Human Impact Project

An ICE agent driving into the Crosspoint check-in facility in San Antonio pointed a gun at two community members from Comrade Coffee Collective who were filming and distributing aid outside the facility. One volunteer said hello to the agent from a distance, prompting him to reach for his gun and point it at her despite her backing away, then at another volunteer further away.

Marwan Marouf, a North Texas community leader who served the Muslim community for 30 years, was arrested by ICE on September 22, 2025, the same day his green card application was denied based on allegations from over a decade ago. He was transferred to Bluebonnet Detention Facility in Anson, and the Muslim Legal Fund of America challenged the denial in immigration and federal court. After 60 days in detention, Marouf appeared before Immigration Judge Abdias Tida and accepted deportation rather than continue fighting his case.

Lucía Pedro Juan and Francisco Gaspar-Andrés, a couple married 25 years, were arrested during a traffic stop in Florida in September 2025 and transferred to Fort Bliss ICE detention facility in El Paso. They were held separately and ICE agents ordered them not to communicate during processing. Pedro Juan was deported to Guatemala on November 28 without being allowed to see her husband. Gaspar-Andrés died on December 3 at a hospital in El Paso after 10 weeks in custody. At least 30 people died in ICE custody during 2025.

Ignacio Sosnava Rodriguez had lived in Texas for 22 years before ICE detained him following a traffic stop in 2025. Rodriguez filed a habeas corpus petition arguing that holding him without a bond hearing violated his Fifth Amendment right to due process. A lower court granted his petition in February using the Mathews v. Eldridge framework and released him from ICE custody. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that decision, denying Rodriguez's petition and ruling that immigrants in removal proceedings have no constitutional right to bond hearings regardless of length of residence in the United States.

On December 11, 2024, Border Patrol agent Armando Flores shot and killed Isaias Sanchez Barbosa, a 31-year-old Mexican man with no criminal history, no prior U.S. entries, and no family in the United States, during a struggle near the Rio Grande in Starr County, Texas. A grand jury declined to indict Flores in June 2025, but Texas Rangers and federal investigators have kept the case open, and no body camera footage or complete official account has been released. An autopsy found three close-range gunshot wounds to Sanchez Barbosa's chest and forearm that fractured a rib and tore both lungs. A search of a nearby ranch, authorized by a warrant that went unfiled for months due to what officials called a clerical error, found no weapons, consistent with none being found on Sanchez Barbosa himself.

Immigrant families detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas describe prolonged stays, despondent children, limited access to potable water, and inadequate food in court declarations filed in December 2025. A report from Human Rights First and RAICES found more than 5,600 people, including parents, toddlers and newborns, were held at the facility between April 2025 and February 2026, alleging months-long detentions, limited access to asylum protections, poor medical care and psychological harm. A Canadian citizen living in Texas said she and her 7-year-old daughter were detained for hours at a checkpoint and later transferred to a processing center despite her pending lawful immigration status. ICE and the Department of Homeland Security maintain the facility is safe and family-friendly, providing food, medical care, education and legal access, and say some detained families raise enforcement or security concerns.

Four Cuban immigrants held at the Fort Bliss detention center in El Paso say they were among dozens driven to the U.S.-Mexico border and pressured by masked officials to cross or face imprisonment and beatings, with two reporting being beaten after initially refusing. The claims are part of a letter to ICE based on interviews with 45 detainees, alleging the agency violated federal rules on third-country deportations by not providing written notice or hearings. Internal ICE records reviewed by the Washington Post confirmed the men resisted removal but did not verify the abuse allegations; ICE declined a request to visit the facility. Advocates also cited broader complaints of inadequate food, hygiene and medical care at Fort Bliss, which a prior Post investigation found had violated 60 federal detention standards within its first 50 days of operation.

The ACLU and human rights organizations released reports on 12/8/2025 documenting conditions at Fort Bliss, the largest immigration detention site in the U.S., specifically at Camp East Montana, a tent facility in El Paso. Based on interviews with over 45 detained immigrants and 16 sworn declarations, the reports detail physical abuse, sexual abuse by officers, medical neglect, and coercive deportations to third countries. Specific cases cited include a teenager beaten into unconsciousness and another who sustained a broken tooth and ear damage, a Cuban immigrant whose head was slammed against a wall, and Geraldo Lunas Campos, whose death in ICE custody at a nearby facility was ruled a homicide following reports an officer choked him.

Shiraz Fatehali Sachwani, a 48-year-old Pakistani man who had lived in the United States since 1996, died on December 6, 2025 after 162 days in ICE custody at Prairieland Detention Center in Texas. He entered detention with serious preexisting health conditions, including advanced kidney disease requiring dialysis, respiratory disease, diabetes and anemia, and was hospitalized multiple times during his detention before being returned to the facility. Life-sustaining therapies were ultimately withdrawn after he developed complications from pneumonia and sepsis during his final hospitalization.

Pete Sumalo Montejo, a 72-year-old Filipino man who had been a lawful permanent resident since age nine, was arrested by ICE on February 25, 2025, and held at the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, Texas, for 284 days. During his detention he was repeatedly hospitalized, underwent heart surgery, and required dialysis and burn care before being moved to a skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility. He suffered cardiac arrest on December 5, 2025, and died after being transported to Valley Baptist Medical Center. Medical reviewers cited cardiac arrest amid multiple chronic conditions, noting that the timing and contribution of his earlier severe burns remained unclear.

Victor Peralta Perez, a Venezuelan electrician with a pending asylum case and no criminal record, was detained by ICE on December 4, 2025, during a mandatory annual immigration check-in in Dallas. He was held for more than 100 days, transferred among facilities including Bluebonnet, Eden, Fort Bliss, and Florence, where he reported mold, contaminated food and water, and inadequate medical care. His wife, Madison Crider, said neither of them was ever given a clear explanation for his detention, and the couple's U.S.-citizen twin infants have not seen their father in the six months since. He was granted voluntary departure by an immigration judge on February 12, 2026, and left the United States on February 28, 2026 (according to DHS) or March 3, 2026 (according to his wife), citing the detention conditions and uncertain timeline.

Elmer M., a 28-year-old Guatemalan man, developed a rash on his penis that became infected because the facility failed to provide soap or supplies to wash or treat it. Starting in December, he asked guards and signed up to see a medic daily. As of March — four months later — he had still not been seen by a medic.

Orlando L., a 40-year-old Honduran man with high blood pressure requiring Losartan twice daily and regular cardiologist visits, experienced repeated medication delays and denials at Camp East Montana. Despite staff knowing his conditions, medications were not given during initial processing. He experienced high blood pressure episodes, bodily tremors, and weakness. Staff attributed symptoms to stress and sent him to a psychologist instead of treating his physical condition. He signed up for medical care eight consecutive days without receiving it. When he requested testing by a cardiologist, staff told him all they could do was 'maintain him in a stable condition until his deportation.'

Germán L., a 32-year-old Colombian man, was beaten by guards at Camp East Montana after simply standing up from a table to see what was happening during an argument. A lieutenant yelled at him in English, then sent a guard who grabbed him by the collar, yanked him from his chair, and slammed him on his back, hitting his head. The guard kicked his right side, then folded his body in half and dragged him to solitary confinement. Germán was given papers falsely claiming he had attacked an officer. He was held in isolation for at least 17 days at the time of his interview, with a 30-day punishment imposed. His appeals to ICE went unanswered. He repeatedly asked guards to review the camera footage.

José Antonio González, 51, was deported to Mexico in December 2025 after nearly four decades in the United States, following offenses he committed as a minor in the 1990s for which he had already served his sentence. González arrived in the U.S. at age nine in 1987, worked as a painter and in retail, paid taxes, and was the primary provider for his U.S. citizen family including his 82-year-old mother. He spent six months in a Texas ICE detention center before being deported under an I-220B order, describing coercion to sign deportation papers after refusing twice. He is now living in Mexico and reports feeling more American than Cuban.

Fredy Arcenio Zavala-Baires, 25, a Salvadoran national who entered the U.S. as a child, was detained at an ICE appointment in November 2025 and deported to El Salvador on November 27, 2025, despite being married to Sgt. Nataly Castro, a seven-year Army National Guard veteran. An immigration judge issued a removal order against him in 2017, which was affirmed by the Board of Immigration Appeals in 2018. As of June 2026, Castro had spent over $3,000 in legal fees attempting to bring her husband back, while ICE officials maintained that Zavala-Baires received full due process and that clear legal pathways exist for military spouses seeking immigration benefits.

Joel Andre, a 16-year-old Deering High School student from Congo and a well-known member of Portland's Kennedy Park pickup soccer community, was detained with his family by Customs and Border Protection on November 12, 2025, at the Champlain Port of Entry after they attempted to seek asylum in Canada. The family had entered the U.S. without authorization in 2022, received a deportation order in February 2025, and had their appeal dismissed in October before being transferred to a family detention facility in Dilley, Texas. Attorney Todd Pomerleau secured the release of Joel and two family members after a federal appeals court paused their deportation while the asylum case continues, though his sister remains in detention. Joel returned to Portland and resumed playing in the Kennedy Park soccer league, where friends and teammates had raised money for his family's legal fees, and his school district and congregation mobilized support during his detention.

Genesis Valadez, owner of Las Pollitas food truck, captured footage on her business cameras of a federal raid on an unauthorized nightclub near Basse Road and San Pedro Avenue in San Antonio. The operation on November 17, 2025, involved 14 state, local, and federal agencies and resulted in the arrest of more than 150 people, including 27 alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. Video from Valadez's cameras shows federal agents using flash bangs and smoke bombs, zip-tying detainees, and intentionally destroying a neighbor's surveillance camera. The raid also resulted in the seizure of three guns, cocaine, and approximately $35,000 in cash. Valadez and other lawful business owners operating food trucks in the area were forced to relocate due to community fear following the operation.

Emmanuel Gonzalez-Garcia, a 16-year-old with autism, was separated from his mother Maria Garcia on October 4-5, 2025, while they were selling fruit as street vendors in Houston. After going missing, he was located by firefighters during a welfare check and told police he was homeless, providing a different name. Houston police turned him over to ICE, and he was placed in federal custody with the Office of Refugee Resettlement as an unaccompanied immigrant minor. After approximately 48-50 days in detention, a federal judge ruled that authorities lacked legal authority to detain him since he was not truly unaccompanied. He was reunited with his mother, though their immigration court cases remain pending.

Community organizers and immigration attorneys report an uptick in detainments at the Dallas ICE Field Office during routine check-in appointments. Multiple immigrants, including those with pending asylum cases and proper documentation, have been detained during check-in appointments. The office has become one of the busiest in the country, averaging about 100 arrests per day, and reporting indicates most of those arrested in 2025 did not have criminal convictions. One case highlighted by the Dallas Morning News involved an asylum seeker from El Salvador with no criminal record who was arrested at a scheduled appointment in October 2025 and transferred to a detention center in Georgia.