Human Impact Project

Randy Cordova Flores, a 36-year-old Peruvian landscaper and father of two children enrolled in the Allegheny Valley School District, was pulled over by Springdale Borough police for a traffic violation on February 10, 2026, and turned over to ICE agents. He had entered the U.S. without documentation in 2023 and was pursuing an asylum case with valid work authorization; ICE claimed he had missed an immigration hearing, but his family and legal representatives said he had been complying with check-in requirements. He was held at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Clearfield County and later transferred to Northern Regional Correctional Facility in West Virginia, where he was confined to a small cell 23 hours a day. After his family launched a legal challenge, he won release through a habeas corpus petition in June 2026, four months after his detention began, and was freed on bond with an ankle monitor while his case continues.

On June 10, 2025, ICE conducted a workplace enforcement operation at Glenn Valley Foods meatpacking plant in Omaha, Nebraska, detaining 76 employees as part of a three-month investigation into identity theft. Workers were accused of using stolen Social Security numbers from over 100 U.S. citizens to gain employment. Luis Mejia's mother was among those detained while Mejia, then 19, was released to support the separated family. Of those arrested, approximately 17 were deported immediately, 25 were released on bond, and 25 were transferred to other facilities. Most detainees remained in immigration court proceedings months later.

Legal organizations filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of four people detained at Camp East Montana, a massive immigration detention tent camp at Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, alleging severe rights violations including medical neglect, violent uses of force by officers, excessive solitary confinement, inadequate food, and dangerous living conditions. The lawsuit seeks class certification to represent all people detained at the facility and alleges violations of Fifth Amendment due process rights and the Administrative Procedure Act.

Nuvia Martinez was detained after attending a routine ICE check-in appointment at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan and held in severely overcrowded conditions for days. Martinez, who has diabetes, was denied access to her required medication despite medical need. She described the facility—designed to hold people for only 12 hours—as holding dozens of detainees in small rooms with no beds or full-time medical staff. In sworn testimony, Martinez reported that women who were menstruating were bleeding through their clothes, almost no food was provided, there were no showers available, and detainees had no access to basic hygiene. She stated: "I was just a body that they crammed into a room, almost as if to be forgotten." The detention occurred as ICE arrests surged.

Carlitos Ricardo Parias, a 44-year-old Mexican immigrant from Puebla living in South Los Angeles, built a TikTok following of over 340,000 documenting ICE enforcement activity and received a Los Angeles City Council certificate of recognition for his community reporting. On October 21, 2025, federal agents attempting an immigration arrest boxed in his car near Santee High School; agents said he rammed their vehicles, and video showed 11 shots fired, striking Parias in the elbow and wounding a deputy U.S. marshal by ricochet. Councilmember Curren Price called him 'a pillar of our community, a fearless citizen journalist,' and his attorney described him as a hardworking, pacifist father of two U.S.-citizen children with no criminal record. He was charged with assault on a federal officer and property damage, then detained at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center; a federal judge later dismissed the indictment with prejudice, citing denial of counsel and missed evidence deadlines, but ICE returned him to custody afterward. After more than 300 days in detention, Parias' injured arm reportedly became discolored and atrophied without adequate treatment, with his congresswoman warning he may need amputation, and his attorney said he remains in pain.

The ACLU, civil rights organizations, and individual detainees filed a federal lawsuit against ICE and DHS challenging conditions at Camp East Montana, the largest immigration detention center in the U.S., located at Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, Texas. The complaint alleges physical abuse by guards, inadequate medical care, solitary confinement, disease exposure including a measles outbreak, and nearly 50 violations of detention standards. At least three detainees have died since the facility opened nine months prior, including a Cuban immigrant ruled to have died from asphyxia due to neck and torso compression. Named plaintiffs Navdeep, a former mail handler, and ZOR, a father detained over eight months, detailed specific conditions including contaminated water, inadequate drinking water access, breathing problems from desert dust, lack of medical care, and family separation.

ZOR (pseudonym used for privacy) has been detained at Camp East Montana for over eight months. He is a parent separated from his young children. He is a named plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit challenging detention conditions including inhumane treatment, medical neglect, disease outbreaks, and family separation. He states the facility operates in a lawless manner despite guards being charged with upholding the law.

Miguel was arrested by masked, unidentified ICE agents in front of his home after a grocery store trip. He has been detained over 1,000 miles away from his family and has not been seen since. His wife Beatriz is caring for their four children (ages 7 months, 8, 9, and 15) while fighting for his release and managing steep legal costs. Miguel is experiencing emotional trauma, fear of deportation, and respiratory illness from detention conditions.

ZOR, detained for eight months at Camp East Montana, had three teeth broken after being beaten by another detainee while guards watched. Four days after arrival, officers shackled and drove him to the Mexican border, falsely claiming he had been granted asylum, without showing papers or allowing attorney contact. Officers attempted to deport him approximately five times despite a court order prohibiting removal to his country of birth.

Navdeep, a detainee with preexisting injuries that prevent him from putting his hands behind his back, was locked in solitary confinement for appearing to refuse guard orders to do so. He described feeling like a political pawn taken from his job and family and forced into unsafe tent conditions. He is one of four named plaintiffs in the ACLU lawsuit against ICE over Camp East Montana conditions.

Navdeep was taken from his job and detained at Camp East Montana tent camp on the Fort Bliss military base. He is a named plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit seeking accountability for inhumane conditions including medical neglect, disease outbreaks, violent treatment by guards, inadequate food, and dangerous living conditions. He expresses concern about the lack of oversight and potential cover-ups of deaths and abuses.

Gerald Akari Angye, a 35-year-old former high school teacher from Cameroon who fled after experiencing kidnapping and torture, crossed into the U.S. in December 2024 and sought asylum. After his asylum claim was denied, he was detained at Camp East Montana ICE detention center at Fort Bliss military base in El Paso for over a month. While detained, Angye was severely beaten by guards after requesting to speak with an attorney before signing documents, suffering injuries to his hands and wrists that required a brace and hospitalization. He was subsequently placed in solitary confinement for 15 days. The ACLU of Texas and partner civil rights organizations filed a federal class-action lawsuit against ICE on behalf of Angye and three other named plaintiffs, challenging severe conditions at the facility including violent use of force, medical neglect, disease outbreaks, excessive solitary confinement, and inhumane living conditions.

Erik Ivan Rodriguez was detained at Camp East Montana, a tent detention facility at Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, Texas. While detained, he experienced physical violence by officers who attempted to coerce him to sign deportation papers. Rodriguez and three other detainees filed a class-action lawsuit through the ACLU of Texas and partner civil rights organizations in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, challenging inhumane detention conditions including medical neglect, disease outbreaks, inadequate food, unsanitary living conditions, excessive solitary confinement, and violent use of force.

Alejandro, a 10th-grade student at Churchill High School, and his father Jairo were detained by ICE on May 17, 2026 while driving to an after-school soccer game in San Antonio. Unmarked vehicles surrounded their car and transported them to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley. Both are asylum seekers who followed proper legal procedures to enter the country. During detention, Alejandro reported difficulty eating and emotional distress while missing critical final days of his school year and his mother. U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro visited them on May 26 and advocated for their release, citing the need for humane treatment. Following these advocacy efforts, their release was set to occur.

A 23-year-old South American woman was granted protection from deportation to her home country by an immigration judge in June 2025 after fleeing persecution based on her queer identity. Despite this ruling, ICE has held her in Richwood Correctional Center in Monroe, Louisiana for over a year while seeking to deport her to the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country where she has never been and where she would face serious risks.

On May 18, 2026, Rogerio da Silva Lima and his 15-year-old son Nycolas were detained by the U.S. Coast Guard during a recreational fishing trip approximately one mile offshore Martha's Vineyard near Menemsha. Following a vessel safety check, the Coast Guard transferred them to ICE custody at a federal processing facility in Burlington. Da Silva Lima, a Brazilian national who entered the U.S. in 2021 and sought asylum, had a denied asylum application with a removal order issued in 2023-2024. Community advocates and attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition in U.S. District Court of Massachusetts on May 20, which halted a planned transfer to Texas. A federal judge found ICE had exceeded the congressionally mandated 90-day removal period and violated constitutional due process rights. Approximately 200 students at Martha's Vineyard Regional High School, where the son was a freshman, walked out to protest his detention. The teenager was released on May 24 to his older brother, and the father was ordered released by May 28-29.

A Venezuelan maintenance worker at Grandview Resort in Lake Placid was arrested by ICE agents on May 28 when he arrived for work. He has lived in Lake Placid for over two years, holds valid work authorization through a five-year work permit tied to temporary protected status, has never missed an immigration check-in, and has no criminal history. He was one of 14 workers detained during the operation at the resort and was transported 12 hours to Batania Detention Center near Buffalo, where agents restrained detainees and he was held with only water for the journey. Unable to contact his family for three days, he was released on bail after approximately two weeks in detention and now wears an ankle monitor. His wife collapsed upon learning of his arrest. He is pursuing a pending political asylum case and reported experiencing daily fear and trauma, avoiding locations where he was detained.

Under a $7.5 million Trump administration agreement, Equatorial Guinea has detained at least 32 asylum seekers at the Bamy Hotel on Bioko Island since November 2025. All detainees had previously been granted some form of protection by U.S. judges. Twenty-five have been forcibly returned to their African countries of origin—Angola, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Mauritania—where they face persecution, while others remain detained and under pressure to leave. Detainees report psychological distress, inadequate medical care, threats from authorities, and monotonous conditions. Human rights advocates argue the deal exploits a loophole to circumvent U.S. court protections and international asylum norms.

An immigration detainee was detained under immigration law 8 U.S.C. § 1225 at Orange County Jail in Florida. The court granted a temporary restraining order on May 6, 2026, enjoining respondents from detaining him and ordering his immediate release if held on immigration charges. Orange County Jail released him in accordance with the court order, making the habeas corpus petition moot. A man who entered the U.S. without inspection in December 2022 but was formally paroled by DHS and had complied with all conditions for 3.5 years was arrested during a routine traffic stop in Oklahoma and taken into immigration custody. He was transferred between detention facilities before arriving at Golden State Annex in California. The court granted his habeas petition and ordered his immediate release, finding his detention without pre-deprivation process violated due process rights.

U.S. Representatives Wesley Bell and Nikki Budzinski visited Ste. Genevieve County jail on May 26-27, 2026, and found ICE detainees in overcrowded conditions, some sleeping on thin trays instead of beds, with insufficient access to clean water, medical care, and legal representation. The facility, which houses over 150 ICE detainees on contract, was found to have gaps between stated conditions and detainee experiences, with particular concerns raised about a pregnant detainee's lack of prenatal care and vitamins. Both representatives committed to following up with jail staff and detained constituents to ensure improved conditions and fulfillment of commitments made during the visit.