Human Impact Project

A man facing removal to Armenia filed an emergency ex parte application for a temporary restraining order in federal court to prevent his transfer or removal from the United States pending adjudication of his habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. The Central District of California granted the application on July 17, 2026, enjoining respondents from transferring him outside the Central District of California or removing him from the United States. The court ordered respondents to show cause by July 20, 2026 why a preliminary injunction should not issue, requiring them to specifically address the facts and circumstances detailed by petitioner's counsel regarding how he will be removed to Armenia. Petitioner's reply is due by July 22, 2026, unless the parties stipulate to a different briefing schedule.

Ayodeji Ajayi, a Nigerian national, was deported by ICE after remaining in the United States illegally for nearly two decades. Ajayi entered the U.S. in 2007 on a student visa but did not return to school and remained in the country without authorization. He accumulated multiple criminal convictions including domestic violence, trespassing, intimidation, obstruction, and charges related to kidnapping, rape, and family neglect. ICE attributed the deportation to Trump administration immigration enforcement policies.

Eighteen Venezuelan men expelled by the US to El Salvador's Cecot prison in March 2025 filed a petition before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights alleging torture, sexual assault, and medical neglect. The men, who were released and returned to Venezuela in July, detail a pattern of abuse including beatings, humiliation, and being held in windowless cells with constant bright lights. Human rights groups filed the petition on their behalf seeking international accountability for violations.

An immigration detainee who entered the United States without inspection in December 2022 was released on his own recognizance while removal proceedings were underway. On June 21, 2026, after three years of maintaining stable residence, valid employment authorization, and attempted compliance with ICE reporting requirements, he was detained without notice or process when he reported to ICE as instructed. The court granted his habeas corpus petition, finding the detention violated due process rights, and ordered his immediate release with a permanent injunction against re-detention absent constitutional protections including pre-deprivation notice and a hearing.

Pavel Snegir, a Russian asylum seeker, was detained at Otay Mesa ICE facility after refusing to self-deport at San Diego airport in May 2025. ICE separated him from his 11-year-old son Aleksandr during the incident, threatening deportation and stating he may never see his son again if he did not comply. Both Pavel and Aleksandr passed initial asylum screening. After 11 months in ICE custody, Pavel was released following asylum approval. However, Aleksandr remained in Office of Refugee Resettlement custody at a youth shelter over one year after separation. Pavel's sponsorship request to reunify with his son was denied due to lack of stable housing and employment documentation, citing Trump administration policies that create barriers to family reunification.

Approximately a dozen asylum seekers were deported by the U.S. to Sierra Leone in June 2026, marking the second deportation flight to the country. Despite prior U.S. court orders protecting them from deportation to their home countries due to credible fears of persecution, the deportees now face being returned to those countries where they risk harm. According to attorney Erica Reilly, who represents one of the migrants, this follows nine West African migrants who arrived in Sierra Leone the previous month. The Trump administration has struck third-country deportation deals with at least nine African nations as well as multiple Latin American and Caribbean countries. Legal advocates argue the policy creates a loophole that indirectly forces asylum seekers back to dangerous conditions with limited U.S. oversight or legal recourse.

An immigrant who entered the United States without inspection on November 17, 2023, was initially detained and released two days later. On June 20, 2026, he was re-detained by ICE during a routine check-in appointment without explanation. The federal court granted his habeas petition, finding that his prior release created a liberty interest in continued release and that re-detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated due process. The court ordered his immediate release and enjoined ICE from re-detaining him without notice and a hearing before an immigration judge.

Colombian activist Franklin Humberto Coral Garrido was deported to Colombia on July 16, 2026, after a memo signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio requested his removal based on foreign policy concerns. Coral, who had entered the U.S. on a B1/B2 visa in 2015 and remained without authorization for nearly a decade, withdrew his pending asylum request and voluntarily departed. Rubio's memo cited sections of the Immigration and Nationality Act that allow deportation when a foreign national's presence threatens U.S. foreign policy interests.

Tuan Phan, a 44-year-old Vietnamese national, was deported to South Sudan in July 2025 by the Trump administration under a third-country deportation program. Phan had immigrated to the U.S. as a child, was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2000 for a gang-related killing, and was taken into ICE custody upon completing his sentence in March 2025. A federal judge initially blocked his deportation, but the Supreme Court later approved it. Phan was held in a gated, armed compound in Juba for over a year alongside seven other men with criminal convictions. He was repatriated to Vietnam on June 19, 2026, becoming the second person from the group to be returned to his home country.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported 72 Haitian asylum seekers, including 21 children and a 2-month-old baby, to Port-au-Prince on Monday, three days after President Biden suspended deportation flights to Haiti. The deportations occurred despite Biden's 100-day moratorium on deportations, which was limited to convicted criminals and suspected terrorists. The action followed a January 26 federal court injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton that blocked Biden's moratorium, which ICE used to resume deportation operations.

Mostly young Honduran men at the La72 migrant shelter in Tenosique said they are heading to Monterrey instead of the U.S., understanding they are not welcome. Some still attempt dangerous maritime crossings into the United States; others are captured, detained, and deported, only to try again weeks later. Some likely never arrive and their fates remain unknown.

A noncitizen subject to an order of supervision under 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b) since 2013 was informed by an ICE officer at a routine check-in on June 16, 2026, that ICE planned to remove him to a third country and instructed him to return with a plane ticket for El Salvador, Guatemala, or Mexico, with threats of deportation to Africa if he did not cooperate. An Immigration Judge had previously granted him withholding of removal in 2022, finding he would likely face persecution in Honduras based on his sexual orientation. The court is examining whether he received proper notice and due process protections regarding the threatened removal and whether a bond hearing is required before any detention.

Jesús Augusto Paizano Casares, a 24-year-old Venezuelan national, reported experiencing domestic violence from his spouse in the United States. When he attempted to leave the relationship, his partner threatened to report him to immigration authorities and filed a false report against him, leading to his arrest. He was released after no evidence was found against him but was subsequently placed in ICE custody. Paizano Casares filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in U.S. District Court in Michigan challenging his detention. On January 29, 2026, Judge Robert J. Jonker granted his habeas petition, resulting in his release from ICE custody. He was represented by attorney William McLean, III, and later filed a motion for attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act, which was denied on June 12, 2026.

Ronnie Price, a 40-year-old national of Trinidad and Tobago, is facing denaturalization after being convicted of statutory rape. Before naturalizing in 2016, Price had sexual intercourse with a female under age 16, a crime to which he eventually pled guilty. During his naturalization proceedings, Price falsely claimed he had never committed a crime. The Department of Justice filed denaturalization action seeking to revoke his citizenship based on his false testimony and concealment of material facts during the naturalization process.

A 69-year-old Colombian-born Roman Catholic priest is facing denaturalization after concealing his criminal conduct from immigration officials. He entered the United States in 1996 on a religious worker visa and served at churches in Virginia and Maryland, including parishes in Baltimore County and Harford County under the Archdiocese of Baltimore. He used his leadership position in the church to gain access to minor victims, sexually grooming and abusing a minor parishioner from age 11 to 13, and pleaded guilty to one count of coercion and enticement, admitting to egregious conduct involving other minor victims, resulting in a 22-year prison sentence. The Department of Justice filed a complaint on June 5 alleging he concealed his ongoing crimes from immigration officials, illegally procuring his naturalization through concealment of material facts and willful misrepresentation of his sexual activity.

Louise Hunkporti, a 64-year-old native of Congo, is facing denaturalization after using a falsified identity to obtain U.S. citizenship. In 1995, Hunkporti applied for and was denied an immigration benefit. After being denied, Hunkporti adopted a new identity and submitted a falsified application under that assumed identity. She naturalized as a U.S. citizen on March 2, 2010 under the adopted identity. After USCIS digitized its paper fingerprint cards, the Department of Justice discovered that Hunkporti's fingerprints from her 2010 naturalization matched those she submitted in her 1995 denied application. The complaint alleges eight counts for her numerous misrepresentations and unlawful acts.

Federico Michel Fermin, a 54-year-old Dominican Republic native, is facing denaturalization after being convicted of conspiracy to distribute prescription drugs wholesale without a license. From September 2004 through August 2005, Fermin conspired with others to distribute more than $1.7 million in prescription drugs, altering drug packaging to make them appear legitimately sourced. A jury convicted him in 2011, and he was sentenced to 48 months imprisonment. During his naturalization process, Fermin falsely testified under penalty of perjury that he had never knowingly committed any unreported crime, and the Department of Justice alleges he illegally procured his citizenship through misrepresentation and concealment of material facts. His case is part of a broader Justice Department action filed against 17 naturalized citizens accused of concealing material facts or providing false information during their naturalization processes.

Neeraj Sharma, a 50-year-old Indian native and owner/CEO of staffing company Magnavision LLC in New Jersey, is facing denaturalization for concealing fraud when he naturalized. As an officer of Magnavision, Sharma signed and filed eleven fraudulent H-1B visa petitions with USCIS between April 2015 and April 2017, falsely representing that visa beneficiaries would be employed with a particular global financial institution and including forged signatures of executives on corporate letterhead. He became a lawful permanent resident in February 2012 and later naturalized in December 2017 after falsely denying, under penalty of perjury, that he had ever committed crimes or lied to gain immigration benefits. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey filed a complaint on June 4, 2026 seeking to revoke his citizenship as part of a Justice Department effort targeting 17 naturalized citizens.

Armando Mendoza, a 39-year-old Mexican native, is facing denaturalization after pleading guilty to receipt of sexually explicit images of minors. Beginning in 2009, Mendoza knowingly received such images. During his 2011 naturalization application and interview, he falsely claimed under oath that he had never committed a crime for which he was not arrested. He naturalized later that year. In 2013, Mendoza pled guilty to receipt of child sexual abuse material. The Department of Justice alleges he committed crimes involving moral turpitude during the period required to demonstrate good moral character and willfully misrepresented material facts during naturalization proceedings.

Talman Harris, a 49-year-old Jamaican native, is facing denaturalization after being convicted of securities fraud and wire fraud. Over an eight-year period, including during his 2012-2014 naturalization proceedings, Harris conspired to manipulate stock prices in publicly traded companies, causing more than $54 million in investments and approximately $39 million in investor losses. In 2016, after naturalizing, a jury found him guilty of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud. The Department of Justice alleges Harris committed crimes involving moral turpitude during the period he was required to demonstrate good moral character and falsely testified about his crimes during naturalization proceedings.