Human Impact Project

Rev. James Eliud Ngahu Mwangi, a Kenyan priest and assistant rector in the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, was arrested by ICE on October 24-25, 2025, while returning home from his job as a correctional officer with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville, Texas. Despite holding a valid work permit verified through E-Verify and lawful employment status, ICE detained him at a facility in Conroe, alleging he had overstayed his B1 visa. The Episcopal Diocese of Texas disputed ICE's claims and coordinated legal counsel to document his employment and immigration records. After months in detention, described as punitive and emotionally draining, and facing denial of bond despite his pending asylum application, Rev. Mwangi chose to voluntarily depart to Kenya in early January 2026. His attorney indicated the voluntary departure was a strategic decision to preserve his future eligibility to legally re-enter the United States.

Amir, a 1-year-old whose Russian parents Alsu and Azat fled Russia fearing persecution for opposing the war in Ukraine, was detained at Dilley Immigration Processing Center for approximately four months after the family presented themselves at a legal port of entry. During detention, Amir developed speech delays and began hitting himself in the face. Staff allegedly forced his weaning from formula despite his age, leaving parents struggling to provide adequate nutrition; they resorted to hiding cereal in their clothing to prevent him from going hungry. The facility lacked age-appropriate toys and Russian-language books. Amir's speech development slowed to just two words—'mom' and 'dad.' After release in January 2026, now 2 years old, Amir is laughing more, speaking more, and has stopped hitting himself, though his parents report he seems to be recovering from the experience.

Jose Sanchez was detained by ICE in November 2025 and deported to Mexico despite having a pending citizenship case. He died in January 2026 while attempting to cross the Rio Grande to return to his family in San Antonio. His partner, Tiffany Barrera, is a U.S. citizen and mother of five.

Alieskys V.S., an asylum seeker who entered the United States on November 2, 2022, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on December 31, 2025, at a routine immigration check-in appointment without a warrant or explanation. Despite having complied with all terms of his release for nearly three years, maintaining employment as a shop foreman, applying for asylum and permanent residency, and having no criminal history, he was held for nearly six months without a hearing. A federal district court granted his habeas petition on June 26, 2026, finding his detention violated Fifth Amendment due process protections and ordering his immediate release.

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.

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, 2025, Border Patrol agent Armando Flores shot and killed Isaias Sanchez Barbosa, a 31-year-old Mexican man, three times at close range in Starr County, Texas. CBP stated Sanchez Barbosa was attempting to return to Mexico when Flores engaged him in a two-minute struggle and discharged his firearm. Sanchez Barbosa had no criminal history, no prior U.S. entries, and no weapons were found on him. A grand jury declined to indict the agent, and Texas DPS has withheld body camera footage and audio despite investigating seven months later.

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. The families allege poor medical treatment, overcrowded conditions, and ICE agents offering financial incentives for voluntary departure. These accounts contrast sharply with ICE's assertions that the facility meets federal detention standards.

Four Cuban immigrants held at Fort Bliss detention center claim they were among dozens driven to the Mexican border and pressured by masked officials to cross into Mexico or face imprisonment and beatings. Civil liberties groups sent a letter to ICE documenting allegations of abuse related to attempted third-country deportations at the detention center.

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, died on December 6, 2025 after 162 days in ICE custody at Prairieland Detention Center in Texas. Life-sustaining therapies were withdrawn after he developed complications from pneumonia and sepsis.

Pete Sumalo Montejo, a 72-year-old Filipino man, died on December 5, 2025 after 284 days in ICE custody at Montgomery ICE Processing Center in Texas. Medical reviewers noted cardiac arrest with multiple chronic comorbidities and also mentioned complications of severe burns, the timing and contribution of which were 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. He was transferred multiple times between detention facilities including Bluebonnet, Eden, Fort Bliss, and Florence over nearly three months. Peralta Perez reported poor detention conditions including mold, contaminated food and water, and lack of medical care. 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 inability to endure 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.

Elton Purvis, a 55-year-old legal permanent resident from Trinidad and Tobago and father of nine U.S. citizen children, was detained by ICE on May 13, 2025, at Boston Logan International Airport while returning home for his sons' graduation ceremony. A Rastafarian priest with Type 1 diabetes who was suffering from malaria upon arrival, Purvis was held for seven months across multiple facilities, spending most of that time at the South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall. According to an ACLU claim filed in July 2026, ICE agents ignored his malaria symptoms for 12 days, confiscated his prescription diabetes and malaria medications, and repeatedly ignored his requests for medical help during multiple diabetic emergencies—he was found unresponsive in his cell at least three times and hospitalized at least three times for dangerously low and high blood sugar levels. The claim alleges that staff ignored his strict vegetarian and lactose-free religious and dietary needs required for his diabetes management, forcing him to rely on leftover cornbread from other detainees and to filter dirty drinking water himself. He was deported in December 2025; the reason for his deportation remains unclear. The ACLU Foundation of Texas filed a $10 million tort claim on his behalf as part of a nationwide effort alleging medical and food neglect across immigration detention centers.

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 and his family were detained by ICE and held in a detention facility in Texas. The community is calling for legal assistance and urging elected officials Collins, King, and Pingree to help prevent his deportation.

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.

On July 4, 2025, roughly a dozen people demonstrated at the Prairieland ICE detention center in Texas, and gunfire erupted during a police response with one officer reportedly injured. Nineteen people were charged with material support for terrorism, rioting, and other federal crimes. On February 17, 2026, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Pittman declared a mistrial during jury selection in the case involving nine defendants, citing an attorney's attire. Jury selection is scheduled to resume on February 24, 2026.

A U.S. congresswoman reported that detainees at Camp East Montana, the largest U.S. migrant detention facility in El Paso, face foul-tasting water, rotten food, and inadequate healthcare. The $1.2 billion tent facility is designed to house up to 5,000 detainees. The congresswoman stated conditions at the facility are dangerous and inhumane, while the Department of Homeland Security denied these allegations.

Petey Feng, a Taiwanese cook who worked at Dallas restaurants, was detained by ICE on November 6, 2025, after an immigration check-in for overstaying his visa since 2010 and a 2023 DWI misdemeanor. He spent 133 days in ICE detention facilities in southwest Texas. Feng was denied voluntary departure and inadvertently signed away his right to appeal. He was deported and arrived in Taiwan in March 2026, where he cared for his aging parents.

Maria Vargas, 6, was detained with her parents at Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas after her family was arrested during a September immigration check-in. The family had fled Colombia in 2022 and settled in New York, where they applied for special visas for human trafficking victims. At Dilley, Maria experienced severe trauma including regression (bedwetting and accidents), loss of appetite and weight loss, a staff member's accidental eye injury, and persistent psychological distress. Her parents reported officers pressured them to abandon their visa applications by threatening to separate Maria. After two months, the family agreed to self-deport and was sent to Colombia in November 2026. Maria continues to suffer vision problems, headaches, and behavioral changes including fear of police.

Maria, a Venezuelan mother in her 30s seeking asylum, was detained in November 2024 during a routine ICE check-in appointment in San Antonio along with her toddler son. They had entered the U.S. through the southern border in 2023. During two months in detention at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Maria reported seeing worms in food, experiencing 24/7 lights, and her son losing weight. In mid-January 2026, after refusing a $5,000 government offer to leave the country, she was released to Laredo with an electronic ankle monitor and required to continue periodic ICE check-ins as an alternative to detention.

Roberto López Falcón, a fifth-grade ESL teacher at Hart Elementary School in Austin ISD who was named Campus Teacher of Promise in January 2025, was detained by ICE on September 3, 2025, at an immigration check-in appointment in San Antonio. Falcón, 34, a Cuban national who entered the U.S. without inspection near San Luis, Arizona on March 22, 2022, was released by Border Patrol on an order of recognizance pending an immigration hearing. He was held at the Karnes County Immigration Processing Center to continue his immigration proceedings and remained in custody as of November 2025. At least four additional Austin ISD employees—a bus driver and lunchroom workers—were also detained in the same ICE enforcement sweep. Education Austin, the largest union representing district teachers and staff, confirmed the detentions. Falcón's family reported being devastated by his arrest and struggling without his presence and support.

The Andre family—Carine, an activist from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and her three children Estafania, Olivia, and Joel—fled persecution and were initially vetted and released in 2022 to await asylum hearings. After deportation and denied entry to Canada, they were returned to the U.S. and detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley beginning in November 2025, violating the Flores Settlement requiring prompt release of children. Carine and Joel (17) were released in March 2026 after nearly four months in detention; Olivia (19) was released in June 2026 after over five months. Detainees reported inadequate conditions including contaminated food and water, mold, and sleep disruption.

Aleksei, his wife Anastasia, and their 5-year-old twins were detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley for over 120 days—six times the 20-day legal limit under the Flores Settlement Agreement. An ICE officer falsely told Aleksei that Flores protections were no longer in effect. The twins exhibited severe psychological distress, including meltdowns, sleep disruption, weight loss, and trauma responses such as asking if they were bad people or if guards would kill them. The family was released in February 2026 after securing legal representation and filing a parole request.

Rev. James Eliud Ngahu Mwangi, an Episcopal priest originally from Kenya, was detained by ICE on October 25 despite having legal authorization to live and work in the United States and being employed as a Texas state employee. The Episcopal Diocese of Texas is calling for due process, transparency, and humane treatment for Mwangi, stating his family was unaware of his whereabouts for several days before locating him at an immigration detention center in Conroe.

Arnoldo Bazan, a 16-year-old U.S. citizen, was beaten and choked by ICE agents on October 23, 2025, during a traffic stop near South Gessner Road and Beechnut Street in Houston while he was on his way to school. Unmarked federal agents without visible identification pulled over the vehicle carrying Arnoldo and his father, Arnulfo Bazan. When both father and son fled, agents chased them through a nearby restaurant-supply store, where they tackled, kicked, punched, and choked both of them. During the assault, agents subjected Arnoldo to racial slurs and confiscated his phone. Arnoldo was hospitalized with bruises and welts on his neck consistent with choking. He was released after identifying himself as a minor and U.S. citizen. His father was deported to Mexico following the incident. Months later, Arnoldo testified before Congress about his experience.

Arnoldo Bazan, a 16-year-old U.S. citizen and sophomore football player at Alief Hastings High School, was detained for several hours on October 23 when ICE agents stopped a vehicle carrying him and his father, Arnulfo Bazan Carrillo. Bazan alleged he was beaten and choked by masked officers who did not identify themselves, but ICE denied the allegations and stated Bazan elbowed a federal agent in the face during the encounter. Bazan was released after ICE verified his U.S. citizenship.

Eduardo Aguilar, a 23-year-old undocumented immigrant from Mexico, was federally charged for making threats against ICE agents on social media. Aguilar allegedly posted in Spanish calling for armed individuals and offering money for each ICE agent killed. He appeared before a federal judge in Dallas who ordered him held in federal custody pending trial.

A car fleeing from U.S. Border Patrol agents crashed on West Paisano Drive in El Paso, killing two migrants from Guatemala and Mexico. The 2011 Infiniti G37 lost control on a curve, hit a curb and flipped after the driver attempted to flee following a border crossing. Four other passengers were injured in the rollover crash.

A 15-year-old boy with autism and special needs, Emmanuel González Garcia, went missing on October 4, 2025, after wandering away from his mother Maria García's fruit stand in Houston. Houston Police Department located him the next day but did not connect him with the existing missing person report due to a name discrepancy (Manuel vs. Emmanuel). HPD contacted ICE and transferred the boy to federal immigration custody. García was without knowledge of her son's whereabouts for nearly a week until an immigration attorney intervened. The teen is now in Office of Refugee Resettlement custody and is facing emergency appendix surgery. An investigation into the Houston Police Department's procedures was initiated following the incident.

Rajpal Singh, an Indian citizen with a 2003 removal order, was re-detained by ICE on October 7, 2025 after nearly two decades on supervised release. Singh had been released from detention in 2006 after six months because the government could not obtain travel documents from India. Despite complying with all supervision conditions for nearly 20 years, he was re-detained and has been held for over 5 months at Port Isabel Detention Center while India continues to refuse issuing travel documents.

Yaa'kub Vijandre, a Filipino-born DACA recipient and pro-Palestine activist who has lived in the Dallas area for over 20 years, was detained by ICE after his DACA status was revoked based on social media posts. ICE agents arrested him at his Arlington apartment on October 7, taking him to the Bluebonnet Detention Center. Vijandre has not been charged with any crimes, and his attorneys argue his speech is protected under the First Amendment and that the government's terrorism allegations are unconstitutional.

Yaa'kub Ira Vijandre, a 38-year-old DACA recipient and Filipino immigrant, was detained by ICE on October 7, 2025, after his DACA status was terminated citing social media posts. Vijandre, a freelance journalist and activist in the Dallas area, had spoken out against the Gaza war, ICE detention conditions, and human rights abuses. His attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition arguing his detention violates his First and Fifth Amendment rights, as his speech constitutes protected political expression rather than support for terrorism.

Gustavo Santiago, a 13-year-old from Tamaulipas, Mexico, living in San Antonio, Texas, was detained with his mother on October 5, 2025, at a Border Patrol checkpoint. He has been sick multiple times in detention. When he had a fever, medical staff told his mother he was old enough to fight it off without medication. He was treated for a skin rash believed caused by poor water quality and suffered stomach pain and nausea attributed to unsanitary food preparation. He expressed fear of deportation and uncertainty about what he did wrong to be detained.

Aurelio was arrested on October 5, 2025, after a woman accused him of assaulting a child without providing evidence. Local police took him to the woman's house for identification, then booked him on assault charges and transferred custody to ICE the next day under a 287(g) cooperation agreement. The case was dismissed on March 26, 2026, after prosecutors could not obtain evidence from the arresting officer. Aurelio spent two months in ICE detention before posting bond in December 2025 and now wears an electronic ankle monitor while awaiting an asylum hearing.

Emmanuel González García, a 15-year-old with intellectual disability, speech impediment, and partial deafness, went missing on October 4, 2025, after wandering away from his mother Maria García's fruit stand in northwest Houston. The Houston Fire Department found him at a McDonald's the next day, but Houston Police Department failed to connect him to the missing person report his mother had filed because he gave a slightly different name (Manuel instead of Emmanuel). HPD contacted ICE on October 5, and when no family was identified through initial searches, HPD personally transported Emmanuel to a federal children's detention center. Maria had no way to know her son's location for five days until an immigration attorney called the missing persons hotline on the boy's behalf. Emmanuel subsequently underwent emergency appendicitis surgery while in federal custody.

LT, a 30-year-old Haitian asylum seeker, was detained at Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas, 1,500 miles from her 13-month-old daughter in Florida. Her baby, who is allergic to formula and has food sensitivities, vomited constantly and needed breastmilk. The government denied her petition to pump and mail breastmilk, denied bringing the child into detention, and refused bond. LT fled political violence in Haiti where supporters of an opposing party burned her house, kidnapped and raped her. She fears her daughter will end up in foster care.

Rey, a Cuban in his mid-fifties who arrived in the U.S. in 1994 and had been authorized to remain in the country due to Cuba's non-cooperation with deportation, was arrested at an ISAP (Intensive Supervision Appearance Program) check-in in El Paso in October 2025. Rey had built a life in El Paso as a truck driver and small business owner, opening a Cuban pizzeria, nightclub, and trash-collection and furniture-restoration businesses. He was married to Sara, a U.S. citizen and Texas state employee, and was a father figure to her son. After his arrest at the ISAP office, he was transferred to Camp East Montana, where he spent six weeks in the facility's deteriorating conditions.

Catalina 'Xóchitl' Santiago, a 28-year-old DACA recipient and community organizer from El Paso, was detained by Border Patrol agents on August 3, 2025, at El Paso International Airport while traveling for work with her wife, Desiree Miller, a U.S. citizen whom Santiago married earlier in 2025. Despite holding valid DACA status since 2012—renewed seven times with her current renewal expiring in April 2026—Santiago was subjected to deportation proceedings. Originally from Mexico, Santiago has lived in the U.S. since age 8. On October 1, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone ruled that Santiago's arrest and detention violated her Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights and ordered her release from the ICE El Paso Service Processing Center. Judge Cardone found that the government presented no evidence that Santiago endangered anyone during her twenty years at liberty, including her thirteen years under DACA, and failed to articulate any individualized reason for her detention. Santiago's brother Jose said the family was deeply affected by her detention and expressed relief at her release.

Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez, a 32-year-old Mexican immigrant and father of four with another child on the way, was shot on September 24, 2025, when a gunman opened fire at a Dallas ICE facility's controlled entrance. Garcia-Hernandez, who had lived in the U.S. since age 13 and worked as a painter, was in ICE custody after being arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence on August 8. He died from his injuries on September 30. His widow, Stephany Gauffeny, stated that he was the sole provider for their family and that they had just purchased their first home together.

Miguel Ángel García Hernández, 31, a Mexican national who immigrated to the U.S. at age 13, died on September 30, 2025, from injuries sustained during a shooting at a Dallas ICE facility on September 24, 2025. He was shot approximately eight times in the shoulder, stomach, tailbone, neck, and urethra while detained. According to witness accounts and his wife's account, García shielded another young detainee with his body when gunfire began, telling the person to get under him for protection. García was married to Stephany Gauffeny, a U.S. citizen, in 2016 and was the sole breadwinner and father of four children with a fifth on the way; the family had recently purchased their first home together. He worked as a painter and contractor and had been pursuing permanent legal status through an I-130 visa petition sponsored by his wife, following legal immigration procedures. His wife said: "My husband Miguel was a good man, a loving father, and the provider for our family. He worked hard every single day to make sure our children had what they needed." García had been detained on August 8, 2025, on a DUI charge; evading arrest charges were later dropped. He was one of three detainees shot; a second detainee from El Salvador also died from his injuries.

Miguel Ángel García, 31, died after being removed from life support following a shooting attack at an ICE field office in Dallas. García was among detainees in an ICE transport van when a gunman opened fire from a nearby rooftop in an attack federal investigators said was intended to target immigration officers.