Human Impact Project

José Gonzalez, a 53-year-old Mexican national and well-known manager at BiCE Ristorante in Palm Beach who also operates the Tacos Agave food truck, was detained by ICE on December 10 after a Florida Highway Patrol traffic stop for dark window tint while driving his nephew's truck on a supply run. Gonzalez claims he has a valid work permit and driver's license connected to an ongoing immigration or asylum case. He was transferred between multiple detention facilities before being held at Alligator Alcatraz in the Everglades. Friends and colleagues, including Table 26 owner Eddie Schmidt, described Gonzalez as someone who spent over 20 years serving the Palm Beach County restaurant community with dedication and generosity. During his 12 days in detention, Gonzalez reported cold conditions, open toilets, limited privacy, and approximately 80 people held in cramped cage-like conditions. Staff at the detention facility encouraged him to self-deport, which his 23-year-old nephew chose to do; Gonzalez refused. Community members organized vigils, rallies, and circulated petitions that gathered nearly 2,000 signatures calling for his release. U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel and Palm Beach County Commissioner Gregg Weiss organized a vigil on December 21. Gonzalez was released on December 22-23, and expressed gratitude for community support. His nephew remains detained at Krome detention facility after signing expedited removal papers.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with Border Patrol and Florida Highway Patrol, conducted immigration enforcement operations in central Palm Beach County on December 8, 2025, including roadblocks and an attempted raid on a residential construction site. Activists estimate at least 50 people were detained during the sweeps, with children separated from apprehended parents. A 19-year-old U.S. citizen was wrongly detained but later released. Local officials stated the operations disrupted the community and economy.

Josue Rodriguez Perez, a Cuban immigrant who fled Cuba with his father in 1993 and held legal U.S. residency, was detained by ICE at a federal office in Miami in July while trying to renew his work permit. He spent 40 days in the Natrona County jail in Wyoming and was later deported in September to Mexico, a country where he has no ties. Rodriguez, a commercial truck driver with a valid U.S. work permit, is now sharing an apartment in Cancun with other deported Cubans, unable to be with his wife and family or see his brother, who is battling advanced cancer. He had lost his legal residency years earlier following a felony conviction tied to a car accident and subsequent addiction, but had since married, rebuilt his life, and worked as a truck driver.

A Haitian citizen who entered the U.S. in 2023 and was paroled was arrested in Bay Harbor Islands, Florida on April 16, 2025 for battery. After conviction on November 4, 2025, he was detained by immigration agents on November 10, 2025 and transferred to Central Valley Annex in California. The court granted his habeas petition, finding he was not subject to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2) and ordering a bond hearing within 14 days.

Multiple Haitian nationals deported from the United States described arriving in Haiti with little money and missing property. Reginald Dorvilma, 36, arrested in Orlando after a fight with his roommate, said a friend disappeared with his banking password and money, leaving him with less than $40 and no way to pay for a dangerous trip home through gang-controlled territory. Dikenson Gerard, 29, said his hometown of Gressier had become so dangerous his family fled, and he feared being killed trying to reach them. Natacha Antoine, 42, a former nurse's aide who lived in Indianapolis for four years and cared for 10 patients, was deported after being accused of a sham marriage, which she denies, and said she was shackled during the flight and never had her $600 passport returned. Ribeneks Dorvil, 29, detained at a Marion County immigration court hearing after five years in Indianapolis, said his iPhone worth up to $2,000 went missing from his returned property. Bruno Chery, 34, arrested at a Massachusetts court hearing while carrying more than $6,000, said authorities never gave him access to the money after moving him between detention facilities, saying, 'I lost everything.' A Human Rights Watch report released in September, based on interviews with 44 deportees, found the U.S. has deported more than 470 people to Haiti since July, with flights landing in Cap-Haitien because the Port-au-Prince airport is considered too dangerous; the city's population has tripled to more than 1 million as it absorbs new arrivals. Interviewees said they went hours without food or water and days without bathing while in U.S. detention, and that documents and money were not returned upon arrival. One 38-year-old man interviewed for the report had lived in Florida since 2019 working at the same hotel for six years before being deported, leaving behind his wife and 5-year-old U.S.-citizen son.

A father from Guatemala, separated from his daughter at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2017, was returned to Guatemala under the first Trump administration but came back to Florida in 2021 to reunite with his children under the Ms. L settlement agreement. He was re-separated from his children in October 2025 after being stopped in West Palm Beach while performing landscaping work near Mar-a-Lago. He was detained first at Alligator Alcatraz in the Florida Everglades, then transferred to Camp East Montana in Texas, where he reported being fed moldy food with worms and berated by guards; he also learned that a fellow detainee died from mistreatment. The ACLU filed a motion on behalf of detained Ms. L parents, and he was released in April 2026. Though reunited with his children, he continues to feel tracked through ankle monitoring and required bi-weekly ICE check-ins, and his children worry he will not be present when they leave school.

Garcia's husband was arrested by a Manatee County sheriff's deputy on a DUI charge last October and transferred to ICE custody. He is being held at a detention center in California. Garcia, a mother of three, works as a cleaner and party venue staff member while applying for a T visa (trafficking victim relief) for both herself and her husband at a cost of approximately $15,000. She disclosed that at age sixteen, smugglers brought her into the U.S. and held her against her will for years in what she describes as kidnapping; her husband faced labor abuse as an H-2A visa migrant farmworker before overstaying. Since his arrest, Garcia has taken only one day off for an immigration appointment. Most of her earnings go toward legal fees and her husband's detention account so he can purchase food and make phone calls home. With limited funds remaining, she struggles to feed her children and has had to forgo celebrating family birthdays and holidays.

A father from an unnamed country who was separated from his daughter at the US-Mexico border in 2017 and reunited with his children in Florida in 2021 was detained by ICE in October 2025 at Alligator Alcatraz in the Florida Everglades and transferred to Camp East Montana in Texas. While detained, he experienced poor conditions including mouldy food with worms and witnessed a fellow detainee's death from asphyxia due to neck and torso compression. The ACLU filed a motion and he was released in April 2026, but remains subject to ankle monitoring and bi-weekly ICE check-ins.

Marcos Antonio De Oliveira Barros, 57, has been held at Broward Transitional Center in Florida for nearly six months since his September 2025 ICE detention for overstaying his tourist visa. His daughter, an American citizen, filed an I-130 petition to initiate his green card process and launched a GoFundMe campaign to cover legal costs, citing financial hardship as the detention has impacted her family's income from their construction business.

Jose Hernandez Alvarez, a man from El Salvador, was pulled over by Florida Highway Patrol Trooper John Petrofsky in Lake Worth Beach for driving with dark window tint. After the trooper contacted federal immigration authorities, Petrofsky arrested Alvarez, whom he said lacked legal status, and jailed him for driving with an expired license. Petrofsky identified Alvarez as "white" on official forms. WLRN reviewed 107 traffic cases involving Petrofsky in Palm Beach County and found he did not identify a single "Hispanic" driver during an 11-month period, raising questions about accurate race and ethnicity reporting that could hinder independent monitoring of alleged racial profiling.

Denny Lener Abad, a Venezuelan actor and singer known on social media as Lener Abad, was detained by ICE agents on September 18 while traveling from Miami to Orlando for work commitments. He has lived in the U.S. for more than four years, has a pending immigration case, and holds a valid work permit and driver's license, according to people close to him. He is currently being held at the Indian River County Jail in Vero Beach, Florida. Abad is known for appearing in the Puerto Rican reality show "PR La Casa del Campo," and family and friends say he has no criminal record and are requesting help spreading information about his case.

Costa Rican content creator Julián Valverde, known online as Julián Valjota, has been released after being detained by the Polk County Sheriff's Office for driving with an expired license, an incident that led to him being turned over to ICE. A Florida state judge set bail at $250, and Valverde confirmed he regained his freedom and will be able to remain in the United States for now. In an emotional video posted to social media, he thanked family, friends and strangers who supported him during his detention, including reuniting with his sister, and said the experience taught him a lesson about responsibility.

Richard Antonio Goitia, a 37-year-old Venezuelan insurance agent and father of two young daughters, was detained by ICE following a traffic stop on September 9 in the Kissimmee area near Orlando, Florida. According to family members, police contacted immigration agents after asking for his documents, and ICE agents arrived within minutes and arrested him. Goitia has lived in the U.S. for about 11 years, has a pending asylum case, holds a valid work permit, and has no criminal record. His family started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for his legal defense.

Darian Maldonado Medina, a Venezuelan with Temporary Protected Status, was detained by ICE during a routine check-in in Tampa on September 5, 2025, and deported to Venezuela three weeks later. He had valid TPS status at the time of detention, a pending family petition through his U.S. citizen mother, and a 15-month-old U.S. citizen son and partner remaining in Florida. A federal court order had extended TPS protections prior to his deportation. Lawyers have argued that the deportation violated federal law and court orders.

Ismael Cerro, a 39-year-old Mexican national who immigrated to the U.S. over a decade ago, was detained by immigration authorities during a traffic stop on his way to work in September 2025. He spent two months in ICE custody at Alligator Alcatraz and Krome detention centers. Cerro filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's blanket policy that classified undocumented immigrants found in the U.S. as ineligible for bond hearings. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in his favor in May 2026, determining the policy unlawful and restoring bond eligibility for detainees in Florida, Alabama, and Georgia.

Jose Manuel Allende, a 58-year-old who came legally to the U.S. from Cuba through the Freedom Flights, was detained by ICE in his driveway in September 2025 due to a decades-old criminal history and lack of citizenship. His family secured a motion to stay and a motion to reopen his case, but he remains detained at the Federal Detention Center in Miami facing deportation on April 6 if not released, creating a legal standoff where he cannot complete his pending green card application while in custody.

Detainees at Florida's 'Alligator Alcatraz' immigration detention facility reported that guards deployed teargas and beat detainees indiscriminately with batons during an alleged uprising. The incident occurred after migrants began shouting for 'freedom' upon learning of a relative's death. Florida and ICE officials denied the reports and stated detainees receive safe conditions. The facility faces a court-ordered closure within 60 days.

Catholic priest Gustavo Andrés Santos Higuera, a Venezuelan national born in Valencia in 1993 who moved to the U.S. in 2012, was denied reentry by Customs and Border Protection at Miami International Airport on August 19, 2025, while returning from an international trip via London, despite holding a valid R-1 religious-worker visa valid through November 2025. Santos, ordained a deacon in 2022, had served as parochial vicar at St. John Neumann Church in Miami since 2023. Archbishop of Miami Thomas Wenski and pro bono attorneys from Catholic Legal Services petitioned a federal court for his release, alleging he was denied access to counsel, and asked that authorities be barred from transferring him out of Florida. The Archdiocese called the detention 'unexpected and unjust.' CBP later reconsidered and released Santos, allowing him to resume his ministry, though he subsequently resigned from the parish to take another assignment, surprising parishioners who praised his pastoral work. His case reportedly prompted USCIS to ease certain R-1 visa renewal requirements for religious workers.

Luis Fernando Hong, a 20-year-old Venezuelan man from Coro, Falcón, was detained by ICE on August 20 in Hallandale Beach, Florida. He arrived in the U.S. in 2016 at age 10 as part of his family's asylum application, which was filed three months after their arrival, and has a pending asylum case along with a valid work permit and no criminal record. Hong works at Wells Fargo as a personal banker, and was intercepted by immigration agents outside a Walmart after going to the gym following his work shift. He is currently held at the Miramar processing center. A family member described him as 'a good young man' who has lived in the country for more than 10 years while following the law and maintaining good behavior.

Maria Ursula Borja Valle, a 54-year-old Mexican immigrant who had lived in the U.S. for nearly three decades without a known criminal record, was detained by ICE on August 8-9, 2025, while attending a scheduled immigration appointment to apply for Parole in Place, a benefit for immediate relatives of active-duty service members. Valle, who suffered a stroke in 2021 and requires ongoing medication, is the mother of Marine Cpl. Jose Manuel Vilchis-Valle, who enlisted after recruiters told him military service could help protect his family from immigration enforcement. After being held at Broward Transitional Center and then transferred to a Border Patrol processing center in Texas, she was deported to Mexico by August 11, 2025. Her son, who completed four years of service and was honorably discharged shortly after her deportation, said, "I gave four years of my life to this country... but knowing that this country doesn't want my mother makes me feel terrible." His sister Mia, a nursing student, described their mother as "a very kind lady," while another sister, María Constanza, expressed concern for Valle's safety in Mexico since their parents have died and she has no family support there. The family hired an attorney who filed a motion to stay deportation and started a GoFundMe for legal costs; an AP investigation found more than 50 parents and spouses of active-duty service members have been detained since Trump took office for a second term, with at least six deported.