Human Impact Project

A man identified as Oscar (also referred to as Ashley's husband in one account) was detained by immigration authorities during a Green Card interview in February 2025 at a USCIS office in Broward County, despite his lawyer's assurance that detention was unlikely and his lack of a criminal record. He was held at the Krome detention facility in Miami before being deported to Honduras, the country he and his wife had fled after she, an environmental activist, received death threats. His wife, a mother of four daughters, remained in the U.S. initially but traveled with their daughters to Honduras in March 2025 to reunite with him. The family continues to navigate separation, with his wife working multiple jobs to manage the instability caused by the deportation, while he described himself as fearful and 'at the mercy of God and his will.'

A.G., a Venezuelan national with Temporary Protected Status and a pending asylum application, was detained by ICE agents during a traffic stop in Orange County while driving to work. Despite holding a valid driver's license, work permit, and Social Security card, he was handcuffed and held in ICE custody for several days. During detention, ICE repeatedly pressured him to self-deport. He was released on his own recognizance with assistance from Rep. Anna Eskamani and legal advocates.

Jacqueline, a Guatemalan immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for a decade, became pregnant while her husband was detained after a traffic stop and subsequently deported to Guatemala in March 2025. Left without income, transportation, or support, and fearful of ICE enforcement under the Trump administration, Jacqueline avoided leaving her home during her later pregnancy despite the risks. A local nonprofit clinic arranged and paid for Uber rides to enable her to continue prenatal appointments. Her 8-year-old U.S. citizen daughter and unborn child were left vulnerable as the family lost its primary provider and support system.

Genry Ruiz Guillén, a 29-year-old Honduran man with schizoaffective disorder, was transferred to ICE custody in October 2024 and held at Krome North Service Processing Center in Florida. While detained, he suffered seizures, dizziness, fainting spells, confusion, and loss of consciousness. In December 2024, during a phone call, he told his mother three times that he was about to faint and did not feel well; she was unable to reach him afterward. He was hospitalized for acute psychosis and later transferred between three Larkin Health System hospitals for psychiatric care and treatment of rhabdomyolysis, a life-threatening muscle breakdown condition. He died in custody; his mother traveled to the detention center seeking information and was notified of his death weeks later, and his body was repatriated to Honduras. The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner ruled his cause of death as 'complications of schizoaffective disorder,' but medical experts, including a former New York City chief medical examiner, questioned this finding, citing concerns about multiple medications in his system and the unresolved rhabdomyolysis. He was one of seven migrants who died in ICE custody during the first three months of the Trump administration.

Maksym Chernyak, a 44-year-old Ukrainian man who fled Russia's invasion and entered the U.S. legally under a humanitarian parole program in August 2024, was arrested in January 2025 on a domestic battery/assault charge and transferred to ICE custody at the Krome North Service Processing Center in Miami-Dade County. In the days before his death, he reported fever, chest pain, an irregular heartbeat, and blood in his stool, but went several days without seeing a doctor and his elevated blood pressure went untreated. On February 18, while held in an overcrowded room with about 30 other detainees, he suffered a stroke with multiple seizures and became unresponsive; staff reportedly took 15 to 40 minutes to call 911 and initially accused him of drug use, though toxicology later showed no intoxication. He was hospitalized at HCA Florida Kendall Hospital, where doctors confirmed a hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage, declared him brain dead, and he died two days later. His wife said he had been in good health before detention and was pressured to sign documents without a translator. Medical experts reviewing his case for Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights concluded that delays in emergency response and higher-level care likely contributed to his death, and his case was examined as part of a broader look at rising ICE detention deaths.

Harpinder Singh Chauhan, a 56-year-old British entrepreneur and father of two on an E-2 investor visa who had lived in the United States since 2016, was detained by ICE on February 11 despite lawful presence and serious medical conditions including diabetes, pancreatitis, asthma, and heart issues. He was shackled and transported seven hours to Krome North, where he spent nearly four days in overcrowded, freezing processing cells with no beds, showers, or privacy. ICE officers confiscated his insulin and asthma inhaler, which his family had delivered to the facility, and denied him prescribed medications and his dietary regimen. He contracted a respiratory illness amid an uncontained tuberculosis outbreak. At FDC, officers locked him in a cell without a functioning toilet or air conditioning and threatened him when he requested to move. On April 20, after nearly a week without insulin, Chauhan collapsed while standing in a dinner line at BTC and was hospitalized with signs of cardiac distress. His son Aaron could not obtain information from facility staff and discovered his father had been admitted under an alias name, "Hank Campbell." Officers transferred Chauhan back to BTC after three days in the hospital. Throughout detention, when he repeatedly asked about his personal possessions including his passport, staff responded with hostile all-caps messages. An officer mocked his name during roll call; the officer was briefly suspended with pay but returned to duty. In mid-May, facility staff informed Chauhan that his passport had been lost, further delaying his deportation. He was deported to the United Kingdom in June.

In Coral Springs, Florida, an armed federal agent was recorded at a neighborhood playground while heavily armed agents, some carrying shields, raided a home down the street.

A woman from Honduras was detained at Krome's processing room where she reported the one toilet in her cell was covered in feces. Despite repeated requests for cleaning supplies, officers told her sarcastically, 'Housekeeping will come soon.' No one ever came. She was denied pain relief for menstrual cramps and provided only a menstrual pad. After transfer to the Broward Transitional Center, she fell from her bunk in March. Although an X-ray showed no fracture, her ankle became swollen and bruised. She walked in pain for a week before receiving crutches, after repeated requests for some form of relief.

In late February 2025, ICE transported several women to Krome North Service Processing Center, a male-only facility, and confined them for days in a tiny cell that grew from 25 to 31 women with a single exposed toilet. The toilet was visible through windows to adjacent rooms housing men. Officers denied the women showers, saying clearing a section was 'not feasible.' Officers refused to provide medications the women had brought, claiming they were not authorized to treat women. A woman with diabetes was hospitalized after being denied insulin. Another with gallstones was denied medication for days until she began vomiting green bile and lost consciousness, requiring emergency gallbladder removal. She was returned to the cell without prescribed medication. A third woman also had to be hospitalized. When all three returned, officers again refused their medications. Only after women posted signs saying they were being treated inhumanely were they taken — shackled — to shower after four days.

A 56-year-old British man with diabetes, pancreatitis, and heart disease was detained at a routine annual ICE appointment in early February 2025 and shackled on a bus outside Krome for up to three hours. His family delivered a three-month supply of medications including insulin he needs four times daily, but staff failed to administer them consistently. When transferred to FDC, he received some heart medication and minimal insulin but nothing for pancreatitis. During his April 15 transfer to BTC, guards sent his medications to Krome instead. At BTC, a doctor dismissed his asthma diagnosis, saying 'No one has asthma over 18,' and refused to hear his medical history. Five days later, he collapsed in the dinner line. His family discovered he had been registered at the hospital under a false name. ICE refused to share any information about his condition. He was returned to BTC in shackles after three days.

Andrea, a 31-year-old woman from Argentina with a Green Card who has lived in the United States since age three, was arrested in February 2025 after calling police during a domestic dispute with her partner. A judge approved her release on $1,000 signature bond, which her family paid, but ICE issued a detainer and transferred her to Krome North. She was shackled on a multi-stop bus journey and spent a night on the bus in shackles when Krome was closed. At Krome, a male-only facility, she was confined in a small visitation room with up to 30 women with no beds, showers, or privacy for the toilet. She was denied medical care and later transferred across the country to Houston Processing Center for two months, where officers repeatedly failed to inform her of court dates and cut off contact with lawyers and family for 48 hours. Andrea was postpartum, having given birth three months before detention and breastfeeding until arrest; her mother relocated to Florida to care for her children. She was released in late April after authorities retrieved documentation of an expunged cannabis conviction.

Doris Flores, a Honduran immigrant who entered the U.S. in 2023 and applied for asylum after being threatened in Honduras, was arrested by Polk County Sheriff's deputies in late January 2025 after they responded to a school threat report involving her 8-year-old daughter Briana. During the investigation, deputies discovered Flores and her fiancé had deportation orders and contacted ICE. Flores was detained, and her 4-month-old baby Briany was placed in the care of her pastor and his wife to avoid foster care. Flores had a deportation order issued in May 2025 for a missed asylum hearing that she said was due to computer issues.

A Brazilian man was caught up in a fight between detainees in the Krome canteen in late January. Staff took him outside and beat him. One guard choked him; when he bit in self-defense, another yanked his arm backwards, causing a serious injury. He was denied a sling and given only basic pain medication for a few days. In late March or early April, he sustained knee injuries during recreation. Despite visible swelling and signs of infection, he was denied timely care. By the time he was hospitalized, staff had to drain fluid from both knees. Hospital staff told him any further delay could have resulted in amputation. He required a wheelchair but was assigned to a top bunk at FDC despite repeated requests to be moved.

Marvin Hernandez Lopez, who entered the U.S. in 2013 and has been living here with family and a business, was detained by ICE while traveling to work last month. He argues ICE is wrongfully holding him under a statute requiring mandatory detention instead of one allowing bond hearings. The court granted a temporary restraining order preventing his transfer outside Florida's Middle District while his habeas petition is pending, but denied his request for immediate release or bond hearing.