Human Impact Project

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.

Jose Yugar-Cruz, a Bolivian citizen and torture survivor, entered the U.S. through Arizona in summer 2024 and was immediately detained by border officials. Although his asylum application was denied, a federal judge granted him withholding of removal under the Convention Against Torture, which prevents his deportation to Bolivia. While detained, DHS attempted to send him to Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Mexico, and Canada. After filing a writ of habeas corpus, he was released and began rebuilding his life in Iowa. On April 8, 2026, during what he believed was a routine ICE check-in, officers re-detained him and placed him on a manifest for deportation to the Democratic Republic of Congo—a country experiencing war and an Ebola outbreak where he had no ties and was scheduled for removal on April 15. His attorney filed an emergency motion the same day; a federal judge barred DHS from removing him outside the country pending further notice, and he was released on May 29, 2026. At his next ICE check-in, over 250 supporters, including activists, clergy, and elected officials, attended to prevent further detention.

A federal court in Manhattan ruled that local police officers' Fourth Amendment violations against a migrant were so egregious that ICE was required to release him from immigration detention. Public interest and Gibson Dunn attorneys secured the habeas corpus decision, which they believe marks the first time a federal court has forced ICE to release a detainee based on Fourth Amendment violations committed by local law enforcement.

Hilary Murungi Timbigamba, a 34-year-old asylum seeker from Uganda, was arrested on larceny charges in Massachusetts in July 2025 while employed at a group home. He was taken into federal custody as he left the courthouse despite being granted pretrial release. Federal Judge Landya McCafferty ruled that his 10-month detention in ICE custody violated his constitutional right to due process because he was deprived of the opportunity to address criminal charges and the evidence presented at his immigration bond hearing was legally insufficient. He was released within 24 hours of the court order.

José Yugar-Cruz, a 37-year-old Bolivian asylum-seeker, was granted temporary release from ICE custody on May 29, 2026, after an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo suspended deportations to that country. An immigration judge had ruled in January 2025 that Yugar-Cruz faced likely torture if returned to Bolivia and granted him withholding-of-removal relief under the Convention Against Torture, yet ICE detained him at an April 2026 check-in appointment and attempted to deport him to the DRC despite his court protection and lack of connection to that country. After being held for 17 months while ICE sought third countries willing to accept his deportation—including Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Mexico, and Canada—Yugar-Cruz challenged his indefinite detention in court in December 2025. The WHO declaration of an Ebola emergency in Congo on May 17, 2026, forced suspension of deportations to that destination, resulting in his temporary release following legal challenges and community advocacy.

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.

An Indian citizen who entered the United States on May 4, 2023 seeking asylum from political persecution was placed in removal proceedings and released on his own recognizance. After over three years of compliance with release conditions, he was re-detained by ICE on May 28, 2026 following a scheduled immigration appointment without written notice or a finding of changed circumstances. The court granted his habeas petition, ordering his immediate release and requiring the government to provide seven days' notice and hold a pre-deprivation bond hearing with clear and convincing evidence of flight risk or danger to the community before any future detention.

Mauricio Castellanos-Gorra, a Cuban national and lawful permanent resident with a 2004 deportation order, was placed in ICE custody in October 2025 after 21 years of supervised release. U.S. District Judge Kyle Dudek ordered his release in May 2026 after finding the government failed to meet its burden of proving removal was reasonably foreseeable under the Zadvydas standard. The government did not respond to the court's order requesting details about attempted removals to Mexico.

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.

A man who entered the United States as an unaccompanied child in 2016 was initially placed in Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) custody. He was released after ORR determined he posed neither a flight risk nor danger to the community. On May 27, 2026, ICE re-detained him following multiple law enforcement encounters. The court granted his habeas corpus petition, finding that his prior release created a protected liberty interest requiring a pre-deprivation hearing before re-detention, and ordered his immediate release.

A Mexican national entered the United States without inspection on June 24, 2021. He was not encountered by immigration authorities at the time of entry, and his first interaction with the Department of Homeland Security occurred during his arrest on May 27, 2026, when he was stopped by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and taken into custody. He was detained without being provided a bond hearing, with the government arguing he was subject to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2). On June 25, 2026, he filed a habeas corpus petition challenging the lawfulness of his detention and seeking either immediate release or a bond hearing. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California granted his petition, finding that he is not subject to mandatory detention under § 1225(b)(2) and that his detention is instead governed by § 1226(a), which requires a bond hearing. The court ordered his immediate release and stated that if the government seeks to re-detain him, it must provide seven days' notice and hold a pre-deprivation bond hearing before a neutral arbiter.

Luis Fernando Cabrera, an 18-year-old senior at Northeast Early College High School in Austin, was detained by ICE on May 1, 2026, after a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper pulled him over for expired vehicle registration. Body camera footage shows the trooper photographed Cabrera's school ID and used the encrypted messaging app Signal to contact federal immigration agents, receiving a message instructing him to "detain." Cabrera, who had an active pending asylum case dating to 2019 with no deportation order or criminal history, was transferred to Karnes County Immigration Processing Center over 100 miles away. His detention sparked protests from classmates and community members, with support from his school and St. James Episcopal Church. On May 20, a federal judge ordered ICE to release Cabrera, barring deportation and allowing him to graduate and take his final exams.

A man who entered the United States in 2007 and had lived in the country for multiple years was detained by ICE on May 26, 2026, without being provided a warrant or notice of the reason for detention. The court found his detention unlawful due to denial of a bond hearing for over two months and ordered his immediate release, rejecting ICE's arguments for mandatory detention.

A Chinese national lawfully admitted on a B-2 visa in 2015 who overstayed and subsequently applied for adjustment of status was arrested by ICE officers without prior notice or warrant on May 26, 2026, during her USCIS adjustment of status interview. ICE alleged she was being arrested for visa overstay. After a bond hearing on June 17, 2026, where an immigration judge denied her release, she filed a habeas corpus petition. The federal court granted her petition on July 1, 2026, finding she had a liberty interest in remaining free from detention and ordered her immediate release, enjoining future detention without notice and a pre-detention hearing.

An Indian national who entered the United States on December 31, 2022, was detained by ICE on May 26, 2026, following a commercial vehicle inspection and transferred to Central Valley Annex Detention Facility in McFarland, California. He had no criminal history, was not subject to a final removal order, and had previously been paroled under INA § 212(d)(5). The court found his re-detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause and ordered his immediate release, enjoining respondents from re-detaining him without providing seven days' notice and holding a bond hearing before a neutral arbiter.

Anabella Gyasi, 38, a pregnant Ghanaian woman, and her 4-year-old son who has a physical abnormality affecting his hands arrived at Dulles International Airport on valid tourist visas to seek medical care for her son at Akron Children's Hospital in Ohio. At customs, she disclosed a fear of returning to Ghana because of persecution she faced for her son's disability. CBP officers took them into custody as asylum seekers after she stated under oath that she did not intend to return to Ghana, which led officials to nullify her tourist visa. Gyasi, who was about four months pregnant, was held in a windowless room at the airport with her son for more than a week without adequate food or medical care. She was twice transported to a hospital for treatment. DHS denied her care was inadequate. The ACLU of Virginia filed an emergency petition, and Judge Leonie Brinkema called the detention a "terrible situation," saying Gyasi should not spend another night at the airport. A Justice Department attorney said immigration authorities were prepared to deport Gyasi and her son back to Ghana that night. CBP had interviewed her and judged she did not have a "credible fear" of returning. The judge ordered the government to confirm her departure and ruled the petition moot. Gyasi and her son were deported to Ghana.

Diego Hernandez Garcia, a 24-year-old construction worker who had lived in the U.S. since age 13, was detained by ICE on December 11, 2025, during a raid at a Hardin Valley construction site in Knoxville. Hernandez Garcia had been granted protective status in 2022 and had an approved I-360 petition for lawful permanent status. His attorney claimed he had valid work authorization at the time of detention and that ICE revoked his deferred status only after taking him into custody. A federal judge denied his habeas corpus petition and lifted a stay on a 2016 removal order, ruling the government was not constitutionally obligated to provide due process before terminating his deferred action status. Hernandez Garcia was subsequently deported to El Salvador.

Dolores Bustamante Romero, a 54-year-old apple picker and farmworker advocate from Wayne County, New York, was detained by ICE on April 22, 2026, during a mandatory check-in appointment at the Buffalo office without notice that her supervised release was being revoked. A Mexican national who fled gender violence in 2003 and arrived in the U.S. seeking asylum, Bustamante has lived in upstate New York since 2012 and was a well-known advocate for migrant farmworkers and member of Alianza Agricola. She was instrumental in securing New York's Green Light Law and an executive order banning State Police from inquiring about immigration status. She had no criminal record and had attended four previous check-in appointments without incident while enrolled in an alternatives-to-detention program under the Biden administration. U.S. District Judge Meredith Vacca ordered ICE to return her to Western New York and held an evidentiary hearing on May 26, 2026, to review whether ICE violated her due process rights by detaining her without proper notice.

A Venezuelan man who fled to the United States in November 2021 was granted humanitarian parole and settled in Ennis, Texas with his wife and child, where he applied for asylum and temporary protected status. On May 22, 2026, ICE officers detained him after he was arrested and charged with assault causing bodily injury, a charge that remains pending. He was offered a custody redetermination hearing on August 14, 2026, but allegedly refused to sign the hearing request form. He filed a habeas corpus petition and motion for a temporary restraining order in federal court seeking release, arguing he was denied due process before his parole was revoked. The government argued his detention was governed by a different statute in light of recent Ninth Circuit precedent and that a material change in circumstances justified his continued detention. The court found he has a protected liberty interest but concluded that, given the pending assault charge, a post-deprivation bond hearing rather than immediate release was appropriate. The court ordered that he receive a substantive bond hearing within 14 days, with the government bearing the burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that he poses a danger or flight risk.

A 22-year-old transgender woman and Nicaraguan citizen was re-detained by ICE on May 22, 2026 during a scheduled check-in and transferred to the Northwest ICE Processing Center (NWIPC) in Tacoma, Washington. Despite identifying as a woman, Respondents housed her in a male detention unit where she experienced verbal harassment and fear for her safety. The court granted her motion for a temporary restraining order, enjoining Respondents from housing her in a male detention unit or solitary confinement, and ordered Respondents to either move her to appropriate housing or release her within 24 hours.