Human Impact Project

A father of two disabled children was deported to Mexico after being pulled over by ICE while driving to his drywall installation job. The deportation occurred despite his family obligations and care responsibilities for his disabled children.

Haydee Mercado-Rodriguez, 34, of El Salvador, was arrested April 9, 2026, during an ICE enforcement operation in Southeast Texas. ICE identified her as an MS-13 gang member and foreign fugitive convicted in El Salvador of homicide-related and other offenses. She remains in custody pending removal. Minh Duy Tong Nguyen, 54, of Vietnam, was arrested April 16, 2026, during an ICE enforcement operation in Southeast Texas. ICE reported he was convicted of murder in Houston in 1991 and had a longstanding removal order. He remains in custody pending removal. Carlos Carmona-Palomo, 29, of Mexico, was arrested April 6, 2026, during an ICE enforcement operation in Southeast Texas. ICE identified him as a foreign fugitive wanted for homicide. He was deported April 21, 2026. Leobardo Nieves-Vasquez, 35, of Mexico, was arrested April 7, 2026, during an ICE enforcement operation in Southeast Texas. ICE reported he was convicted of intoxication manslaughter in Angelina County, Texas. He was deported April 9, 2026. Eric Eusevio Cortez, 44, of Mexico, was arrested during an ICE enforcement operation in Southeast Texas between April 6 and April 17, 2026. ICE reported he had prior convictions for sexual offenses involving minors. Some individuals with such convictions have been deported while others remain in custody pending removal proceedings. Manuel Navarrete-Arellano, 43, of Mexico, was arrested during an ICE enforcement operation in Southeast Texas between April 6 and April 17, 2026. ICE reported he had prior convictions for sexual offenses involving minors. Some individuals with such convictions have been deported while others remain in custody pending removal proceedings. Yeslin Orellana Manchame, 30, of Honduras, was arrested during an ICE enforcement operation in Southeast Texas between April 6 and April 17, 2026. ICE reported she had prior convictions for sexual offenses involving minors. Filiberto Aleman Sanchez, 55, of Mexico, was arrested during an ICE enforcement operation in Southeast Texas between April 6 and April 17, 2026. ICE reported he had prior convictions for sexual offenses involving minors. Brian Rivera Santoyo, 22, of Mexico, was arrested during an ICE enforcement operation in Southeast Texas between April 6 and April 17, 2026. ICE reported he had prior convictions related to drug offenses, immigration violations, or other crimes. Heros Cantu, 33, of Mexico, was arrested during an ICE enforcement operation in Southeast Texas between April 6 and April 17, 2026. ICE reported he had prior convictions related to drug offenses, immigration violations, or other crimes. Jose Artemio Sanchez-Garcia, 61, of Mexico, was arrested during an ICE enforcement operation in Southeast Texas between April 6 and April 17, 2026. ICE reported he had prior convictions related to drug offenses, immigration violations, or other crimes. Javier Ramirez, a U.S. citizen and single father of two, was arrested during a Border Patrol roving patrol at a tow yard in Montebello and charged in federal court with assaulting, resisting, or impeding a federal officer. According to a federal criminal complaint, agents conducted a roving patrol and engaged subjects in a consensual encounter in a parking lot on West Olympic Boulevard. Security camera video showed agents entering the fenced property, and Ramirez was wrestled to the ground while shouting. His attorney contests the charges, stating that Ramirez did not assault anyone, raised his hands when confronted, and was not attempting to flee. The incident occurred as part of broader Border Patrol enforcement operations in Southern California. Pedro Joel Martinez, 52, of El Salvador, was arrested during an ICE enforcement operation in Southeast Texas between April 6 and April 17, 2026. ICE reported he had prior convictions for sexual offenses involving minors. Some individuals with such convictions have been deported while others remain in custody pending removal proceedings. Cristian Muratalla Rodriguez, 29, of Mexico, was arrested during an ICE enforcement operation in Southeast Texas between April 6 and April 17, 2026. ICE reported he had prior convictions related to drug offenses, immigration violations, or other crimes.

Michel Proenza Martínez, an undocumented Cuban citizen with a final deportation order, was apprehended by ICE in Newark immediately after his release from federal prison. He has a criminal record including burglary, vehicle theft, drug-related offenses, and federal robbery under the Hobbs Act. Proenza Martínez is being processed for removal from the United States as part of intensified ICE enforcement targeting undocumented immigrants with criminal backgrounds.

According to reporting from SA Current, a pregnant woman named Juana was ordered deported by ICE when she was near her due date. Medical professionals and airlines told ICE she was too pregnant to safely fly, but ICE continued seeking officials willing to authorize her travel anyway. The case highlights failures in ICE's own policies protecting pregnant detainees.

Eight people from various African countries were deported from the United States to Uganda on April 3, 2026, marking the first deportation under a Safe Third Country agreement signed between the two nations in July 2025. The deportees were individuals of African origin who were denied asylum in the US and could not be returned to their home countries. A US judge approved their cases before the transfer. Uganda's Foreign Ministry confirmed accepting the deportees, though they were neither Ugandan nor US citizens. The Uganda Law Society and East Africa Law Society condemned the deportations as illegal, undignified, and dehumanizing, citing lack of proper procedures and engagement of state institutions, and announced plans to challenge the process in court.

Approximately 6,000 Cuban nationals have been deported from the United States to Mexico under an agreement between the Trump and Sheinbaum administrations. Most deportees arrive in Mexican cities including Tapachula and Villahermosa with no advance notice or state support. Many are elderly individuals who spent decades building lives in the U.S. and are unable to return to Cuba or re-enter the United States. The deportees face extreme poverty and homelessness while attempting to survive on the streets and seeking humanitarian visas to remain in Mexico.

Jesús Carpio, a Venezuelan living in Orlando who held TPS status and had a pending asylum application, was deported after being arrested during a traffic stop and held by ICE for a month. Days after returning to Venezuela, two armed men on a motorcycle entered his family's home in Tucupido and opened fire, reportedly demanding an extortion payment; Carpio died at a local hospital and his father was wounded. His wife said that despite posting bail set by a Florida judge, he was turned over to federal immigration authorities and deported.

Brian Jose Morales Garcia, 25, was deported by ICE after being detained during a traffic stop near Fredericksburg, Texas on April 3, 2026. Garcia claims he is a U.S. citizen born in Denver and provided documents including a birth certificate, hospital records, and baptismal record to support his claim. Despite his assertions of citizenship and documents at home, ICE deported him four days after his arrest after he allegedly made an admission of illegal entry under what he says was intimidation.

John Bol Ajak, a 26-year-old former Syracuse University basketball player, was taken into ICE custody in early March 2026 following his arrest in Syracuse on charges of resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. His student visa had expired in 2023 after his graduation. He was held at Buffalo Federal Detention Facility and Moshannon Valley Processing Center for over a month. During a virtual hearing with Elizabeth Immigration Court in New Jersey on April 2-3, 2026, an immigration judge found that Ajak had overstayed his visa. Ajak agreed to voluntary deportation to South Sudan and was scheduled for removal within 60 days.

Subramanyam "Subu" Vedam, a 64-year-old legal permanent resident from India, won an immigration hearing to remain in the United States after his 1980 murder conviction was vacated in 2024 following over 43 years in prison. Immigration Judge Adam Panopoulos ruled that Vedam's lengthy wrongful imprisonment, spotless prison record, and demonstrated rehabilitation outweighed prior drug convictions from the early 1980s, finding he poses no danger to the community and possesses good moral character. Vedam had been taken into ICE custody after his conviction was dismissed and was days away from naturalized citizenship when the deportation case was heard.

Jesus Vazquez, a 25-year-old Fort Worth resident who came to the U.S. as a baby, was deported to Mexico in March 2026 after three months in ICE detention following an arrest during a routine ICE check-in in November 2025. His American citizen wife Cassidy and their four children, ages 6 months to 8 years, remain in Fort Worth while working with an attorney to find a way for him to return to the U.S., though he is currently barred from re-entry for 10 years due to a 2022 marijuana possession conviction.

ICE agents in San Diego arrested David Antonio Aviles Perez, 35, who is wanted in El Salvador for murder and had previously been arrested in Monterey, California in 2023 on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after allegedly swinging a machete at a man, then released under California's sanctuary law. El Salvador had sentenced Perez to 20 years in prison for a 2014 gang killing. He is being held pending removal to El Salvador.

A woman who arrived in the U.S. at age 9 was detained by ICE and is facing deportation for overstaying her visa. She is married to a military veteran and has built her life in the country. Her family is raising funds to cover legal expenses.

Abel Ramirez, a man with schizophrenia who had two strokes, was detained by ICE and deported to Mexico without his family being allowed contact. He moved to the U.S. as a child and is now alone in Mexico. His family is seeking help locating him after he was last seen boarding a bus to Mexico City.

Enrique, brought to the U.S. at age three and raised there for 24 years, was stopped by a state trooper for a license plate light issue and taken into custody based on his Mexican passport despite lacking a driver's license. He spent three months in ICE processing with multiple court appearances before being granted voluntary departure. He is now in Mexico documenting his experience and attempting to maintain his business remotely while seeking residency.

A 61-year-old Canadian green card holder was deported from Florida to Toronto on April 15, 2026, after 62 days in ICE custody, including nine days at the Dade-Collier "Alligator Alcatraz" facility before it closed, followed by time at Glades County Detention Center. He had pleaded no contest to tax evasion in 2022 over about $12,000 in unpaid Florida sales tax tied to his shuttered Tropical Smoothie shop in Port Charlotte, which closed during the pandemic. Now living in Montreal and staying with his sister-in-law while he regains his identification documents, he is working as a DoorDash driver to get back on his feet. He remains separated from his wife, children and grandchildren, who stayed behind in Naples, Florida, and has reflected on the death by suicide of a 19-year-old fellow detainee he met during his detention.

Sinri Baltazar, a member of the Afro-indigenous Garifuna community from Honduras, was first separated from her then-5-year-old daughter in 2018 under the Trump administration's family separation policy. In 2024-2025, immigration officials presented her with a document they claimed would allow her family to stay together, but it actually facilitated their removal. She was deported with her three children, including one who is a U.S. citizen. Under a federal judge's order in April 2026, she was allowed to return to Louisiana with her three children. The family is currently living with an acquaintance from church while working to reestablish stable housing. Baltazar expressed gratitude that her children could seek a better life but emphasized the family's desire for a safe home of their own.

Melona fled Eritrea and sought asylum in the United States but was deported to Panama under a formal U.S. government agreement, a country where she has no ties and speaks no language. She was held in a hotel with hundreds of other migrants and asylum seekers without explanation or information about her future. The U.S. government is conducting deportation flights to Panama and Costa Rica as part of formal policy agreements. Melona's case represents a systemic pattern rather than an isolated incident.

A 53-year-old professional mariner identified as F was deported from San Diego port after CBP agents accused him of accessing a website containing child sexual exploitation material during 2017-2018. F denied the allegations and was never charged with any crime. His visa was revoked within 24 hours and he was deported to the Philippines.

K, a 23-year-old man, fled Belarus after being stalked and threatened for participating in political rallies opposing the government. After the CBP One system was shut down and being extorted in Mexico, he crossed onto U.S. soil and walked toward a port of entry in South Texas, where Border Patrol arrested him and ignored his asylum request. His phone containing persecution evidence was confiscated and never returned. He was shackled and secretly flown to Costa Rica without being told the destination.