Human Impact Project

Lázaro Romero León, a 59-year-old Cuban who lived in the United States for over 30 years, was deported to Mexico by ICE in February 2025 despite a federal judge's order prohibiting his removal. As of May 2026, he remains stranded in Tapachula, Chiapas, homeless and without resources after multiple failed attempts to return him. A federal judge has threatened sanctions against the government, while a diplomatic gap between the U.S. and Mexico regarding wrongful deportations continues to complicate his case.

Flora, a Venezuelan trafficking survivor with an active asylum claim and pending T visa application, was detained by ICE on January 30, 2025, at a routine check-in appointment after reporting her alleged trafficker to federal authorities. She was transported 1,200 miles to a detention center in Louisiana and separated from her 4-year-old son and 18-month-old daughter for two months. Flora had fled her alleged abuser in early 2025 with help from a local nonprofit and was in the process of obtaining a T visa for trafficking survivors when ICE detained her. She was released on April 2, 2025, hours before a court hearing on her habeas corpus petition, but the detention caused significant retraumatization to her and her children.

A Venezuelan mother of two arrested during an ICE check-in in January 2025 remains detained and faces deportation despite pending asylum and trafficking visa applications. She was allegedly trafficked to the US in 2023 and subjected to sexual abuse, forced labor, and physical violence. Her lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition in February 2025, alleging unlawful detention and violations of due process rights. Her alleged trafficker, a foreign national, remains free and has reportedly tracked her down at a Maryland church where she sought refuge.

Arlit Maria Martinez-Carrada, a Mexican national, was detained by ICE on January 3 while on her way to work in Wicomico County. Her son Kevin died from cancer just days later on January 5, but an immigration judge initially denied her release, deeming her a flight risk. After a federal judge approved her release on January 26 with a $12,000 bond, Martinez-Carrada returned to Salisbury with an ankle bracelet monitor.

Luis Fernando Chulca Chiluisa, Maria Velasco Hurtado, and their two children were detained by ICE agents on January 22, 2025. Velasco was detained on her way to work; Chiluisa and the children were detained at their home afterward. All four had active asylum applications and no known criminal records. A habeas petition was filed the same morning, and a judge ordered the government to show cause for detention by January 26. Despite a court order keeping the family in Minnesota, they were initially sent to Texas. Following a contempt motion filed by their attorneys, the family was returned to Minnesota.

An Iranian national entered the United States on January 19, 2025, seeking asylum based on political and religious persecution. After an immigration judge denied his asylum application on May 6, 2025, he was granted withholding of removal and placed in mandatory post-final-removal-order detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1231. After 431 days in federal immigration custody, he filed a habeas corpus petition challenging the lawfulness of his prolonged detention, arguing removal was not significantly likely in the foreseeable future. On July 30, 2026, he voluntarily dismissed his petition after his asylum application was granted upon reconsideration by the immigration court.

Ana Cañedo Luna, a business owner and long-term U.S. resident who was brought to the country at age 10, was arrested on January 9 after a traffic stop in Rock Springs, Wyoming, where she holds a valid work permit. She was transferred to the ICE Denver Contract Detention Facility in Aurora, Colorado, where she spent five months and ten days in custody. Cañedo discovered that her previous lawyer had requested a voluntary departure without her knowledge or consent, prompting her to change legal representation. After switching to local attorneys and filing a writ of habeas corpus, she was released on June 19 and reunited with her wife, Gloria Guerra. Cañedo continues to fight her immigration case while dealing with the psychological trauma of her detention and remains fearful of future arrest, saying the experience felt like "psychological torture" and a "never-ending nightmare."

Marvin Hernandez Lopez, who entered the U.S. in 2013 and has been living here with family and a business, was detained by ICE while traveling to work last month. He argues ICE is wrongfully holding him under a statute requiring mandatory detention instead of one allowing bond hearings. The court granted a temporary restraining order preventing his transfer outside Florida's Middle District while his habeas petition is pending, but denied his request for immediate release or bond hearing.

A noncitizen who had resided in the United States for over four years was apprehended by ICE at his routine check-in appointment in January 2025 and held at Webb County Detention Center under mandatory detention provisions. An Immigration Judge ordered his removal to Ecuador and denied his asylum application. He challenged his detention as violating Fifth Amendment due process rights. The district court granted his petition for habeas corpus, finding that noncitizens with established U.S. presence are entitled to individualized assessment of flight risk and dangerousness before detention, and ordered his immediate release with safeguards against redetention.

Leonela Marquez started a GoFundMe campaign in January 2025 after her husband, Mario Eduardo Fajardo Aviles, was detained by ICE. She described facing financial hardship including inability to pay rent, buy food, and afford diapers and formula, while also needing to pay thousands in legal fees. The case is one of hundreds of habeas corpus petitions moving through Pittsburgh's federal courthouse, driven by the presence of the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Clearfield County.