Human Impact Project

An immigration detainee was detained under immigration law 8 U.S.C. § 1225 at Orange County Jail in Florida. The court granted a temporary restraining order on May 6, 2026, enjoining respondents from detaining him and ordering his immediate release if held on immigration charges. Orange County Jail released him in accordance with the court order, making the habeas corpus petition moot. A man who entered the U.S. without inspection in December 2022 but was formally paroled by DHS and had complied with all conditions for 3.5 years was arrested during a routine traffic stop in Oklahoma and taken into immigration custody. He was transferred between detention facilities before arriving at Golden State Annex in California. The court granted his habeas petition and ordered his immediate release, finding his detention without pre-deprivation process violated due process rights.

Alina Rosales Aguirreurreta, a physician and daughter of historic Cuban general Ulises Rosales del Toro, was detained by ICE in South Florida in May 2026. She had entered the United States in 2023 on a B1/B2 tourist visa issued at the U.S. Embassy in Havana and was living in South Florida while seeking to regularize her immigration status. ICE confirmed her detention but did not publicly disclose the specific reason for the detention or the facility location.

Henry Morales Hernandez, 55, a former Venezuelan Army Major with an active asylum case, has been detained by ICE since May following a traffic stop in Florida. Prosecutors dismissed the driving under the influence charge, with breath test results below the legal limit. Morales Hernandez arrived legally on a tourist visa in 2021 and has been granted Temporary Protected Status while his asylum case proceeds in immigration court.

Marvin Suazo, 43, self-deported to Honduras on May 25, 2026, after ICE agents raided his workplace and deported six of his employees earlier in the year. Suazo had lived in the U.S. undocumented since 2014, after fleeing violence and economic hardship in Honduras and seeking asylum, but a prior deportation made him ineligible to stay legally. His wife Maribel and daughters, including Samantha, who became a U.S. citizen in 2025, and 11-year-old Zhoe, remained in the country. Before his departure, the family took a final trip together, visiting Washington, D.C., Orlando and Miami, following Samantha's graduation from Yale University, with photojournalist John Moore documenting their farewell at the Miami airport.

Jorge Cubillos, a 42-year-old truck driver from Bogotá who fled threats from armed groups in Colombia, was deported to the Democratic Republic of Congo despite holding withholding of removal protection granted by an immigration judge in 2022 under the UN Convention Against Torture. He had lived in the U.S. since 2018, settling with his wife and four children in St. Cloud, Florida. After an arrest on a domestic battery charge, ICE lodged a detainer and detained him in Orlando, holding him for more than three months and moving him between facilities in Orlando, Jacksonville, and Louisiana while he filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his detention. He was flown to Kinshasa in shackles on April 15, 2026, after refusing to sign paperwork agreeing to relocation to Mexico, one of 15 Latin American migrants sent to Congo under a Trump administration deal with Kinshasa. He is now housed in a Kinshasa hotel with other deportees, reporting poor conditions including power cuts and lack of drinking water, and is receiving assistance from the International Organization for Migration while awaiting possible repatriation to Colombia.

Adys Lastres Morera, a lawful permanent resident living in Florida, was arrested by ICE Homeland Security Investigations on May 21-22, 2026, following the revocation of her green card by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The revocation was based on her sister Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera's position as executive president of GAESA, Cuba's military-controlled business conglomerate. Morera had arrived legally as a permanent resident in January 2023 and subsequently registered as manager of real estate investment companies in Florida. After her arrest, she was transferred to the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana, and held pending removal proceedings. Her son, a U.S. citizen, disputed the revocation and sought legal representation.

Javier Batista Pérez, 62, and Emilio Nieves Matanzas were deported to Cuba on May 21, 2026, despite having pending appeals and approved habeas corpus petitions in federal court. Both men had no criminal records and were transferred to detention centers in Louisiana before deportation. A federal judge had ordered ICE to explain Nieves Matanzas's deportation, with a response deadline of July 27, 2026, and the Department of Homeland Security has since agreed to let him return to the U.S. under a special parole that his attorney says could lead to permanent residency under the Cuban Adjustment Act. His family, based in Cape Coral, Florida, said he had been in detention for five months after being stopped by ICE during a traffic stop in November 2025.

Emilio Nieves Matanzas, a Cuban national residing in Florida with an I-220A document, was arrested by ICE during a traffic stop on November 23, 2025, and deported to Cuba on May 21, 2026, while his asylum appeal and habeas corpus petition were pending in federal court. On June 14, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security granted him special parole to return legally to the United States, where he can seek permanent residency. His attorney argued the initial deportation violated constitutional protections for immigrants awaiting higher court decisions.

A teenager's father was arrested by ICE. The mother, who works as a cleaner and does not drive, now bears sole financial responsibility for the household, including $2,500 monthly rent, utilities, and legal fees. The family launched a fundraiser to help cover expenses.

Angel Lemus-Linares, a 32-year-old from El Salvador seeking political asylum, was placed in solitary confinement at T. Don Hutto Detention Center in Texas for seven consecutive days after being beaten by ICE officers following an altercation with another detainee. He reported being locked in isolation without adequate medical care or bathroom access, and experienced multiple additional solitary confinement placements and prolonged lockdowns during his 28+ months in ICE custody. After an immigration judge denied his asylum claim in December 2025, Lemus-Linares was deported to Mexico and is now applying for refugee status.

A Cuban national who entered the United States on July 14, 2024, was arrested on May 17, 2026, by local law enforcement in Florida for Battery (Domestic Violence) under F.S. 784.03.1a1. He was subsequently transferred to ICE custody and detained at Golden State Annex Detention Facility in McFarland, California. The court granted his habeas corpus petition, finding his re-detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause, and ordered respondents to provide an individualized bond hearing within 14 days or immediately release him.

Justo Betancourt, a 54-year-old Cuban national who entered the U.S. in 1990 and held lawful status, was detained by ICE on October 29, 2025, during a routine annual immigration check-in. He was held for approximately seven months at the South Florida Detention Facility (Alligator Alcatraz) in the Florida Everglades, despite being unable to be readily deported to Cuba. During detention, he was shackled up to 23 hours daily and denied proper medical care despite having diabetes, neuropathy, heart and blood pressure issues, suffering strokes, cardiac arrest, and significant health deterioration. His daughter Arianne organized weekly vigils outside the facility for 44 weeks to advocate for his release. On May 13, 2026, U.S. District Judge Kyle Dudek granted his habeas corpus petition, finding his detention was erroneous and unlawful, and ordered his release within 48 hours. Betancourt was released on May 14-15, 2026.

Cleon 'Uncle Lou' Williams, 62, a Jamaican-born owner of Uncle Lou's Entertainment Hall in Orlando's Mills 50 district, was detained by ICE on May 9-10, 2026, following his arrest during a raid by the Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco investigating alcohol licensing violations at his venue. ICE placed an immigration detainer on Williams due to an expired visa, and he was booked into Orange County Corrections Facility with no criminal charges filed. Williams has operated the prominent music venue since 2005 and is widely recognized in Orlando's music community for supporting emerging artists, offering free performance opportunities to hundreds of local indie bands over two decades. Community members including U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost and State Rep. Anna Eskamani expressed concern about his detention, with Frost visiting him in jail. Friends described Williams as 'a pure light and joy' and a pillar of the community, and fundraisers raised over $28,000 for his legal representation.

Axel Sánchez Toledo called 911 in December 2025 requesting a welfare check on his 4-year-old daughter in Palm Beach. When sheriff's deputies arrived, they accused him of being undocumented and detained him for ICE. Body camera footage shows deputies tasering, tackling, and striking Toledo with a baton while he was on the ground, despite his claims of having a pending asylum case and documentation. Toledo spent four months in jail on a resisting arrest charge before prosecutors dropped it in exchange for an apology letter. ICE took him into custody on May 1, 2026, and he now faces deportation proceedings.

Juan Tablante, father of Atlanta United midfielder Moisés Tablante, was detained by ICE during a traffic stop while traveling from Orlando, Florida to Atlanta, Georgia. Tablante has been an asylum applicant since 2016, holds a valid work permit and driver's license, and has no criminal record. He remains in immigration detention despite his pending asylum status.

Brulan, a Haitian man who has lived in Marathon for 22 years and held valid Temporary Protected Status, was detained during a routine traffic stop on April 12, 2026, and spent nearly a month in ICE custody, including at the state-run "Alligator Alcatraz" facility in the Everglades, before being deported to Haiti on May 7 despite a federal judge's order keeping TPS protections in place. Working three jobs as a bus driver, hotel worker, and restaurant employee, Brulan sent money home every two weeks to support as many as 50 family members in Haiti. In Haiti, he encountered armed gangs controlling highways and the capital, feared for his life, and remained confined to his brother's house. His lawyer filed a wrongful detention lawsuit, and Brulan was allowed to return to South Florida two weeks after deportation; public records show only traffic citations in his background and an outstanding 2004 deportation order before he later obtained TPS, and his restaurant employer described him as a "very good soul." His case follows a similar deportation of a Tampa man with Venezuelan TPS, as the Supreme Court weighs the future of Haiti's protections, which a federal judge has kept in place through at least July 1.

Pedro Fernández, an undocumented Cuban national with a prior cocaine trafficking conviction, was detained by ICE agents in Hialeah, Florida on May 7, 2026. The detention was part of a broader ICE operation targeting undocumented immigrants with serious criminal convictions, including sexual abuse of minors, assault, drug trafficking, and other felonies. Fernández lacked documentation confirming legal residence in the United States and faces deportation proceedings.

Maikel Rojas, a 45-year-old Cuban, was released from Alligator Alcatraz detention center in March 2026 after nearly five months in custody and subsequently issued a removal order requiring self-deportation by August 4, 2026. The order requires him to obtain a Cuban passport and purchase a one-way airline ticket while wearing an electronic ankle monitor. Rojas, who arrived from Cuba in 2004 and was convicted as an accomplice to a crime in 2005 with a 13-year sentence, faces uncertainty about whether Cuba will accept his deportation and fears re-arrest by immigration authorities.

Henry Morales Hernandez, 55, a former Venezuelan army major who fled the Maduro government and sought asylum in the United States, was detained by ICE following a traffic stop in Collier County, Florida in April 2026. He was charged with driving under the influence, but prosecutors dropped the charge after determining insufficient evidence—breath tests showed blood alcohol levels of 0.036 and 0.037, below Florida's legal limit of 0.08. Despite the criminal case dismissal, ICE lodged a detainer and took him into custody on May 1, 2026. An immigration judge denied his bond request in May, relying on the arrest report despite the DUI charge being dismissed. Morales Hernandez holds an active asylum case in immigration court and previously held Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans, though the Trump administration moved to terminate that program in 2025.

A 21-year-old man from Nicaragua was pulled over by Wildwood Police for driving a vehicle with a tinted windshield. During the traffic stop, he admitted to never obtaining a U.S. driver's license and stated he had been in the United States for approximately two years and four months. He was arrested for operating a motor vehicle without a valid license and booked at the Sumter County Detention Center, where ICE placed a hold on him for transfer to their custody.