Human Impact Project

Axel Gerardo Archaga Rios, an 18-year-old junior at Dunwoody High School who arrived in the U.S. at age 4 with his mother seeking asylum, was arrested by Dunwoody Police on March 27, 2026, for running a stop sign and driving without a valid license. He was booked into DeKalb County Jail under the 287(g) program, posted bond, and was released into ICE custody on March 29. Rios was transferred to Folkston ICE Processing Center near Brunswick, Georgia. His attorney filed a stay of removal and a motion to reopen his 2015 removal order to pursue asylum relief, but both requests were denied. Rios was deported to Honduras, where he subsequently adjusted to life with his grandmother.

Stephani Espinoza Fontalvo, detained at Adelanto ICE Processing Center, filed a pro se habeas corpus petition and emergency motion to prevent her removal from the United States. The federal court granted a temporary restraining order enjoining ICE from transferring or removing her from the Central District of California pending a preliminary injunction hearing. The court ordered ICE to ensure her appearance at the May 8, 2026 hearing.

Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian citizen, Fulbright scholar, and Columbia doctoral student in urban planning, had her visa revoked by DHS without explanation. ICE agents visited her building three times, twice without a warrant. She fled to the United States and remains in Canada.

Juan Gaspar, from a village near Quetzaltenango, was deported and signed a voluntary departure agreement. He reported that officers only collected a phone number but he received no message with stipend collection details a week after his expulsion.

Portland police arrested five people during a May Day protest at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in south Portland on Friday evening. Protesters gathered to advocate for worker and immigrant rights and to push for revoking the ICE facility's permit. Police reported that protesters threw rocks and water bottles at officers, injuring two. Portland police made multiple arrests during May Day protests on Friday, May 1, 2026, near the ICE facility in South Portland. Officers arrested nine people at a hotel sit-in demonstration, and additional arrests were made throughout the day and evening during protest activities near the ICE facility. Police reported that some protesters threw rocks and water bottles at officers, with one officer sustaining a non-life-threatening injury.

Reyna Isabel Funez Veliz, a noncitizen, is detained at ICE's Denver Contract Detention Facility despite an immigration judge ordering his release on an $8,000 bond. ICE invoked an automatic stay regulation to prevent his release while appealing the bond determination. The immigration judge later reconsidered and held that the petitioner's detention is mandatory under federal law.

S.A., a noncitizen from Cameroon who entered the U.S. in 2024, was granted withholding of removal to Cameroon on September 16, 2025. Despite this protection from deportation to his home country, he remained detained at the Adelanto Detention Facility for more than six months after his removal order became final. The court ordered his release within 24 hours, finding his continued detention violated due process since removal was not reasonably foreseeable.

Luis Fernando Cabrera Chavarria, an Austin ISD high school senior, was detained by ICE after a state trooper stopped him for an expired registration sticker on May 1 while he was returning home from his job at Popeyes. U.S. District Judge Jason Pulliam ordered his release before Friday, allowing him to attend his high school graduation on June 2. His family had applied for asylum in 2019, though his application was not filed correctly.

Otis Nicholas Ffriend, a Jamaican LGBTQ asylum seeker who had been granted Convention Against Torture withholding in November 2024, was arrested at his home by ICE agents on May 1, 2026 without a warrant. Ffriend had been complying with supervision requirements and living with his U.S. citizen wife in California. The federal court granted a temporary restraining order requiring his immediate release and prohibiting re-detention without a hearing.

Sebastian Pasco, a bartender at Cork City Pub in Hoboken who holds a valid green card, was detained by ICE on May 1, 2026, while re-entering the country in Florida. The bar launched a fundraiser to cover his legal expenses while awaiting a hearing for his release.

Karina Lozano Chiriboga, Angel Granda, and their daughter Ariana Granda Lozano were deported to Ecuador on Wednesday morning despite their asylum case being denied without a hearing. The family had fled Ecuador two years prior due to violent organized crime and were going through legal channels to seek asylum. Their initial attorney missed filing deadlines, leading a judge to vacate their case, and although they obtained a temporary stay from U.S. District Judge Leo T. Sorokin on April 24, that order was vacated four days later. ICE ordered them to the airport for a 5:30 a.m. departure, and while they were in flight, the Bureau of Immigration Appeals accepted their appeal into the record.

Juan Tablante was detained by ICE while working at his charcuterie business. His son Moisés launched a fundraiser to cover legal fees, bail, and business expenses as the family fights his case.

Elder Aguilar-Macario, a 19-year-old senior and soccer team captain at Trion High School in Georgia, was arrested on May 1, 2026, following a traffic stop for driving without a valid license and improper lane change. After posting a $400 bond on local charges, ICE placed a 48-hour detainer on him through the 287(g) program and transferred him to Irwin County Detention Center in south Georgia. Aguilar-Macario was brought to the U.S. from Guatemala at age 6 without legal authorization and now faces potential deportation weeks before his high school graduation. His community has mobilized for his release.

Rodney Taylor, a 47-year-old double amputee barber from Liberia who arrived in the U.S. as a child on a medical visa, was arrested by ICE on January 15, 2025, and held at Stewart Detention Center in South Georgia for 15 months based on a decades-old burglary conviction from his teenage years. Despite receiving a state pardon in 2010, holding a valid work permit, and having a pending green card application through his adult son, Taylor remained in ICE custody. During detention, he experienced severe medical neglect including denial of adequate food, proper prosthetics, exposure to contaminated water, and inadequate medical care for his disabilities, resulting in new health conditions such as bone spurs and neuropathy. Taylor was released in early May 2026 following sustained advocacy by U.S. Representative Lucy McBath, Senator Raphael Warnock, Representative Pramila Jayapal, additional members of Congress, his wife Mildred, community organizations, and legal representatives. His deportation case remains pending appeal.

ICE agents attempted to arrest Oscar Ocampo, a 41-year-old from Ecuador, on Exchange Street in New Haven while he was holding his seven-month-old son during a daycare drop-off. Neighbors and activists from the New Haven Immigrants Coalition emerged and recorded the encounter, urging the agents to leave. After approximately 20 minutes, the ICE agents departed without detaining Ocampo.

ICE agents conducted an operation on Brevard Street in Asheville targeting a specific individual, but detained three men total. According to a witness, agents arrested two additional men solely for being present with the targeted individual at the time. The organization CIMA activated an alert regarding the incident.

A woman was detained by ICE agents while walking her dog in public. The incident occurred within seconds, leaving her dog behind confused and distressed. The post emphasizes the emotional impact on both the woman and her pet.

Marta Guinand, a Venezuelan national living in the U.S. since 2014 with a valid work permit through 2028, was detained by CBP agents at McAllen airport while attempting to travel to her son's graduation in Florida. She has an active political asylum case since 2015 and is being held at Ursula Detention Center without her case being presented to court; her asylum interview scheduled for April was cancelled by authorities.

Wilfredo Hoyos-Gomez, a 10-year-old Venezuelan boy, appeared alone in Houston immigration court without legal representation and faces deportation to Ecuador, a country he has never visited. His mother, Nexoli Anyis Gomez Bracho, was detained by ICE in late 2025 following a traffic stop and remains in custody at the Houston Contract Detention Facility. The mother holds a valid work permit and has a pending asylum case. With no other family in the United States, the boy's mother's former employer serves as his legal guardian. The Department of Homeland Security filed paperwork seeking the child's deportation, and Rep. Joaquin Castro called for ICE to release the mother and halt deportation proceedings against the child.

Dy, who was previously detained by ICE for over five months during Trump's first term and released after a habeas corpus petition, has been detained again at Stewart Detention Center in Georgia. He is separated from his wife Tammy and their family, with another child expected soon, and notes that habeas cases at the facility go to a single lifetime-appointed judge. Denny Adan Gonzalez, a 33-year-old Cuban national, died on April 28, 2026, at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. He was found unresponsive in his cell at approximately 10:26 PM and pronounced dead within an hour despite lifesaving measures. Authorities suspected suicide, though the official cause remained under investigation. Gonzalez had been arrested by local police in Charlotte, North Carolina in January 2026 on assault and domestic violence charges before being transferred to ICE custody. His death marked the 18th detainee fatality in ICE custody in 2026 and the fourth Cuban national to die during the current Trump administration.

An eight-year-old autistic boy named Emiliano is detained at the Dilley ICE detention facility in Texas, operated by CoreCivic. Since his detention, he has experienced a fever, severe anxiety, limited appetite, and developed a skin rash and eye irritation. His mother reported these conditions to advocacy organizations. Each Step Home and other advocates filled his mother's commissary account to provide support and encouraged complaints to the facility regarding his care.

Dorel Patricio Tequida Valencia, a noncitizen, is currently detained at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Denver Contract Detention Facility in Colorado. He filed a habeas corpus petition seeking immediate release from custody or a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a). The court ordered that respondents cannot remove Valencia from Colorado or the United States until the court or appeals court vacates the order, and gave respondents seven days to respond to the petition.

Osmin Ayala, an asylum seeker from El Salvador living in Oakland since 2021, faced potential re-detention by ICE despite having deferred action status through a U visa application. ICE issued a reinstatement notice in October 2025 but had repeatedly acknowledged they did not have his removal file and had previously released him multiple times as neither a flight risk nor danger. The court granted a preliminary injunction preventing his detention without a pre-deprivation hearing.

Anita Garcia, a volunteer with SBResiste rapid response network, was physically restrained and allegedly punched by ICE agents while observing an enforcement action at the Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor office in Santa Barbara on April 30. Garcia had arrived after receiving a tip about ICE activity and entered the building to document the agents' activities. The agents accused her of impeding their work and physically restrained her against a wall, according to Garcia's account.

Jose Andres Hernandez Medina, 38, was arrested after attempting to flee from ICE agents conducting an operation near an apartment complex on I-35E. He allegedly rammed and collided with multiple ICE vehicles, injuring two federal officers who were hospitalized. Hernandez Medina, who had been deported to Mexico three times previously, was charged with assaulting federal officers and faces up to 20 years in prison.

A man identified as Valentín was detained by ICE agents on the morning of April 30 at a residence in Jacksonville, Texas. The arrest was witnessed and recorded by resident Jeannette Rodríguez. Official reasons for the arrest have not been disclosed, and it remains unclear whether the case is part of a broader operation.

Victor Roman, owner of Los Guapos Latin Food in Lawrence, was detained by ICE in late April and faces deportation to Guatemala. Community members, including a former University of Kansas associate dean, have organized a GoFundMe fundraiser that raised over $11,000 in four days and submitted character letters to the immigration judge on Roman's behalf.

Five people—Juan Manuel Castellanos-Velazquez, Jimmy Jeyson Escobar-Nerio, Victor Hugo Garcia-Dominguez, Marbin Alexander Ramirez-Rodas, and Antonio Trinidad Garcia-Gallo—made initial court appearances in Las Vegas after being charged with reentering the United States illegally following previous deportations. All five individuals were previously deported and have criminal histories including drug trafficking, domestic violence, and weapons violations. They were transferred to ICE custody after state corrections and local law enforcement involvement.

ICE agents conducted a targeted enforcement operation in Pleasantville, New Jersey, intending to arrest Ramon Rodriguez-Turcios, a Honduran national with a final removal order. During the operation, three additional Mexican nationals present in the country without authorization were also detained. An immigrant advocacy group reported that a fourth person may have been taken into custody. The detainees are being held pending removal proceedings.

Lisandro Pantaleon Pacheco, a 22-year-old University of Utah student and Park City High School alumnus, was detained by ICE agents on April 28-29, 2026, while commuting to his first day of work at a bagel shop in Kimball Junction, Utah. Pacheco was pulled over on S.R. 224 around 5:30 a.m. Brought to the United States from Mexico by his mother at age one, Pacheco had no criminal record except one traffic citation and was scheduled to graduate on April 30 with a bachelor's degree in parks, recreation and tourism. He had previously applied for DACA protection before the program closed. Following his detention, he was held at a county jail in Evanston, Wyoming, while his attorney raised questions about whether profiling was involved in the traffic stop and subsequent detention.

A 21-year-old man from Nicaragua was pulled over by Wildwood Police for driving a vehicle with a tinted windshield. During the traffic stop, he admitted to never obtaining a U.S. driver's license and stated he had been in the United States for approximately two years and four months. He was arrested for operating a motor vehicle without a valid license and booked at the Sumter County Detention Center, where ICE placed a hold on him for transfer to their custody.

On April 28-29, 2026, approximately 40 protesters, including Maine residents and faith leaders, gathered at ICE's Burlington field office in Massachusetts to protest overcrowding and unsanitary conditions at the facility. The group attempted to block the administrative entrance and deliver care packages and a letter of support to detainees but were denied access. Police arrested between 9 and 12 protesters for trespassing and disturbing the peace after they refused orders to relocate to a designated free speech area. All arrested protesters were released and summoned to court. Some detainees at the facility had been transferred there during a January ICE operation in Maine.

Iris Juliana Alvarenga de Vargas, a Nicaraguan citizen, was placed in removal proceedings in December 2022 and charged with inadmissibility for entering the United States without inspection. She was initially released on an Order of Recognizance but was recently re-detained and held at the Adelanto ICE Detention Facility. The court granted her temporary restraining order requiring an individualized bond hearing within 7 days.

Edgar R.M., an immigration detainee who entered the U.S. without inspection in February 2023, was released on his own recognizance during removal proceedings. After three years of complying with release conditions, he was arrested without notice during a routine ICE check-in in Dallas on April 29, 2026. The court granted his habeas petition and ordered his immediate release, finding his detention without pre-deprivation process violated due process rights.

Hugo Enrique Montenegro-Almanza was re-detained on April 29, 2026, after having been previously released on bond or conditional parole. The court found that his re-detention violated due process because the government failed to provide a pre-deprivation bond hearing before a neutral arbiter. The court ordered his immediate release with the same conditions he had prior to detention.

Rosedeep Manhas was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on April 29, 2026, over five years after his C-1 crewman visa expired in April 2021. Manhas had applied for asylum in June 2021 and remained in the United States. The federal court ordered his immediate release, finding he had a protected liberty interest due to the prolonged delay in detention after his visa expiration.

J.R.V., a 40-year-old with valid work authorization, was arrested by a sheriff's deputy in Florida in December while driving to a construction job. He was transferred through multiple detention facilities over five months, including the controversial Alligator Alcatraz in Florida, and eventually held at ICE's Aurora detention center operated by GEO Group. After 127 days in detention, he was released with only the clothes on his back and no identification documents. He filed a successful habeas corpus petition in federal court to challenge his detention and was released on April 29, 2026.

Benjamin Hernandez was stopped for a regulatory violation on Highway 49 in Concord on April 29, 2026. During the traffic stop, a K-9 unit alerted to narcotics, and a search uncovered 78.7 pounds of methamphetamine. Hernandez was arrested, charged with trafficking methamphetamine, issued a $1 million bond, and placed on an ICE detainer due to his immigration status.

Oliver Escobar Tovar, 45, was arrested around 5 a.m. on Wednesday following a traffic stop in Paragould, Arkansas after an officer observed expired tags on his vehicle. During the stop, Tovar provided a passport and insurance information, though one source notes he stated he did not have a driver's license or registration. After police contacted Homeland Security Investigators regarding Tovar's immigration status, authorities determined he had been previously deported. ICE placed a detainer on Tovar at Greene County jail.

At "Ricky" Chandee has spent 90 days in ICE detention as the Trump Administration seeks to deport him to Laos based on a conviction from the early 1990s. His family is working to prevent his deportation and keep him in the United States.

ICE conducted a targeted enforcement operation in the Antioch neighborhood of Nashville on April 29, 2026, with a large federal law enforcement presence involving unmarked vehicles that remained in the area for hours. Officers with a court-issued arrest warrant detained one person, and residents gathered outside the home yelling to impede the operation. The identity of the person arrested and full circumstances of the case remain unclear.

Tony Arnold Bernstone, a New Zealand citizen living in Utah, was convicted of second-degree felony child kidnapping and ordered to self-deport to New Zealand for four years. The conviction stemmed from an attack on a child related to a doorbell prank.

A Mexican national in the United States pleaded guilty to impersonating a Border Patrol agent and following federal immigration officers during enforcement missions in Southern California. The man's actions were intended to disrupt and divert immigration officers from their deportation enforcement operations.

On April 28, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit unanimously ruled that the Trump administration's mandatory detention policy for immigrants without inspection—implemented in July 2025—violated federal immigration law and constitutional due process by denying bond hearings. The case centered on Ricardo Barbosa da Cunha, a Brazilian national who had lived in the U.S. for over 20 years with work authorization, a business, and a pending legal status application when detained under the policy in September 2025. The court rejected the government's statutory interpretation of 1996 immigration law, finding it improperly expanded detention to all non-citizens regardless of U.S. residence length, criminal history, or community ties. The decision created a circuit split, as two other appellate courts had previously upheld the policy, setting up likely Supreme Court review.

Hellen Yulissa Garcia Alfaro, a non-citizen, was detained at Adelanto ICE Processing Center for entering the United States without inspection. She was denied bond eligibility under a recent immigration decision but challenged her continued detention. The court granted her petition and ordered that she be provided a bond hearing within seven days or be released.

Victor Alonso Molina, who had been granted withholding of removal to El Salvador in 2014 and lived in the U.S. for over 12 years, was detained by ICE on April 28, 2026 while appearing at a voluntary ICE check-in. The government indicated intent to remove him to Mexico as a third country. The court granted a temporary restraining order requiring his release, finding his detention without due process violated his constitutional rights.

Juan "Johnny" Cuahutencos Meza, a long-time community member from East Hampton and Brooklyn, was detained on April 28, 2026, while returning home from work. He is being held at Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark, NJ, allegedly as a result of racial profiling. He faces deportation due to a misdemeanor conviction from over 10 years ago and has a court appearance scheduled for May 19, 2026.

A 12-year-old boy living in Alaska faces deportation after ICE and USCIS rejected evidence of his U.S. citizenship derived through his father. The boy's legal team submitted documentation and an affidavit from his father, a U.S. citizen, but USCIS declined to recognize the claim without DNA testing to establish paternity. The case remains pending with the child at risk of removal while legal efforts continue.

ICE arrested Rafael Garcia, a Mexican national, along with multiple other individuals convicted of serious crimes including child sexual abuse, assault, and kidnapping. Garcia was specifically convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child in Fresno County. ICE stated it would continue enforcement targeting individuals it described as threats to public safety.

A man held in an ICE detention center had his finger bitten off by another detainee and was subsequently placed in solitary confinement without antibiotics or proper medical treatment for a year. When he sought help as the infection became severely infected and ruptured, he was given only toilet paper instead of appropriate medical care. The case is part of a federal class-action lawsuit addressing inhumane and unconstitutional conditions in ICE detention facilities.