Human Impact Project

An evangelical pastor, construction business owner, and father of five U.S.-citizen children was detained at a routine ICE check-in in Florida despite having a stay of removal and years of regular reporting. He was deported to Guatemala weeks later.

A 25-year-old Australian woman and former New South Wales police officer was detained by U.S. border officials at Honolulu's airport in May 2025 while visiting her husband, a U.S. Army lieutenant stationed on Oahu. It was her third visit since their December 2024 wedding. During secondary inspection, officers questioned her about her tattoos and the legitimacy of her marriage, then subjected her to fingerprinting, a DNA swab, and a strip and body cavity search before holding her overnight and deporting her to Australia.

A man was detained by ICE in February 2026 during a scheduled check-in and deported to Laos in early May, leaving his wife and five sons, ages 3 to 17, in South St. Paul without their primary financial provider. ICE agents blocked his wife's car while she was driving to work on Feb. 4, telling her they would arrest him the next morning; she negotiated the extra day so the family could say goodbye before his deportation. The family has since relocated and relied on extended family support to manage the financial hardship resulting from his removal.

After months in ICE detention in Tacoma, Rakesh Rakesh volunteered to self-deport to India but was mistakenly placed on a flight to Sitka, Alaska instead of New York. Alaska Airlines staff assisted him with meals, lodging, and rebooking at no charge. Upon his return to Seattle, ICE re-detained him at the Northwest ICE Processing Center for an additional 16 days before completing his deportation, prompting him to conduct a hunger strike to protest the situation.

19-year-old Javier Salazar, a Venezuelan who came to the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor in 2022, was arrested in Maryland and detained by ICE on suspicion of gang membership based on a photo showing what may have been a toy water pistol. A Supreme Court intervention blocked his deportation to El Salvador hours before he was to be removed. His legal battle continues as the Trump administration seeks to expedite his removal.

America Perez Ramirez, 52, was ordered by DHS to check in at an ICE field office and bring airline tickets for deportation to Mexico with her 11-year-old U.S. citizen daughter Yoselin, who has Maple Syrup Urine Disease, a life-threatening rare genetic disorder. Yoselin requires her mother's care to survive and her University of Florida doctor stated she cannot live without current treatment. Perez Ramirez, who came on an H2-B labor visa and was trafficked by her employer, had received four previous stays of deportation under prior administrations, but was denied another stay this time.

A pregnant mother and her 2-year-old U.S. citizen daughter were deported to Honduras after the mother was given less than two minutes on the phone with her husband to decide the child's fate. Attorneys say ICE denied the family contact with lawyers and each other throughout the process. ICE produced a one-page note in Spanish claiming consent, but her attorney states she was forced to write it and did not willingly consent to the deportation.

Alfredo Linares, an undocumented immigrant, and his American wife Raegan Kline relocated to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico after 20 years in the United States. Linares had worked as a cook at a Michelin-star restaurant and operated a catering business with his wife. The couple left the United States due to concerns about ICE detention and deportation under President Trump's immigration enforcement policies.

Multiple U.S. citizen children have been deported to Honduras alongside their undocumented mothers during immigration enforcement actions, according to PBS NewsHour reporting. In one case, a 2-year-old girl identified only by the initials VML in court filings was deported with her mother. In another case reported by correspondent Laura Barrón-López, a Texas family's two U.S. citizen siblings, ages 4 and 7, were deported with their mother within 24 hours of being detained; the younger child has late-stage cancer and was sent without his medication. The mother in the Texas case had a removal order dating back years, issued after she failed to appear at a hearing following her arrival in the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor, and said she was unaware of the order. Attorneys say these cases are part of a broader pattern of U.S.-citizen children being removed alongside their parents during enforcement actions.

ICE deported an immigrant mother of an infant and three U.S. citizen children, according to lawyers. The woman had four children who are U.S. citizens at the time of her deportation.

ICE deported at least two families including three U.S. citizen children aged 2, 4, and 7 from New Orleans in early morning operations on April 25, 2025. The families were held without legal access. One child with metastatic cancer was deported without medication and a pregnant mother was deported without prenatal care arrangements. The deportations occurred after ICE reversed course and expedited the process before courts reopened. A habeas corpus petition had been filed.

A 4-year-old U.S. citizen child with Stage 4 cancer and his 7-year-old sister were deported to Honduras with their mother on Friday morning. ICE was aware of the child's active cancer treatment in the United States but deported him without his medication. Attorneys say the mother did not sign or write any consent, did not speak with lawyers or family before deportation, and wanted to make alternative arrangements for her U.S. citizen children.

A 2-year-old U.S. citizen was apparently removed to Honduras on Friday with her mother, who had been ordered deported, according to a federal judge in Louisiana. The child's mother, a Honduran national, was seized by ICE on Tuesday morning in New Orleans while attending a scheduled check-in appointment with an Intensive Supervision Appearance Program office. During approximately three days in ICE custody, the mother and her two daughters were separated from family and legal counsel. U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty wrote that the child was sent to Honduras "with no meaningful due process" and expressed "strong suspicion that the Government just deported a U.S. citizen." The mother's attorney stated that ICE mischaracterized the removal as the mother's voluntary choice and that she was pregnant and prevented from contacting lawyers or family to make arrangements.

Terez Metry was detained by immigration agents during a routine meeting at the Department of Homeland Security office on Brick Church Pike in Nashville. She had submitted Form I-130 as the first step toward obtaining a Green Card to become a U.S. citizen like her husband of three years. Her husband believes she is being taken to Louisiana for removal proceedings despite following immigration procedures carefully.

Amilcar Lisser-Posadas, a 29-year-old Honduran national and former DACA recipient with two U.S. citizen daughters, was apprehended in Shelby County, Tennessee in March 2025 for driving with an expired license and transferred to ICE custody. He was moved between multiple detention facilities over four weeks and filed a legal request citing fear of persecution in Honduras, which received no response. At Alexandria Staging Facility, he was detained for approximately 12 days in overcrowded conditions with inadequate sanitation, food, and medical care—arriving sick with chest congestion, fever, and ear infection but receiving no medication until the final two days. On April 23, 2025, he was deported to Honduras on GlobalX charter flights despite his pending legal request. He was later apprehended again at the southern border in May 2025 attempting to reunite with his family and is now facing deportation again from a federal prison.

Rosmery Alvarado, 42, a Kansas resident born in Guatemala, was arrested by ICE agents immediately after completing a spousal green card interview at the USCIS office in Kansas City on April 23, 2025. She is now facing deportation to Guatemala and is being held in detention, despite her family believing her petition had been approved. The arrest occurred after ICE agents waited for her husband to step out of the interview room before detaining and handcuffing her.

Unaccompanied migrant children, including a 4-year-old girl, are appearing in immigration court proceedings without legal representation after the Trump administration terminated a $200 million federal contract funding legal services for minors. Data shows nearly all children without attorneys are deported, compared to 23% of those with representation.

Josue Coreas-Chavek, 29, from El Salvador, was arrested by ICE Buffalo on April 18, 2025, immediately after his release from Wyoming Correctional Facility. He had been sentenced in January 2025 to three years of incarceration and five years of supervised release for second-degree attempted robbery, conspiracy, and criminal facilitation. He faces additional pending charges including robbery, kidnapping, assault, coercion, unlawful imprisonment, and grand larceny, and is in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

Two hundred migrants, including 80 children from Afghanistan, Russia, Armenia, Iran, China and other Asian countries, were deported from the United States on two flights and detained at Costa Rica's CATEM immigration detention center in February 2025. Many were separated from family members still in the U.S., not informed of their deportation destination, and experienced abuse and rights violations in U.S. detention before being sent to Costa Rica.

Jessica Flores Marin, 44, a mother of three who has lived in the United States for 22 years, was detained by ICE on April 13 near her family's home in Georgia. She was taken into custody while an ongoing T visa application was being processed. Her detention came after an immigration judge denied her motion to reopen a decades-old deportation order from 2004.