Human Impact Project

Lorena Pineda, a 27-year-old Salvadoran mother of two, was arrested by ICE agents on June 19, 2025, while five months pregnant at a food stand in California. Despite ICE policy prohibiting detention of pregnant women for administrative violations, an agent told her he would not release her. She was transferred through multiple detention facilities—Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Atlanta, Alexandria, and finally South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana—where she was held for over 3.5 months separated from her young children by 1,500 miles. At the facility, she was housed with at least 20 other pregnant women and witnessed multiple miscarriages, including a woman carrying twins. She received inadequate prenatal care, poor nutrition, and was unable to contact her family for the first month. After three months, she signed papers for voluntary self-deportation to El Salvador with a departure date extended to March due to her full-term pregnancy.

D.A., a political activist who was violently attacked in Nigeria and is married to a U.S. citizen, was granted protection from removal to Nigeria based on likely persecution or torture. ICE nevertheless deported him without paperwork to Ghana on a military cargo plane in the middle of the night, alongside a dozen other West African men and women. In Ghana he was detained in a camp under terrible conditions for more than two weeks, with limited phone access to call his wife, before Ghanaian authorities deported him to Togo.

CRB, a 16-year-old brought to the U.S. from Mexico at age seven and protected under the U.N. Convention Against Torture, was arrested by ICE at the San Antonio field office during an annual check-in appointment in September 2025. He was detained at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center for 141 days with his mother. During detention, he experienced depression, panic attacks, and self-harm. He reported hearing racist comments from guards and observed poor conditions including spoiled food and lights left on all night. He and his mother were released two days after his self-harm incident.

Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas, a 32-year-old Mexican national, died on August 31, 2025, at Mountain Vista Medical Center near Phoenix while in ICE custody at Central Arizona Florence Correctional Complex. He was arrested by Flagstaff police on August 2 on drug paraphernalia charges, then transferred to ICE custody in Phoenix before being moved to the Florence detention facility. During detention, Vargas, who had diabetes, contracted COVID-19 and developed respiratory problems. He was found unresponsive and resuscitation attempts were unsuccessful. He was declared dead at 7:02 a.m. His family remembered him as a loving and tender person with a generous heart who brought joy to those around him. His death marked the 14th migrant death in ICE custody in 2025, the highest number in five years.

Immigration attorneys and relatives reported conditions at ICE's field office in Northern Virginia, including detainees receiving only one meal a day, 40-90 people in single rooms with no beds, and some held for up to seven days without bathing. The facility, designed as a temporary holding office, has become overcrowded due to increased immigration arrests in Washington D.C. since mid-August. Attorneys reported detainees are being denied legal representation, medical care, and basic hygiene access.

Detainees at Florida's 'Alligator Alcatraz' immigration detention facility reported that guards deployed teargas and beat detainees indiscriminately with batons during an alleged uprising. The incident occurred after migrants began shouting for 'freedom' upon learning of a relative's death. Florida and ICE officials denied the reports and stated detainees receive safe conditions. The facility faces a court-ordered closure within 60 days.

Seven deportees were transferred to Rwanda in early August 2025, with the Trump administration not announcing the transfer until August 28. No information has been disclosed about their identities, countries of origin, charges, or current whereabouts. Rwanda has agreed to receive up to 250 migrants from the United States. Their lawyers allege they are being held in high-security facilities in isolation, cannot communicate with anyone, do not know what crimes they are accused of, and fear torture given Rwanda's poor human rights record.

Jemmy Jimenez Rosa, a 42-year-old legal permanent resident from Peru with a valid green card for over 20 years and mother of four, was detained by CBP and ICE for 10 days after returning from a family vacation in Mexico on August 11, 2025. Her detention was based on a marijuana possession conviction from over 20 years ago that had been pardoned and her record sealed. Rosa was initially held at Boston Logan International Airport for four days without proper medication or access to basic necessities, then transferred to a detention center in Maine without being informed she had legal representation despite CBP agents promising to relay that information. She experienced an anxiety attack during detention. She was not entered into any federal detainee database for three days, making it difficult for lawyers to locate her or seek a bond hearing. Her attorney challenged the detention as unconstitutional, leading to her release on August 28, 2025.

Farzana, a 32-year-old Afghan asylum seeker, was deported by ICE to the Central African Republic on August 28 after years in immigration detention, including time held in Louisiana. She and her fiancé had entered the U.S. through the southern border in May 2024 seeking asylum via the CBP One app; her fiancé had applied for a Special Immigrant Visa tied to his assistance to the U.S. mission in Afghanistan. Her lawyers filed an emergency motion for a restraining order the same day she was removed, and the government denied the motion three days later. Farzana described being mistreated in detention, saying officers 'kept us like animal[s],' and she has since been diagnosed with a severe form of malaria while living alone in Bangui without identity papers, work, or family ties.

ICE told Somali asylum seekers they were being deported to Somalia, but instead flew them to the U.S. military base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, where several remain detained. Sakariye Abdi Mohamed, a truck driver with no criminal record, was stopped by an Alabama trooper and held nearly a year in Louisiana before being flown to Guantánamo; a colleague described him as a hardworking 'rookie truck driver' who did everything right. Adam Abdullah, a 31-year-old mechanic with a pending asylum case and work permit, was stopped in Minnesota during 'Operation Metro Surge' and moved through facilities in three states over nine months before arriving at Guantánamo, where he has limited attorney access and brief, possibly monitored phone calls. Fellow detainees Abdullahi Adam Mohamed, a mechanic and small business owner, and Hassan Abdi Abtidoon, a former rideshare driver turned back while seeking asylum in Canada, were also transferred there. Detainees describe being shackled at all times, held in frigid conditions with cameras in bathrooms, and have held hunger strikes; family members call the ordeal 'shocking and frightening.' DHS has claimed the group included 'some of the worst of the worst' with criminal histories, though this reflects the agency's allegation rather than confirmed fact.

Robert Sidhe, a 43-year-old Kenyan physician working as a patient care technician at UW Medical Center, was detained by ICE agents while driving home from the gym in Lynnwood, Washington. While in custody, he suffered a medical crisis with dangerously high blood pressure and stroke-like symptoms and was hospitalized, though imaging showed no stroke had occurred. Sidhe entered the U.S. legally on multiple visas and has a pending asylum application filed in 2023. A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order for his release, citing the risk of a future stroke and noting he serves as the primary caretaker for his fiancée, a disabled U.S. citizen who uses a wheelchair. Colleagues described him as a respected leader in his union, church, and community.

Adrian Sotelo Guzman was forcibly removed by ICE from M Health Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina and transferred to a mental health facility in Texas, despite hospital staff determining he was experiencing psychosis related to bipolar disorder and was not stable enough for discharge. A federal judge approved the Department of Homeland Security's request for his removal. Medical providers and advocates raised concerns that Sotelo Guzman could not make independent decisions due to active psychosis and was denied family contact during the transfer. His family and advocacy groups are now seeking to reunite with him and calling for investigations into the circumstances of his removal.

Miguel Alvarado-Lopez, a worker at Moonshot Tavern in Portland, was apprehended by immigration enforcement agents on January 24 while sitting in his car at a gas station in Northeast Portland. He was transferred to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington, then to Arizona, and as of the report was awaiting deportation to Guatemala where his wife and son reside.

Mario, a father of three who had worked non-stop for 33 years since immigrating from Mexico, was arrested at the carwash in Santa Ana where he worked during ICE raids on August 19, 2025. He spent six nights sleeping on the floor of a holding cell he called the "ice box," where detainees huddled together for warmth, and two months at Adelanto detention center where he contracted a contagion, possibly flu or COVID. He was released on October 24 after his lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition, but he cannot work while awaiting a final deportation hearing scheduled for July 27. His wife Alejandra said he was severely traumatized after release, refusing to leave the house, barely eating, with no energy to shower. His son now pays for his rent and food, and Mario said he has become "a burden" for his family after decades of being their sole breadwinner.

Daniel Fuentes Espinal, a 54-year-old volunteer pastor and construction worker from Honduras, was detained by ICE on July 21, 2025, while driving to a construction job in Easton, Maryland, after purchasing supplies at Lowe's and picking up breakfast at McDonald's. He arrived legally in 2001 on a six-month visitor visa and had been living in the country on an expired visa ever since. For the past 24 years, Fuentes Espinal has been a cornerstone of his Easton community, working steadily in construction to support his wife and three adult children, and serving as a volunteer pastor at Iglesia del Nazareno Jesus Te Ama for over a decade, where he has built the congregation to 70 families. His daughter Clarissa had begun sponsoring him for permanent residence through legal channels. According to court records and his family, he has no criminal history. During his detention, he was transferred through facilities in Salisbury and Baltimore before being moved to Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana, where he reported deplorable conditions including sleeping on concrete or cold benches, lack of adequate food and sanitation, and denial of access to his heart and stomach medications. His community, congregation, and Maryland congressional representatives—including U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen, Representative Sarah Elfreth, and Representative Glenn Ivey—rallied to support him. A GoFundMe campaign raised over $50,000 for his legal expenses. He was released from ICE detention and returned home to his family in Easton nearly a month after his arrest.

Jose Valdovinos, a 27-year-old DACA recipient who has lived in Arizona since he was a toddler, was detained by Border Patrol on August 10, 2025, after he and his wife, U.S. citizen Jitzell Flores, left a Circle K gas station near downtown Yuma. When Flores asked why he was being taken, an agent said, 'We don't have to give it to you.' Valdovinos, who works packaging Medjool dates at Datepac, has no criminal record, pays taxes, renewed his DACA status every two years, and was pursuing permanent residency. DHS said the vehicle was stopped for 'driving in a suspicious manner' and stated that 'DACA does not confer any form of legal status.' Flores called the stop racial profiling. The Mexican Consulate visited him and connected his family with an attorney before his transfer to the Florence Service Processing Center. Weeks later, he was released with an ankle monitor.

Ursula Borja Valle, a 54-year-old Mexican immigrant and mother of Marine Cpl. Jose Manuel Vilchis-Valle, was detained by ICE on August 8-9, 2025, when she arrived at an immigration appointment to apply for Parole in Place—a military family benefit designed to protect immediate relatives of active-duty service members. She had lived in the U.S. for nearly three decades without a known criminal record and has three U.S. citizen children, including her son Jose (age 22-23) and daughters Mia, a nursing student, and a 15-year-old. After initial detention at Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach, she was transferred to US Border Patrol Central Processing Center in Texas and deported to Mexico on August 11, 2025. Her family had hired an attorney who filed an I-246 motion to stay deportation and launched a GoFundMe campaign to cover legal costs. Her son, who served four years in the Marines and was honorably discharged shortly after his mother's deportation, stated: "I gave four years of my life to this country. I feel honored to be here, that this is my country, but knowing that this country doesn't want my mother makes me feel terrible." Valle told her family by phone after arriving in Mexico: "Already had a life made there, so it's a bit complicated to be here because I never thought I'd arrive in this situation." Her sister María Constanza expressed concerns about her safety in Mexico, as their parents had passed away and she no longer has family support there. This case is one of more than 50 documented detentions of military family members under the Trump administration's immigration enforcement.

Joselyn Chipantiza Sisalema, a 20-year-old Ecuadorean public school student, was arrested inside immigration court and held at ICE's 10th-floor processing facility at 26 Federal Plaza for 10 days between June 24 and July 4, 2025. She menstruated for five of those days without access to sanitary pads; guards distributed only two pads for all women in the overcrowded cell, forcing her to remain in blood-stained clothing. She was recently freed following a federal judge's order. Her sworn affidavit is part of a lawsuit filed by immigration rights groups against ICE seeking to improve conditions at the facility, which detainees describe as severely overcrowded with limited food, water, hygiene access, and no bathing facilities.

Felipe Agustin Zamacona was arrested last Thursday in Wheeling and detained at the Broadview ICE facility in overcrowded conditions. He testified in federal court that he had to wake someone up who was sleeping beside the toilet in order to use it. He is still in federal custody. His testimony is part of a class-action lawsuit seeking to improve conditions at the facility.

Hugo Elias Sanchez Trillos, a Colombian construction worker, was arrested in late June after ICE raided his home looking for someone else. He was held at 26 Federal Plaza for nearly three weeks (with a three-day break at Nassau County jail between June 26 and July 14), wearing the same clothes and never bathing. He lost nearly 20 pounds due to limited food access, receiving only two meals daily served cold in plastic bags. His sworn affidavit is part of a lawsuit seeking to improve conditions at the facility.