Human Impact Project

Antonio Frometa Ascón, a 63-year-old Cuban immigrant who came to the U.S. in 1994 after being paroled through Guantánamo, has been in ICE custody since Aug. 14, 2025, when Florida Highway Patrol stopped him on his way to work under the state's Operation Tidal Wave crackdown. He was first held at the South Florida Detention Facility, where he alleges a guard's blow left him partially deaf, then transferred to Camp East Montana in El Paso, where he witnessed a detainee's death, and later moved to the ICE El Paso Service Processing Center. Cuba has refused to accept his deportation, and he has refused removal to Mexico as a third country, citing fears of cartel violence and extortion. His first granddaughter was born while he has been detained, and he says he has not been able to meet or hold her. He has filed pro se and attorney-assisted habeas corpus petitions arguing his prolonged detention violates the Supreme Court's Zadvydas v. Davis limits on indefinite confinement, and a federal judge has yet to rule as his health and mental state decline and his family says he has grown depressed awaiting word from his lawyer.

Luis Manuel Chavarría-Galeano, a 48-year-old exiled Nicaraguan journalist who hosts the interview program Café con Voz, was detained by ICE agents on September 14, 2026 while working as an Uber/Lyft driver near Orlando to supplement his journalism income. He fled Nicaragua in 2018 after police raided his newsroom and imprisoned colleagues over his reporting critical of Daniel Ortega's government, filing for asylum in the U.S. in June 2019 with a pending case, a valid work permit, and no U.S. criminal record. In 2023, the Ortega-Murillo government stripped him and 93 other journalists, writers, and activists of their citizenship. His wife, Daykel Santamaría, said she received only a brief call before his phone was taken, during which he asked her to contact a lawyer and notify journalists. He was held at Baker Correctional Facility and then Krome North Service Processing Center, where press freedom groups including the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders, Nicaraguan opposition members, and U.S. lawmakers such as Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar called for his release. An immigration judge granted him bond on September 23, and he was released on September 26, with a future immigration court hearing scheduled.

Olga Lebedeva, a Russian woman who has lived in Sarasota, Florida for nearly a decade, has been held at ICE's Eloy, Arizona detention facility since August 19, when she was separated from her husband and two sons at the Phoenix airport. She entered the U.S. legally in 2016, co-owns a women's clothing boutique with her husband, and holds a work permit valid until 2029, with her asylum application still pending and no criminal record. Her family, unable to afford the nearly $90,000 bond set by the court, has started a fundraiser, while her attorney has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the legality of her continued detention.

Carlos, a recent graduate of Miami Beach Senior High who was preparing to begin college in finance, was detained by ICE and is being held at a Border Patrol facility. His family says he is being given little food, sleeps on the ground with only a paper blanket in cold conditions, and has suffered a recurrence of pancreatic pain that staff reportedly cannot treat because he is under 21. His brother describes him as hardworking and caring, noting he maintained top grades, played high school football, and enjoys mountain biking and helping others at the gym, and says his mental health is deteriorating in custody. The family is raising funds to hire a lawyer, seek bail, and fight his case before a judge.

June Sanson, a legal observer with the Rapid Response Alliance for Immigrant Safety and Empowerment who has lived in Collier County since 2009, said she was confronted by an ICE agent while monitoring enforcement activity at an Immokalee gas station. Sanson said the agent, whom she later identified as the same agent involved in wounding a U.S. citizen during the Sept. 23 Naples Manor raid, pointed his gun at her and demanded she move her vehicle. Sanson works with other legal observers to document ICE encounters for potential civil rights violations.

Lorenzo Sánchez, born in Guantánamo, Cuba, was studying to become a heavy-machinery mechanic when he fled Cuba by boat in the 1980 Mariel boatlift after saying Fidel Castro's government had targeted him for his political ideas. In the U.S. he learned English while working at a museum and school, earned certificates in cabinet making, blueprint reading, and technical drawing, and spent decades building a life in Florida. In June 2025, in his mid-60s, he was arrested for drinking a beer on a Florida beach; a records check turned up a 1991 deportation order and ICE took him to a Miami detention center, then to a hospital in El Paso while he was still recovering from diabetes-related amputation of the toes on his left foot. Told he would be sent to Cuba, he was instead taken across the border — "You're going to Mexico. Cuba doesn't want you," officials told him — and bused over three days from Piedras Negras to Villahermosa, Tabasco, a city he had never visited. After 150 days at the Amparito Shelter he was left on the streets for at least five months, struggling to find water, food, and medication. "Dogs live better than we do, and they eat every day," he said. He was eventually recognized as a refugee in Mexico and is settling into long-term shelter in Guanajuato.

Elia, a mother of three who has worked as a housekeeper for nearly 20 years, was detained by police and placed on an ICE hold while traveling to see her dying grandmother in hospice care. Her daughter Sindy describes her as the family's devoted caregiver and provider, noting that her son Jonathan, who has autism, relies on her daily for support and advocacy. With Elia in custody, the family is raising money through a GoFundMe campaign to cover everyday expenses and anticipated legal costs.

José Serrano Salgado, Ecuador's former interior minister under President Rafael Correa, fled to Miami in 2021 and later applied for asylum. ICE arrested him outside his Miami home in mid-2025, and he spent nearly a year detained at Krome North Service Processing Center, where a source said he lost about 25 pounds and his prediabetes worsened into diabetes. In May 2026, an immigration judge denied his asylum claim but granted deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture after he showed he faced torture if returned to Ecuador. Three Trump-appointed appeals judges reversed that protection within a day of reviewing the case, and Serrano was deported to Ecuador within hours, sent on a private jet in late August 2026. He now faces murder charges over the 2023 assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio and is held in a maximum-security prison, where a source said he has been abused, including having his fingernails smashed, being denied food, and being told footage of him stripped naked would be shared with Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, a political rival of his former boss.

ICE agents detained a man who was resisting arrest inside Bravo Supermarket in West Park, Florida. A witness recorded video showing multiple agents attempting to subdue the man on the floor of the store as customers looked on. The arrest was part of a larger multi-agency operation, Operation Sandhill Sentinel 9.0, involving ICE, Border Patrol, HSI, the Florida Highway Patrol and the Broward Sheriff's Office, which has reportedly resulted in about 250 immigration arrests in South Florida.

Jose Gregorio "Grego" Pena Pacheco, a 51-year-old Venezuelan man living in Davenport, Florida, was detained by ICE on September 17, 2026 while driving a short distance from his home to take out the trash, still in his pajamas without shoes. He has a pending asylum case, is authorized to work in the U.S., and has no known criminal history, but has a chronic illness requiring daily medication that he did not have with him at the time of detention. His sister Eliana received one brief call from him on September 18 during which he could not identify his location, and family and friends have since been unable to confirm his whereabouts or whether he received his medication. He reportedly told his sister he was given three documents in English, a language he does not speak fluently, asking him to choose between leaving the U.S., paying for release, or remaining detained while fighting his case. His family has retained an immigration attorney and is asking the community for help locating him and information about his case.

Marlon Cervelo, a 51-year-old Cuban national, was reunited with his wife Judith Castellanos in Houston after a federal judge granted his habeas corpus petition and ordered his immediate release from ICE custody following eight months in detention. The release came three days before a scheduled September 21 hearing. Cervelo had been detained during a routine check-in appointment with ICE and was transferred among facilities, including Krome and the Federal Detention Center in Miami, where Castellanos had complained in July about high temperatures from air conditioning failures, with other detainees' families also reporting water pressure issues and roaches; the Federal Bureau of Prisons acknowledged the problems and said they were resolved. Castellanos said tracking her husband's location during his transfers was one of the hardest parts of his detention, and Cervelo described the experience as traumatic. He was released with an ankle monitor and remains under immigration supervision as his underlying removal order still stands.

Carlos Felipe Jaramillo Grajales, a 55-year-old Colombian national living in Jacksonville, Florida, was sentenced to three years in federal prison after pleading guilty to aggravated identity theft, passport fraud, falsely claiming a Social Security number, and falsely claiming U.S. citizenship. Court records show he began using a stolen U.S. citizen's identity in 2003 to obtain a Florida driver's license and a U.S. passport, later registering to vote in 2010 by claiming to be a naturalized citizen and casting ballots in multiple elections, including the 2020 presidential race in Duval County. While using the assumed identity, he married a woman who was unaware he was not actually a U.S. citizen; she later naturalized based on the marriage, and the couple divorced in 2020. He returned to Colombia, reentered the U.S. under his real name via a fiancé visa sponsored by his ex-wife, and the couple remarried in June 2025. A federal court entered a judicial order for his removal to Colombia following his prison term. The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations in Jacksonville, along with the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service and the Social Security Administration's Office of Inspector General.

Raúl Suárez Herrero, a 59-year-old Cuban man who moved to the U.S. at age 12 and lived there for nearly five decades, was detained by ICE during a routine annual check-in in July 2025. He was held at the 'Alligator Alcatraz' detention facility in the Florida Everglades, where he says guards locked him in a metal cage roughly the size of a phone booth for more than 15 hours after he prayed aloud for a fellow detainee having a seizure. Suárez said he was kicked hard enough to bruise his leg, denied food and medical care, and left unable to lie down while fearing snakes and mosquitoes entering the cage, an experience he described as leaving him psychologically 'shattered.' A former truck driver who built a business with his brother, a U.S. citizen who died of COVID in 2021, Suárez was deported to Mexico in February 2026 after a federal judge's deadline for his release or removal passed. A DHS inspector general report later confirmed the facility used such small cages, calling the practice 'highly unconventional,' though DHS disputes claims that conditions were inhumane.

Xavier Jordán, an Ecuadorian businessman accused by Ecuadorian prosecutors of being an intellectual author and financier of the 2023 assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on September 16, 2026 at an intersection in Doral, Florida. Video circulated on social media showing masked agents taking Jordán into custody, and his wife was also detained during the operation. His lawyer, Juan Carlos Salazar, said Jordán had applied for asylum, had a hearing scheduled for the following May, had been legally residing in the U.S., and said the Interpol red notice against him was not active. DHS said Jordán entered the U.S. on February 3, 2020 with authorization to stay until August 2, 2020, overstayed by more than six years, and cited a prior criminal record and an outstanding Ecuadorian arrest warrant. He is one of seven people charged in Ecuador in connection with Villavicencio's killing, which occurred after a campaign rally in Quito in August 2023; prosecutors allege Jordán orchestrated the assassination to protect economic interests tied to slain drug trafficker Leandro Norero. He remains in ICE custody at the Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana, as deportation proceedings continue.

A Venezuelan legal permanent resident who runs a food truck with his son in Miami-Dade was repeatedly confronted by a man posing as a high-ranking ICE official, according to a federal complaint. Jonathan Christian Gonzalez Reyes, a 45-year-old Colombian national, allegedly used a badge, firearm, and a vehicle with police-style lights and sirens to convince the victim he worked for ICE, then demanded free food and money in exchange for help with immigration issues. When the food-truck operator refused, Gonzalez Reyes allegedly threatened to plant drugs in the truck and pistol-whip the owner's son, prompting the victim to call police. He was later identified through a photo lineup and vehicle registration records and has been charged with falsely impersonating a federal officer.

Sirena Prosper, a hairdresser and mother of seven who owns Royal Hands Salon in Pompano Beach, Florida, was detained by ICE agents at her shop's back door on September 14, 2026, while her three youngest sons, ages 14, 12 and 10, watched, one recording on his phone. Family members said agents refused to return her son's ID unless she came to the door, then grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her out of the shop; ICE said she resisted arrest. Prosper was born in the Bahamas to Haitian immigrant parents and has lived in Florida since infancy, but faces deportation to Haiti, a country relatives say she has never known, based on a 2002 final removal order tied to a 1998 armed burglary and larceny conviction. Her family said her removal had previously been canceled due to a medical emergency and that she had complied with ICE check-ins for two decades. She is being held at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center, a facility advocates say saw two deaths over the summer. Relatives, who describe her as a loving mother and hairdresser, held a prayer vigil outside her salon and are caring for her children while seeking to halt her deportation.

Matías Alejandro Pourrain, a 34-year-old Argentine soccer player for Miami United FC and youth coach, was detained by ICE agents at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on August 6 while preparing to travel with his team to a championship match. He had lived in South Florida since 2019, held a work permit, Social Security number, and Florida state ID, and said he had no criminal record. Pourrain was transferred across multiple facilities, including Krome, one in Miramar, and one in Laredo, Texas, describing being shackled for extended periods, held in overcrowded rooms, and given little or moldy food. His teams, Miami United FC and Club de Lyon FC, described him as an exceptional player and beloved member of their organizations, while his wife, Stefi Almandoz, remained in Miami during his detention. His attorney, Regina Borges, secured a bail hearing, and he was released on a $20,000 bond on August 28 after nearly three weeks in custody, opting for phone check-ins instead of an ankle monitor so he could continue coaching. DHS said Pourrain had overstayed his authorized six-month stay and disputed his claims of inhumane conditions.

Roxana Valladares, a 29-year-old Salvadoran woman, spent the night at a hospital in Homestead, Florida with her 6-year-old son, who had a fever and was struggling to breathe, before rushing to line up outside the Miami immigration court for a mass hearing. She arrived by Uber at 4 a.m. with a blanket, a change of clothes, a cooler with water and snacks, and a folding beach chair, ending up third in line for a 1 p.m. hearing amid crowds stretching around the building. Her son slept on a blanket on the sidewalk while she fanned him as they waited. Valladares said she had originally been scheduled for a hearing in September 2027 but received a notice the week before to appear instead. She said she crossed the border two years earlier to seek asylum after fleeing domestic violence and fearing for her life and her son's, and that she was told missing the hearing could result in an automatic deportation order.

An unidentified immigrant man with an active work permit was detained by ICE agents in a West Palm Beach parking lot on September 11, according to the nonprofit Guatemalan-Maya Center. His two U.S. citizen children, one of whom is deaf, were left without a parent because their mother was already in ICE custody. The nonprofit's assistant director rushed to the scene to provide legal guidance and care for the remaining family members.

Pietro Graza de Lima, a gay Brazilian man who lived in Orlando, Florida for about seven years running a small services business, fled Brazil after corrupt police shot him over his sexuality, an attack that cost him a kidney and left lasting physical damage. After his student visa expired and he was arrested for drug possession, ICE detained him for nearly two years, including time at Eloy Detention Center in Arizona. On April 16, 2026, an immigration judge granted him protection from deportation to Brazil under the Convention Against Torture, but ICE continued holding him while seeking another country to deport him to. After he refused to sign a document accepting removal to Liberia, he was shackled for roughly 36 hours and flown to Liberia—where he and other detainees refused to disembark—and then to Equatorial Guinea, a country with which he has no ties. His attorney said he was denied the interview he was entitled to under CAT protections before being sent there. He and about a dozen other deportees have been confined at a decommissioned hotel, Hotel Bamy, in Malabo, where armed officers confiscated his phone on September 8, 2026 after he spoke with journalists, cutting off contact with his attorneys and leaving him unreachable since September 9, 2026.