Human Impact Project

A man who has lived in the United States since 1987 was detained by ICE in Minnesota on January 21, 2026, and is currently held in El Paso, Texas. He was pressured into signing a voluntary removal document while detained and without legal counsel, facing deportation to Vietnam despite not having lived there since the 1980s and lacking citizenship there. He had been complying with immigration supervision for years without missing check-ins.

Department of Homeland Security agents were involved in a shooting during an immigration enforcement operation in Los Angeles County's Willowbrook area on Wednesday morning around 7:20 a.m. Agents were pursuing a vehicle that crashed, and shots were fired when agents approached to detain suspects. No one was struck by gunfire and all suspects were taken into custody.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained a gardener in Clovis on Monday morning at the intersection of Willow and Shepherd avenues on his way to work. According to community organization Faith in the Valley, the man was detained by two DEA agents and one federal agent. Clovis Police confirmed receiving notification from ICE before 7 a.m. but stated no assistance was requested.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers handcuffed and detained two teenagers in south Minneapolis on Wednesday afternoon. One teenager was detained on Blaisdell Avenue while their passenger, who witnessed the incident, was left crying in their vehicle.

ICE agents detained two gardeners in Long Beach's University Park Estates neighborhood on January 21, 2026. One of the detained men claimed to be a dual citizen and told agents he was born in Memorial Hospital in Long Beach. Mayor Rex Richardson criticized the operation as an "abduction," expressing concern that a U.S. citizen may have been detained without prior notice to city officials.

Jean-Pierre Obiang, an 18-year-old University of Southern Maine student, was detained by ICE agents on January 21, 2026, after a minor vehicle accident near a Market Basket parking lot in Westbrook. The agents ran the license plates of the vehicle Obiang was in and detained him despite having no criminal record and being enrolled in school. Obiang's family are asylum-seekers from Gabon who have been living in Maine for three years.

ICE agents arrested Hassane Barry, a 38-year-old asylum seeker from Guinea, on Preble Street in Portland on January 21st. Agents shattered the driver's side window of his car, spraying glass over his 1-month-old baby's car seat, and left his wife Nene and the infant alone in the vehicle in freezing conditions. The arrest was part of an intensified ICE enforcement operation in Maine, though Barry has no known criminal history and had filed for asylum upon arriving in the U.S. in 2023.

Juan Carlos Aguilar Sr., who claimed to be a dual U.S. citizen born at MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center, was detained by ICE agents on January 20, 2026, while doing landscaping work in East Long Beach. In a video of the incident, Aguilar told agents in Spanish that he was a U.S. citizen, but ICE detained him anyway. His daughter Genesis Aguilar posted a GoFundMe seeking funds for legal counsel and basic needs while he is held in ICE custody.

A man who has lived in the United States for eighteen years was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on January 20, 2026. ICE charged him with entering the United States without inspection. He is currently detained at the Denver Contract Detention Facility in Aurora, Colorado. On April 2, 2026, he filed a Verified Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, requesting a bond hearing. The central dispute was whether his detention should be governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) (which provides for bond hearings) or § 1225(b)(2)(A) (which permits mandatory detention). On April 17, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado granted his habeas petition, finding that § 1226 applies to his case based on precedent from multiple similar cases. The court ordered respondents to provide him with a bond hearing under § 1226(a) within seven days, with the government bearing the burden of proving that his continued detention is justified.

Federal Border Patrol agents detained two men working as gardeners in Long Beach's University Park Estates neighborhood on January 20, 2026. One of the men claimed to be a U.S. dual citizen and stated he was born at a local medical center. A third gardener who produced documents was not arrested.

Liam Conejo Ramos, a 5-year-old Ecuadorean boy, and his father Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias were detained by ICE agents in the driveway of their Columbia Heights, Minnesota home on January 20, 2026, after Liam returned from preschool, and flown the next day to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley. U.S. District Judge Fred Biery ordered their release on January 31, criticizing the administration's pursuit of deportation quotas as 'ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented,' and Rep. Joaquin Castro personally escorted the pair home to Minneapolis on February 1, where Liam was reunited with his mother, Erika Ramos. Days later, DHS filed a motion to expedite the family's deportation, which their lawyer, Danielle Molliver, called 'retaliatory' and 'extraordinary'; the family's asylum hearing was moved up, and an immigration judge granted a continuance. On March 19, an immigration judge denied the family's asylum claim and ordered them deported to Ecuador, a ruling Molliver called 'misguided' and said the family plans to appeal. By April, Liam's parents said he continued seeing a psychologist, avoided classmates and certain activities, and grew fearful at the sight of police, telling his mother 'It's ICE, Mommy.' His father said he still does not understand why the family was targeted, calling it 'an injustice.'

Daniel Granados, a landscaper working in East Long Beach, was detained by ICE agents on January 20, 2026, while doing lawn work a few blocks from Kettering Elementary School. According to a GoFundMe created by his cousin, Granados was the primary provider for his family, and his sudden detention has left them in emotional and financial hardship. Local officials and community advocates expressed concern about the detention of what they describe as a hard-working community member.

Five-year-old Keyli Camila Espin Vaca's mother, Mayra Vaca Latacunga, was detained by ICE agents while her daughter was at school in Biddeford, Maine. The mother was handcuffed and transferred to Massachusetts after agents found she lacked proper documentation. This incident is part of a Trump administration immigration enforcement operation in Maine that has arrested over 200 individuals.

ICE conducted Operation Catch of the Day, a five-day enforcement sweep in southern Maine beginning January 20, 2026, that detained nearly 200 people. Federal data released in March showed only 11 of those detained had recorded criminal records, with roughly 80% arrested solely on immigration violations. At least a quarter of those arrested subsequently challenged their detention in federal court and many were released.

Milo Miles, a Canadian adult-film model, was detained by U.S. Customs at Toronto's Pearson Airport for eight hours across two separate interrogations before being banned from the U.S. for 10 years. Border agents questioned him extensively about his sexuality, clothing, and PrEP medication, and discovered his adult film work and escort activities through his devices. Miles was pressured into confessing to prostitution despite agents finding no proof of money-for-sex exchanges or lined-up clients.

Tomas Orellana, a Great Neck resident, was detained by ICE in early January while attending a mandatory probation hearing at a courthouse for a DWI conviction. His wife Claudia says he was detained inside the courthouse without being shown a warrant, in potential violation of New York's Protect Our Courts Act. Community groups, churches, and residents have rallied to support the family of eight children, raising approximately $28,000 on GoFundMe to help cover legal fees.

Victor Acurio Suarez, a 52-year-old disabled Ecuadorian immigrant with autism and aphasia, was issued an order of voluntary departure by an immigration judge on January 20, 2026. Suarez was arrested by ICE in September 2024 while in a Lowe's parking lot. His asylum request was denied and he faces deportation to Ecuador. He has documented trauma.

A 48-year-old Mexican citizen who has lived in Pomona, California for over 17 years with his spouse and four U.S. citizen children was arrested during an interior immigration enforcement operation on January 19, 2026. He has been detained at the Adelanto Detention Facility since his arrest, with an Immigration Judge denying his bond request. The federal court granted a temporary restraining order requiring his immediate release, finding his bond hearing violated due process.

A lawsuit alleges that an ICE detainee was repeatedly denied his antipsychotic medication while in custody. The denial of medication allegedly resulted in cascading symptoms that caused the detainee to harm himself and lose vision in one eye.

Detainees at the Buffalo Federal Detention Center have been denied essential medical treatment for weeks or months after ICE stopped paying external medical providers on October 3, 2025, due to administrative breakdown. The facility holds over 500 people with no on-site physician or dentist, and more than 20 detainees were waiting for care at the time of a DHS inspection. The payment halt occurred as ICE custody numbers surged to over 73,000 during the second Trump administration, violating the agency's obligation to provide necessary medical care.

Two Latino men were detained by Border Patrol agents on January 17, 2026, while painting the exterior of a Christian church in Compton, California. The men were working outside the church on Alondra Boulevard and Bradfield Avenue, covering graffiti and maintaining the building, when agents stopped them and halted the church service inside. Their wives told Telemundo52 they are uncertain what to do moving forward as mothers now left without their husbands and fathers of their children, expressing their distress over the arrests.

A six-year-old girl was found wandering the streets alone after her father, Adonay Mancia Rodríguez, was detained by ICE agents in Morristown, New Jersey. The father left their apartment to pick up food when he was arrested during an immigration enforcement operation that resulted in the detention of 11 individuals. According to family statements, Rodríguez arrived in the U.S. as a teenager and had been employed and living in the community for over ten years with no criminal record.

D.E., a 44-year-old Mexican national who has lived with a brain tumor for 12 years, was arrested by ICE without a warrant just blocks from his home in Long Branch, New Jersey, days before he was scheduled to begin chemotherapy. While detained at the California City Detention Center, a CoreCivic-run facility, he was repeatedly denied his twice-daily seizure medication, Keppra, and suffered several seizures, including one during which he wedged his arm against his bed frame to keep from falling into a nearby toilet during a convulsion. He filed medical grievances, including a request for a radiation and chemotherapy specialist, but received no written response. His case is cited in a broader investigation finding that the ICE detention grievance system has collapsed after the Trump administration cut oversight offices, including the Office of Detention Oversight, the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, and the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

Magdalena's husband was detained by ICE agents on January 19, 2026, while working to support his family. He was subsequently deported. Magdalena, who is battling stage 4 cancer that has spread from her uterus to her lungs and has undergone multiple surgeries, was left alone to care for their three children. The family fled Honduras due to violence and is seeking asylum in the United States.

An immigrant who has lived in the United States for over thirty years was arrested and detained by ICE on January 19, 2026, pursuant to immigration proceedings. He is the father of three U.S. citizen children, the youngest of whom is entirely dependent upon him. He has no criminal history and maintains community ties. After requesting a custody redetermination hearing under 8 C.F.R. § 1236, an Immigration Judge denied jurisdiction over his bond request on May 19, 2026. He filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court contending he is entitled to a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) and that the statute and regulations require custody determinations and bond hearings, prohibiting indefinite detention without a hearing. The court granted his habeas petition in part, ordering that respondents must either hold a bond hearing before a neutral decisionmaker within seven days or cease detention. The court found the case mirrored numerous analogous cases previously decided by the Eastern District of California.

Federal ICE agents detained at least one person in Watsonville over the weekend according to local watchdog group YARR. Multiple unmarked vehicles were reported in the Rodriguez Street area near Watsonville High School, with agents knocking on doors at a property. A video of the arrest circulated on social media showing an agent with a man whose hands were behind his back.

A 62-year-old Somali elder was detained by ICE agents at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis on December 31 without a warrant. ICE officers remained at the patient's bedside for approximately 28 hours while she received medical care. During her detention, the patient was allegedly shackled to her hospital bed and denied family visits. She was subsequently transported to the ICU where she remains unresponsive.

On Sunday, January 18, ICE agents broke a driver's side truck window while detaining a man on Tucson's south side, first using a device to break the window and then using an elbow and fist to break the rest. According to a video witness, the man had work tools in the back of his truck and groceries in the front seat. ICE did not respond to inquiries about why the man was detained or why agents needed to break the window.

An 18-month-old girl named Amalia was held with her parents at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas. In January, she became critically ill with pneumonia, Covid-19, and RSV and was hospitalized with respiratory failure. After discharge, she was returned to detention and denied prescribed medication by doctors, remaining confined for nine additional days before being released following an emergency habeas corpus petition.

On January 18, 2026, ICE officers entered the home of Chongly "Scott" Thao, a 56-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen and Hmong American man, without a warrant and detained him for several hours. Agents removed Thao from his residence in minimal clothing during sub-freezing weather. ICE stated they were searching for two convicted sex offenders with ties to the property, but Thao denied knowing the men and one remained incarcerated. Ramsey County authorities launched an investigation into potential crimes including kidnapping, burglary, false imprisonment, and constitutional rights violations. Thao was released after ICE confirmed his U.S. citizenship and lack of criminal record.

An employee of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office was detained by ICE on Friday, according to an internal email from D.A. Nathan Hochman. The employee was released shortly after and Hochman called the detention "unacceptable." DHS disputed the claim, stating they had no record of the detention.

Jesús Manuel was arrested by ICE on January 17, 2026, while selling tacos and burritos at his food stand to support his wife and two daughters. His arrest left his family without their primary financial support, creating housing and food instability. He remains detained at Adelanto detention facility and is represented by a lawyer. A community fundraising campaign is seeking donations to help reunite him with his family.

A man with over 25 years of U.S. residence and no criminal record was pulled over and arrested by ICE on January 17, 2026, around 11:48 AM. He was taken to an ICE detention facility without explanation. His family reports $3,000 in cash disappeared after his detention. As of the GoFundMe posting, the family had not received updates on his status for two days and is seeking funds for legal representation.

ICE agents detained Brayan Morales Bermudez, 26, outside the Clark County Courthouse in Vancouver on Monday during a lunch break in his criminal trial. Morales Bermudez came to the U.S. seeking asylum in 2024 after receiving death threats in Guatemala and was being held at a Tacoma detention facility. His girlfriend stated the detention may have violated Washington state law, which typically prohibits civil arrests by ICE within a mile of courthouses without a judicial warrant.

Sophie Watso, a 30-year-old Mdewakanton Dakota woman, was detained by ICE agents on January 14, 2026, after monitoring immigration enforcement activity in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. During her arrest, agents broke her truck windows and physically restrained her while she held her dog. She was charged under U.S. Code 18 Section 111 for allegedly obstructing a federal investigation, though no formal charges were filed. She was held for over 48 hours at Fort Snelling's Whipple Building and Sherbourne County Jail before being released on January 16, 2026, without charges being formally filed.

ICE agents detained a person outside a Costco store in Kyle, Texas on Thursday morning. According to Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra, the individual sustained injuries including facial bleeding. The person was transported to the hospital by emergency medical services accompanied by Homeland Security personnel.

Alberto Cabral, a 73-year-old landscaper, was detained by ICE agents on Gardner Avenue in West Hollywood while working his regular landscaping route. According to witnesses and community members, Cabral has lived in the U.S. since age 15 and is the primary income source for his 97-year-old mother and 70-year-old wife. He suffers from serious medical conditions including heart disease and diabetes, and recently sustained work-related injuries including fractures and an open wound.

Liborio Parral Ortiz and Bonfilia Sanchez Dominguez, a married couple from Mounds View, Minnesota, were stopped by ICE agents early Thursday morning while driving to Mercy Hospital's Unity Campus in Fridley because Sanchez Dominguez was experiencing back pain. ICE immediately detained Parral Ortiz and transported him to El Paso, Texas within 20 hours, separating him from his wife who remained hospitalized. According to their daughter Shelly Parral Ortiz, ICE agents were posted outside the mother's hospital room, and hospital staff told the family they would not be allowed to return to visit if they left. Security staff also threatened to arrest the family's lawyer when he attempted to speak with Sanchez Dominguez.

Federal agents conducted traffic stops near a Meta Platforms data center construction site in Louisiana as part of Operation Catahoula Crunch, targeting dump trucks and other vehicles headed to the build area. Over 90% of those detained had no criminal records. The enforcement activity disrupted construction logistics and caused community anxiety among immigrant households.

A 25-year-old Guatemalan woman of indigenous Mam ethnicity was detained on January 16, 2026, at an ICE check-in appointment in Eugene due to a pending felony criminal mistreatment case in Marion County. She claims persecution in Guatemala based on her indigenous heritage and reports her daughter is at risk of violence because her former partner is a gang member. Court records show she was released pending the outcome of her habeas petition after attorneys argued she posed neither a flight risk nor danger to the community.

Rosmery Morales-Mejia, a 27-year-old Mexican national, pleaded guilty on March 30, 2026 to fraud and misuse of visas after using counterfeit documents to gain employment at Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant in Nitro. She was sentenced to time served and has an ICE detainer pending her transfer for removal proceedings. Her husband and four other undocumented immigrants working at the restaurant were also indicted in connection with the case.

A federal judge ordered the release of Garrison Gibson, a 37-year-old Liberian man, four days after heavily armed immigration agents broke into his Minneapolis home using a battering ram and arrested him. The judge ruled that the agents violated Gibson's Fourth Amendment rights by entering his home without his consent and without a judicial warrant. Gibson had been living legally in the U.S. under an order of supervision and had checked in with immigration authorities days before his arrest.

A 20-year-old West Virginia man named Cody Lee Smith was arrested in January 2026 after allegedly threatening to murder ICE agents in the Clarksburg area. Smith made incriminating social media posts and called the ICE Tip Line on January 16th, threatening to kill any ICE agents he saw. He is facing charges of making terroristic threats and is currently held on a $75,000 bond.

A family of three from Venezuela—parents Yohendry De Jesus Crespo and Darianny Liseth Gonzalez De Crespo, and their 7-year-old daughter Diana—were detained by immigration officers in a parking lot at Portland Adventist Health on January 16, 2026, while attempting to seek medical care for the child's nosebleed. The family, who entered the U.S. through a port of entry in California and have a pending asylum application, is now being held at ICE's South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas.

Alicbiades "Alex" Lazaro Ramirez Gonzalez, husband of Yannier Vazquez Hidalgo, was ordered deported to Ecuador by an immigration judge one week before his husband received the same order. Ramirez Gonzalez fled Cuba with his husband and they married in the U.S., both requesting asylum based on persecution fears as gay men. He was detained by federal agents in October during a routine ICE appointment in Mattydale. Like his husband, he faces deportation to a country where he has no ties and argues he will be persecuted for being gay and Cuban.

Jose Rafael Alambarrio, a Venezuelan national who fled political persecution and arrived in the U.S. in 2023, was detained on January 15, 2026, during a routine annual check-in at the Dallas ICE office. Alambarrio was in the process of applying for a green card and had been granted parole while pursuing asylum. Despite having no criminal record and faithfully attending all previous check-ins, he was arrested and initially held at Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas. He was subsequently transferred without notice to an ICE facility in Mississippi. His wife, a McKinney teacher, has made a public plea for his release and is struggling to fight for his release from a distance.

Juan Daniel Mendoza, a 17-year-old Morristown High School senior, was arrested by ICE on Sunday while doing laundry at a Speedwell Avenue laundromat. U.S. District Judge Evelyn Padin ordered his release on January 15, 2026, ruling that he was unlawfully detained in violation of his due process rights. Federal authorities are prohibited from re-arresting him without first demonstrating he poses a risk of flight or danger to the public.

Photographer John Abernathy was detained by federal ICE agents outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis on January 15 while documenting protests. During the confrontation, Abernathy threw his camera to a fellow photojournalist. He sustained injuries including chemical burns, pepper bullet wounds, and abrasions, and received a citation but no court date.

The ACLU filed a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration on behalf of three Minnesotans in connection with stops and arrests by ICE and CBP. A 20-year-old U.S. citizen named Mubashir Khalif Hussen was arrested by masked ICE agents on December 10, 2025, while walking to lunch in Cedar-Riverside. Hussen repeatedly stated he was a citizen. The lawsuit challenges practices involving stops and arrests by ICE and CBP.

ICE agents detained Sebastian, a 16-year-old Ecuadorian asylum-seeker, in Minneapolis in January 2026 during an interior arrest while he was driving alone, seizing his phone after he called his father. Despite his father living in the U.S., Sebastian was labeled an "unaccompanied minor" and transferred to the Bridgeway shelter in Michigan, making it difficult for his family and attorneys to locate him. The case illustrates how the "unaccompanied minor" designation can impede family unity protections and legal access even when a parent resides in the country. While in custody, Sebastian reported receiving vaccines without consent.