Human Impact Project

Antonio Frometa Ascón, a 63-year-old Cuban immigrant who came to the U.S. in 1994 after being paroled through Guantánamo, has been in ICE custody since Aug. 14, 2025, when Florida Highway Patrol stopped him on his way to work under the state's Operation Tidal Wave crackdown. He was first held at the South Florida Detention Facility, where he alleges a guard's blow left him partially deaf, then transferred to Camp East Montana in El Paso, where he witnessed a detainee's death, and later moved to the ICE El Paso Service Processing Center. Cuba has refused to accept his deportation, and he has refused removal to Mexico as a third country, citing fears of cartel violence and extortion. His first granddaughter was born while he has been detained, and he says he has not been able to meet or hold her. He has filed pro se and attorney-assisted habeas corpus petitions arguing his prolonged detention violates the Supreme Court's Zadvydas v. Davis limits on indefinite confinement, and a federal judge has yet to rule as his health and mental state decline and his family says he has grown depressed awaiting word from his lawyer.

Teresa de Jesus Ochoa Briseño, 31, a cook at Carmelita's Restaurant in Alamo, Texas, was arrested by ICE agents outside her workplace around 5 a.m. on September 21, 2026, and deported to Reynosa, Mexico, later that day. Her 17-year-old son, Luis Ochoa, a U.S. citizen, had witnessed an ICE apprehension near a Marine Corps recruiting office days earlier and was himself detained after speaking out publicly; he said agents offered him money to stay quiet and threatened to detain his undocumented relatives. Luis believes his mother was targeted because of the attention her public criticism of ICE generated in local media. ICE said Teresa had a prior removal order from a July 2025 arrest for alleged illegal reentry and denied the deportation was retaliatory, describing it as part of a 'targeted operation.' Advocacy groups We the People RGV and Carnalismo Brown Berets are calling for a congressional hearing and independent investigation into the family's case.

Luis Ochoa, a 17-year-old U.S. citizen, and his friend JC were detained by ICE agents in Alamo, Texas, after stopping to film an immigration enforcement action near Santos Livas Elementary School. The teens said they were on their way to meet with a Marine Corps recruiter when agents pulled Ochoa from his vehicle, breaking his wrist, pepper-sprayed both boys, and struck JC in the face despite their stating they were U.S. citizens. Video of the encounter showed the strikes to JC's face before Ochoa was taken into custody; Ochoa said an agent told him 'don't resist' though he was not resisting, and another reportedly said, 'I don't give a damn... Your parents can't help you now.' Ochoa's mother, Teresa Ochoa, said she went about eight hours without information about her son, calling it one of the most frightening moments of her life, and said the ordeal made both teens reconsider plans to enlist. DHS disputed the account, describing the teens as 'anti-ICE agitators' who became combative and said two officers suffered minor injuries. The Alamo Police Department forwarded the teens' complaint to the DHS Office of Inspector General, and Teresa Ochoa was deported days after speaking publicly about the incident.

Edgar Chacon-Miranda, 45, a father with U visa protections and full legal custody of his children under a New Mexico family court order, was detained by ICE agents in the parking lot of La Familia Health/Medical Center in Santa Fe while driving his daughter to a medical appointment. Clinic staff, including chief information officer Jasmin Milz, said agents appeared to have followed him from home and blocked his vehicle, taking him into custody without entering the building; his daughter was later picked up by a family member with help from community advocates. DHS described him as a 'criminal illegal alien' with an 'extensive criminal history,' citing 2018 battery, criminal sexual penetration, and child abuse charges, but court records show those charges were dismissed after the alleged victim declined to cooperate. His attorney, Allegra Love, said he received the U visa in 2022 for cooperating with law enforcement and that it expired in May while his residency application remains pending. Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies criticized federal officials for citing the dismissed case without noting its outcome, and U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández called leaving the child in the parking lot 'cruelty,' noting ICE reported eight detentions in Santa Fe that day. Chacon-Miranda was later jailed and alleges immigration agents fabricated reports to secure his deportation despite his legal status.

Twenty undocumented immigrants were arrested during a three-day joint enforcement operation conducted Sept. 24-26 across Plaquemines, Jefferson and Terrebonne parishes in Louisiana. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries coordinated with U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Coast Guard, Air and Marine Operations, and ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations during what was described as a commercial and recreational fisheries enforcement operation. Four individuals were apprehended during maritime patrols and 16 were apprehended during a land-based operation, all facing pending deportation proceedings for violations of federal immigration law.

Patricia Valdez, a 37-year-old Venezuelan engineer from Mérida known to loved ones as Patty, was detained by ICE while attending a scheduled check-in with immigration authorities as part of her asylum application process, and was transferred to a detention facility in Oklahoma. Valdez, who became a mother three months ago, worked for the City of Dallas and previously taught at the Engineering Faculty of the Universidad de los Andes in Venezuela. In the U.S. she has passed the FE exam and holds the Engineer in Training (EIT) and Project Management Professional (PMP) certifications, recently passing the PE Civil Construction exam, and is active in communities of Venezuelan engineers. Her family says she has no criminal record, is seeking reunification with her infant son, and has started a GoFundMe campaign to cover her legal defense and her baby's care.

A mother started a fundraiser seeking legal help for her son, who was arrested and is now being held by ICE. The family does not know where he is being detained and is trying to locate him and hire a lawyer before he can be deported.

Nathan 'Nate' Samudzi, a delivery driver from Yankton, South Dakota originally from Zimbabwe, was detained by ICE for a second time this year after reporting to the agency's Sioux Falls sub-field office. He was quickly transferred to a detention center and then to Minneapolis for a deportation flight, but a federal judge granted an emergency Temporary Restraining Order about 30 minutes before the flight was scheduled to depart. Samudzi holds a valid work permit, had begun the citizenship process, and had been under strict GPS monitoring since a prior detention in February; his wife, a local schoolteacher, said he complied with every condition. ICE told reporters Samudzi had a conviction for drug possession and distribution, but his attorney said this is false, explaining he has only a misdemeanor marijuana ingestion conviction from age 20 and a separate charge that was dismissed a year later. Judge Jerry Blackwell has ordered ICE cannot remove or transfer Samudzi from the District of Minnesota while his legal team pursues an emergency habeas corpus petition citing fear of persecution if returned to Zimbabwe, a country he has not lived in since age four. He remains held at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Fort Snelling, Minnesota, as family, friends, and South Dakota's congressional delegation seek updates on his case.

Luis Manuel Chavarría-Galeano, a 48-year-old exiled Nicaraguan journalist who hosts the interview program Café con Voz, was detained by ICE agents on September 14, 2026 while working as an Uber/Lyft driver near Orlando to supplement his journalism income. He fled Nicaragua in 2018 after police raided his newsroom and imprisoned colleagues over his reporting critical of Daniel Ortega's government, filing for asylum in the U.S. in June 2019 with a pending case, a valid work permit, and no U.S. criminal record. In 2023, the Ortega-Murillo government stripped him and 93 other journalists, writers, and activists of their citizenship. His wife, Daykel Santamaría, said she received only a brief call before his phone was taken, during which he asked her to contact a lawyer and notify journalists. He was held at Baker Correctional Facility and then Krome North Service Processing Center, where press freedom groups including the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders, Nicaraguan opposition members, and U.S. lawmakers such as Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar called for his release. An immigration judge granted him bond on September 23, and he was released on September 26, with a future immigration court hearing scheduled.

Jessica Trevino (also spelled Treviño), a DACA recipient in her mid-30s who arrived in the U.S. from Mexico as a young child and lived in Texas her entire life, was arrested by ICE agents on December 28, 2025, as she left church with her family in the Rio Grande Valley. Unmarked vehicles rammed the family's car in a Home Depot parking lot, agents struck her husband Juan with a baton, and shoved their 14-year-old daughter against the vehicle hard enough to bruise her. Trevino worked in an elementary school cafeteria and had no criminal record; her DACA status remained valid at the time. After nearly three months in ICE custody, she was deported to Matamoros, Mexico on March 25, 2026, despite disputing that she consented to a 'voluntary departure' order. Her three U.S. citizen children, ages 16, 14, and 13, remained in Texas with relatives. USCIS later moved to terminate her DACA status, citing unauthorized travel. Her family filed a federal lawsuit seeking her return and restoration of her status, though a federal judge has since recommended dismissal on jurisdictional grounds.

Adam Mohamed Abdullah, a 31-year-old Somali auto mechanic and asylum seeker living in St. Paul, was arrested by masked federal agents on December 12, 2025 during 'Operation Metro Surge,' despite holding a work permit, Social Security number, a pending asylum application, and no criminal record beyond two parking tickets, and despite regularly attending ICE check-ins. He was moved through detention facilities in Minnesota, Kentucky and Louisiana over roughly nine months before being transferred to Guantánamo Bay's Camp Six in late August alongside fellow Minnesotans Hassan Abdi Abtidoon and Abdullahi Jamal Abdi. His attorney, Marc Prokosch, said communication with him was limited and possibly not confidential, calling the use of the base a 'political scare tactic,' a characterization Sen. Tina Smith echoed after DHS described the group as having serious criminal histories without presenting evidence specific to Abdullah. Abdullah began a hunger strike over lack of information, after which he said guards beat him and placed him in a freezing solitary cell; while detained, his mother died after authorities denied his request for an international call and voluntary departure to see her. The ACLU sued the federal government over its use of Guantánamo for civil immigration detention, with a hearing set for October 14. Abdullah and the other two men were flown through Kenya and deported to Somalia around September 25, 2026.

Masked ICE agents conducted an enforcement sweep along Speedwell Avenue in Morristown, chasing a man from the Lincoln Apartments toward a firehouse while a school bus of elementary students watched agents transfer handcuffed detainees between vehicles. Father Duberney Villamizar, a local priest, cut short Mass to witness the operation and said four to six individuals, including a car wash employee, were detained, with one released after producing legal documents. During the operation, a passing vehicle struck the open door of an ICE SUV in front of the school bus, which the priest said caused children to scream; DHS blamed a distracted driver and said no ICE officers were injured. Residents and officials questioned whether a Morris County Sheriff's officer had cooperated with ICE, which would violate New Jersey's Immigrant Trust Directive. DHS later identified three men detained: Noe Izara Rivera and Marco Vinicio Remache-Damian, who will face due process in deportation proceedings, and Cesar Armando Chilotillo, a previously deported individual who will remain in ICE custody pending removal. The arrests were part of a series of Morristown ICE sweeps that have unsettled Hispanic neighborhoods and prompted protests since January.

Alejandro, 33, from Mexico, works in Minnesota to support his family back home and has a pending asylum appeal after his initial claim was denied. He had been held in custody since May — first by local law enforcement, then ICE — until a judge ruled on Sept. 22 that his arrest was unlawful and ordered his immediate release. On Sept. 25, after being given back his belongings at the Whipple Federal Building, Alejandro made it just outside the front doors before plainclothes immigration agents handcuffed him again, with one agent telling him through translation that "just like they could release me, they could arrest me again."

Oscar Quintero Frias, co-owner of the Colombian specialty coffee shop Cof& in downtown Bellingham, was arrested by ICE at Sea-Tac Airport on September 15 while returning from a work trip in Chicago. He is being held at the Northwest ICE Processing Facility in Tacoma; DHS says he entered the U.S. from Colombia in February 2021 with permission to stay only six months, which has since expired, while his family maintains he is a lawful permanent resident with no U.S. criminal history. Quintero Frias, an electrical engineer who fled potential kidnapping threats in Colombia, earned his engineering license after arriving and opened Cof& with his wife the same year, later winning a Bellingham Mayor City Center Award in 2024 for helping revitalize downtown. A friend who hosted community events at the shop said he and his family worked hard to build the business despite financial hurdles facing noncitizen entrepreneurs. A GoFundMe for his legal and bond costs has raised nearly $60,000 as his family works with immigration lawyers to secure his release.

A woman was detained by ICE immigration officers and is being held in Arizona. Her bond has been set at $15,000, and her son is raising funds to help pay her bond and bring her home. The family said her father died last Christmas, and the mother's detention has been especially painful since she is one of the few family members he has left; her grandchildren and siblings do not want to lose her.

A woman's husband has been held in ICE detention for six months while legal efforts to secure his release have been unsuccessful. She is now caring alone for their four daughters, ages 1, 2, 4, and 7, and has launched a fundraiser to cover household expenses, travel costs, and money for her husband to communicate and buy necessities while detained.

Catherine Rax, 25, was detained along with her partner and another coworker after a traffic stop escalated into an immigration enforcement operation at Chile & Chili's Taqueria in Tallahassee, where all three worked. Rax, who is originally from Guatemala, said her coworkers had become like family and that she sends money home to help her mother, who is battling cancer. Speaking from inside the Flagler County Jail, she described the experience as 'not living — it's surviving' and said she did not know when she would be released or see her family again. One of the three men detained with her is now being held at a state-run immigration detention facility in Baker County, and community members held a rally outside the now-closed restaurant in support of the detained workers. Owner Marco Tenorio, who was in Mexico and watched the raid unfold via security cameras, said it was the third immigration operation the business had faced in just over a month and described workers having panic attacks during the raid. He announced the taqueria's permanent closure, saying he did not want to keep exposing his employees, after several other workers quit in the aftermath.

Jorge Mata Campos, a 51-year-old Costa Rican national who holds valid U visa status as a crime victim, has built a life in the United States working in construction, buying a house, marrying, and raising a 16-year-old U.S. citizen son. He was arrested at his home in Nashville following confusion over a 911 call, after earlier voluntarily visiting ICE offices to try to resolve his immigration case. He entered detention while still recovering from a car accident that had left him incapacitated for months. For about three months he has been held at the Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana, where he says poor food and inadequate medical care have caused him to lose nearly 15 kilograms. Speaking with La Nación by video call, Mata described punishments imposed on detainees and said some resort to self-harm, telling the outlet, 'No les importamos' ('They don't care about us'). He has requested voluntary departure but has not received a date, and his attorney continues trying to resolve his case.

Pedro Mendoza Chávez, 63, was violently taken down by ICE agents during a landscaping shift in the Fresno and I-10 area of San Antonio, Texas, suffering a cracked skull and a broken arm. His wife, Ruvelina Vega, said he had already surrendered and stopped running when an agent kicked him to the ground, causing his head to hit the concrete; agents have claimed he was resisting arrest. Vega was initially barred from seeing him or learning his location, and an officer falsely told her he had merely fallen. Mendoza Chávez, who has lived in the U.S. more than 22 years and has three minor children with Vega, received staples for his scalp wound before being discharged and is now held in ICE detention, still in severe pain and without having received a full medical exam.

ICE conducted targeted enforcement operations in Woodstock and Waukegan, Illinois, arresting eight men from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. In Waukegan, agents arrested Mario Guadarrama, 31, and Pedro Serrano-Hernandez, 39, both of Mexico; Guadarrama had a prior 2019 arrest by Illinois law enforcement, while Serrano-Hernandez was taken into custody on a 2025 Wisconsin warrant for contempt of court after prior arrests for driving without a license. The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights said agents 'abducted' one person near 8th Street and Prescott Avenue in Waukegan. In Woodstock, six men were arrested, including Alex Francisco Diaz-Quintanilla, 47, of El Salvador, who had a 2024 weapons conviction; Israel Espinal-Diaz, 48, and Lazaro Cruz-Morales, 43, and Gabriel Martinez-Quintanar, 26, all of Mexico; Daniel Nehemias Martinez-Esteban, 30, of Guatemala; and Jayson Josiel Ruiz-Figueroa, 23, of Honduras. At least one man was detained in the parking lot of Woodstock Automotive Service, and all six remain in custody pending removal proceedings at facilities in Indiana. A separate, unrelated federal drug trafficking warrant was served at the same Woodstock location hours later by DEA, Illinois State Police, FBI and local agencies.