Human Impact Project

Two noncitizens, who entered the United States without inspection several years prior and were not encountered by immigration officials at the border, were arrested and detained by ICE on July 6, 2026. They were not presented with properly executed warrants at the time of arrest nor informed of the basis for their arrests. A federal court granted their habeas corpus petition, finding the warrantless arrests violated 8 U.S.C. § 1357(a)(2), and ordered their immediate release. The court ruled that if the government seeks to re-detain them, it must provide seven days' notice and hold a bond hearing.

A divided 2-1 panel of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in an opinion by Judge Leslie Southwick joined by Judge James Graves Jr., ruled on July 2, 2026, that ICE cannot detain individuals for more than 90 days without providing a bond hearing opportunity. The case involved three migrants—two Mexican citizens and one Honduran national—who had each lived in the United States for more than a decade, had no criminal records, and were fathers of U.S. citizen children. All three were detained by ICE following traffic stops in Texas and challenged their continued detention through habeas corpus petitions, which the panel said entitled them to due process protections regardless of their immigration status. The decision stems from a July 2025 ICE memo asserting that people who entered without inspection could be held indefinitely, a policy that has triggered more than 15,000 federal court cases; the Department of Homeland Security said it disagrees with the ruling and has already asked the Supreme Court to review a similar decision from another appeals court.

Liliana, a mother of two U.S.-based children, was detained by ICE during a routine check-in in May 2017 and subsequently deported to El Salvador despite intensive advocacy efforts by immigrant rights organizations in the Washington, DC metro area, including press conferences and intervention from elected officials. The article documents her struggle to rebuild her life as a deportee facing violence, unemployment, and social stigmatization in El Salvador.

Aylin, a 28-year-old gay woman from Turkey who fled after being threatened by a religious group and a family member, had been granted withholding of removal by a US judge because returning to Turkey would endanger her due to her sexuality, though her underlying asylum application had been denied. After spending 18 months in US immigration detention, she says she was handcuffed and shackled and put on a flight she only learned mid-flight was headed to the Central African Republic, a country she had never heard of. She spent weeks confined to an apartment in Bangui, too afraid to go outside, before ultimately returning to Turkey, telling her family she had 'changed her sexual orientation' and saying she hopes to eventually reach another country. The Department of Homeland Security told CNN that third-country deportation agreements are lawful and that a protection order barring removal to one's home country does not bar deportation elsewhere; CNN reported she is one of several deportees sent to third countries despite court protection orders, and the AP found eight of nine deportees on one January flight had similar orders, with at least 35 third-country deportation deals signed by US immigration authorities.

On June 24-26, 2026, the US deported approximately 146 Venezuelans, including minors, on a repatriation flight to Venezuela. The deportees were placed in Hotel Santuario (also called Hotel El Santuario) in La Guaira while undergoing repatriation processing. Within hours, twin earthquakes struck Venezuela with magnitude and force sufficient to collapse the hotel. At least 2,200 people were killed and 50,000 reported missing across the country. Among the deportees, some were killed, others severely injured with amputations, and many remain unaccounted for. Families gathered outside the hotel rubble searching for information, hampered by limited rescue access and unclear communication from authorities.

Daniel Alejandro Núñez Ramírez, 28, had lived in Jacksonville, Florida for four years after leaving Venezuela at age 20. He was detained by ICE during a traffic stop on May 10, 2026, and pressured to sign voluntary deportation papers. He was deported on a flight carrying 146 migrants that landed in Venezuela on June 24, 2026, after which authorities placed him in the Santuario La Llanada hotel in La Guaira while repatriation procedures were completed. Hours after arrival, powerful earthquakes struck the area, collapsing the hotel and killing him instantly along with dozens of others; only 32 of the 146 deportees survived. His mother, Oswadeliz Núñez Ramírez, a lawyer, said she was not notified of his deportation until after he had been handed to Venezuelan intelligence services. She spent five days searching hospitals, morgues, and the cities of La Guaira and Caracas before recovering his body, identifying him by a tattoo, and later received only a box of his ashes after being unable to retrieve his belongings. The U.S. government said it bore no further responsibility once he left ICE custody.

Marta and 14 other migrants and asylum seekers from Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador were deported by the U.S. to the Democratic Republic of Congo under a third-country agreement. Marta has described solitary confinement and a lack of due process, alongside ongoing emotional strain, power cuts, lack of clean water, and frequent illness. Another deportee, Carlos Rodelo, had been granted protection under the UN Convention Against Torture but was still detained and deported. A human rights researcher in the DRC has said the arrangement lacks a legal basis under international refugee protections.

Huang, a Chinese national who entered the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands as a parolee in 2015 and overstayed, was arrested by ICE and placed in removal proceedings. He was held at the CNMI Department of Corrections and denied a bond hearing despite requesting one at his master calendar hearing. A federal court granted his habeas corpus petition, finding he was subject to discretionary rather than mandatory detention, and ordered an individualized bond hearing within fourteen days or his release.

Ángelo Mejía Meléndez, a 27-year-old Venezuelan, was deported from the U.S. on June 24, 2026, as part of a group of approximately 145-146 Venezuelans. He had been building a life in Miami, working at a pier, where his employer valued his work so highly that they named a new Jet Ski after him. In a recent voice note to his mother, he expressed deep love for her, saying "If I were to be born again, I would want you to be my mother." Hours after landing in Caracas, while being processed in a guarded hotel in La Guaira, powerful twin earthquakes struck and the building collapsed, killing him. His family identified his body by a distinctive pizza tattoo on his arm. His best friend Georgelyss Montes, whom he had said goodbye to four years earlier when he left for the U.S., learned of his death after searching hospitals and morgues. His mother did not learn of his death until days after the earthquakes, when a survivor informed her he had not survived.

A Russian national entered the United States and was released on his own recognizance in July 2022. On June 27, 2026, ICE re-detained him after a routine check-in with immigration authorities. He is seeking asylum in the United States. He filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus and motion for temporary restraining order challenging his detention. The court found that his prior release by immigration authorities created a liberty interest in his continued release and that his re-detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated due process. On July 8, 2026, the federal court granted his habeas petition and ordered his immediate release on the same terms and conditions he was subject to prior to his re-detention.

Artyom Vovchenko, a 27-year-old Russian who deserted the military in 2022 in opposition to the war in Ukraine, was deported back to Russia by the Trump administration last summer after spending 13 months in three U.S. detention centers and being denied asylum. After his return to Russia, where he faced potential imprisonment or forced deployment to Ukraine, Vovchenko escaped again and crossed into Belarus earlier this year. He is now in an undisclosed country attempting to start a new life.

A 44-year-old man from Ukraine suffered a stroke while in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody and did not receive suitable medical care despite showing clear signs of medical emergency, including seizure-like movements. The case was highlighted in a joint report by Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights documenting that the rate of people dying in ICE custody has reached its highest level in over a decade, with at least 52 deaths reported since Trump's second term began in January 2025.

A 29-year-old Dominican Republic citizen who entered Puerto Rico without inspection in 2021 was arrested by ICE agents on June 25, 2026 during a traffic stop in San Juan. He had been living in Puerto Rico for nearly five years with no criminal record, had married a U.S. citizen, had an approved I-130 family petition, and had a pending provisional unlawful presence waiver application. The court granted a temporary restraining order preventing his transfer outside Puerto Rico and ordered he receive a bond hearing before an Immigration Judge, finding he likely fell under discretionary detention provisions rather than mandatory detention.

A 39-year-old man from Mexico died from cardiac arrest likely caused by septic shock after his requests for medical help regarding an infected abscess were mishandled while in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. The case was documented in a joint report by Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights examining deaths in ICE facilities, which found that at least 52 deaths have been reported in ICE custody since January 2025, with the mortality rate up 140 percent compared to the previous year.

Lisbeth Portillo, 58, was deported to Venezuela on June 24, 2026, on Flight 164 carrying approximately 146 people. She was housed at Hotel Santuario La Llanada with over 100 other recently deported Venezuelans, in a second-floor room with 16 other women. Twin earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude struck hours after her arrival, causing the building to collapse. Portillo was buried under a beam but escaped the rubble, surviving with bruises covering her body. She was reunited with her children the following night. Portillo had crossed the U.S. border in November 2021 with a pending asylum claim and had lived in South Florida for more than four years before her deportation.

Anderson Daniel Salcedo, 22, a construction worker who had lived in the U.S. for three years, was deported to Venezuela on June 24, 2026 via Flight 164. Upon arrival, he was taken to Hotel Santuario La Llanada in La Guaira for processing. Twin earthquakes struck hours later, collapsing the hotel. Salcedo was trapped in the rubble for 40 hours without access to his phone or documents—which had been withheld by authorities—leaving his family unable to locate or contact him during the crisis. He was rescued and admitted to Caracas's university hospital, where both of his legs were amputated due to his injuries.

A father and asylum seeker was detained by ICE at MetLife Stadium while attending a FIFA Club World Cup final with his children on July 13, 2025. Local police questioned him about flying a small drone in the parking lot—a civil violation typically resulting in a fine—and asked about his immigration status, leading to his transfer to ICE agents. He spent three months in immigration detention before his asylum claim was denied. He was subsequently deported to his country of origin, which he said he had fled in 2022 due to threats from armed groups. He has since warned immigrant World Cup fans about the risks of attending such events in the United States.

Elomar Alexander Reyes, a 20-year-old baseball player, had been in the United States for only three months on a tourist visa, hoping to pursue a baseball career after training the previous year with the Arizona Diamondbacks organization in the Dominican Summer League, according to his father Ivys Reyes. He was detained and deported to Venezuela on Flight 164, arriving June 24, and was held at the Negra Hipólita Health Hotel in La Guaira, where he died when the building collapsed in an earthquake. His father recovered his body from a hospital morgue in Caracas but was not given his documents or personal belongings.

Abelardo Rincón, 23, spent six years in Georgia, where he worked at a car dealership, married, and was expecting the birth of his daughter before being detained in a U.S. immigration crackdown and deported to Venezuela on Flight 164 on June 24, 2026, with more than 140 other Venezuelans. He called his family in Atlanta from Hotel Santuario La Llanada in La Guaira, a coastal area later heavily damaged by twin earthquakes that killed at least 2,200 people, injured over 10,000, and left a reported 50,000 missing, according to the U.N. Rincón and other passengers from his flight remain unaccounted for, and his family continues searching for information. The Department of Homeland Security said the flight landed safely and that its responsibility ends once a person leaves ICE custody.

Jenny Rodriguez, 24, was on the same deportation flight from Miami to Venezuela on June 24, 2026, and taken to Hotel Santuario La Llanada. When earthquakes struck hours later, she was trapped under rubble. A fellow deportee from the same flight helped free her hand from the debris, allowing her to escape.