Human Impact Project

A 19-year-old man from Ecuador applying for Special Immigrant Juvenile status and asylum was detained by Border Patrol agents outside a T-Mobile store in Minneapolis on January 13, 2026. He was transported to Texas and held for seven days without access to legal counsel. After attorney Kira Kelley filed a habeas petition, a court ordered his return to Minnesota and release from custody on January 20, 2026.

A Salvadoran man who entered the U.S. at age 12 in 2007 and has lived here continuously since was arrested by ICE agents at Long Beach Airport in January 2026 after clearing security and while waiting to board a flight. He is the father of three U.S. citizen children, ages 10, 5, and 3, whom he saw daily and helped care for after school before his detention; most of his extended family, including his mother, brother, and other relatives, live in the United States. He had previously held DACA status, which expired after his renewal applications were denied without explanation, and an in absentia removal order had been entered against him in 2008 when he was 13 and never received notice of the hearing. After his detention, an immigration judge reopened his removal case and rescinded the 2008 order, and he applied for cancellation of removal, which remains pending with a hearing scheduled for September 2026. He has been held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center since his arrest, including a period when he was transferred to Arizona in violation of a court order. After two bond hearings denied him release—one where the burden was misapplied and another where he was found not dangerous but still a flight risk—he filed this habeas petition seeking release rather than a new hearing, and the court granted the petition, ordering his immediate release and further briefing on whether he is entitled to protection from re-detention given his DACA history and prior liberty interest.

Danny Briceno-Solano, a Venezuelan national with work authorization and legal status to remain in the U.S., was detained by ICE on January 11, 2026, after being stopped on I-77 for unclear paper license plates. U.S. District Judge Thomas Johnston ordered his release from South Central Regional Jail on February 5, 2026, ruling that the government violated due process by detaining him without explanation, hearing, notice, or means of challenging the detention. Briceno-Solano crossed the border illegally in 2022 but was lawfully released and granted permission to stay based on unsafe conditions in Venezuela; he was employed as a contractor, paid taxes, and had a North Carolina driver's license. His removal hearings had been dismissed nine days before his detention.

Border Patrol detained Guatemalan father Arnoldo Tiul Caal and his 10-year-old daughter Karla on January 10 in Spokane, alleging he missed multiple required immigration check-ins while seeking asylum. The pair were transported to a detention facility in Texas but were released Friday by a federal judge. The father had been living in Spokane since 2019 with his daughter, who was a fourth-grader at Logan Elementary School.

Jorge Elieser Gonzalez Ochoa, a 27-year-old Colombian national seeking asylum, was arrested by plainclothes ICE agents at Bread Garden Market in Iowa City on September 25, 2025, while working and wearing a court-ordered GPS monitor. Agents charged him with document fraud and misuse of immigration documents. A federal judge ruled the DHS actions "indefensible" and found Gonzalez Ochoa was illegally detained, noting agents attempted to circumvent a court order and violated procedural requirements. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to time served plus one day. After several months in federal immigration detention, Gonzalez Ochoa was released following sustained community organizing and protests by groups including the Iowa City Catholic Worker and Escucha Mi Voz Iowa.

A 42-year-old Salvadoran national was arrested by ICE agents on January 9, 2026, when he and his wife appeared at the Santa Ana Field Office for a scheduled interview regarding their pending I-130 petition. He had been living in the U.S. since 2004 and was previously released on his own recognizance in 2011 after removal proceedings were initiated. He is the primary financial provider for four U.S. citizen children. The court granted his application for a temporary restraining order and ordered his immediate release from custody.

Jose Avendano, a 62-year-old dishwasher from El Salvador with temporary protected status and a valid work permit, was arrested on January 9, 2026, while driving to work. He told officers he had legal authorization to be in the United States, but was detained and transferred to El Paso. Avendano has lived in the U.S. for 32 years, has a heart condition requiring daily medication and a pacemaker, and missed a critical medical procedure due to his arrest. A federal judge ordered his release after his lawyer filed suit, but ICE kept him in custody for three additional days in violation of the court order.

A noncitizen was arrested on January 9, 2026, for driving under the influence, transporting an open container of medical marijuana, and possession of medical marijuana without a license. He was detained by immigration authorities immediately following his release from custody on these drug-related charges. The court granted his habeas petition and ordered respondents to provide him a bond hearing within 14 days before an immigration judge, where the government must prove by clear and convincing evidence that he is a flight risk or danger to public safety, or he must be released on the same terms as his previous release.

A Chinese national who filed for asylum in 2017 based on religious persecution was detained by ICE agents when he appeared for his asylum interview at the USCIS office in Tustin after waiting over nine years. He was served with a Notice to Appear for overstaying his visitor visa and has been held at Adelanto Detention Center since January 2026. The court granted his habeas petition and ordered his immediate release, finding the government violated his due process rights by detaining him without notice and opportunity to be heard.

ICE agents arrested Mexican immigrant Alberto Castañeda Mondragón on January 8, 2026, and claimed he suffered eight skull fractures and brain hemorrhages by running headfirst into a wall while handcuffed. Medical staff at Hennepin County Medical Center disputed this account, stating the injuries were inconsistent with such an accident. A federal judge ordered his release from ICE custody, though he faces significant memory loss and ongoing recovery.

Alberto C.M., a Mexican citizen who entered the country legally on a temporary H2B worker visa in 2022, was arrested by ICE agents in St. Paul during Operation Metro Surge and suffered life-threatening skull fractures and brain hemorrhages. A federal judge ordered his immediate release after 15 days of hospitalization, finding his detention unlawful as he was arrested without a warrant. Hospital records indicate C.M. reported being dragged and mistreated by federal agents, though ICE has refused to provide details about the cause of his injuries, only stating he "got his s*** rocked."

A 26-year-old El Salvadoran who entered the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor in 2016 was arrested by ICE without a warrant on January 7, 2026, immediately after being released from local custody on a misdemeanor methamphetamine possession charge. He had been living in the community for nine years after being released by ORR, had approved Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, and a pending adjustment of status application. The court ordered his release within three days, finding his detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated his Fifth Amendment due process rights.

A Honduran citizen and mother of two US citizen children, who was previously released on $12,000 bond in 2015, was arrested without a warrant and re-detained by DHS on January 7, 2026. She had been living in St. Paul, Minnesota for 11 years as the primary caregiver to two US citizen children, ages 5 and 9. The court granted her habeas corpus petition and ordered her immediate release, finding that her re-detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause.

Hongbo Zhao, a Chinese citizen with a pending asylum application, was detained by ICE on January 7, 2026, during a routine check-in at an ICE field office. He had been released on his own recognizance since April 2024 and had complied with all reporting requirements. The federal court ordered his immediate release, finding that ICE violated his due process rights by detaining him without notice or a pre-deprivation hearing.

A Nigerian national who had been released on recognizance and participating in an Alternative to Detention program for over two years was arrested by ICE agents during a routine ATD appointment on January 7, 2026. He had no criminal history and had attended all required check-ins, with a pending asylum application. The court granted a preliminary injunction ordering his immediate release, finding his re-detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated due process.

A Cuban citizen who entered the U.S. through the CBP-1 Application in January 2025 was arrested for a moving traffic violation in Miami-Dade County, Florida on January 6, 2026, and subsequently transferred to ICE custody. He was later detained at California City Detention Facility in California. The court granted his habeas corpus petition and ordered the government to provide him with an individualized bond hearing within 14 days.

A man granted withholding of removal to Nicaragua was ordered removed to Nicaragua on January 25, 2023, and granted withholding of removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3). He was released from immigration custody that same day. On January 5, 2026, ICE re-detained him and sought to remove him to Mexico, a third country not listed in his removal order. The court granted his habeas corpus petition and ordered his immediate release, finding that respondents failed to meet their burden to justify continued detention where removal to his country of removal (Nicaragua) was barred by withholding of removal.

Sabrina Carmona Sanchez, a 41-year-old transgender woman from Ecuador, was arrested by immigration agents on January 3, 2026, at a hotel on Long Island and transferred to ICE custody at Adams County detention facility in Mississippi. She had previously been released on recognizance by Border Patrol in 2023, granted work authorization, and allowed to remain free while her immigration case proceeded. She is now held in a men's dormitory without being offered a bond hearing, in violation of her Fifth Amendment due process rights, according to her legal team at the Center for Constitutional Rights. Her habeas corpus petition challenges the government's policy of categorically denying bond hearings to undocumented immigrants arrested under the Trump administration's July 2025 detention guidance.

ICE deported a man who was apprehended in Utah. A judge has since ruled that the Trump administration must bring him back, indicating potential legal issues with the deportation proceedings.

A Syrian citizen who entered the U.S. without inspection in January 2022 and filed for asylum is detained at the ICE Detention Center in Adelanto, California. An immigration judge denied his bond on March 27, 2026, finding him a flight risk. The court denied his ex parte application for a temporary restraining order to challenge his continued detention.