Human Impact Project

Wilmer Roberto Solano Dávila, a 59-year-old Venezuelan journalist and Uber driver with a pending asylum case, was pulled over by Customs and Border Protection agents while driving a rideshare fare near Haulover Beach. He had entered the U.S. legally on a journalist's visa in 2015, held Temporary Protected Status from 2021 until it lapsed in September 2025, and had a valid work permit and Florida driver's license, but was detained and held first at a Dania Beach processing site and then at the Krome North detention complex. He described being packed into an outdoor tent with as many as 250 people and no visible smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, or sprinklers, before being released on $5,000 bond after 19 days in custody and now wears an ankle monitor while his asylum case continues. Solano previously worked as a correspondent covering Venezuelan opposition politics and said he was attacked by government officials while reporting in 2011.

Animal shelters across Broward, Palm Beach, and Miami-Dade counties are seeing a rise in pets surrendered due to immigration enforcement. Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control has received at least 19 pets this year as a direct result of immigration arrests, including an 11-year-old poodle who is sick and partially blind. Rescue organizations have taken in animals like Mud, a terrier mix found starving in a locked backyard weeks after a family was deported, as well as Nino, a dog returned to the shelter he was adopted from two years earlier, and Bruce, a pit bull mix left behind when his family was forced to leave. The Doral shelter has been operating at nearly double its designed capacity, and groups like Good Karma Pet Rescue and Lady Luck Animal Rescue say they have limited resources to keep up with demand.

A Human Rights Watch report released on July 21, 2025, documents severe conditions at three Florida immigration detention facilities—Krome North Service Processing Center, Broward Transitional Center, and Federal Detention Center Miami—between January and June 2025. The report profiles 11 detained immigrants and includes interviews with family members and lawyers. Detainees experienced overcrowding (Krome reached 249% capacity by March), denial of critical medications including insulin and inhalers, forced sleep on cold concrete floors, degrading treatment including forced eating without hands, and excessive force including stun grenade deployment during protests. Substandard medical care is alleged to have been linked to two deaths. The detention population surge followed Trump administration executive orders establishing prolonged detention policies, with overall U.S. immigration detention reaching 56,000 people daily by June 2025, the highest level in U.S. history.

On July 21, 2025, Dan Mathers of Key West was arrested by a Customs and Border Protection agent while filming the agent detaining a Haitian immigrant on Eaton Street. Mathers was accused of threatening the agent and held for 8 hours at a facility in Marathon before being released. The Haitian immigrant was also later released. Mathers was unable to contact his family until approximately 9:15pm.

Gaetano Cateno Mirabella Costa, 45, an Italian national from Sicily, was arrested by ICE officials in early 2025 upon his release from jail after serving a six-month sentence for domestic violence and drug possession. He is being held at the ICE detention center known as "Alligator Alcatraz" in the Florida Everglades, where he is housed with 32 other detainees in cramped conditions with open bathrooms. According to his account to Italian state broadcaster RAI, he has been denied access to a lawyer or judge. His mother, Rosanna Mirabella Costa, reported he appeared at a hearing in shackles and has not seen daylight for extended periods. DHS states Costa overstayed his B2 visa by nearly seven years. Italian diplomatic officials have sought consular access to verify his wellbeing, and Italian lawmakers have pressed for intervention over detention conditions.

An 18-year-old Key West High School senior and wrestler was detained by immigration agents on December 2 while driving his mother's car to school and was held at the Everglades detention facility before being deported to Honduras within a week. He is now staying with his grandparents near San Pedro Sula, a place he left with his mother at age 6, and says he hopes to return to the life they built together. His mother says he had been in the process of adjusting his legal status through a petition filed by her husband, a U.S. citizen, and friends and community members have raised funds to pay for an attorney to review his case.

Federal and state lawmakers toured the newly constructed Alligator Alcatraz detention facility in Florida's Everglades on July 12-13, 2025. The facility, built in eight days on an isolated airstrip, houses nearly 1,000 detainees with plans to expand to 4,000 capacity. Democratic lawmakers reported seeing detainees in cages with harsh conditions including extreme heat, insects, and inadequate sanitation facilities, while Republican officials characterized the facility as clean and well-functioning. The tour followed earlier Democratic attempts to visit the remote facility.

Lee Stinton, a 45-year-old Irish hairstylist from Northern Ireland who had lived in Key West since 2018, was detained by ICE on June 12 after being stopped for a traffic violation on his e-bike. During the stop, an ICE officer told him "You look Mexican" before taking him into custody. Stinton had valid work authorization and a pending green card application through VAWA (Violence Against Women Act) protection after his previous marriage ended in domestic violence charges. An ICE officer also threatened to detain Stinton's partner, DeVaun Davis, a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier and U.S. citizen, after seeing his photo on Stinton's phone. At Krome Detention Center near Miami, Stinton was held in severely overcrowded conditions—a cell designed for 10 people held approximately 100 men on a concrete floor with one toilet—denied vegan food despite being vegan, given limited access to showers and medications, and experienced obstacles contacting a lawyer. During his detention, Stinton was taken to a hospital where subdermal piercings were surgically removed without his consent while he was shackled to a bed. He also witnessed a detainee die after not receiving heart medication. Stinton is a valued community member with no criminal record who had been paying taxes since 2019; a local petition for his release drew over 1,500 signatures. After approximately one month in detention, Stinton was deported to London on July 12 and returned to Northern Ireland, where he has since engaged in therapy and part-time work. His case drew international attention with coverage in the BBC, Belfast Telegraph, and other outlets.

Edgar, a 36-year-old DACA recipient who arrived in the U.S. from Mexico as a 13-year-old in 2001, was detained in early June 2025 after a warrant for missing a court date related to driving with a suspended license, and was held at the Florida Everglades detention center known as "Alligator Alcatraz." After 13 days there, he was transferred to the Glades County Jail, where his attorney, Josephine Arroyo, was finally able to meet with him in person; she had previously been unable to reach him despite repeated attempts. Edgar is the father of three U.S. citizens with no criminal record and maintains valid DACA status through regular renewals, and he told Arroyo he was transported alongside other detainees who held valid work permits. Arroyo has asked ICE to terminate proceedings against him and release him, and said she plans to file a federal habeas corpus petition this week if he is not released.

NBC6 reviewed dozens of 911 calls made from April through June 2025 from family members and employees at Krome Detention Center requesting medical assistance for detainees. The calls document cases of unresponsive detainees, chest pains, blood coughing, and other serious health conditions where facility staff allegedly did not provide adequate medical response. A recent report found detainees were held beyond the 12-hour limit and some did not receive required medical and mental health screenings upon arrival.

Immigrant detainees at a state-managed detention facility in the Florida Everglades are alleging conditions including lack of water, electricity issues, inadequate food, and excessive mosquitoes. Detainees from Cuba and Colombia have reported being denied access to bathrooms, showers, medicine, and legal representation. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has requested access to monitor the facility, while state officials deny the allegations.

In North Palm Beach, Florida, an 18-year-old U.S. citizen pulled over in a traffic stop was told by an officer: 'You don't have any rights here. You are a Migo, brother.' He was taken into custody despite his mother, who was also a passenger, reportedly telling officers that he was a U.S. citizen and showing them a picture of his Social Security card. Florida Highway Patrol and Border Patrol agents had stopped a van with him, his mother, and two other workers, one of whom was tased and each put in a chokehold.

Alfredo Fuentes and Luz Mary Vasquez Cruz, relatives of a man targeted by ICE, were arrested after ICE agents entered their home without a judicial warrant. The agents threatened to break down the door and pointed guns at the family members, who told agents they had no warrant. Fuentes and Cruz were charged with forcibly assaulting, resisting, or impeding a federal officer.

Marvin Isaac Caceres Maradiaga, a Honduran citizen with a 2023 removal order, was surveilled at his Tampa home by ICE agents who suspected his residence. When ICE confronted him, relatives emerged and an altercation began. ICE agents entered the home without a judicial warrant, obtaining only verbal "consent" after threatening to break down the door. Caceres fled but was later apprehended.

Alexis, a 15-year-old from Chiapas, Mexico, was detained on July 1 when Florida Highway Patrol stopped a vehicle he was traveling in with friends and handed him over to federal authorities. He had no criminal record. The teenager spent three days at Alligator Alcatraz, a controversial temporary detention facility consisting of tents and chain-link pens, housed with adults and handcuffed during transfer. Officers said he misrepresented his age upon arrest because he feared being separated from his group. His father, Ignacio, learned of his detention only after three days when one of Alexis's friends called from the facility. After Ignacio sent a photo of Alexis's birth certificate and authorities confirmed his age, the boy was transferred to a federal shelter for migrant children on July 4. Ignacio, who fled Chiapas in 2018 due to violence, is working to reunite with his son. State officials have said minors are not held at Alligator Alcatraz, though a draft operational plan for the facility included provisions for separating and supervising minors if present.

Paul John Bojerski, 79, a Polish-born refugee who legally immigrated to the U.S. in 1952 and lived there for over 70 years, was detained by ICE in late October 2025 based on a decades-old deportation order from 1968. Despite having no passport and no country to return to, Bojerski was taken into custody after attending a routine ICE check-in and transferred to Alligator Alcatraz detention facility. His family reports his health has deteriorated significantly during detention, and he now awaits resolution of his case.

A 15-year-old Mexican national was detained by Florida Highway Patrol in Tampa and transferred to Alligator Alcatraz, a detention facility in the Florida Everglades designed for adult detainees. The teenager initially claimed to be an adult, but was transferred to a shelter for migrant children after his age was confirmed. State and federal officials initially did not acknowledge the minor had been held at the facility before acknowledging it after media confirmation.

Pascual Miguel Andres, 45, a Guatemalan undocumented immigrant who has lived in the US for 17 years, was detained by ICE on August 15, 2025, after being turned over by Florida Highway Patrol following a minor traffic accident. His two daughters, Yulisa and Yeniffer Andres, are U.S. Marines serving in California, and have applied for "parole in place" to secure his green card and release. Andres has no criminal history and is father to four children, including a son who plans to enlist in the Air Force. He was initially held at Alligator Alcatraz detention facility before being transferred to Krome Detention Center.

Isidro Perez, a 75-year-old Cuban man who arrived in the U.S. in 1966, died on June 26, 2025 after 21 days in ICE custody at Krome North Service Processing Center in Miami-Dade County. He was arrested on June 5 during a law enforcement operation in Key Largo and charged with inadmissibility under the Immigration and Nationality Act, based in part on prior drug convictions from 1981 and 1984. On June 17, he was admitted to Larkin Community Hospital with unstable angina and chest pain with EKG changes; he was discharged on June 25. On June 26 at approximately 7 p.m., he reported chest pains while in the Medical Housing Unit at Krome. Miami Dade Rescue responded with life-sustaining interventions including CPR and defibrillator shock, and he was transported to HCA Kendall Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:42 p.m. His cause of death is under investigation, with medical reviewers suspecting acute myocardial infarction. He is the fifth person to die in ICE custody in Florida since January 2025.

Fernando Eduardo Artese, 63, a dual Italian-Argentinian citizen working as a security camera technician, was stopped during a routine traffic stop on June 25, 2025, while driving with his family in a camper van. Officers discovered an outstanding warrant for failure to appear in court for a driving violation. Artese had been living legally in the US since 2018 under the Visa Waiver Program and was planning to self-deport and relocate to Argentina with his family. He was detained and transferred to the ICE facility known as "Alligator Alcatraz" in the Florida Everglades, where his family reports he has been denied information about his case and access to legal representation.