Human Impact Project

Chidi Nwagbo, a Nigerian migrant who had lived in the U.S. for 37 years, was detained at the Buffalo Federal Detention facility in Batavia on February 10, 2025, after attempting to cross into Canada. He arrived at the facility with frostbite and was under doctor's orders to see a specialist at Kessler Burn and Trauma Center in Rochester within a week. ICE staff never took him to the appointment. By the time he saw a doctor 16 days later, portions of six fingers had to be amputated due to untreated frostbite.

Colombian migrants deported from the United States under President Trump's administration reported experiencing degrading treatment in detention centers, including cramped conditions, sleep deprivation, and mistreatment during transport. Daniel Vasquez, a 40-year-old migrant, reported being detained for over a week across multiple facilities in San Diego and Texas, transported in chains and handcuffs. The Colombian and Brazilian governments complained of treatment on deportation flights, including denied bathroom breaks. Some migrants reported willingness to attempt returning to the United States.

Arbella "Yari" Rodríguez Márquez, a 47-year-old lawful permanent resident with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, has now spent more than a year at Eloy Detention Center, where she has lost 60 pounds and reportedly experiences anemia and vomiting blood. Three dozen Arizona state legislators from the LGBTQIA caucus have asked ICE to release her on humanitarian grounds, and U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari, who visited her in September, has written to Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons seeking her release. ICE disputes claims of inadequate care, saying she has been seen by medical staff 13 times and has an upcoming offsite medical appointment. An immigration judge revoked her green card after her initial detention in February 2025.

Arbella "Yari" Rodríguez Márquez, a 39-year-old former legal permanent resident with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, has been detained by ICE at the Eloy Detention Center since February 10, 2025. She has not received proper medical care for her cancer. Her health has deteriorated, including coughing up blood and losing 70 pounds. Detention center staff have denied her requests to see an oncologist and specialist. U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari visited the facility and documented conditions. The representative has called for immediate medical intervention and her release.

US officials kept approximately 100 deported Indian migrants in shackles for a 40-hour flight back to India, including during bathroom breaks and a refueling stop in Guam. The deportees reported being treated harshly and kept in shackles throughout the journey. Indian lawmakers protested in parliament and opposition parties burned Trump effigies. The incident occurred days before an expected visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the White House.

Harvinder Singh was among 104 Indian nationals deported on a U.S. military C-17 plane to Amritsar, India on February 5, 2025. Singh reported in a video shared by an Indian opposition lawmaker that he was handcuffed and restrained with chains around his feet for 40 hours and was not allowed to move from his seat during the deportation flight. His account prompted Indian lawmakers to call for dignity and humanity in deportation procedures.

Daler Singh, 37, was among 104 Indian nationals deported on a U.S. military C-17 plane to Amritsar, India on February 5, 2025. Singh reported that he and other deportees were kept in handcuffs and leg chains throughout the entire 18+ hour flight, with restraints not removed even during meals. Indian lawmakers protested in parliament over the alleged mistreatment, with Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar stating that while restraints are standard ICE practice for adult deportees, the conditions raised concerns about the manner of deportation.

Yoiker Sequera, a 25-year-old Venezuelan barber, was transferred to Guantanamo Bay after being held in detention in El Paso for five months. He turned himself in to Border Patrol in Presidio in September 2024 and was detained awaiting asylum processing. He has been cutting hair since childhood, trained by his uncle, a master barber in Venezuela, and later worked as a barber in Ecuador, Colombia, and inside the detention center. His mother Angela Sequera said he wanted to join family in California, and last spoke with him the day before his transfer, when he told her he was exhausted and felt his continued detention was unfair. He is among the three Venezuelans named in the ACLU lawsuit challenging the Guantanamo detentions.

The Trump administration has flown approximately 100 immigrant detainees to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base since February 4, 2025, claiming they are dangerous criminals including gang members. ProPublica and The Texas Tribune identified nearly a dozen Venezuelan immigrants transferred there, and records show at least three had no criminal history except unauthorized entry, or minor charges incurred while detained. The government has refused to release detainees' names or crime details and denied families and attorneys access to the detainees, prompting an ACLU lawsuit over constitutional rights to legal representation. The Department of Homeland Security and Defense Department are now rushing to build multiple tent facilities at Guantanamo to house thousands of migrants, with internal confusion over which agency is in charge and what will happen once people arrive.

Franco Jose Caraballo Tiapa, a 26-year-old barber from Venezuela, migrated to the United States in 2023 with his wife seeking asylum due to political persecution and had no criminal history. He presented himself to ICE for a routine check-in in early February 2025 and was detained without being informed of the reason, though he reported being questioned about his tattoos. Without notifying his attorneys or family, he was deported to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison under a Trump executive order allowing ICE to send noncitizens to third countries willing to accept them. His family learned of his deportation only after seeing videos of his arrival on social media, having expected him to be sent to Venezuela instead. His attorneys provided documentation proving his clean background and pending asylum claim.

In Maryland, ICE agents arrested a transgender woman married to a U.S. citizen after she appeared for a routine probation check-in. She was then transferred to an all-male detention facility in Miami even though her lawyers said they had provided a passport listing her gender as female. When her attorney objected to her being held with men, ICE responded in writing that "as per executive order, your client's immutable, biological, classification is that of a male." The White House later posted about her case on social media, and her lawyers say they no longer know her current location.

A woman from Honduras was detained at Krome's processing room where she reported the one toilet in her cell was covered in feces. Despite repeated requests for cleaning supplies, officers told her sarcastically, 'Housekeeping will come soon.' No one ever came. She was denied pain relief for menstrual cramps and provided only a menstrual pad. After transfer to the Broward Transitional Center, she fell from her bunk in March. Although an X-ray showed no fracture, her ankle became swollen and bruised. She walked in pain for a week before receiving crutches, after repeated requests for some form of relief.

In late February 2025, ICE transported several women to Krome North Service Processing Center, a male-only facility, and confined them for days in a tiny cell that grew from 25 to 31 women with a single exposed toilet. The toilet was visible through windows to adjacent rooms housing men. Officers denied the women showers, saying clearing a section was 'not feasible.' Officers refused to provide medications the women had brought, claiming they were not authorized to treat women. A woman with diabetes was hospitalized after being denied insulin. Another with gallstones was denied medication for days until she began vomiting green bile and lost consciousness, requiring emergency gallbladder removal. She was returned to the cell without prescribed medication. A third woman also had to be hospitalized. When all three returned, officers again refused their medications. Only after women posted signs saying they were being treated inhumanely were they taken — shackled — to shower after four days.

A 56-year-old British man with diabetes, pancreatitis, and heart disease was detained at a routine annual ICE appointment in early February 2025 and shackled on a bus outside Krome for up to three hours. His family delivered a three-month supply of medications including insulin he needs four times daily, but staff failed to administer them consistently. When transferred to FDC, he received some heart medication and minimal insulin but nothing for pancreatitis. During his April 15 transfer to BTC, guards sent his medications to Krome instead. At BTC, a doctor dismissed his asthma diagnosis, saying 'No one has asthma over 18,' and refused to hear his medical history. Five days later, he collapsed in the dinner line. His family discovered he had been registered at the hospital under a false name. ICE refused to share any information about his condition. He was returned to BTC in shackles after three days.

Andrea, a 31-year-old woman from Argentina with a Green Card who has lived in the United States since age three, was arrested in February 2025 after calling police during a domestic dispute with her partner. A judge approved her release on $1,000 signature bond, which her family paid, but ICE issued a detainer and transferred her to Krome North. She was shackled on a multi-stop bus journey and spent a night on the bus in shackles when Krome was closed. At Krome, a male-only facility, she was confined in a small visitation room with up to 30 women with no beds, showers, or privacy for the toilet. She was denied medical care and later transferred across the country to Houston Processing Center for two months, where officers repeatedly failed to inform her of court dates and cut off contact with lawyers and family for 48 hours. Andrea was postpartum, having given birth three months before detention and breastfeeding until arrest; her mother relocated to Florida to care for her children. She was released in late April after authorities retrieved documentation of an expunged cannabis conviction.

Bayartulga Avirmed, a deaf Mongolian who fled to the U.S. after surviving a disability-related assault that left him with a traumatic brain injury, was detained at Otay Mesa Detention Center since February and denied a qualified Mongolian Sign Language interpreter, with ICE at times relying on Google Translate. U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw issued a preliminary injunction in July requiring an MSL interpreter, redone evaluations, a rescheduled competency hearing, and his sister's presence at proceedings. Avirmed was released from custody shortly after the ruling and is now living with his sister, a U.S. citizen, in Virginia, though his immigration case remains open.

A 2-month-old infant named Juan Nicolás was hospitalized with bronchitis while detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center, a CoreCivic-run facility near San Antonio, after his mother found him unresponsive and choking on vomit; no doctor was on site at the time. The facility had recently been under quarantine following confirmed measles cases. After treatment, the hospital discharged him back to ICE custody, and he was deported to Mexico along with his 16-month-old sister and both parents in February 2025. The case is documented in a June 9 analysis by MS NOW and The Marshall Project examining detention conditions for infants and toddlers, which found that ICE has detained more than 500 children under age three since January 2025, with inadequate medical care cited as a recurring problem.

A 45-year-old Ethiopian man died on January 29, 2025, from complications of untreated HIV while in ICE custody at Eloy Detention Center in Arizona. He had been detained for nearly four months after entering the country illegally and was not screened for HIV despite developing severe symptoms. Medical experts stated routine blood tests at initial intake or upon symptom development could have identified HIV through early diagnosis and antiretroviral treatment.

The Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network received a stop-work order from the Trump administration after its federal funding was paused, affecting programs that provide legal orientation and rights information to migrants in immigration proceedings. The Colorado-based nonprofit, which receives approximately 25% of its funding from the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security, argues the federally-funded programs benefit taxpayers by helping people navigate the immigration court system more efficiently. RMIAN has received federal support for about 20 years under multiple administrations and contends that investment in legal orientation reduces costs associated with detention and prolonged court proceedings.

Brazil's government responded after 88 of its nationals arrived in the country handcuffed following their deportation from the United States. The Brazilian government called the treatment degrading and a flagrant disregard for fundamental rights and demanded an explanation from Washington. Colombia announced it would not allow US deportation flights to land in the country, turning away military aircraft carrying deported migrants.