Human Impact Project

Francoise Makuiza, a 32-year-old asylum seeker, was arrested by ICE on Friday morning while leaving for work at an assisted living facility in Portland. According to her attorney, Makuiza has no criminal history in Maine, has lived there for over 12 years, is the mother of a U.S. citizen, and was previously granted refugee status by Colombia after fleeing genocide in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Her detention is part of an ICE enforcement surge that has resulted in more than 200 arrests in Maine, including asylum seekers complying with immigration officials and immigrants married to U.S. citizens.

A former ICE detention officer named David Courvelle pleaded guilty in federal court to sexually abusing a woman while she was in federal custody at an ICE facility in Louisiana over several months. Courvelle faces up to 15 years in prison and fines up to $250,000.

Anthony Paredes, an 18-year-old deaf high school senior at Ramón C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts in Los Angeles, was chased and tackled to the ground by Department of Homeland Security immigration officers on January 24, 2026, during a peaceful protest outside a federal building in downtown Los Angeles. Multiple bystanders shouted that Paredes was deaf and could not hear the officers' verbal commands, but he was taken into custody without a sign language interpreter provided. While in custody, Paredes' requests to use a restroom were denied. His mother, Guadalupe Diaz, expressed concern about the lack of interpreter access during the encounter. Educators and organizers plan to file a claim and lawsuit against the government and seek to have charges dropped, with a court date scheduled for April 1.

Georgia Savageford, a Minneapolis woman, was arrested by federal immigration officers on January 24, 2026, after being pushed to the ground by an agent. She was then tackled and dragged face-down by three agents, who knelt on her back, twisted her arms and legs, and handcuffed her so tightly she suffered temporary nerve damage and lost feeling in her hands. Savageford was a legal observer monitoring ICE enforcement activities when the incident occurred. She was placed in an ICE holding facility where she was held for 12 hours in a cold cell without adequate access to food, water, or bathroom facilities, then released without being charged. Civil rights attorneys have filed complaints on her behalf as part of an effort to pursue class-action lawsuits over alleged excessive force.

Ricky Chandee, an engineering technician for Minneapolis, was detained by ICE agents at his home in Brooklyn Park on January 24 during a surge of federal enforcement in Minnesota. Chandee, a Laotian refugee who was convicted of a drive-by shooting decades ago and never naturalized as a U.S. citizen, was transported to El Paso, Texas, where he faces possible deportation to Laos. The article describes how Laotian refugees who arrived after the Vietnam War are being deported at unprecedented rates under the Trump administration's mass deportation agenda, despite having built lives in Minnesota for decades.

A protest occurred Saturday at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley when detainees, including many children, demonstrated in solidarity with 5-year-old Liam Ramos who was taken into custody in Minnesota. Attorneys were ordered to leave the facility as approximately 80 percent of detainees poured into open areas chanting "Libertad" (Freedom). Detainees expressed concerns over the child's treatment and the circumstances of his apprehension from a car in his family's driveway.

Hassan Hamka, a lawful permanent resident, has been held in ICE detention for over six months while his legal case proceeds. His daughter created a petition seeking community support and character testimonials to present to the judge at his trial.

A Department of Transportation and Mobility employee was approached and questioned by ICE agents around 6:40 a.m. on Friday at a convenience store on Irvington Road near Benson Highway. The agents asked for identification but turned and walked away when they noticed the City of Tucson logo on his work vehicle. City Manager Timothy Thomure expressed concern that the employee appeared to have been randomly selected for questioning based on an unstated profile.

A Chinese citizen who entered the U.S. without inspection in July 2023 was re-detained by ICE on January 23, 2026, when he appeared for a routine check-in. He had been living freely in Los Angeles under an Order of Release on Recognizance since 2023 and filed an asylum application based on fear of political persecution in China. The court ordered his immediate release, finding his re-detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated his due process rights.

ICE agents detained Marcos Da Silva, a 32-year-old Brazilian contractor, during a traffic stop in Maine on Tuesday. Da Silva has a pending green card petition filed by his U.S. citizen wife Alex in 2024 and entered the country as an asylum seeker. He is currently being held at Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania with a court date scheduled for early February.

A 2-year-old girl and her father, both Ecuadorian nationals, were arrested by ICE in south Minneapolis and flown to Texas within hours, despite a federal judge's order to release the child. The judge issued an order at 8:11 p.m. Thursday to release the child by 9:30 p.m., but ICE placed them on a commercial flight to Texas at 8:30 p.m. The child was later returned to Minnesota and reunited with her mother on Friday.

Three Venezuelan nationals with pending asylum cases were arrested by ICE agents on Friday morning in front of the Drachman Montessori Magnet School on 22nd Street and South 10th Avenue, with dozens of children on the playground nearby. According to a family member, the three—a husband, brother, and sister-in-law—had been regularly checking in with ICE every three months and had proper documentation showing they were legally present while their cases were being processed. One agent was carrying pepper spray during the arrest, and the sister-in-law was arrested after questioning an officer.

Carlos Garcia Odón, a former mayor of Mérida, Venezuela who fled political persecution, was arrested by ICE on January 23 while living in Ohio since 2022. Now detained in Butler County Jail for two months, Odón is fighting a February 25 deportation order that would send him to Ecuador, where he fears persecution. He has filed for asylum and is awaiting responses to bond and appeal requests from his attorneys.

Alberto Castañeda Mondragón, a 31-year-old Mexican citizen, sustained eight skull fractures during an ICE arrest on January 8, 2026, in a St. Paul shopping center parking lot. According to Castañeda, ICE agents pulled him from a vehicle, threw him to the ground, and repeatedly struck him in the head with a steel baton. He was hospitalized at Hennepin County Medical Center in intensive care with fractures to the front, back, and both sides of his skull along with brain hemorrhaging. Hospital staff told the Associated Press that the injuries were inconsistent with ICE's account that he fell against a concrete wall while attempting to flee while handcuffed. Castañeda filed a habeas corpus petition alleging federal agents interfered with his medical care and detained him based on his appearance. FBI and St. Paul Police are investigating the incident.

William Vermie, a 39-year-old Army combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient, was detained by ICE agents on January 13, 2026, while standing on a public sidewalk in Minneapolis observing an immigration enforcement operation. He was held for eight hours at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building without being allowed to contact an attorney or his family, despite repeatedly requesting legal representation and his wife securing legal counsel for him. The Department of Homeland Security stated that Vermie was arrested for allegedly assaulting a law enforcement officer. Four attorneys have reported to ABC News that they were denied access to clients held at the same facility, and multiple attorneys have reported similar complaints from others arrested in recent ICE operations in Minneapolis, with allegations of Fifth and Sixth Amendment violations.

ICE enforcement operations in Minnesota during January 2026 resulted in the detention of at least seven students from Columbia Heights Public Schools, including a five-year-old boy. The operations included stops of individuals without confirmed identity verification and stops of off-duty police officers, with agents staging on school grounds and in neighborhoods. St. Paul and Brooklyn Park police chiefs acknowledged concerns about racial profiling and potential civil rights violations. School officials reported the year was "tumultuous," with students and families experiencing ongoing negative impacts and fears about student retention.

Johny Merida Aguilara, an undocumented immigrant detained by ICE in September 2024, accepted deportation to Bolivia after nearly five months in custody. His wife, Gimena Morales Antezana, and their three U.S. citizen children plan to depart with him this month. The family's decision comes after financial hardship and the need to care for their 5-year-old son who has brain cancer, autism, and severe feeding difficulties. Aguilara's family lawyer won a temporary deportation stay in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, but the family chose voluntary departure amid mounting economic pressures and uncertainty over pending asylum and T visa applications.

Elvis Tipan-Echeverria and his 2-year-old daughter, both Ecuadorian citizens, were detained by ICE agents on January 23, 2026, after agents pursued their vehicle in a targeted enforcement operation near their Minneapolis home. Agents entered the family's driveway without a warrant, broke the vehicle window while the child was inside, and transported both father and daughter to a federal facility. Despite a court order issued at 8:11 p.m. on January 23 requiring the child's immediate release, ICE placed them on a commercial flight to Texas by 8:30 p.m. The child was returned to her mother in Minnesota on January 24, but her father remains in custody. A federal court order has barred ICE from removing the father from Minnesota during ongoing proceedings.

Elvis Tipan-Echeverria, an Ecuadorian citizen, and his 2-year-old daughter were taken into ICE custody on January 23, 2026, during a vehicle encounter at their home in Minneapolis. Despite a federal court order issued that evening requiring the child's immediate release, both were flown to Texas the same night. The toddler, who has lived in Minneapolis since arriving as a newborn and has a pending asylum application, was returned to her mother on January 24. Her father remains in ICE custody. The detention was part of a broader ICE operation in Minnesota that resulted in at least nine children being detained in January 2026, including a 5-year-old detained on his way home from preschool and several other minors ranging from elementary school age to teenagers. Federal judges ordered the return of several other children and parents to Minnesota after they were transferred to a detention center in Texas.

ICE arrested Augusta Clara's partner on May 7 during a traffic stop in Worcester, Massachusetts. The next morning, ICE came to Clara's home demanding she return the car and sign paperwork. When Clara left her house with her 17-year-old sister and 3-month-old son, ICE stopped her car and arrested her. As Clara's mother arrived to take the baby, ICE agents attempted to arrest her as well and violently restrained Clara's sister, pinning her face to the ground. Neighbors gathered and protested, preventing ICE from taking the infant. Clara's sister and mother were arrested; Clara was also taken into custody.

Cecil Elvir-Quinonez, a 25-year-old Honduran national who has lived in the U.S. since 2014, was arrested on New Year's Eve 2025 after being stopped for speeding in Louisiana. She was separated from her two American-born children, including a five-month-old still breastfeeding at the time of arrest. While in ICE custody, Elvir-Quinonez discovered she was pregnant with her third child. She experienced heavy bleeding and cramps but received limited medical care beyond one emergency room visit. Her youngest child has been repeatedly sick since her arrest, and her five-year-old has developed new speech difficulties. Advocacy groups including the ACLU and National Immigration Project report that Elvir-Quinonez's case is part of a documented pattern: more than a dozen women have suffered medical neglect and mistreatment while pregnant in ICE custody, including cases of women shackled during miscarriages, denied prenatal care, and given inadequate nutrition. The advocacy coalition has urged ICE to release all pregnant detainees.

Juan Sebastian Carvajal-Munoz, a Colombian civil engineer employed by an engineering consulting firm and holding a valid work visa, was detained by ICE agents on Pearl Street in downtown Portland on January 23, 2026. Masked agents in police vests used a crowbar to smash his car window and forcibly removed him from his vehicle in less than two minutes, leaving the car running in the street. Carvajal-Munoz, who earned a master's degree from the University of Maine, has no criminal record, despite the operation being described as targeting immigrants with criminal records.

Makengo Nzeza was detained by ICE on January 23, 2026, while returning to the hospital after his wife gave birth via C-section to their newborn daughter. Nzeza, a member of First Parish Congregational Church in Saco, was arrested as part of Operation Catch of the Day. He had been granted asylum. DHS stated that Nzeza entered the country on a tourist visa in 2017 that expired in 2018. His wife was left alone at the hospital with their newborn and three other children ages 3, 6, and 11. A fundraiser was created to support the family and cover legal fees and bond costs.

Osvaldo Damian Diaz Hernandez, a noncitizen who had been previously released on bond or conditional parole, was re-detained by immigration authorities on January 22, 2026 without being provided a pre-deprivation bond hearing. He filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his ongoing immigration detention. The federal court ruled that the Due Process Clause requires the government to provide a pre-deprivation bond hearing before a neutral arbiter before re-detaining someone who was previously released, and ordered his immediate release with the same conditions he had prior to detention.

A noncitizen who had been previously released on bond or conditional parole was re-detained by immigration authorities on January 22, 2026. He filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his ongoing immigration detention, arguing that the government violated his due process rights by re-detaining him without providing a pre-deprivation bond hearing before a neutral arbiter. The federal court granted his petition and ordered his immediate release with the same conditions he was subject to prior to his January 22 detention.

ICE agents detained five-year-old Liam Ramos and his father at their home in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, using the child as bait to gain entry despite the family having an active asylum case and no deportation order. Federal agents have detained children as young as four years old in ICE custody.

A Cumberland County corrections officer was detained by ICE agents Wednesday night in Portland despite having documentation showing he was authorized to work until April 2029. The officer had a clean background check when hired in February 2024 and was actively pursuing legal immigration status. Sheriff Kevin Joyce commented on the arrest, noting the officer's background and immigration status pursuit.

Emily Despain, a 21-year-old U.S. citizen from Tempe, Arizona, was detained by ICE for approximately four hours during a protest outside the ICE Phoenix Field Office on January 22, 2026. She alleged that an ICE agent pushed her face-first into the ground during a confrontation between protesters and agents, though she stated she did not physically engage with any officers. She was released without explanation or apology around 1:30 a.m. on January 23.

Evaristo Kalonji, an asylum seeker from Angola with no criminal record, was detained by ICE agents on January 22, 2026 in South Portland. His pastor, Carlos Nzolameso, found Kalonji's car abandoned with keys on the floor. Kalonji was moved between detention centers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island while his pending asylum case awaits a court date scheduled for May 2028.

Francisco Gaspar Andrés, a 48-year-old Guatemalan immigrant, died on December 3, 2025, at The Hospitals of Providence East in El Paso after 93 days in ICE custody at Camp East Montana detention facility. He was arrested in Florida on September 1 and transferred to the facility on September 19, marking the first confirmed death there. His health deteriorated in mid-November with complications from alcoholic hepatic cirrhosis, low sodium levels, and kidney failure. He was hospitalized on November 16 and placed on dialysis and a liver transplant list before being pronounced dead on December 3. His daughter said during weekly phone calls he reported suffering from lack of food, lack of medical care, and terrible conditions, and stated: 'My dad was taken to the hospital when he was already dying, and it was too late.' Another detainee confirmed he had asked for help but did not receive it. His wife, Lucía Pedro Juan, was deported to Guatemala on November 28 before learning of his death. An immigration judge had ordered his removal on November 14, two days before his hospitalization. The El Paso County Medical Examiner attributed his death to natural causes stemming from advanced alcoholic liver cirrhosis with renal failure and internal bleeding, though conflicting reports indicate authorities also ruled it a homicide.

A 16-year-old Ecuadorian asylum seeker named Sebastian was detained by ICE agents in North Minneapolis in mid-January while on a food run. He was moved between multiple holding facilities, including a guarded hotel, before being flown to a youth shelter in Grand Rapids, Michigan. During his detention, his family and ICE's own attorneys reported having no record of him in custody. Lawyers located him after a week-long period.

A 10-year-old girl and her father, Guatemalan asylum-seekers with six years of U.S. residency and an active asylum claim, were detained by federal agents in Spokane on January 9 after a school drop-off and transferred to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. The father holds a valid work permit and has no criminal history. Washington state leaders condemned the enforcement action, noting the family's community ties and scheduled 2027 court hearing.

Advocates and allies are requesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials immediately release Ramiro Pacheco, a Pomona resident and day laborer currently held at Adelanto Detention Center. According to his family, Pacheco has a medical condition that is rapidly deteriorating while in custody.

Yannier Vazquez Hidalgo, a Cuban man working at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Central New York, was ordered deported to Ecuador by an immigration judge. Hidalgo fled Cuba and married his husband in the U.S., requesting asylum based on persecution fears as a gay man. He was detained by federal agents in October during a routine ICE appointment in Mattydale. Though he passed an immigration test demonstrating a credible threat to his life in Cuba due to his sexual orientation, the judge ordered his deportation to a country where he has no ties and where he argues he will face persecution for being gay and Cuban.

On August 23, 2025, about 40 people gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center to protest ICE raids. Jessica Ramirez Vasquez, a social worker and community volunteer, was detained after using a bullhorn during the protest. Officers fired pepper balls and rubber bullets at the crowd. Jessica was arrested and charged with felony assault on a federal officer. Livestream video documented the incident.

An immigration court judge ordered SUNY Upstate Hospital employee Yan Vazquez to be deported to Ecuador. Vazquez and his husband Alex Gonzalez, both from Cuba, filed for asylum based on persecution related to their sexuality and were in the process of becoming permanent U.S. citizens when they were detained by ICE agents in October.

Andranik Grigoryan, a New York resident detained at Miami Correctional Facility in Indiana, suffered a severe seizure on January 22 after correctional medical staff failed to provide his prescribed anti-seizure medication (Keppra), which he had relied on for years to control epilepsy. He hit his head during the seizure and was left lying in a pool of blood before being taken to a local hospital for treatment. Upon returning to the facility the same day, officers pepper-sprayed him through a cell port while he was still recovering from the seizure and had difficulty standing, causing intense burning and respiratory distress. Grigoryan was then moved to another cell without being allowed to wash the pepper spray from his face and body. He has filed lawsuits against Centurion Health of Indiana and unidentified correctional officers, alleging violations of his rights under the 14th Amendment.

Juan Sebastián Carvajal-Muñoz, a Colombian civil engineer lawfully working in the U.S. on an H-1B visa after earning a master's degree from the University of Maine, was violently arrested by ICE agents on January 22, 2026, while driving to work in Maine. Agents in unmarked vehicles surrounded his car, smashed his driver's side window with a crowbar, and dragged him out at Taser point despite his attempts to show proof of his lawful status. He was placed in full-body shackles, transported around for hours, and held in a windowless cell at an ICE facility in Massachusetts for approximately 15 hours before being released in Burlington, MA, 105 miles from his home. Carvajal-Muñoz filed a federal lawsuit against ICE agent Jack Cory Ravencamp of Lenexa, Kansas, and two unidentified agents, alleging excessive force, warrantless arrest without probable cause, unlawful detention, racial discrimination, and violations of his Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights.

An Ecuadoran woman seeking asylum was detained at Cumberland County Jail in Portland for five months. In January, ICE transferred her to Massachusetts without court authorization and then to Louisiana via air transport, removing her epilepsy medication despite knowing of her condition. During transfer she was shackled without food or bathroom access, and suffered multiple seizures in Louisiana while receiving no medication for days. U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin found ICE made false and misleading statements to the court, unlawfully detained her without a bond hearing, and deliberately disregarded her medical needs. The judge ordered her released, barred re-arrest, and ordered the government to pay her legal fees of approximately $15,000.

ICE agents detained Juan Sebastián Carvajal-Muñoz, a civil engineer from Colombia employed by an engineering consulting firm and in the country on a work visa, in downtown Portland on January 22, 2026. Agents in an unmarked vehicle cut off his car, smashed his window with a crowbar, and forcibly removed him while he was compliant. The agents left his car running on the street with a smashed window, his belongings inside, and his phone discarded on the road.

The Bishop Henry Whipple Building in Fort Snelling, Minnesota, which currently serves as a major immigration enforcement processing center, is located on the site of a former concentration camp used during the 1862 Dakota Indian Wars to imprison thousands of Dakota and Ho-Chunk people. In early 2026, at least three Indigenous people—Jose Ramirez (Red Lake descendant), a Dakota woman, and four Lakota men—were detained at the building, raising concerns about the historical significance of using this location for immigration enforcement.

Armande Namegni, a 30-year-old Cameroonian asylum seeker, was detained by ICE on January 22, 2026, during a routine immigration check-in in St. Louis. Officers reported finding a pending shoplifting charge on her record. Namegni stated the charge was misattributed to her and should have been cleared. Officers stated it appeared in the court system. She was transported to Phelps County jail in Rolla and remained in custody awaiting her asylum hearing. She was denied bond.

A 21-year-old woman who was eight months pregnant and in medical distress was deported to Colombia by ICE on January 22, 2026, despite a temporary restraining order issued too late to prevent her deportation. The woman, Zharick Daniela Buitrago Ortiz, had crossed the border seeking asylum in November 2025 and was reportedly denied adequate medical care while in custody. A federal judge issued the order enjoining ICE from deporting her, but she had already been boarded on a plane by that time.

During an ICE operation in January 2026, federal agents detained dozens of Mainers, including asylum-seeker Evaristo Kalonji, a church organist from Angola with no criminal record. His pastor discovered his abandoned car and learned Kalonji had been transferred to detention centers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island while his asylum case awaits a May 2028 court date. Federal judges subsequently ordered the release of approximately 35 detainees. Many detainees spent weeks in custody, lost employment, and paid thousands in bonds before being freed.

An immigrant previously released on bond or parole was detained on January 21, 2026. The court found that the government violated his due process rights by re-detaining him without providing a pre-deprivation bond hearing before a neutral arbiter. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California ordered his immediate release with the same conditions he had prior to detention.

Nasra Ahmed, 23, a U.S. citizen born in Minnesota, was detained by ICE agents on January 15, 2026, after being caught in a parking lot during agents' pursuit of two other men. Ahmed sustained injuries including cuts, bruises, and a head injury during the arrest. While in custody at Sherburne County Jail, she experienced a seizure and was transported to a hospital in shackles for an MRI. She was released after two days without charges. Ahmed reported that ICE officers used forceful tactics and that an officer used a racial slur against her. Rep. Samakab Hussein held a press conference where Ahmed shared her account.

Micheline Ntumba, a Portland resident and mother of four from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was detained by ICE agents on January 21, 2026, after dropping off her child at Portland High School. According to her daughter, agents followed Ntumba home to her apartment parking lot near Deering Oaks Park, took her phone and wallet, and placed her in their vehicle without asking for identification or explanation. Ntumba has been in the United States for almost 10 years, has no criminal record, and has a pending asylum application.

A federal court judge ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to explain why it detained Yanick Joao Carneiro, an Angolan man, during a routine immigration check-in at an office in Scarborough. Carneiro is undocumented but filed for asylum within his first year in the U.S. His lawyer stated he has no criminal record. He was granted a temporary 72-hour order preventing his removal while the court determines why he was detained.

ICE enforcement operations, including Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago, have created widespread fear in immigrant communities, with documented impacts on children's mental health, school engagement, and family stability. Testimony before the Illinois Accountability Commission described children avoiding school activities, families considering guardianship transfers, and reduced use of healthcare and educational institutions due to enforcement actions.

A five-year-old U.S. citizen named Génesis Ester Gutiérrez Castellanos disappeared after being transferred to ICE custody following her mother's arrest on Monday morning. The child does not appear in ICE, ORR, CPS, or any Central Texas immigration detention facility databases. Family members are calling on the San Antonio ICE field office to locate the child so custody arrangements can be made while her mother remains detained.