Human Impact Project

Mohammad "Daniel" Hussain Ahmadi, a former Afghan army intelligence officer and member of the Hazara ethnic minority, was paroled into the U.S. in May 2024 and complied with all immigration conditions for nearly two years. On March 2, 2026, he was detained by ICE after appearing for a routine immigration check-in, with the government claiming his original parole was an error. On June 3, 2026, Chief Judge Peter Welte granted Ahmadi's habeas corpus petition, finding the detention violated his Fifth Amendment due process rights and ordering his release unless an immigration court granted him a bond hearing within one week.

Seven emergency habeas corpus petitions were filed in North Dakota federal courts over three months, coinciding with a 75% national increase in ICE detentions over the past year. The petitions challenge a new policy denying bond hearings to many individuals arrested in the interior of the U.S. Two cases resulted in the release of petitioners.

Jose Cadena-Velasquez, a 49-year-old Mexican national living in Fargo, was arrested by Border Patrol and ICE agents during a traffic stop after a months-long investigation based on a tip that he was in the country illegally and using fraudulent documents. When agents stopped his vehicle and asked him to exit, Cadena refused and locked the doors, prompting agents to break the window and use physical restraint techniques to extract him. He was charged with possession of false immigration identification documents, use of a false Social Security number, and assaulting or resisting a federal officer.

Seventeen people detained by federal immigration agents were held at the Burleigh/Morton Detention Center in Bismarck as ICE exceeded the 41,500 beds funded by Congress, holding over 48,000 people nationally. North Dakota facilities absorbed overflow detainees.

Rodrigo Sandoval-Baltazar, 23, was pulled over for an improper lane change in New Town, North Dakota on May 14, 2025, and referred to CBP after providing a Mexican passport. He was taken into federal custody based on two prior removals from Texas in 2024, making him subject to federal reentry charges. A magistrate judge ordered his release on May 23, but prosecutors sought a stay, and a district judge granted the government's motion on June 6, ordering him detained pending trial. His case is among 42 criminal immigration cases filed in the District of North Dakota in the first half of 2025, exceeding the total for any full year in the previous five years.

Eight men believed to be in the U.S. without authorization were arrested during a targeted traffic stop operation in Fargo on May 6, 2025. ICE and Border Patrol agents from the Grand Forks Sector conducted the operation. Those arrested were transferred to Enforcement and Removal Operations and characterized as public safety risks.

Four undocumented immigrants were taken into custody by Burleigh County Sheriff's deputies during a traffic stop and transferred to U.S. Border Patrol. One individual is reported to be an active associate with the Tren de Aragua gang from Venezuela. According to Burleigh County Sheriff Kelly Leben, arrests involving gang affiliations were rare in the county. All four individuals were scheduled for removal from the country.