Human Impact Project

Franco Jose Caraballo Tiapa, a 26-year-old barber from Venezuela, migrated to the United States in 2023 with his wife seeking asylum due to political persecution and had no criminal history. He presented himself to ICE for a routine check-in in early February 2025 and was detained without being informed of the reason, though he reported being questioned about his tattoos. Without notifying his attorneys or family, he was deported to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison under a Trump executive order allowing ICE to send noncitizens to third countries willing to accept them. His family learned of his deportation only after seeing videos of his arrival on social media, having expected him to be sent to Venezuela instead. His attorneys provided documentation proving his clean background and pending asylum claim.

A Venezuelan asylum seeker in Arizona, who had arrived through CBP One and held humanitarian parole, was detained while waiting in a Walmart parking lot for a delivery order after federal agents knocked on his car window. He showed agents a valid work permit and driver's license, but they detained him anyway.

Bayartulga Avirmed, a deaf Mongolian who fled persecution and entered the U.S. in February, was detained by ICE and subjected to deportation proceedings, mental health evaluations, and expedited removal without access to a Mongolian Sign Language interpreter despite communicating only in MSL. The government initially provided only an American Sign Language interpreter who could not understand him. U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw ruled that the government must provide an MSL interpreter, redo Avirmed's hearings and evaluations, and allow three hours of video communication with his attorney instead of CoreCivic's one-hour policy to accommodate interpretation time. Avirmed claims he faced beatings and discrimination in Mongolia due to his deafness, suffering a traumatic brain injury in 2020.

F.A. and her two minor children fled Turkey after her husband was targeted for membership in the Gülen movement. After entering the U.S. in early February 2025 and repeatedly telling officials they came to seek asylum, they were expelled after nine days in detention on a military plane to Panama. Panamanian officials told them they could go to a detention camp in the jungle or return to Turkey. Fearing they would not survive, F.A. accepted return to Turkey, where the family now lives in hiding.

Juan Carlos Barreto, a Venezuelan college professor, was arrested by ICE at his Shakopee apartment in January while claiming to have followed all legal asylum procedures. He has been released but is monitored with an ankle monitor.

Flora, a Venezuelan trafficking survivor with an active asylum claim and pending T visa application, was detained by ICE on January 30, 2025, at a routine check-in appointment after reporting her alleged trafficker to federal authorities. She was transported 1,200 miles to a detention center in Louisiana and separated from her 4-year-old son and 18-month-old daughter for two months. Flora had fled her alleged abuser in early 2025 with help from a local nonprofit and was in the process of obtaining a T visa for trafficking survivors when ICE detained her. She was released on April 2, 2025, hours before a court hearing on her habeas corpus petition, but the detention caused significant retraumatization to her and her children.

ICE agents arrested Wilson Rogelio Velasquez Cruz outside Iglesia Fuente de Vida church in Tucker on Sunday while he was attending service with his family. Velasquez Cruz, who had a valid five-year work permit and was employed at a tire shop, had been wearing an immigration GPS ankle monitor since seeking asylum from Honduras two years ago. His wife expressed concern about the family's future and reported that her husband will be transferred to Stewart Detention Center and deported without the ability to appeal to a judge.

Luis Fernando Chulca Chiluisa, Maria Velasco Hurtado, and their two children were detained by ICE agents on January 22, 2025. Velasco was detained on her way to work; Chiluisa and the children were detained at their home afterward. All four had active asylum applications and no known criminal records. A habeas petition was filed the same morning, and a judge ordered the government to show cause for detention by January 26. Despite a court order keeping the family in Minnesota, they were initially sent to Texas. Following a contempt motion filed by their attorneys, the family was returned to Minnesota.

An Iranian national entered the United States on January 19, 2025, seeking asylum based on political and religious persecution. After an immigration judge denied his asylum application on May 6, 2025, he was granted withholding of removal and placed in mandatory post-final-removal-order detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1231. After 431 days in federal immigration custody, he filed a habeas corpus petition challenging the lawfulness of his prolonged detention, arguing removal was not significantly likely in the foreseeable future. On July 30, 2026, he voluntarily dismissed his petition after his asylum application was granted upon reconsideration by the immigration court.

A 46-year-old woman from Mexico was found dead by humanitarian volunteers near the border wall east of Sásabe, Arizona on Monday morning. Her 15-year-old son sought help from volunteers, saying his mother had stopped breathing while in a vehicle in Mexico. The cause of death is under investigation and may take weeks to determine.

A noncitizen who had resided in the United States for over four years was apprehended by ICE at his routine check-in appointment in January 2025 and held at Webb County Detention Center under mandatory detention provisions. An Immigration Judge ordered his removal to Ecuador and denied his asylum application. He challenged his detention as violating Fifth Amendment due process rights. The district court granted his petition for habeas corpus, finding that noncitizens with established U.S. presence are entitled to individualized assessment of flight risk and dangerousness before detention, and ordered his immediate release with safeguards against redetention.

Jeferson Escalona, 19, a former Venezuelan police officer, was arrested by local Texas police in January 2025 for evading arrest in a vehicle and detained by ICE. He was transferred through Guantanamo Bay before arriving at Bluebonnet detention center. DHS claimed he was a self-admitted gang member based on hand gesture photos without providing evidence. Escalona denies gang ties and has requested voluntary return to Venezuela but was denied, fearing for his life.