advocates held a press conference that afternoon to express concern about the raid and family separations.

Ricardo and Leonard Chavez, two brothers, were tased and arrested by ICE agents in the middle of Main Street in Norwalk during the Operation Broken Trust enforcement action. A video posted to social media documented the tasing and arrest of the two men by federal agents.

ICE Boston, in coordination with the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, DEA, and ATF, apprehended 65 people during a four-day enforcement operation from August 12-15, 2025, targeting transnational organized crime, gangs, and offenders with serious criminal histories across Connecticut. The operation, named Operation Broken Trust, included arrests at courthouses in Stamford, Norwalk, and Danbury, as well as street arrests. According to ICE, 29 of the 65 people arrested had been convicted or charged with crimes including kidnapping, assault, drug offenses, weapons violations, and sex crimes. The operation was conducted in response to Connecticut's Trust Act, which limits state and local law enforcement cooperation with ICE. Immigration advocates protested the operation and criticized ICE's tactics, including arrests at courthouses and use of force against protesters.

Edwin Calva, a 27-year-old from Ecuador, was arrested by ICE agents at Danbury Superior Courthouse on August 15, 2025. According to ICE, Calva had been convicted of larceny and arrested on charges of domestic violence, third-degree assault, breach of peace, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct, and unlawful restraint, with two charges of violating a protective order as felonies. Calva had pleaded not guilty to all charges and his cases remain pending. His sister Monica Apolinario stated that Calva was called to court by his public defender on a day when he wasn't scheduled for a hearing. His girlfriend Jossie Gutierrez said Calva was the sole supporter of his ill mother in Ecuador and expressed fear he would be deported and killed, citing the fate of his nephew who was deported and killed in his country of origin.

Juliana Soares, an advocate with Greater Danbury United for Immigrants, was physically assaulted by ICE agents while protesting at Danbury Superior Courthouse on August 14, 2025. Soares stated that an ICE agent walked into her, shoved her into a group of armed agents, and another agent pushed her so forcefully she nearly fell. She was also screamed at loudly by another agent, causing her ear to ring. Soares was threatened with pepper spray and arrest during the incident.

Two men were arrested by ICE agents inside a Stamford courthouse on August 11, 2025, around 11:15 a.m. Federal officers in military-style vests entered the building, forced open a bathroom door, and removed the men in handcuffs. Witnesses reported the use of pepper spray and described the operation as aggressive and disruptive to court proceedings. The arrests occurred after President Trump's administration reversed a federal policy that had prohibited immigration enforcement in courthouses.

Zia S., 35, an Afghan immigrant and father of five who served as a translator for U.S. troops for five years, was detained by ICE agents on Wednesday outside a USCIS office in East Hartford while submitting biometric information for his green card application. Zia, his wife, and children fled Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in 2021, fearing retribution for his work with U.S. forces. The family arrived legally in the U.S. in October 2024 on humanitarian parole and "boarding foils" from the U.S. embassy in Islamabad, and all seven family members had approved Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applications granting them a pathway to permanent residency. ICE transported Zia to a detention facility in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and issued an expedited removal order claiming he did not enter the country legally—a claim his attorney, Lauren Cundick Petersen, disputes. Petersen said Zia told her he feared returning to Afghanistan, where he faced death threats for his service to U.S. forces; according to No One Left Behind nonprofit, more than 300 Afghan translators and their family members were killed between 2014 and 2021.

Nancy Martinez, a 37-year-old factory worker and 15-year resident of New Haven, was arrested by ICE agents on June 9, 2025, while driving her two U.S. citizen children—13-year-old Monse and 8-year-old son—to school. Masked and armed agents in three unmarked vehicles boxed in her car, handcuffed her in front of her children, and did not present a judicial warrant or identify themselves as ICE. Martinez's grandmother came outside to help the children after her arrest. She was detained in multiple facilities across Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, and Texas before being deported to Mexico approximately one month later. Martinez subsequently filed a federal civil lawsuit against ICE and the federal government alleging violations of her constitutional rights, including assault, recklessness, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and unlawful detention.

ICE agents detained an estimated 12 to 15 people in Danbury on June 17, 2025, in what Greater Danbury Unites for Immigrants described as a significant enforcement operation. According to witnesses, one woman was removed from her car (which contained children's toys) on a residential street, and at least one man was taken from outside the Danbury Superior Courthouse. The detentions, which occurred across 5th Street, Moss Avenue, and White Street near the courthouse, sparked fear in the community and prompted a rally organized by immigrant advocacy groups. The operation was part of stepped-up immigration enforcement across Connecticut in recent days.

Four undocumented employees from Guatemala were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during a worksite enforcement operation at D-Hand Car Wash in Southington, Connecticut on June 9, 2025. The agents, who did not initially identify themselves, asked employees for documentation and papers around 9:30 a.m. The operation was conducted by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations Hartford division along with Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations. Community members and advocates gathered at the Hartford courthouse Monday evening in response to the incident.