Human Impact Project

Edgar Vásquez Silva, a DACA recipient born in Mexico who moved to Mississippi with his family at age 3, lost his job as a deputy assistant with the Stone County Sheriff's Office after five years there. The Mississippi Department of Public Safety's Board on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Training (BLEOST) removed his certification because the board requires U.S. citizenship, even though his work focused on transport and jail supervision without carrying a weapon or making arrests. Vásquez Silva said the sheriff told him he tried everything he could to keep him employed, and Vásquez Silva, who said he supports President Trump, expressed hope of asking him for a path to legal residency.

Qingfang Pang, a 6-foot-9 junior forward for Mississippi Valley State University who is from China, was detained by ICE at an airport in Jackson, Mississippi while trying to fly to New York to meet his visa sponsor on September 29. His attorney, Marcus Session, said Pang had recently learned his student visa had expired. DHS said Pang entered the U.S. legally in November 2023 on a temporary status that expired in September 2024 and that he accepted voluntary departure, but Session disputes this, claiming ICE made Pang sign the voluntary departure document, and is now seeking bond. Pang is being held at Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana, and Mississippi Valley State University said it is 'deeply concerned' for his well-being.

Aidar Nafikov, a Russian asylum seeker, has been held at the Adams County Correctional Center in Mississippi for over a year and a half while hoping to be reunited with his family. He filed a habeas petition in April challenging his detention, and though his case was argued before Judge David C. Bramlette III in June, it remained unresolved months later. His wife, Liudmila Nafikov, said his health has deteriorated in detention, including repeated bouts of strep throat and new kidney problems, and that he has struggled to get timely medical care. A DHS spokesperson denied claims of medical neglect at ICE facilities, saying comprehensive medical care is provided to all detainees.

Heriberto 'Eddie' Reyes-Ochoa, a 34-year-old marine construction worker who came to the U.S. from Minatitlán, Veracruz, Mexico as an unaccompanied 14-year-old, has lived in Kiln, Mississippi for nearly 20 years. He was stopped by a Mississippi Highway Patrol trooper after a minor traffic accident for driving without a license and following too closely, then detained after officials found an immigration warrant and determined he lacked legal status. He was held at the Hancock County jail before ICE transferred him to the Adams County Correctional Center in Natchez. Reyes-Ochoa has no criminal record and was in the final stages of obtaining a green card through consular processing, awaiting a visa interview when he was detained. His wife of over a decade, U.S. citizen Catherine Cool, is pregnant with their first child, due in January. DHS initially claimed he had been charged with felony hit and run, a claim Hancock County officials disputed. His wife and attorneys are pursuing a habeas corpus petition seeking his release on bond, and DHS says he will remain in custody pending removal proceedings.

Detainees held at the Adams County Correctional Center, an ICE facility near Natchez, Mississippi operated by CoreCivic, reported smelling gas on August 8, followed by a power outage beginning August 10 that left the facility without air conditioning for about two days. Detainees said they were evacuated into afternoon heat approaching 100 degrees for hours, suffered headaches and other symptoms, and were denied medical care, with cells meant for two people holding three. One detainee's wife said detainees were also denied tablet devices during the disruption and feared retaliation, including solitary confinement, if seen as organizing. CoreCivic disputed the accounts, stating no gas leak was found, the outage lasted about two hours with generators functioning, air conditioning was never interrupted, and no one was denied medical care. A subsequent inspection found 23 use-of-force or restraint violations, resulting in a downgrade of the facility's rating.

Israel Makoka, 18, and Max Makoka, 15, brothers from the Republic of the Congo, were arrested by ICE agents on April 21, 2026, at a school bus stop in Diamondhead, Mississippi, while waiting for transportation to Hancock High School. Agents in roughly 10 unmarked vehicles restrained the teens with zip ties in front of classmates and family without prior notice. The brothers had entered the U.S. legally on F-1 student visas in 2023 and 2024 to attend Piney Woods School, a historically Black boarding school, living with host family Gail Baptiste during breaks; ICE said they violated visa terms by transferring to Hancock High without authorization, a change attributed to faulty legal advice. Israel was shackled and pressured to sign self-deportation papers at a Louisiana facility, while Max was isolated at a Texas youth shelter. Neither had a criminal record. After community support and intervention from Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith's office, both were released on April 30, 2026, and are now seeking reinstatement of their student visas.

Sabrina Carmona Sanchez, a 41-year-old transgender woman from Ecuador, was arrested by immigration agents on January 3, 2026, at a hotel on Long Island and transferred to ICE custody at Adams County detention facility in Mississippi. She had previously been released on recognizance by Border Patrol in 2023, granted work authorization, and allowed to remain free while her immigration case proceeded. She is now held in a men's dormitory without being offered a bond hearing, in violation of her Fifth Amendment due process rights, according to her legal team at the Center for Constitutional Rights. Her habeas corpus petition challenges the government's policy of categorically denying bond hearings to undocumented immigrants arrested under the Trump administration's July 2025 detention guidance.

Delvin Francisco Rodriguez, a 39-year-old Nicaraguan man, died on December 14, 2025 at Merit Health Natchez after a medical emergency on December 4, 2025 at Adams County Correctional Center, and his death has since been ruled a homicide. Staff found Rodriguez unresponsive in his living area on December 4 at approximately 4:15 PM and transported him to the hospital, where his family agreed to remove him from life support 10 days later. ICE told family he was found hanging in a cell with a sheet, though Rodriguez had been housed in a large open unit with over 100 people and family was not told why he was in a cell, and nurses reportedly told family his injuries appeared inconsistent with ICE's account. Rodriguez was one of 7 ICE custody deaths in December 2025 during a year that saw 33 in-custody deaths nationally, the deadliest on record for ICE detention, with 15 more deaths reported through early April 2026.

Roberto Lacoss, a former lawful permanent resident from the Philippines, was arrested by ICE in Pearl, Mississippi on September 16, 2025, following a criminal conviction for statutory rape. After being ordered removed by an immigration judge, Lacoss complied with the deportation order and departed the United States for the Philippines, with ICE deportation officers present to confirm his departure.

Randy Mesa Padrón, a 30-year-old Cuban barber, was detained by ICE on June 3, 2025, immediately after an immigration judge dismissed his asylum case without hearing his attorney's arguments. Mesa had entered the U.S. legally in February 2022 with an I-220A parole form and attended all required appointments. ICE officers were waiting in the courthouse hallway and arrested him as he left, transferring him first to a detention center in Pompano Beach where he was pressured to sign a voluntary deportation order within 24 hours, which he refused. He was later moved to Adams County Correctional Center in Mississippi. His wife launched a GoFundMe campaign that raised over $5,000 for legal defense, while his attorney pursued an appeal and habeas corpus petition challenging the detention. As of June 2025, Mesa remained in custody over a year after his initial detention.