Human Impact Project

Approximately 10 days after the South Sudan deportation, five migrants from Jamaica, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, and Yemen were deported to Eswatini (formerly Swaziland). The deportees were sent to Matsapha Correctional Center, the country's main maximum-security prison. Jamaican national Orville Etoria was able to return to his country at the end of September, but four others remain detained without charge and without permission to receive visitors. According to lawyers, the U.S.-Eswatini agreement provided for the transfer of 160 deportees in exchange for $5.1 million. One detainee, Cuban national Roberto Mosquera, remains imprisoned in the country where he never committed a crime and has no family or friends.

Jonathan Jarquín, a 17-year-old, was detained by ICE on July 12 while on his way to church with another minor, Emely Suaza. Suaza was released to her father, but Jarquín's mother says she has been unable to locate her son since. She says she only receives vague text messages about sponsorship from an unknown number, and that the attorney she hired has stopped responding despite being paid. She said she is afraid to come forward publicly to search for him out of fear she could be detained herself, and added she would rather have her son sent back to his home country than remain in uncertainty about his detention.

A stateless man born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents entered the United States on September 5, 1982 with an F-1 student visa. He was ordered removed on July 18, 2007, with his removal order becoming final on December 12, 2007 when the Board of Immigration Appeals denied his appeal. He was designated for removal to Kuwait with Egypt as an alternative destination. After being released from ICE detention on July 3, 2008, he was re-detained on July 7, 2025 at a routine ICE check-in without notice or opportunity to contest the revocation of his release. Over nine months of continued detention, ICE made only one documented effort to secure travel documents—a letter sent to Egypt in January 2026, six months after his re-detention, with no response received. The court found no significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future and granted his habeas corpus petition, ordering his immediate release on the same conditions as before his re-detention, with protections against re-detention without a pre-detention hearing and restrictions on removal to a third country without due process.

An immigration attorney who is a U.S. citizen was denied reentry to the country after traveling abroad and was flagged by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The attorney shared her experience on social media to help others understand what to expect when reentering the U.S. after travel, particularly for those with removal of condition cases, green card holders, or recently naturalized citizens.

Ward Sakeik, a 22-year-old stateless Palestinian woman who has lived in the U.S. since age 8 and is married to a U.S. citizen, was detained by ICE in February 2025 upon returning from her honeymoon at St. Thomas Airport in the U.S. Virgin Islands. She was under an order of supervision and had a pending green card application at the time of her arrest. During her roughly five months in custody, the government attempted to deport her twice, including once despite a federal court order blocking her removal. Sakeik described conditions in ICE facilities as overcrowded with inadequate food. She was released from ICE custody on July 2, 2025, and has since advocated for other detainees.

Two Southeast Asian migrants, clients of attorney Tin Thanh Nguyen, were deported to Eswatini in July 2025 and have been held in isolation without legal representation or explanation of charges. Neither the Vietnamese nor Laotian governments have publicly declined repatriation, and the governments have not had direct access to the men. The attorney states his clients wish to return to their home countries. The Trump administration has not explained why they were not repatriated to Vietnam or Laos, claiming such deportations are reserved for individuals their own countries will not accept—a claim the deportees' legal representatives dispute. A human rights lawyer in Eswatini sued authorities alleging the men were being denied legal representation while held in a maximum-security prison.

Carmen, a woman who fled domestic violence and obtained a restraining order against her abusive husband, applied for a U-Visa in March 2025 after he was deported. Despite having a pending U-Visa application and valid work authorization, she was detained during a June 2025 immigration check-in and deported in July 2025 along with her 8-year-old son. Upon arrival in her home country, her husband was waiting for her at the airport. She is now controlled by him—he confiscates her passports and phone, forbids her from leaving the house without permission, and she lives in constant fear.

Are we in Moscow or Beijing ?Unmarked vans. Masked agents. Beating protesters into the concrete. And for what? For speaking out against ICE. They call it “impeding federal operations.” We call it what it is: kidnapping. All 3 were released with no charges. So why brutalize them in the first place? This is America in 2025. 👀 🎥This video is from July 2025 #usa #abolishice #humanity #abusive #power

Anh Dung Cong Tran, known as "Tony," was deported to Vietnam in July 2025 after living in the U.S. for decades. He came to the U.S. in 1990 through a program for children of American military personnel born in Vietnam. Tran, 56, had a son, Antonio, who served in the U.S. Army as a specialist before being discharged in March 2025 following a serious injury. Tran had been making regular check-ins with immigration authorities following an assault conviction soon after his arrival in the U.S. His son said his father had persuaded him to enlist in the military in 2022.

A single mother of three granted legal status under the child separation settlement was deported to Honduras in July 2025 along with her children, despite possessing protections under the federal settlement agreement. According to court records, she has received death threats from local men seeking to extort money since her return.

A 60-year-old Afghan migrant, Baqir Rezaei, died in an Iranian detention camp in Zabol after being intercepted despite holding an official exit permit. He was held without food or water and forced to work under extreme heat conditions. According to his family, at least eight migrants died in the camp out of 35 who lost consciousness from heat and thirst.

Thirty young people were arrested after blocking an ICE detention facility near Alligator Alcatraz. A journalist covering the action was also detained by police. The protesters are demanding the shutdown of all ICE facilities and the abolition of ICE.

A man was detained by ICE on 10/14/25 in Harbor Gateway (228th & Western) while riding his bike home from the store. He did not have an active deportation order. A family member stated he does not pose a threat to national security. Legal assistance is being sought for his case.

A pregnant U.S. citizen was detained by Border Patrol agents approximately two weeks prior to this report. The individual stated they did not believe they had done anything wrong. The article documents this immigration enforcement incident involving a U.S. citizen.

A petitioner in immigration proceedings challenged his detention without an individualized bond hearing before an immigration judge. On May 15, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) ordering respondents to immediately release him from detention and enjoining them from continuing to detain him or placing any new restrictions on his liberty, such as electronic monitoring, unless he received a proper bond hearing with reasonable notice and opportunity to prepare before an immigration judge pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a). On May 29, 2026, the court held oral argument on whether to issue a preliminary injunction. At the hearing, respondents consented to the adoption of the TRO's terms as a final judgment and permanent injunction. The court granted the petition and permanently enjoined respondents from detaining him or restricting his liberty without proper process.

Migrant families with young children, including toddlers, were held for days and sometimes weeks in US Customs and Border Protection facilities with jail-like conditions, according to interviews conducted by attorneys and submitted to federal court. The filings reveal details of families detained in 2025 in border facilities not designed for that purpose, including cases where children were held for over 40 days in crowded rooms without windows. Attorneys argue CBP detention violates the 1997 Flores settlement agreement, which requires children be released without unnecessary delay and dictates conditions of custody.

Despite a 90% drop in migrant apprehensions since Trump took office, thousands continue attempting to cross the southern border through increasingly dangerous routes, with smugglers coordinating remotely by phone and sending migrants alone through treacherous terrain like Otay Mountain and the Sonoran Desert. On Sept. 14, 2025, a 30-year-old mother of three from southern Mexico, hoping to work and send money home to her children and parents, died while hiking through the Otay Mountain Wilderness after crossing from Tijuana. She sent voice messages to her family as she walked, describing helicopters and Border Patrol trucks nearby, and was within view of a federal surveillance tower equipped with infrared cameras; her body was not recovered for two weeks.

Angel Piña, a U.S. citizen, was arrested by ICE and Border Patrol agents in June or July and filed a federal tort claim on August 20 alleging racial profiling and wrongful arrest. Charges against him have been dismissed. He is one of six claimants represented by the Carrillo Law Firm alleging racial profiling by ICE and Border Patrol in Southern California.

Dzhakhar Aslambekov, a 27-year-old Russian citizen, entered the US in February 2024 and was initially released on parole in March 2024. In June 2025, ICE re-arrested him through a targeted enforcement operation after he had been working as a delivery driver and complying with immigration proceedings. The court ordered his immediate release, finding his re-detention without a hearing violated his Fifth Amendment due process rights.

A Peruvian woman who crossed the U.S. border illegally was acquitted of unauthorized access to a newly designated militarized zone along the southern border. The trial involved charges related to the new militarized zone at the US-Mexico border.