Human Impact Project

Yassine Halhoul, a 21-year-old University of Arizona aerospace engineering student from Morocco, was detained by Homeland Security Investigations on October 21, 2025, due to a clerical visa issue. He spent approximately one month in ICE detention at Florence Correctional Center and Eloy Detention Center, where he reported poor conditions including inadequate food, interference with sleep, and frequent cell counts. After a GoFundMe campaign raised $18,500 for bail and legal expenses, Halhoul was released on November 13, 2025, with an ankle monitor.

On October 19-20, 2025, approximately 98 men detained at Farmville Detention Center reported finding worms in their food and refused meals due to health and safety concerns. When detainees reported the contaminated food to staff, they were threatened with loss of commissary access in apparent retaliation. The incident reflects a pattern of dangerous conditions and medical neglect at the facility, which has a documented history of similar food contamination issues and retaliatory disciplinary actions.

Quinn Haberl, a blind protester, said federal agents at Portland's ICE facility dragged and handcuffed him twice during separate protest incidents. The first incident occurred Tuesday night when agents picked him up and dropped him on the ground. During the second incident on Saturday, agents dragged him across the driveway and held him for about an hour with pressure applied to his back and neck. Haberl was taken to the hospital where doctors documented bruising on his shoulders, hands, and arms.

A 57-year-old Mexican father of four was detained at Broadview Processing Center for four days in severely overcrowded conditions before signing a voluntary departure form, unaware his attorney had secured an emergency hearing that could have allowed him to stay. He was deported to Mexico the following day after waiving his right to appeal. The case illustrates concerns among immigration attorneys that voluntary departures may not be truly voluntary, with immigrants reporting coercion due to language barriers and lack of legal knowledge.

Kevin Larson, a 68-year-old Canadian retiree with no criminal record, was stopped at the Blue Water Bridge on October 18, 2025, while attempting to enter Michigan to attend a No Kings protest against Trump's policies. After three hours of questioning, fingerprinting, a phone search, and a DNA cheek swab collected under threat of jail time, Larson was denied entry and returned to Canada. Border agents told him he was turned away due to the nature of his planned protest activity.

Jude Jasmine Jeannine Allard, 28, and Jenaro-Ernesto Ayala, 43, day-laborer advocates, were arrested by federal Border Patrol at a Home Depot parking lot in Van Nuys on suspicion of interfering with immigration enforcement operations. They are facing additional felony charges for allegedly placing homemade tire spikes to disable law enforcement vehicles. Ayala is a U.S. citizen and outreach coordinator at the Van Nuys Day Labor Center who helps connect workers with resources and jobs. After their arrests, attorneys Cal Soto and Colleen Flynn attempted to meet with the detainees at the Federal Detention Center on Alameda Street in Downtown Los Angeles but were denied access, with federal authorities citing ongoing "processing" and inability to locate where the detainees were being held.

The ACLU of Nevada filed a lawsuit challenging Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's 287(g) partnership with ICE, which allows local officers to hold undocumented immigrants for transfer to federal agents. The case centers on Sergio Morais-Hechavarria, a 36-year-old man arrested in August who pleaded guilty to attempted possession of a stolen vehicle. After completing his criminal sentence, a judge ordered his release to an inpatient treatment facility, but Metro detained him on an ICE immigration hold for weeks beyond his release date. On October 16, Morais-Hechavarria was transferred to a Texas immigration facility without notice to his attorneys and in violation of the court order. The ACLU contends the 287(g) partnership violates Nevada state law and Dillon's rule, which prohibits local agencies from exercising powers not authorized by the Legislature.

Queer and trans immigrants detained at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center alleged they were forced into an unsanctioned work program performing hard manual labor for minimal pay, and sexually harassed and assaulted by an assistant warden named Manuel Reyes between 2023 and 2025. Detainees reported facing medical neglect, retaliation for reporting abuse, and having their complaints systematically ignored by ICE officials. Four detainees filed administrative complaints under the Federal Tort Claims Act, and civil rights complaints were submitted to DHS oversight bodies by RFK Human Rights, the ACLU of Louisiana, and the National Immigration Project.

Juan Barbosa Gomez, a 60-year-old Mexican national with a valid work visa and clean criminal record, was arrested by ICE officers on October 15 in Portland, Oregon. His family claims the arrest was wrongful and says he has lived and worked legally in the U.S. for over 30 years. Since his arrest, Barbosa has been transferred between multiple detention facilities across three states and does not appear on ICE's online detainee locator, leaving his family unable to locate him or mount a legal defense.

Melissa Tran, a Vietnamese refugee and Maryland mother of five who legally immigrated in 1993, was detained by ICE for over five months following a routine check-in due to a non-violent theft conviction from 2001. After a federal judge ordered her release, finding the detention unnecessary, Tran was freed and required to wear an ankle monitor while reporting to ICE authorities. She described harsh detention conditions including poor hygiene facilities and being transported shackled across multiple states, though she now faces potential deportation despite her two decades of clean immigration status.

A 15-year-old U.S. citizen was detained by Customs and Border Patrol agents on Chicago's East Side after federal agents deployed tear gas at a crash scene. According to his attorneys, the teen was slammed to the ground, zip-tied, and held in a garage for five hours without being booked, read his rights, or allowed to contact his mother. DHS stated the teen was arrested for allegedly throwing an egg at an agent, taken to an FBI field office where he admitted to the action, and released without charges. A 16-year-old U.S. citizen born and raised in Chicago was arrested and body-slammed by federal immigration agents during the East Side operation. His mother, Juanita Garnica, reported receiving a call that her son had been beaten, body-slammed, and taken into custody, but was not informed of his whereabouts or status. He was among multiple people arrested during the federal operation and subsequent protest.

A 13-year-old Brazilian boy named Arthur was arrested by Massachusetts police on a violent threat allegation and immediately taken into ICE custody, leaving his mother Josiele Berto unable to retrieve him. The Department of Homeland Security claimed Arthur had an "extensive rap sheet" and possessed a firearm, but local officials confirmed no gun was found. Arthur was transferred from Massachusetts to Virginia without notice to his family or attorney. A federal court petition was filed arguing his detention violates due process. His mother, whose family has a pending asylum application, can only communicate with him through brief phone calls.

Leo Cruz Silva, a 34-year-old Mexican national, died by suicide on October 4, 2025, in Ste. Genevieve County Jail while in ICE custody. Arrested on September 30 for public intoxication in Festus, Missouri, Silva was transferred to ICE custody on October 1 for reinstatement of a prior removal order. During his first days in custody, he experienced acute mental distress, including auditory and visual hallucinations, paranoia, and attempts to leave his cell. On October 3, jail staff observed him hiding under his bed, and a medical provider ordered antipsychotic medications, though treatment was not immediately scheduled. On October 4 at approximately 3:20 p.m., jail employees found him with a sheet tied around his neck. Staff removed the ligature and began CPR; he was pronounced dead at 3:47 p.m. Silva had entered the U.S. without documents and had been deported twice between 2010 and 2025 before re-entering. His death was the second reported suicide in ICE custody in Missouri in 2025. On October 13, about 50 community members gathered for a vigil organized by Abide in Love Ste. Genevieve. The DHS Office of Inspector General and ICE Office of Professional Responsibility are reviewing the case, examining intake screenings, wellness checks, medical response timing, and compliance with detention protocols.

A 13-year-old Brazilian boy with a pending asylum case was arrested by ICE in Everett after an interaction with local police and transferred to a juvenile detention facility in Winchester, Virginia. His mother was told she could pick him up from the Everett Police Department but was informed ICE had taken him instead. A federal judge ordered the government to justify the arrest by October 14 or provide a bond hearing by October 17.

On October 10, 2025, Tontitown police pulled over a work van and, after issuing only a traffic warning to the driver, called ICE to the scene; officers fingerprinted and detained the van's occupants roadside for about an hour awaiting ICE's arrival. Five of the six passengers, including 18-year-old Guatemalan woman Vicky Ramirez, were booked into Washington County Detention Center and transferred to federal custody; Ramirez was later sent to a detention facility in Louisiana and deported to Guatemala. Bodycam footage showed the officer opening the van's sliding door and asking for identification from all passengers, actions an attorney with the National Lawyers Guild said raised constitutional concerns about unlawful search and prolonged detention. The stop was one of at least 13 identified traffic stops that led to the federal detention of 20 people in Washington County before Tontitown Police Department formally signed a 287(g) agreement with ICE in June 2026.

Guilherme Lemes Cardoso E Silva, a 35-year-old Brazilian visual artist and former attorney based in Sausalito, was detained by ICE agents on July 11, 2025, while driving on San Juan Island, Washington, to pick up his 4-year-old daughter. His wife, Rachel Leidig, who is an American makeup artist 7 months pregnant with their first child due in October, says ICE agents surrounded Silva's car with approximately six unmarked vehicles, refused to show a warrant, confiscated his phone while he was recording, and used physical force during the arrest, pushing him against the car and handcuffing him. Silva, who entered the U.S. on a valid six-month visa eight years ago and overstayed his status, had no criminal record and was in the final stages of applying for a green card through an I-130 petition filed by his wife after they married in April 2025. ICE agents claimed to have found illicit images on Silva's phone and charged him with possessing depictions of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Silva was held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, where according to Leidig he was subjected to invasive searches, made to sleep on the floor with 35 other detainees, and shackled during transport. On July 29, a judge ordered Silva's release on bond, which Leidig paid in full, but ICE transferred him to Whatcom County without explanation, complicating his legal representation. On September 12, after 63 days in custody, Silva was released on personal recognizance. On October 6, a judge dismissed the criminal charges against him without prejudice, four days before the birth of his newborn son, Isidore. The Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney indicated charges could be refiled pending investigation completion. Leidig speculated that the detention may have been related to a custody battle Silva was involved in.

A veteran and U.S. citizen was detained by ICE. During detention, the individual was placed on suicide watch in a cell wearing a hospital dress on a concrete bed with a thin mattress. The cell had a light on continuously and officers were stationed outside with a glass door. A psychiatric nurse conducted one check per day. The individual was held in these conditions from Friday morning to Sunday afternoon when released.

ICE detained numerous asylum-seekers and migrants at the San Diego federal courthouse basement between October 9-21, 2025, after summoning them for routine check-ins. Detainees reported being held in crowded cells for up to four days in conditions they described as inadequate, including limited bedding (yoga mat-like mattresses), no privacy for bathroom use, cold temperatures, fluorescent lights kept on all night, inedible food, and lack of medical attention. Families were denied proper goodbyes, and detainees were not searchable in ICE's locator system. Some were subsequently deported or transferred to other detention facilities without proper legal proceedings.

Sunny Naqvi, a 28-year-old U.S. citizen from Skokie, was detained at O'Hare Airport after returning from a work trip to Turkey and held for nearly 30 hours at ICE facilities in Illinois and Wisconsin before being released. Federal agencies provided conflicting accounts of her detention, with CBP claiming she was released within 90 minutes while her family and elected officials reported she was transferred to multiple detention centers. Her case is part of a broader pattern, with ProPublica documenting over 170 U.S. citizens detained by immigration agents in recent years and advocacy groups reporting increased airport encounters in 2026.

Noor Nafea Salman, a 28-year-old lawful permanent resident and medical student at the University of Virginia, was detained by ICE on October 9, 2025, during what she believed would be a routine immigration check-in appointment. Salman, who arrived in the U.S. as a refugee from Iraq at age 17 and graduated from James Madison University, has been complying with ICE check-ins for six years prior to her detention. She is married to Khaled, a Palestinian-American U.S. citizen, and her mother and five siblings are all U.S. citizens. Since her detention at Diamondback Detention Center in Oklahoma and other facilities in Texas, Salman's health has deteriorated significantly over approximately ten months. She has been hospitalized multiple times for asthma complications, suffered a fall she believes caused a concussion, and has become extremely weak. Her husband visits weekly from 250 miles away, and her family continues to advocate for her release and access to proper medical care.