Human Impact Project

Rodney Taylor, a 47-year-old double amputee barber from Liberia who arrived in the U.S. as a child on a medical visa, was arrested by ICE on January 15, 2025, and held at Stewart Detention Center in South Georgia for 15 months based on a decades-old burglary conviction from his teenage years. Despite receiving a state pardon in 2010, holding a valid work permit, and having a pending green card application through his adult son, Taylor remained in ICE custody. During detention, he experienced severe medical neglect including denial of adequate food, proper prosthetics, exposure to contaminated water, and inadequate medical care for his disabilities, resulting in new health conditions such as bone spurs and neuropathy. Taylor was released in early May 2026 following sustained advocacy by U.S. Representative Lucy McBath, Senator Raphael Warnock, Representative Pramila Jayapal, additional members of Congress, his wife Mildred, community organizations, and legal representatives. His deportation case remains pending appeal.

Dy, who was previously detained by ICE for over five months during Trump's first term and released after a habeas corpus petition, has been detained again at Stewart Detention Center in Georgia. He is separated from his wife Tammy and their family, with another child expected soon, and notes that habeas cases at the facility go to a single lifetime-appointed judge. Denny Adan Gonzalez, a 33-year-old Cuban national, died on April 28, 2026, at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. He was found unresponsive in his cell at approximately 10:26 PM and pronounced dead within an hour despite lifesaving measures. Authorities suspected suicide, though the official cause remained under investigation. Gonzalez had been arrested by local police in Charlotte, North Carolina in January 2026 on assault and domestic violence charges before being transferred to ICE custody. His death marked the 18th detainee fatality in ICE custody in 2026 and the fourth Cuban national to die during the current Trump administration.

An eight-year-old autistic boy named Emiliano is detained at the Dilley ICE detention facility in Texas, operated by CoreCivic. Since his detention, he has experienced a fever, severe anxiety, limited appetite, and developed a skin rash and eye irritation. His mother reported these conditions to advocacy organizations. Each Step Home and other advocates filled his mother's commissary account to provide support and encouraged complaints to the facility regarding his care.

On April 21, 2026, ICE agents arrested brothers Israel Makoka (18) and Max Makoka (15) at a bus stop in Diamondhead, Mississippi, using 10 unmarked vehicles and zip-ties without prior notice to their host family or school. Israel was shackled during transport to Louisiana and pressured to sign self-deportation papers; Max was isolated in a Texas youth shelter. The detention stemmed from a paperwork issue caused by faulty legal advice. Both brothers were released on April 30, 2026, after nine days in custody and have returned home to their host family while pursuing legal options to remain in the country.

On April 28-29, 2026, approximately 40 protesters, including Maine residents and faith leaders, gathered at ICE's Burlington field office in Massachusetts to protest overcrowding and unsanitary conditions at the facility. The group attempted to block the administrative entrance and deliver care packages and a letter of support to detainees but were denied access. Police arrested between 9 and 12 protesters for trespassing and disturbing the peace after they refused orders to relocate to a designated free speech area. All arrested protesters were released and summoned to court. Some detainees at the facility had been transferred there during a January ICE operation in Maine.

Anna Catherine Delgado, a Venezuelan woman living in San Antonio, was detained by ICE agents on April 29, 2026, outside her residence. She was holding her 4-year-old son Isaiah when approximately eight armed agents in vests surrounded her and took her without explanation. Her husband José Rosales arrived carrying their 1-year-old daughter Hannah. Delgado and Rosales had filed for political asylum, which was denied, but she had continued attending immigration verification appointments without issue since 2020. Hannah was still breastfeeding at the time and has refused formula since her mother was taken. Delgado was transferred to Arizona and told she would be deported to Venezuela. Rosales had formally requested permission for his wife to remain in the country to begin the legal residency process, but the request had not received a response.

J.R.V., a 40-year-old with valid work authorization, was arrested by a sheriff's deputy in Florida in December while driving to a construction job. He was transferred through multiple detention facilities over five months, including the controversial Alligator Alcatraz in Florida, and eventually held at ICE's Aurora detention center operated by GEO Group. After 127 days in detention, he was released with only the clothes on his back and no identification documents. He filed a successful habeas corpus petition in federal court to challenge his detention and was released on April 29, 2026.

J.R.C., an 11-year-old from Venezuela who had lived in El Paso for nearly four years, was detained alongside his father Jesus Eduardo Reyes Hermes on April 28, 2026, when ICE agents arrested them outside their South-Central El Paso home. The boy was separated from his father and placed in shelter custody under the Office of Refugee Resettlement, while his father was transferred to Camp East Montana detention facility. J.R.C. was attending school in El Paso, where he had learned some English and was developing academically, with a teacher he credited with helping him learn to read. After his father was released on bond in June and the boy's asylum case was denied, J.R.C. requested voluntary departure on July 7, 2026, to reunite with his mother and siblings in Venezuela and Colombia. He expressed both sadness at leaving his friends and school, and excitement about seeing his family.

Arbella "Yari" Rodríguez Márquez, a 39-year-old queer woman and legal permanent resident with chronic lymphocytic leukemia since 2013, was detained by ICE on February 10, 2025, after being apprehended at the Nogales port of entry while returning from Mexico with her partner of over 13 years, Sonia Almaraz. Her legal residency was subsequently revoked by a federal immigration judge, and she was placed in removal proceedings at Eloy Detention Center. Over the course of her detention, her health has severely deteriorated: she has lost 70 pounds, developed additional conditions including rheumatoid arthritis, lymphedema, and anemia, and experiences hematemesis (vomiting blood daily), nosebleeds, bruising, extreme fatigue, and dehydration due to lack of adequate medical care—receiving only Tylenol for pain management. A parole request filed by her lawyer was denied on June 24, 2025. By April 2026, more than three dozen Arizona lawmakers, the LGBTQIA Legislative Caucus, and LGBTQ+ advocacy groups including Trans Queer Pueblo have called for her immediate humanitarian release, warning that her continued detention in a facility with a history of deaths amounts to a "death sentence" given her medical vulnerability.

Denny Adan Gonzalez, a 33-year-old Cuban national, was found unresponsive in his cell at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, on April 28, 2026, at approximately 10:25 p.m. and pronounced dead at 11:11 p.m. ICE reported the suspected cause as suicide, though the official cause remained under investigation. Gonzalez had been in solitary confinement following an alleged altercation with a staff member the day before. He had arrived at a U.S. port of entry in 2019, was deported in 2020, re-entered without authorization in 2022, and was transferred to Stewart in January 2026 after arrest in North Carolina on assault and domestic violence charges. Immigration advocates, his mother Lourdes González Suárez, and U.S. Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock called for independent investigation and improved transparency regarding ICE custody deaths.

A man held in an ICE detention center had his finger bitten off by another detainee and was subsequently placed in solitary confinement without antibiotics or proper medical treatment for a year. When he sought help as the infection became severely infected and ruptured, he was given only toilet paper instead of appropriate medical care. The case is part of a federal class-action lawsuit addressing inhumane and unconstitutional conditions in ICE detention facilities.

Israel Makoka, 18, and Max Makoka, 15, brothers from the Republic of the Congo on F-1 student visas, were detained by ICE agents on April 21, 2026, at a school bus stop in Diamondhead, Mississippi while waiting for transportation to Hancock High School. The teenagers were restrained with zip ties in front of classmates and family members. Their visa status had expired following an undocumented transfer from private boarding school to public high school. Both brothers had lived legally in the U.S. since 2023 and 2024, had no criminal records, and had valid guardianship paperwork from their host parents. Israel was transferred to Central Louisiana ICE Processing Facility in Jena, Louisiana, while Max was transferred to an out-of-state facility in Houston. Community members and local officials called for their release. Israel Makoka, 18, and Max Makoka, 15, from the Republic of the Congo, were detained by ICE for over a week after being arrested as they walked to their school bus stop in Diamondhead, Mississippi on July 8. The brothers had entered the U.S. on student visas in 2023 and 2024 to attend Piney Woods School, a historically Black boarding school, and stayed with their legal guardians, Gail Baptiste and her family, during summers and holidays. When the brothers transferred to nearby Hancock High School, ICE said they violated their student visas by changing schools without authorization. They were held in separate facilities in Houston and Jena, Louisiana before being released after community support and intervention from U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith's office. The family is now seeking reinstatement of the brothers' student visas.

A woman was released from ICE custody in March 2026 by a federal court in Arizona, but was re-detained by ICE on April 27, 2026 when she reported to the Detroit ICE field office for a routine check-in. She was subsequently transferred to facilities in Louisiana and Texas without explanation or allegation of any violation of her supervision terms. The court granted emergency relief ordering her immediate release.

Pedro was detained by ICE on April 17, 2026, with assistance from state police, leaving his pregnant wife Carmen and two sons without support. Gerardo Reyes Gonzalez was detained on March 14, 2026, following a traffic stop connected to a missing girl report; he and his brother were charged with interfering with public duties. Both men are now held at the Hutto ICE detention facility in Texas. Pedro, who has type 1 diabetes, and Gerardo, who has a tooth infection, are reportedly experiencing life-threatening medical neglect. Advocates and family members are calling for donations, legal support, and direct action to demand proper medical care and secure their release. Gerardo Reyes Gonzalez, 44, was arrested during a March 14 traffic stop after police responded to a report of a male attempting to leave an apartment complex with a 15-year-old girl against her wishes. ICE placed a detainer on him following the arrest. The Hays County District Attorney's Office dropped the interference with public duties charge against Reyes Gonzalez on May 11, though he remains in ICE custody pending an immigration court hearing.

Hayam El Gamal and her five children, Egyptian citizens who entered the U.S. on B-1 visitor visas in 2022, were detained at Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas in June 2025 after overstaying their visas. The family was detained based on the alleged criminal actions of their estranged father, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, who was later convicted of 101 charges including murder, though the family members were never charged with any crimes and stated they were estranged from Soliman and unaware of his plans. During nine months in detention, the family endured moldy and wormy food, inadequate medical care including failure to treat a 5-year-old's severe dental cavities, and religious freedom violations. Her 16-year-old son described the experience as "a nightmare" that made it difficult to return to normal life, writing that "nothing is normal anymore because you live in fear of going back to that place." An immigration judge granted the family bond in September 2025, but DHS appealed and obtained a stay. On April 24, 2026, a federal judge ordered their release; two days later, ICE re-arrested the family during a routine check-in at an ICE office in Denver and transported them to Denver International Airport for immediate deportation in violation of the federal court order. During transport and on a private jet, the family was subjected to verbal abuse, medical neglect, and physical restraint despite a medical emergency. Federal judges issued emergency orders blocking the removal and turning the plane around mid-air. The family was released on April 27 pending litigation on their asylum case, with electronic monitoring required as a condition of release.

A Venezuelan national entered the United States on April 14, 2024, and was granted parole. He has no criminal history and is not subject to a final removal order. On April 26, 2026, he was arrested following a routine traffic stop in San Angelo, Texas, and transferred into ICE custody at the Bluebonnet Detention Facility in Texas, then moved to Central Valley Annex Detention Facility in McFarland, California. He petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus, challenging his detention as a violation of Fifth Amendment due process rights, arguing he was re-detained without a pre-deprivation hearing. The federal court granted his petition and ordered his immediate release, finding that detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated the Due Process Clause. The court enjoined respondents from re-detaining him unless they provide seven days' notice and hold a bond hearing before a neutral arbiter where the government must demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that he is a flight risk or danger to the community.

Aleksei, his wife Anastasia, and their 5-year-old twins were detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley for over 120 days—six times the 20-day legal limit under the Flores Settlement Agreement. An ICE officer falsely told Aleksei that Flores protections were no longer in effect. The twins exhibited severe psychological distress, including meltdowns, sleep disruption, weight loss, and trauma responses such as asking if they were bad people or if guards would kill them. The family was released in February 2026 after securing legal representation and filing a parole request.

A vigil titled "Disappeared in Berks" was held at the First Unitarian Universalist Church in Reading to commemorate 75 immigrants discharged from Berks County Jail to ICE between March 2025 and March 2026. Seventy-five pairs of empty shoes were displayed to represent those taken. The event featured testimonies including a letter from Gladis Garzon about her husband Carlos Gonzalo, who has been in ICE custody for eight months after being transferred from the county jail, and has been moved between detention facilities in multiple states.

Karla Saenz, a 26-year-old Venezuelan transgender organizer with Trans Queer Pueblo, was detained by ICE on March 9, 2026, during what she believed was a routine immigration check-in in Phoenix. According to an eyewitness account, ICE agents took her to a back room, claimed she had an arrest warrant without providing documentation, and handcuffed her. Saenz was transferred to Eloy Detention Center, located approximately 60 miles southeast of Phoenix, where she was initially placed in the men's unit despite being a trans woman. She contracted COVID-19 during her first two days in custody. Saenz had been a vocal advocate for Arbella "Yari" Marquez, a lesbian detainee at the same facility who was suffering from serious health complications including returning leukemia. Advocates believe Saenz's detention was retaliatory for her visible organizing work against immigration enforcement in Arizona, noting that she had consistently complied with all supervision requirements prior to her detention.

Approximately 200 to 1,400 detainees at North Lake Processing Facility, a 1,800-bed ICE detention center in Baldwin, Michigan, began a hunger and labor strike on Monday, April 21, 2026, to protest conditions including medical neglect, slow ICE communication, and prolonged confinement. The facility, operated by private prison company GEO Group, holds detainees with average stays of 49 days, though some have been held for nearly six months. By Wednesday morning, detainees in at least one unit had stopped the strike.