Human Impact Project

Tenzin, a 29-year-old Tibetan refugee originally from Nepal, arrived at Newark airport on July 12 and was detained after attempting to cross into Canada. He spent over six months in ICE detention in Batavia, NY, where his asylum case was dismissed by a judge due to an interpreter's illness, then targeted for deportation to Uganda under the Trump administration's pretermission policy. His attorney successfully intervened to have him deported to Canada instead, where he arrived on February 19.

Sandra, an asylum seeker from South America, was arrested by ICE during a routine check-in appointment at the agency's San Francisco field office on July 11, 2025, and has been held in a detention center awaiting updates on her pending asylum case. She met her husband Roberto online in 2017 and undertook a months-long journey through Central America and the Darien Gap to reunite with him in San Francisco, where they married in early 2025. Sandra was taking English classes at City College and the couple was planning to start a family when she was detained. Roberto, who recently obtained legal status and received a promotion at work, was present during the appointment. Sandra continues to wait for her first court date, with her attorney fighting for her pending asylum application while she remains in detention.

Jackie Merlos, an undocumented immigrant mother from Honduras with a pending U-visa, was detained by CBP agents on June 28, 2025, at Peace Arch Park near the U.S.-Canada border during a family picnic. Merlos, a well-regarded local business owner who had lived in Portland, Oregon for decades, was held in a CBP facility for 12 days. An ICE agent then called Merlos' friend Mimi Lettunich, demanding she immediately pick up Merlos' four U.S. citizen children—9-year-old triplets and a 7-year-old—or they would be placed in foster care. Lettunich, who had not cared for young children in years and had a full-time job, took the children into her home. Federal authorities attempted to deport Merlos without proper documentation or due process, but a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking the children's removal. As of July 2025, Merlos remained in ICE custody at a facility in Tacoma, Washington, separated from her children and facing formal removal proceedings.

NBC6 reviewed dozens of 911 calls made from April through June 2025 from family members and employees at Krome Detention Center requesting medical assistance for detainees. The calls document cases of unresponsive detainees, chest pains, blood coughing, and other serious health conditions where facility staff allegedly did not provide adequate medical response. A recent report found detainees were held beyond the 12-hour limit and some did not receive required medical and mental health screenings upon arrival.

Nicolle Orozco Forero, her husband Juan Sebastian Moreno Acosta, and their two sons were detained at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas in June 2025 after arriving for a routine ICE check-in appointment. The family, who had been living in Seattle for two years, were separated by gender during their three-week detention. Their son Juan David, who had a serious kidney condition requiring medical treatment including a recommended biopsy, was denied adequate medical care by ICE officials. Despite legal efforts and community mobilization including support from U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro, the family was eventually deported.

A deaf Mongolian man, identified by the pseudonym Avirmed to protect his family from retaliation, has spent more than four months at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego without access to anyone who understands Mongolian Sign Language, according to his attorney Alegría De La Cruz of the Disability Rights Legal Center. Avirmed entered the U.S. in February 2025 seeking asylum after a 2020 assault in Mongolia left him deaf with a traumatic brain injury causing seizures and memory loss; his attorneys say he gave border officials a letter explaining his disability and asylum request, which Customs and Border Protection agents refused to accept. U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw ordered officials to provide him a Mongolian Sign Language interpreter and to redo his mental health and credible-fear assessments. His attorney said he has effectively been isolated because no one has been able to communicate with him in his sign language throughout his detention and legal proceedings.

Immigrants detained at ICE holding rooms at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan have complained of inhumane conditions including cramped quarters, inadequate food, inability to bathe or change clothes, and sleeping on concrete floors. Some detainees reported stays lasting up to 10 days in what were previously temporary processing areas, with allegations of insufficient medical care and limited communication with family and lawyers.

Immigrant detainees at a state-managed detention facility in the Florida Everglades are alleging conditions including lack of water, electricity issues, inadequate food, and excessive mosquitoes. Detainees from Cuba and Colombia have reported being denied access to bathrooms, showers, medicine, and legal representation. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has requested access to monitor the facility, while state officials deny the allegations.

Alexis, a 15-year-old from Chiapas, Mexico, was detained on July 1 when Florida Highway Patrol stopped a vehicle he was traveling in with friends and handed him over to federal authorities. He had no criminal record but initially misrepresented his age, fearing separation from his group. He was held for three days at Alligator Alcatraz, a temporary detention facility of tents and chain-link pens in the Florida Everglades designed for adults, where he was housed with adults and handcuffed during transfer. His father Ignacio, who fled Chiapas in 2018 due to violence, learned of his son's detention only after three days when one of Alexis's friends called from the facility. After Ignacio sent a photo of Alexis's birth certificate and authorities confirmed his age, the boy was transferred to a federal shelter for migrant children on July 4. State and federal officials initially did not acknowledge a minor had been held at the facility, later confirming it after media inquiries, though officials maintain minors are not held there despite a draft operational plan including provisions for supervising minors if present.

N.M.Z., a 6-year-old Honduran boy with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, was arrested by ICE agents along with his mother and 9-year-old sister outside a Los Angeles immigration courtroom on May 29, 2025, following an asylum hearing. He missed a scheduled medical appointment for worsening leukemia symptoms and was transported with his family to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas, where he developed easy bruising, bone pain, and loss of appetite during roughly a month in custody. Attorneys from Columbia Law School and the Texas Civil Rights Project filed a lawsuit arguing the arrests violated the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. ICE released the family without a court order, transferring them to a South Texas shelter before flying them to Los Angeles on July 2, 2025, where they reunited with relatives. The Department of Homeland Security said the boy had been examined multiple times in custody and denied medical neglect, while attorneys said public pressure contributed to the release; after returning home, the child showed severe trauma symptoms, including hiding from strangers and fear of anyone in uniform.

A 36-year-old Salvadoran mother was detained by ICE agents on July 3 outside her home in Sherman Oaks and hospitalized at Glendale Memorial Hospital after a medical emergency during her arrest. Her family said ICE did not identify themselves or present a warrant, and she said officers twisted her arms, threw her to the ground and mocked her as she vomited. Detention officers have since maintained a presence in the hospital's lobby, prompting a July 7 community press conference attended by elected officials, hospital workers and advocates who called the presence intimidating. State Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, who met with the family and the hospital's CEO, announced she is co-authoring Senate Bill 81, which would require a judicial warrant before immigration officials can access nonpublic areas of medical facilities.

Ward Sakeik, a 22-year-old stateless Palestinian woman who has lived in the U.S. since age 8 and is married to a U.S. citizen, was detained by ICE in February 2025 upon returning from her honeymoon at St. Thomas Airport in the U.S. Virgin Islands. She was under an order of supervision and had a pending green card application at the time of her arrest. During her roughly five months in custody, the government attempted to deport her twice, including once despite a federal court order blocking her removal. Sakeik described conditions in ICE facilities as overcrowded with inadequate food. She was released from ICE custody on July 2, 2025, and has since advocated for other detainees.

Two Southeast Asian migrants, clients of attorney Tin Thanh Nguyen, were deported to Eswatini in July 2025 and have been held in isolation without legal representation or explanation of charges. Neither the Vietnamese nor Laotian governments have publicly declined repatriation, and the governments have not had direct access to the men. The attorney states his clients wish to return to their home countries. The Trump administration has not explained why they were not repatriated to Vietnam or Laos, claiming such deportations are reserved for individuals their own countries will not accept—a claim the deportees' legal representatives dispute. A human rights lawyer in Eswatini sued authorities alleging the men were being denied legal representation while held in a maximum-security prison.

A Paraguayan asylum seeker who fled persecution in 2023 was arrested by masked ICE agents in July 2025 as he left a scheduled immigration court hearing in Manhattan, during which one of his two U.S.-citizen sisters was knocked to the ground. He had lived with his sister in Flushing, Queens, worked in construction, attended church, and had no criminal history in any country, regularly attending his court dates and filing an asylum application in January 2025. He was held for several days at 26 Federal Plaza in overcrowded conditions, where an ICE officer mocked a photo of him weeping and told him "it's a new government" when he asked why he was being arrested. A federal judge later granted his habeas corpus petition, ruling his detention unlawful and ordering his release.

A 60-year-old Afghan migrant, Baqir Rezaei, died in an Iranian detention camp in Zabol after being intercepted despite holding an official exit permit. He was held without food or water and forced to work under extreme heat conditions. According to his family, at least eight migrants died in the camp out of 35 who lost consciousness from heat and thirst.

Paul John Bojerski, 79, a Polish-born refugee who legally immigrated to the U.S. in 1952 and lived there for over 70 years, was detained by ICE in late October 2025 based on a decades-old deportation order from 1968. Despite having no passport and no country to return to, Bojerski was taken into custody after attending a routine ICE check-in and transferred to Alligator Alcatraz detention facility. His family reports his health has deteriorated significantly during detention, and he now awaits resolution of his case.

Donna Brown-Hughes, an Irish woman who has lived in America for 47 years, was detained by ICE for five months after returning from a trip to Ireland. She was arrested in Chicago due to two dishonored checks from 13 and 10 years prior. She was subsequently released and reunited with her family in Missouri. During detention, she reported conditions including unsanitary facilities, pest infestations, and inadequate food and utilities.

Svetlana Romanova, a 59-year-old Russian woman who fled to the U.S. after protesting Russia's war in Ukraine, has spent approximately eight months detained at the CoreCivic Houston Processing Center despite her deteriorating mental and physical health. Islam Musaev, a 28-year-old Kyrgyzstani man who was granted asylum by an immigration judge in March, remains detained after the Department of Homeland Security appealed his case. Data shows detainees at Houston-area facilities are being held significantly longer since the start of Trump's second term, with average stays more than doubling at some facilities.

Svetlana Romanova, a 59-year-old Russian who fled to protest the Ukraine war, has been detained for approximately eight months at CoreCivic Houston Processing Center. She reports inadequate medical care, significant weight loss, and suicidal ideation that was dismissed by staff. An immigration judge ruled against her asylum claim in April; she has appealed, citing risk to her life if returned to Russia.

Fernando Eduardo Artese, 63, a dual Italian-Argentinian citizen working as a security camera technician, was stopped during a routine traffic stop on June 25, 2025, while driving with his family in a camper van. Officers discovered an outstanding warrant for failure to appear in court for a driving violation. Artese had been living legally in the US since 2018 under the Visa Waiver Program and was planning to self-deport and relocate to Argentina with his family. He was detained and transferred to the ICE facility known as "Alligator Alcatraz" in the Florida Everglades, where his family reports he has been denied information about his case and access to legal representation.