Human Impact Project

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.

On April 2, 2026, ICE officers in Baltimore, Maryland attempted to arrest Ever Omar Alvarenga-Rios, a Honduran national with a final order of removal. During the enforcement action, Alvarenga drove recklessly through city streets, causing a multi-car pileup, then fled on foot. The arrest resulted in injuries to two ICE officers and Alvarenga, all of whom were hospitalized. Alvarenga remained hospitalized on April 5, and his attorney reported being denied access to him while in custody.

A Long Beach volunteer group is fundraising for Eduardo Ochoa, who is detained at Adelanto detention center. His trial is scheduled for about one week from the post date. The fundraiser aims to cover legal representation costs, citing concerns about predatory attorneys and inadequate legal services.

Stephanie Kenny-Velasquez, a 25-year-old Venezuelan national and wife of a U.S. Army Reserve Black Hawk pilot, was released from ICE detention in Houston after a federal judge found due-process violations. Kenny-Velasquez was detained in December 2025 during a routine ICE check-in despite having been released in 2021 pending her asylum claim and consistently complying with all required check-ins and hearings. She was held at the Houston Contract Detention Facility for approximately four months. The judge ordered her release within 48 hours, finding her detention unlawful, and permitted her to continue her immigration case outside of detention. Kenny-Velasquez reported poor detention conditions, including overcrowding, lack of privacy, and limited access to food and medical care.

Valley View Elementary School in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, where two-thirds of students are Latino, was heavily impacted by ICE enforcement operations in early 2026. At least 30 parents and four students were detained. School staff provided support to affected students through counseling and joy-focused activities. The detentions caused widespread fear and disruption in the school community.

Hillsdale police officers working under a 287(g) agreement with ICE went to Ritenour Middle School in Charlack and asked administrators about three students. The officers, dressed in tactical gear, appeared in the school parking lot while students were at recess, causing concern among staff and students. School administrators refused to allow the officers into the building and agreed to meet them instead at district headquarters.

ICE agents arrested a nursing student in his 20s from Southern Connecticut State University on Main Street in Middletown on Tuesday, April 1st, after following him from the courthouse and blocking in his vehicle at the intersection of Main and Court streets. Middletown Mayor Gene Nocera said local police were not notified of the operation and the man was not a city resident. In response, protesters gathered on Saturday, April 4th at Washington and Main streets to oppose the arrest and ICE enforcement activity in the area, with an additional rally scheduled for Monday outside the university library demanding the student's release.

Jesús Carpio, a Venezuelan living in Orlando, was deported from the United States following arrest during a traffic stop for driving with a suspended license. He was killed in Venezuela four days after his deportation. His sister stated his case reflects fears among Venezuelan exiles about returning to their country.

Elmer Flores, a 27-year-old from Honduras, was detained by ICE agents on March 9, 2026, outside the Mecklenburg County Health Department while dropping off his pregnant wife for a medical appointment. Flores has lived in the U.S. for over three years and has no criminal record. His wife is five months pregnant with a high-risk pregnancy, and the family includes two other children. ICE is holding Flores at a detention facility in Georgia while his family remains in North Carolina. Community organizations have responded by alerting the public about safety concerns at public service locations.

Jasser L. Bautista Espinoza, a Nicaraguan citizen who entered the U.S. without inspection in May 2022, was arrested by immigration authorities on April 3, 2026. He was detained at the Philadelphia Federal Detention Center under mandatory detention provisions that denied him a bond hearing. The federal court granted his habeas corpus petition and ordered his immediate release, finding his detention under Section 1225 unlawful.

Tania Warner, a 47-year-old Canadian citizen with a valid U.S. work visa through 2030, and her seven-year-old autistic daughter Ayla Lucas were detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on March 14, 2026, at a border checkpoint in Sarita, Texas while returning from a baby shower. Despite presenting valid documentation including her work visa and Social Security number, both were taken into custody and transferred through multiple detention facilities including Rio Grande Valley Central processing center and Dilley Immigration Processing Center. They were held for approximately three weeks before being released on April 3, 2026, after posting a $9,500 bond. Warner was fitted with an ankle monitor and now faces immigration hearings to determine if she and her daughter can remain in the United States. Family members reported uncertainty about the legal basis for detention and described difficult conditions.

Octavio Andrade-Aguilera, a Mexican national living in Georgia with his U.S. citizen wife and severely disabled quadriplegic daughter, was arrested and charged with unauthorized reentry after being deported four times previously. He was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond after a federal court hearing, with the judge noting he was the primary financial provider for his family.

Sunday Goshit, a University of Iowa adjunct assistant professor and Nigerian immigrant who arrived in the U.S. in 2000, was approved for naturalization in October 2025 after passing his citizenship interview. His naturalization ceremony scheduled for January 16, 2026 was canceled without explanation less than a month before the date. Goshit and his wife filed a lawsuit against U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in federal court challenging the halting of their naturalization application.

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.

Two immigrant truck drivers detained by Iowa State Patrol and ICE officers along Interstate 80 are suing the federal government, alleging violations of due process rights. The detentions occurred as part of 'Operation ICE Wall,' a national immigration enforcement effort where state troopers stop drivers at weigh stations and ICE officers arrest them. Both drivers had work authorization and pending asylum applications at the time of their arrests.

Eight people from different African countries were deported from the United States to Uganda under a migration deal designating Uganda as a safe third country. A US judge approved their cases before the deportation. The Uganda Law Society condemned the deportations as illegal and dehumanizing, vowing to challenge the process in court.

Tania Warner, a Canadian citizen from Penticton, B.C., and her 7-year-old daughter Ayla were detained at an ICE facility in Dilley, Texas for nearly three weeks in March 2026 before being released on April 2. Warner claims they were unlawfully detained despite having lawful status and proper documentation. She plans to file a lawsuit alleging harm to her daughter and is speaking out about inadequate education and detention conditions at the facility.

Suzy Gerónimo, a transgender activist and community organizer in North Carolina, was detained by ICE following a traffic stop in Franklin County and transferred to Stewart Detention Center in Georgia. Gerónimo is recognized for founding and directing Fuerza y Unión Múltiple (FUM), an organization supporting transgender people in rural areas. A fundraising campaign was launched to support her legal defense and detention-related expenses, with Raleigh Immigration Law Firm providing legal representation.

Jose Ignacio "Nacho" De La Cruz, a 30-year-old Migrant Justice immigration rights activist, was released on bond by Judge Kevin Doyle after being arrested on smuggling charges stemming from a February 2026 indictment. De La Cruz had been held at Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans since March 26. The judge rejected federal prosecutors' argument that De La Cruz was a flight risk, noting he remained in Vermont despite knowing of the investigation. Migrant Justice attributed the arrest timing to retaliation following an ICE raid in South Burlington on March 11.

A federal judge in California ruled that U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents violated a previous court order restricting warrantless immigration arrests during an enforcement operation at a Home Depot parking lot in Sacramento in July 2025. The judge found that agents detained people without reasonable suspicion, relying instead on assumptions about day laborers' immigration status rather than individualized assessments.

California House members Mike Levin and Sara Jacobs conducted an oversight visit to the Otay Mesa ICE detention facility in San Diego, which has faced allegations of overcrowding, poor conditions, and sexual assaults. The facility, operated by CoreCivic, was holding approximately 1,037 detainees at the time of the visit. Levin stated he plans to conduct more unannounced visits following a federal court ruling that struck down a Trump administration policy requiring seven days' notice for congressional oversight visits.

Chicago area officials accused ICE of violating Illinois state law and a Cook County court order that prohibit immigration arrests at courthouses. ICE agents allegedly appeared at the Cook County Domestic Violence Courthouse on Thursday and arrested a woman there on March 13, defying protections signed into law by Governor Pritzker in October.

An inspection by ICE's Office of Detention Oversight at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas found 49 deficiencies in detention standards, including violations related to use of force, medical care, security, and disease prevention. The facility, the nation's largest immigration detention camp, has housed nearly 3,000 detainees per day and has had at least three deaths since opening. The report documented safety lapses including inadequate suicide prevention measures, unsecured equipment, and failure to isolate a detainee with tuberculosis symptoms.

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.

Protect Democracy, the ACLU, and other organizations filed suit against DHS and ICE on April 2, 2026, challenging an internal memo issued May 12, 2025 that authorizes agents to forcibly enter homes using only an administrative form instead of a judicial warrant. The lawsuit names three affected families: Teyana and Garrison Gibson Brown, whose home was raided January 11, 2026; Abdulkadir Sharif Abdi, detained December 1, 2025; and Noe Alfredo Salguero, whose home was entered January 14, 2026. Plaintiffs seek to vacate the policy and declare it unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment.

U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston ordered Border Patrol agents to comply with improved documentation requirements for immigration detentions after finding they violated a previous court order during a July 2025 enforcement action at a Sacramento Home Depot where 12 people were arrested. The judge ruled that agents' use of 11 essentially identical, inadequate forms to justify detentions violated constitutional standards and that unprovoked flight alone is insufficient to establish reasonable suspicion. The new order requires agents to write detailed narrative reports with specific facts supporting reasonable suspicion, signed and dated attestations, replacing the boilerplate language used in the Sacramento operation.

An inspection by ICE's Office of Detention Oversight at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas found 49 deficiencies in detention standards. Violations included issues related to use of force, security, and medical care, with documented safety lapses including inadequate suicide prevention measures, unsecured equipment, staffing shortages, and medical negligence. The facility, the nation's largest immigration detention center housing up to 3,000 detainees daily since opening in summer 2025, has experienced at least three deaths. Despite these violations, the facility received an acceptable rating.

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.

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.

Three sisters in Big Bear Lake are facing the possibility of losing both their mother, who is in hospice with stage 4 brain cancer, and their father, who was recently detained by ICE.

José Ignacio 'Nacho' De La Cruz, a 30-year-old Migrant Justice organizer and Mexican national without a visa, was detained by federal agents on March 26, 2026, and charged with nine federal felony counts including human smuggling and document fraud. According to the indictment, between November 2022 and June 2025, De La Cruz smuggled people across the U.S.-Canada border without authorization and fraudulently obtained Vermont driver's privilege cards for individuals living outside the state, receiving $500 per fraudulent ID. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in federal court in Burlington. On April 2, 2026, a federal judge ordered his release on bond, rejecting prosecutors' argument that he posed a flight risk after his attorneys noted he had remained in Vermont despite knowing of the investigation. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years imprisonment with a mandatory minimum of 3 years.

Douglas Dixon, a 61-year-old Canadian green card holder, was arrested by ICE on February 10, 2026, while checking in with his probation officer in Florida. Dixon had pleaded no contest to tax evasion in 2022 and owed approximately $12,000 in back taxes. He was detained for 65 days, initially at the Dade-Collier facility in the Florida Everglades and later transferred to Glades County Detention Center. An immigration judge ordered his deportation to Canada with a lifetime ban from returning to the United States, separating him from his wife, children, and grandchildren after more than two decades in the country.

Marie-Thérèse Ross, an 85-year-old French widow, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Alabama on April 1 for overstaying her visa. She had moved to the U.S. to marry William Ross, a retired U.S. soldier she met in France decades earlier. After her husband died in January, a dispute arose with his sons over his estate. A Calhoun County judge accused one of Ross's stepsons, a federal employee, of using his position to prompt her arrest. Ross was released after 16 days in custody and returned to France. An 85-year-old French woman who moved to Alabama to marry a Vietnam War veteran was detained by ICE on April 1, 2025. She had entered the U.S. on a tourist visa in June 2025 but remained in the country beyond the 90-day permit after her husband died suddenly in January. She was arrested handcuffed and shackled and subsequently returned to France, with the French foreign minister confirming her departure.

An 86-year-old French woman, Marie-Thérèse Hélène Ross, was arrested by ICE on April 1 and transferred to a detention facility in Louisiana after falling out of legal status following her husband's death. Ross had entered the U.S. in June 2025 on a Visa Waiver Program to marry an American man she had known since the 1950s, but her husband died in January before she could secure permanent residency. Her family reports her health is deteriorating in the crowded detention facility.

An 86-year-old French woman named Marie-Thérèse was arrested by ICE on April 1, 2026, and detained in a detention center in Louisiana. She had moved to the United States the previous year to be with her American husband but did not obtain a permanent visa. After her husband's death, she was reportedly detained by immigration authorities.

Tuan Van Bui, a 55-year-old from Vietnam who entered the U.S. in 1990 on a visa under the Amerasian Homecoming Act, was found unresponsive at Miami Correctional Facility on April 1, 2026 and pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m. Bui had been ordered removed from the country in 2005 and was in ICE custody at the time of his death.

Genaro Gonzalez-Uribe, a 72-year-old undocumented immigrant, was detained by federal immigration agents on Monday morning while heading to work in San Joaquin County. He was pulled over by unmarked cars and subsequently transferred to a detention facility in Kern County. His family says he has no criminal history, prior deportations, or removal orders, and are seeking legal assistance to help his case.

Tuan Van Bui, a 55-year-old Vietnamese immigrant who had lived in the U.S. since 1990, died at the Miami Correctional Center in Indiana on April 1, 2026. ICE staff reported finding him unresponsive and initiating CPR and emergency services. The cause of death is under investigation. Bui had filed a habeas petition challenging his detention in February, and a district judge ordered the government to detail removal plans the day after his death.

Maria de Jesús Estrada Juárez, a 42-year-old DACA recipient with 27 years of U.S. residency, was arrested by ICE on February 18, 2026, at an immigration hearing in Sacramento and deported to Mexico the following day based on a 1998 expedited removal order issued when she entered at age 15. She had stable employment as a regional manager for Motel 6, no criminal record, and documentation of decades of tax payments and residency. U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins issued a temporary restraining order on March 23, 2026, ruling the deportation violated her DACA protections and constitutional due process rights. ICE granted humanitarian parole, and Estrada Juárez was returned to the U.S. on March 30-31, 2026, where she was reunited with her 22-year-old U.S. citizen daughter in Sacramento.

At least 25 people who received legal status protections under a court settlement for families separated by the Trump administration's zero tolerance policy have been detained or deported by ICE in recent months. A 23-year-old Honduran man who was legally living and working in the U.S. with proper documentation has been detained in Louisiana for five months and faces deportation. Federal officials have violated the legal protections granted to these individuals through the child separation settlement.

Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a 56-year-old nearly blind Rohingya refugee from Myanmar, was released from Erie County jail on February 19, 2026, after U.S. Border Patrol agents determined he was ineligible for deportation. Border Patrol agents dropped him at a Tim Hortons coffee shop north of Buffalo without notifying his family or attorney. Surveillance footage contradicted DHS claims that the location was safe and open; the store was closed except for the drive-thru. Alam, who spoke little English and required a cane to walk, went missing for several days. His body was found on February 24 near KeyBank Center, approximately four miles from the coffee shop. Local officials later ruled his death a homicide, caused by complications of a perforated duodenal ulcer precipitated by hypothermia and dehydration.

Carlos Julio Medina Garcia, a 56-year-old Colombian citizen who had been granted withholding of removal, was detained without a warrant by ICE officers in Baltimore on March 31, 2026, when he reported for a scheduled check-in. He had been complying with supervised release and had a home visit scheduled for April 1, but ICE instructed him to report in-person on March 31 instead. The court granted his temporary restraining order motion and ordered his immediate release, finding ICE violated his due process rights.

Armando Gonzalez Procopio, a Mexican citizen who lived and worked in Big Bear, California for over 20 years, was arrested by immigration officers on March 31, 2026. He was charged with being present in the United States without having been admitted or paroled and placed in removal proceedings at the ICE Desert View Annex Detention Facility in Adelanto. The court granted his temporary restraining order and ordered his immediate release from immigration custody.

Maria de Jesús Estrada Juárez, a 42-year-old DACA recipient who had lived in the U.S. for 27 years since 2013, was detained and deported to Mexico on February 18, 2026, after attending an immigration hearing in Sacramento, based on a 1998 removal order. A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order on March 23, 2026, finding the deportation violated her DACA protections and constitutional due process rights. She was subsequently returned to the United States and reunited with her 22-year-old daughter in Sacramento on March 31, 2026.

Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez, a 42-year-old DACA recipient with valid work authorization, was arrested and deported to Mexico on February 18, 2026, while attending a USCIS green card interview in Sacramento, California. Immigration agents cited a 1998 expedited removal order from her entry as a minor, despite her active DACA status and lack of criminal record. She was deported within 24 hours and separated from her 22-year-old U.S. citizen daughter after 27 years in the country. On March 23, 2026, U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins ruled the deportation violated her DACA protections and constitutional due process rights, ordering the Trump administration to return her within seven days. She was reunited with her daughter at the San Ysidro border crossing on March 31, 2026.

Dylan Lopez Contreras, a 21-year-old Venezuelan student at ELLIS Preparatory Academy in the Bronx, was detained by ICE in May 2024 after attending a mandatory immigration court hearing in Lower Manhattan. He was transferred to Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania, where an immigration judge denied his asylum claim in September 2024 and ordered his deportation to Venezuela. After nearly 10 months in detention, Contreras was released on March 18-19, 2025, while his legal team pursued an appeal of the deportation order. He returned to school while applying for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, subject to an ankle monitor and ICE check-ins as his asylum appeal remains pending.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained the father of Chicana painter Criselda Vasquez on March 31, 2026, after he was pulled over while on his way home from work and arrested outside a neighbor's home. Vasquez stated her father had been in the United States for over 40 years and that he was racially profiled. The family launched a fundraiser to cover lost wages and legal fees related to his detention.

U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware II blocked a Department of Homeland Security policy requiring ICE to detain nearly all people facing deportation in Nevada, ruling it violated federal law and the Fourth Amendment. The decision restores bond hearing rights for non-citizens who entered without inspection, are in removal proceedings, and lack prior removal orders. ICE was ordered to post bilingual notices by April 7, 2026 and provide habeas petition forms by April 14, 2026.