Human Impact Project

A 22-year-old Colombian national was detained at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana after entering the United States on November 16, 2022. She received deferred action status approved by USCIS on February 3, 2025, valid until February 3, 2029. On June 9, 2026, following a credible fear interview with USCIS, she was taken into custody after the asylum officer determined there was no credible fear of persecution or torture. An Immigration Judge affirmed this negative credible fear determination on June 30, 2026. The district court denied her emergency motion for temporary restraining order and stay of removal on July 9, 2026, citing lack of jurisdiction and finding the motion attempted to improperly shortcut the habeas corpus process.

Ricky, a longtime U.S. resident who arrived as a young child in 2000 and lost his DACA status, was detained by ICE. He is married to an American citizen, Katya, and they have two young children in East Tennessee. His family is seeking legal assistance for a T Visa application, waiver, work permit, and other relief options to prevent his deportation to Mexico, where they say he faces safety risks.

Akram Mahmoud Omar, 77, a Palestinian-born lawful permanent resident who lived in the United States for 50 years, was detained by ICE in October 2025 during a routine check-in at Angola prison's ICE detention facility. While in custody, Omar suffered a heart attack and underwent triple-bypass surgery. On May 29, 2026, Federal Judge Brian Jackson ordered Omar's release, finding ICE violated his constitutional rights and due process. However, on June 8, 2026, ICE re-arrested Omar at his home without warning and attempted to deport him to Israel the following morning, directly defying the judge's order. A second emergency court order forced ICE to release him again and prohibited further detention or removal pending a June 24 hearing.

A DHS Office of Inspector General inspection of Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana found multiple violations affecting approximately 1,500 detained immigrants. Facility staff failed to properly report use-of-force incidents including a chokehold and a pen stabbing, and did not maintain adequate sanitary conditions, proper food storage temperatures, or medical records. The facility lacked documentation of disciplinary actions or remedial training for officers involved in use-of-force incidents.

A non-citizen man was stopped based on an alleged traffic violation on June 4, 2026, and subsequently detained by ICE. He is currently being held at the Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana. Proceeding pro se, he filed a Petition for Temporary Restraining Order asking to be immediately released under appropriate conditions of supervision and asking that respondents be enjoined from 're-detaining' him. The court found that the bare allegations he raised were insufficient to show a substantial likelihood of success on the merits. Accordingly, the court denied his Petition for Temporary Restraining Order.

Mamuka Artmeladze, a 43-year-old man from Georgia, died on June 4, 2026, after being found unresponsive in his cell at Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana. He was rushed to Winn Parish Medical Center, where staff were unable to resuscitate him and he was pronounced dead about an hour later. Artmeladze had been in ICE custody since February 2026, detained during an enforcement operation inspecting commercial vehicle drivers, and had not yet had a court date. His death followed that of Alejandro Cabrera Clemente at the same facility on April 11, and came after a Department of Homeland Security inspection documented insanitary conditions, inadequate medical care, and use-of-force violations at Winn, including an officer using a banned chokehold and another stabbing a detainee's thumb with a pen. He was reported to be the 50th person to die in ICE custody during the Trump administration's second term. An autopsy was pending to determine the official cause of death.

A 23-year-old South American woman was granted protection from deportation to her home country by an immigration judge in June 2025 after fleeing persecution based on her queer identity. Despite this ruling, ICE has held her in Richwood Correctional Center in Monroe, Louisiana for over a year while seeking to deport her to the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country where she has never been and where she would face serious risks.

A 39-year-old man from Honduras was arrested by Homeland Security Investigations and the St. Charles Parish Sheriff's Office in Luling, Louisiana, on charges including first-degree rape, oral sexual battery, and aggravated crimes against nature involving a child victim. The joint investigation began after allegations that he had sexually assaulted a child over two years. He was initially booked on second-degree rape before additional charges were filed the next day. ICE filed an immigration detainer against him on May 28, the same day he was taken into custody; officials said he had no prior immigration encounters on record.

A leaked video from an ICE detention center in Louisiana shows detainees begging for food. Former detainee Victor Nery and Chris, originally from El Salvador, reported being subjected to hunger and poor conditions, with cells holding 90-110 detainees each.

A U.S.-born mother of four was stopped at an ICE checkpoint in a residential area of Lafayette and detained despite presenting a valid Louisiana state ID and Social Security card. ICE agents accused her documents of being forged, handcuffed and shackled her at the ankles, and transported her to a USCIS field office for interrogation before moving her to South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile. An immigration attorney secured her release by submitting identification documents. ICE did not apologize and confiscated her Social Security card.

New Orleans is seeing a growing population of stray animals linked to immigration enforcement. A dog named Chia was left behind after ICE detained her owner and gave birth to 9 puppies at an auto shop in New Orleans East. The Louisiana SPCA reports that previously owned animals surrendered in 2025 were nearly double prior years. Residents are driving nightly to feed growing numbers of stray cats in affected neighborhoods.

Annie Yaritza Ramos Alvarado, a 22-year-old Honduras-born immigrant who came to the U.S. as a toddler in 2005, was detained by ICE agents on April 2, 2026, at Fort Polk military base in Louisiana while trying to register for military benefits just days after marrying U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Matthew Blank, 23. Ramos, a college student with no criminal history, had applied for DACA in 2020 though her application was never processed, and was working with a lawyer to adjust her status through marriage. Her detention stemmed from an outstanding removal order issued in 2005 after her family missed an immigration hearing when she was 20 to 22 months old. She was held for about five days at an ICE facility in Basile, Louisiana, before being released on April 7 with a GPS ankle monitor, though a DHS spokesperson said the government would continue pursuing her deportation. "All I have ever wanted is to live with dignity in the country I have called home since I was a baby," Ramos said in a statement.

Anstasiia and Andrei, Russian activists who fled Russia fearing retaliation for their involvement with the Navalny campaign, sought political asylum in the U.S. but were detained at separate ICE facilities in Louisiana. Anstasiia was held at Basile ICE jail, where she alleges she was stripped naked and confined to a glass room for 24 hours. She also reported that women detainees were subjected to male guards while showering and using the bathroom. Andrei was detained at Allen Parish Public Safety Complex. The facilities are reported to have conditions including physical and sexual abuse, medical neglect, rat infestations, black mold, expired food, and prolonged solitary confinement.

Eliana G. was detained before her asylum court proceedings began in 2025. After losing her asylum case, she waived her right to appeal and elected to self-deport. Despite this choice, she remained in ICE custody across Arizona and Louisiana detention facilities for over seven months awaiting travel documents. A court designated Ecuador as her third-country deportation location despite her being originally from Honduras, but she has not been given an opportunity to contest this choice. She has two children, ages 10 and 2, living with family members in Western Massachusetts.

A native of Nicaragua was detained by ICE in May 2026 and is currently held at Richwood Correctional in Monroe, Louisiana. He was granted withholding of removal as to Nicaragua under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). He filed a habeas corpus petition and emergency motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to prevent his deportation or transfer, arguing that deportation to Mexico would violate his due process rights and expose him to refoulement to Nicaragua despite his CAT withholding order. He is a member of the D.V.D. class, consisting of individuals subject to final removal orders whom ICE plans to deport to third countries. The district court denied his motion for temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, citing the Supreme Court's prior stay denial in the D.V.D. class litigation and the principle of avoiding duplicative litigation.

Barbara, a young woman from Tigray, Ethiopia, fled her country's civil war and traveled through Brazil before crossing into the US, where she was detained by border police and sent to an immigration detention center in Louisiana. A judge granted her withholding of removal, a protection barring deportation to her home country, but months later she was abruptly put on a flight and deported to Cameroon on April 28, 2026. As of September 2026, she remains at a government-run migrant shelter in Yaoundé alongside about 20 other deportees from nearly a dozen African countries, saying she has no family there and struggles because most residents speak French while she speaks English. She hopes to seek asylum in Cameroon rather than return to Ethiopia.

A 23-year-old South American woman was deported to the Democratic Republic of Congo after being detained in Louisiana for 15 months by ICE. An immigration judge had previously granted her protection from removal to her home country after she claimed persecution based on her LGBTQ+ status. Despite a federal magistrate judge's recommendation for her release in a lawsuit filed in December, she was deported before a district judge could approve the recommendation as part of a third-country deportation agreement.

Alejandro Cabrera Clemente, 49, from Valle de Santiago, Guanajuato, Mexico, had lived in the United States for about 25 years and was married to a U.S. citizen, though he had not obtained legal residency. He was arrested by ICE on January 8, 2026, in Tennessee and transferred over five days through facilities in Tennessee and Alabama before arriving at Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana on January 13. During roughly three months in custody he was treated for high blood pressure, fever, and back and throat pain, receiving medication according to ICE. On April 11, 2026, he was found unresponsive with facial paralysis and cyanosis during a security check; resuscitation attempts failed and he was pronounced dead at Winn Parish Medical Center. The coroner attributed his death to natural causes from cardiovascular disease. Guanajuato's Human Rights Secretariat located his sister in Atlanta and offered funeral assistance and possible repatriation. His death was one of several ICE custody deaths reported in early 2026.

Marie-Thérèse Ross, an 86-year-old French citizen and widow, was arrested by ICE agents on April 1, 2026, at her home in Anniston, Alabama, for overstaying her 90-day tourist visa. Ross had entered the U.S. in June 2025 on a Visa Waiver Program to marry William Ross, a retired U.S. military veteran whom she had known since the 1950s after meeting him while he was stationed at a NATO base in France. After her husband died unexpectedly in January 2026, she fell out of legal status and became involved in a contested probate dispute with her late husband's stepsons over his estate. She was handcuffed at her home and transferred to an immigration detention facility in Basile, Louisiana, where she was held for 16 days in dormitory conditions with approximately 58-70 other women. Despite suffering from pre-existing heart and back problems, she experienced deteriorating health during detention and reported post-traumatic stress symptoms. An Alabama judge noted that her stepson, a former state trooper and federal employee, may have used his position to prompt her detention. Following intervention by the French foreign minister and the French Consul General, who visited her twice and coordinated with U.S. officials, Ross was released and returned to France.

Maria, a 29-year-old woman, fled Colombia in January 2024 after being kidnapped and tortured by the FARC rebel group and abused by her ex-husband, a police officer. In May 2025, a U.S. immigration judge found she would more likely than not be tortured if deported to Colombia and granted her protection under the Convention Against Torture. She was nonetheless detained at a routine ICE check-in earlier this year, told a third country had been found for her, and less than three weeks later flown to the Democratic Republic of Congo with her hands and feet restrained during a nearly 24-hour charter flight, learning her destination only the day before departure. She is one of 15 Latin Americans the Trump administration has sent to Congo, many despite U.S. court orders barring their deportation to their home countries, and a recent court ruling found the government likely broke the law in deporting a fellow Colombian there.