Human Impact Project

Daniel Fúnez, a Honduran roofer who had lived in the United States for 15 years, was deported and arrived at the Ramón Villeda Morales airport in La Lima, Honduras on August 19, 2026. Fúnez, who moved to the U.S. at age 12 and settled in Hanover, Pennsylvania, said he was linked to a crime committed by a friend and spent five months in a federal prison in Philadelphia before immigration agents took him into custody, moved him to a detention center near Harrisburg, then to Louisiana, and deported him. He left behind his wife, a U.S. citizen daughter of Salvadoran immigrants who was eight months pregnant at the time of his deportation, and said he plans to work in roofing in Honduras while his wife considers joining him there or in El Salvador.

A., a 45-year-old Venezuelan man who worked in the wind energy sector and held protection against forced return to Venezuela, was detained by ICE at a routine immigration check-in earlier in 2026 while his wife, who had the same protection, was released. He was transferred through four detention centers, suffered severe anxiety and depression, and said his lawyer was never informed about the transfers or his deportation. He was shackled hand and foot during the roughly 15-hour flight to Liberia after an officer told him he would be put on the plane "willingly or by force," and he said other passengers began crying once seated. His daughter has been in therapy since his deportation, and he fears ICE will also detain his wife, leaving his children without either parent in the United States; Liberia has reportedly agreed to accept about 1,200 people over one year under an agreement with the Trump administration.

C., a 36-year-old Venezuelan man who had lived and worked legally in the U.S. for five years under a withholding of removal protection, was detained by ICE during a routine check-in at an immigration office in December 2025 and held for eight months across nine detention centers. On August 19, 2026, he was placed on a charter flight from Alexandria, Louisiana, to Liberia, learning of his deportation only hours beforehand and without time to say goodbye to his family, missing the birth of his son born while he was in custody. He said he and other deportees were kept shackled for the entire flight, and after arriving in Monrovia he was taken to a hotel in the coastal town of Marshall, where he has remained for more than a week with no word on when he might leave. He says he fled Venezuela in 2021 as a political opponent facing threats to his life.

Two Venezuelan men, identified only as C. (36) and A. (45), said they were deported from the United States to Liberia and remained chained hand and foot for the roughly 15-hour flight. C. had lived and worked legally in the U.S. for five years under a renewable temporary residency permit, selling cars by day and delivering food at night, but was detained for eight months after a routine immigration check-in and moved through nine detention facilities before being deported; he missed the birth of his now five-month-old son and can only see him by video call. A. had worked in the wind energy sector and said he and his wife, who both had protections against being sent back to Venezuela, went together to a routine immigration appointment where she was released but he was detained and later deported after passing through four facilities without his attorney being informed. Both men were part of an initial group of 20 people sent to Liberia under an agreement between the Trump administration and the Liberian government to accept about 1,200 deportees over one year; six of the 20 refused to disembark and were instead sent to Equatorial Guinea, while the rest were taken to a hotel in Marshall, near Monrovia.

A 40-year-old citizen of Peru has lived in the U.S. since December 2022, residing in Oakland, California. He is married with three children ages 4, 16, and 17, whom he supports financially by sending money to Peru, and he has work authorization and is employed in construction. He is in removal proceedings and filed an asylum application in November 2023, complying with all required ICE check-ins and immigration court hearings; his only criminal history is a single 2025 wet reckless conviction with a suspended sentence. On August 19, 2026, uniformed DHS agents arrested him immediately upon arrival for his regularly scheduled check-in at the San Francisco ICE office, without identifying themselves, explaining the reason for arrest, or serving a warrant beforehand. Petitioner filed a habeas petition and TRO application arguing he is a class member under the Garro Pinchi injunction and that his re-detention violated that order and due process because DHS made no individualized finding of changed circumstances regarding flight risk or danger. The court found serious questions on the merits and ordered his immediate release, enjoined future detention without a pre-deprivation bond hearing, and required return of his confiscated property.

Adriana Ruiz, 43, was detained by ICE agents in Santa Fe while getting into a car with her daughter-in-law, Yajaira Gutierrez, on the way to a medical appointment for Gutierrez's 2-month-old baby, who was on an oxygen machine. Gutierrez said agents refused to show paperwork and gave false information about the vehicle they were seeking before Ruiz agreed to be arrested to protect her family. Gutierrez said Ruiz has health problems and that relatives have not been told where she was taken or whether she is receiving medical care.

An airline gate manager known by the pseudonym Laurie learned that ICE agents had returned to her airport looking for a specific passenger and called the woman directly to warn her before she reached the gate. The passenger, who was traveling with a family member and said she did not understand why ICE was looking for her despite having "all my papers," decided not to board her flight after speaking privately with Laurie. She left the airport with her family member, and no arrest was made at the gate that day.

Ari Ladino, owner of Luana Rose Modestly, a bridal and special occasion dress shop in Teaneck, New Jersey, was detained by ICE along with his mother, who worked alongside him at the store. Ladino and his mother are originally from Bogotá, Colombia, and had run the shop since it opened in 2024, becoming known for custom gowns popular among local Orthodox Jewish women. Their landlord, Elie Y. Katz, helped retrieve dresses for clients whose weddings and events were imminent after the pair went missing, and later learned Ladino's mother had been sent to a different detention center. Ladino asked a business partner to prepare the store for a sale of the gowns to help raise money for his legal defense.

Rigo Mendoza's wife was detained by ICE agents, and the following day his 15-year-old son Kevin, who had been diagnosed with cancer in November, died. Mendoza recalled his son's final words expressing worry for his father's safety rather than his own illness. Following his wife's detention and his son's death, Mendoza decided to self-deport to Mexico with his family.

Edgar Hernandez-Lopez, a father and grandfather in his 40s, was raised in Española, New Mexico since the age of 5 and repeatedly crossed the border again after being deported due to his longstanding roots in the community. His public defender argued in a federal sentencing memorandum that his prior criminal history, largely involving domestic disputes, stemmed from childhood trauma, instability, and deep family ties. He has already spent 129 days in custody and, after pleading guilty to reentry of a removed alien, faces removal to Mexico, where he hopes to reunite with his youngest daughters. ICE located Hernandez-Lopez, like other previously deported individuals, through New Mexico county jail records despite local policies restricting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

Viktor Vdovin, a Russian asylum seeker who fled with his wife Tatiana and their two children in 2022, was detained by ICE during a routine check-in at the Charlotte ICE office and sent to the Stewart Detention Center in Georgia, with his immigration case now separated from his family's. The family's joint asylum hearing is scheduled for November 2027, while Viktor has an earlier master calendar hearing in his now-separate proceedings. ICE has said Viktor's initial humanitarian parole had already expired by the time of his check-in and that a pending asylum application does not itself confer lawful immigration status or preclude detention, despite a USCIS letter the family received in May stating they could remain in the country while their case was decided. Viktor's attorneys have filed a habeas corpus petition seeking his release on bond, which the government has moved to dismiss, and he remains in detention awaiting a judge's ruling while describing overcrowded conditions and falling ill.

Kléber (also spelled Cleber) Guachilema, a 25-year-old Ecuadorian immigrant, was arrested by ICE agents during an operation in a Lawrence, Massachusetts neighborhood, with the arrest captured on video. His family describes him as the sole financial provider for the household and the father of a young child. Relatives say the arrest resulted from mistaken identification, and that his wife has recently had health problems. They say his son has been traumatized by the detention, repeatedly asking whether his father is dead.

Daysi González, a political consultant who has lived in the U.S. for 25 years after arriving from El Salvador at age 5, is a partner at Solidarity Strategies and works with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Latino outreach for the 2026 midterms, contributing to campaigns for candidates including James Talarico, Ruben Gallego, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Temporary Protected Status for Salvadorans had been set to expire on September 9 but has been extended for an undefined period. Despite the extension, Daysi is still planning to self-deport, along with her sister, to a country she barely remembers.

Katrina Castro-Menéndez, 41, a former municipal judge from Matanzas, Cuba, was detained by ICE agents outside her home in Cooper City, Florida, after her husband left for work and while her 15-year-old daughter slept inside. She was taken to ICE offices in Miramar and then to the Broward Transition Center, where she remains held pending removal proceedings. The Department of Homeland Security alleges she committed immigration fraud by concealing Communist Party membership on her asylum and residency applications, reasoning that her past judicial role implies such affiliation, but Katrina says a lawyer who charged her $3,000 never properly interviewed her and that mandatory Cuban civic groups she belonged to are distinct from party membership. She appeared before an immigration judge in Miami on August 5 without legal representation and testified she had never joined the Communist Party. Her husband, Deyni Rojas González, whose humanitarian parole documentation has expired, cannot visit her in person or maintain video calls, and she says she has rehearsed how to tell her daughter they may be deported to Cuba.

Frander has been held in immigration detention for 250 days while his wife Maria awaits his return home to their daughters. In July, Frander won his case, giving the Department of Homeland Security 30 days to appeal the ruling. That deadline passed without any update on his status, though his family later reported possible progress toward his release.

Ambar Aguilar Gómez, a 27-year-old Venezuelan woman who is six months pregnant, was detained by Border Patrol on August 11 while riding as a passenger in her cousin's car near the Tohono O'odham reservation south of Tucson, Arizona, after agents found the vehicle lacked insurance. She remains in Border Patrol custody in Tucson, and it is unclear whether she will be transferred to an ICE detention facility. Her husband, Mevin Josué Guerra, said the couple, parents of two children with a third on the way, entered the U.S. from Venezuela in 2019 through an official port of entry and applied for asylum. Guerra, who is recovering from a June car accident that left him in a 10-day coma with a tracheotomy and brain injuries, has been publicly pleading for help holding a sign, and told N+ Univisión, "She is my lifeline. We have no other family here." An immigration lawyer said her pregnancy and her husband's medical condition could be considered as evidence in the case, though the decision rests with a judge.

A man was detained by ICE on a Wednesday morning while on his way to work. His wife described him as a hardworking man who has been the family's main support since her father passed away seven months earlier, leaving her mother to care for two young children alone. The family started a fundraiser to help cover expenses following his detention.

Maryam Tahmasebi, a professor at Los Angeles Pierce College; her husband Eissa Seyed Hashemi, an educator; and their 16-year-old son were detained by ICE in Los Angeles in April, and their green cards were revoked. Lawyers say the family was targeted because Eissa's mother, Masoumeh Ebtekar, was a spokesperson for the group that took Americans hostage during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, decades before Eissa or his son were born. Maryam and her son have been held at the Dilley detention center in Texas while Eissa is held at a nearby facility, with the family limited to a 10-minute phone call every two weeks; colleagues describe Maryam as dedicated to her students and community. After more than 120 days in detention, the family offered to voluntarily depart the country but was denied, and their lawyers say the teenage son has been detained far longer than facilities are meant to hold children, describing conditions including black mold and non-potable water at the facility.

Nqobile Malangeni, a pregnant South African woman who lives in Connecticut with her fiancé, a U.S. Army veteran, was arrested by ICE agents at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas as she prepared to board a JetBlue flight home. She had traveled to Las Vegas for a vacation to celebrate her birthday. In footage of the arrest shared across U.S. media, agents told her they had a final order of removal against her for overstaying her authorized period of stay. Her fiancé told reporters they followed all proper procedures and never received a removal letter in the mail, describing the arrest as completely unexpected. She is being held at the Henderson Detention Center in Nevada.

L, who came to the U.S. from Honduras in 2012 to escape gun violence, was unexpectedly detained during a routine immigration check-in and later deported to Honduras, leaving behind four children ages 15, 9, 3, and 2. Her mother, M, took unpaid leave from work to care for the grandchildren and support L's case, during which time she lost her health insurance and access to care for her diabetes. A GoFundMe campaign is raising money for plane tickets to reunite the children with their mother, M's lost wages, and legal fees.