Human Impact Project

Moises Domingo Rico Rosales, a Nicaraguan national who entered the U.S. in Arizona in 2022, was arrested after allegedly exposing himself to one woman and attempting to abduct another at Wakefield Park in Annandale, Virginia. He was previously arrested in Fairfax County in 2024 on felony drug trafficking charges, which were later dropped by the Commonwealth's Attorney's office, and he was released after local officials declined to honor an ICE detainer. He is now charged with abduction with intent to defile and indecent exposure, and ICE has lodged a new detainer, with DHS urging Virginia officials to turn him over to federal custody. Abdul Jalloh, a 32-year-old from Sierra Leone, was charged with second-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of 41-year-old Stephanie Minter at a Virginia bus stop; he had over 30 prior arrests and was released by Fairfax County officials despite ICE detainer concerns, and a House Judiciary subcommittee held a hearing on the county's sanctuary policies following the case.

A 47-year-old Somali man married to a U.S. citizen was detained at Otay Mesa Detention Center and missed a scheduled hip surgery because of his detention. The case was documented in habeas corpus petitions filed as part of court challenges to detention amid immigration enforcement operations.

Ayodeji Ajayi, a Nigerian national, was deported by ICE after remaining in the United States illegally for nearly two decades. Ajayi entered the U.S. in 2007 on a student visa but did not return to school and remained in the country without authorization. He accumulated multiple criminal convictions including domestic violence, trespassing, intimidation, obstruction, and charges related to kidnapping, rape, and family neglect. ICE attributed the deportation to Trump administration immigration enforcement policies.

Mutasim Ibrahim Abdoulrahman Nour, a Sudanese citizen, has been in ICE custody for 23 months without receiving a hearing to argue for temporary release on bond. He was apprehended upon entering the U.S. on July 7, 2024, initially held in Minnesota, then transferred to Muscatine County Jail in December 2025. A federal judge has ordered the government to explain the prolonged detention. Nour's lawsuit seeks his immediate release and a court order preventing his transfer outside Iowa while his CAT asylum case is pending.

Orolua Eluonyechie, a Nigerian national, has been held in immigration detention for over two years, initially detained in Atlanta in April 2024 and later transferred to Allen Parish in southwest Louisiana. While detained, he has been injured by guards and placed in solitary confinement. He filed a federal habeas petition seeking release or deportation but remains waiting for judicial action as federal courts in Louisiana become overwhelmed with habeas petitions from detainees held in prolonged detention.

Dame Ka, an Upstate Medical University worker from Senegal who arrived in the U.S. in 2023, was detained by ICE at Syracuse Airport while traveling to Atlanta to watch World Cup games. Ka said plainclothes immigration officers approached him after he picked up his boarding pass, placed him in handcuffs (concealing them with a cloth), and took him to an office. He was released the same day with an ankle monitor. This is the fourth Upstate Medical University worker detained by ICE in the last year, according to union officials.

A 64-year-old certified nursing assistant from Kenya was detained by ICE on June 18, 2026, during a routine check-in in Houston after complying with mandatory immigration appointments for more than 14 years. She first entered the U.S. legally in 1995 and again in 2005 on a dependent visa tied to her husband's status; after their divorce, a final removal order was issued in 2011 and upheld on appeal in 2012, leading to her placement under an order of supervision. A court granted a stay of deportation on July 23 while a humanitarian petition remains pending, but she remains in detention and now faces a $1.8 million fine linked to her visa overstay. Her longtime employer and friend, Houston engineer Maureen Mendrek-Laske, for whom she helped raise four children, says she has shown signs of physical decline in custody, and family continue to visit her regularly.

Billy Bassikissa Bounguiena, a corrections officer at Cumberland County Sheriff's Office, was detained by ICE on Tuesday at his home in South Portland. He held a valid work permit and had no criminal history, according to county officials. ICE alleged he had a criminal record based on a 2019 domestic violence arrest in which no charges were filed; county officials dispute this characterization as false. He is being held at Wyatt Detention Facility in Rhode Island.

Abdullahi Mohamed, a Somali refugee who had lived in the U.S. for decades with his family, was detained and then rapidly transferred within five days across Massachusetts, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas before being deported to Somalia. He reported being beaten and shackled during transfers and enduring long periods without food or water. ICE did not respond to his lawyer's requests for release and ignored habeas petition efforts. Mohamed has no family or means of support in Somalia and his wife remains in hiding due to her immigration status.

Mohamed Fofana, a 22-year-old asylum seeker from Guinea employed at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, was detained by ICE on November 11, 2025, near his home. He was held for seven months in detention facilities in Batavia and La Salle County, Texas. In February 2026, his attorney reported losing contact with him for a month due to facility transfer confusion, and an immigration judge granted a 45-day continuance. An immigration judge ordered his deportation in May 2026, but a federal judge vacated that order and approved his habeas corpus petition in June 2026. Fofana was released and returned to Syracuse on June 7-9, 2026, to reunite with his family.

Louise Hunkporti, a 64-year-old native of Congo, is facing denaturalization after using a falsified identity to obtain U.S. citizenship. In 1995, Hunkporti applied for and was denied an immigration benefit. After being denied, Hunkporti adopted a new identity and submitted a falsified application under that assumed identity. She naturalized as a U.S. citizen on March 2, 2010 under the adopted identity. After USCIS digitized its paper fingerprint cards, the Department of Justice discovered that Hunkporti's fingerprints from her 2010 naturalization matched those she submitted in her 1995 denied application. The complaint alleges eight counts for her numerous misrepresentations and unlawful acts.

Abdikadir Ali Kadiye, a 54-year-old Minnesota resident originally from Somalia, is facing denaturalization after being accused of seeking admission to the United States under two separate identities. Beginning in 1997, he first applied under the identity Liban M. Degel, claiming to be married with no children; after an immigration judge denied that application, he submitted a second application in 1998 under the identity Abdikadir Ali Kadiye. After naturalizing, Kadiye admitted to a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent that he had previously used two identities for admission. The U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota filed a civil denaturalization complaint on June 3, 2026, making Kadiye one of 17 people targeted in the Trump administration's latest denaturalization campaign.

ICE arrested five men during enforcement operations in New Jersey on June 1-2, 2026, amid protests outside the Delaney Hall ICE detention center in Newark. The arrestees were: Marcos Delacruz from El Salvador, arrested on Friday with prior convictions for sex assault and fraud and an arrest for assault; Success Bounte from Ghana, arrested on Thursday with prior convictions for robbery, burglary, identity theft, and fraud related to illegal use of credit cards; Jose Manuel Rivera-Mes from Guatemala, arrested on Thursday with a prior conviction for voluntary manslaughter and arrests for weapon offenses and possession of a weapon; Ismael Antonio Moreno-Javier from the Dominican Republic, arrested on Thursday with prior arrests for terroristic threats, assault, child neglect, and fraud; and Carlos Javier Llano-Batista from the Dominican Republic, arrested on Thursday with prior arrests for fraud, larceny, burglary, and robbery. All five arrests occurred during the same enforcement operation at the Newark facility.

The Andre family—Carine, an activist from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and her three children Estafania, Olivia, and Joel—fled persecution and were initially vetted and released in 2022 to await asylum hearings. After deportation and denied entry to Canada, they were returned to the U.S. and detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley beginning in November 2025, violating the Flores Settlement requiring prompt release of children. Carine and Joel (17) were released in March 2026 after nearly four months in detention; Olivia (19) was released in June 2026 after over five months. Detainees reported inadequate conditions including contaminated food and water, mold, and sleep disruption.

Gerald Akari Angye, a 35-year-old former high school teacher from Cameroon who fled after experiencing kidnapping and torture, crossed into the U.S. in December 2024 and sought asylum. After his asylum claim was denied, he was detained at Camp East Montana ICE detention center at Fort Bliss military base in El Paso for over a month. While detained, Angye was severely beaten by guards after requesting to speak with an attorney before signing documents, suffering injuries to his hands and wrists that required a brace and hospitalization. He was subsequently placed in solitary confinement for 15 days. The ACLU of Texas and partner civil rights organizations filed a federal class-action lawsuit against ICE on behalf of Angye and three other named plaintiffs, challenging severe conditions at the facility including violent use of force, medical neglect, disease outbreaks, excessive solitary confinement, and inhumane living conditions.

ICE conducted an enforcement operation on May 29, 2026, targeting foreign nationals with criminal convictions. The operation resulted in five arrests: Javier Moya-Tentory, a Mexican national previously convicted of murder in Harris County, Texas; Reinerio Mendoza-Diaz, a Honduran national convicted of second-degree sexual assault on a child under 14 in Fort Smith, Arkansas; Gary Smith Apolinanario-Apolinario, a Peruvian national convicted of fourth-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a child in Stamford, Connecticut; George Abdalla, a Sudanese national convicted of sexual assault in Salt Lake City, Utah; and Jairo Cardenas-Fonseca, a Colombian national convicted of procuring an adult for prostitution in San Jose, California.

Hilary Murungi Timbigamba, a 34-year-old asylum seeker from Uganda, was arrested on larceny charges in Massachusetts in July 2025 while employed at a group home. He was taken into federal custody as he left the courthouse despite being granted pretrial release. Federal Judge Landya McCafferty ruled that his 10-month detention in ICE custody violated his constitutional right to due process because he was deprived of the opportunity to address criminal charges and the evidence presented at his immigration bond hearing was legally insufficient. He was released within 24 hours of the court order.

Under a $7.5 million Trump administration agreement, Equatorial Guinea has detained at least 32 asylum seekers at the Bamy Hotel on Bioko Island since November 2025. All detainees had previously been granted some form of protection by U.S. judges. Twenty-five have been forcibly returned to their African countries of origin—Angola, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Mauritania—where they face persecution, while others remain detained and under pressure to leave. Detainees report psychological distress, inadequate medical care, threats from authorities, and monotonous conditions. Human rights advocates argue the deal exploits a loophole to circumvent U.S. court protections and international asylum norms.

Anabella Gyasi, 38, a pregnant Ghanaian woman, and her 4-year-old son who has a physical abnormality affecting his hands arrived at Dulles International Airport on valid tourist visas to seek medical care for her son at Akron Children's Hospital in Ohio. At customs, she disclosed a fear of returning to Ghana because of persecution she faced for her son's disability. CBP officers took them into custody as asylum seekers after she stated under oath that she did not intend to return to Ghana, which led officials to nullify her tourist visa. Gyasi, who was about four months pregnant, was held in a windowless room at the airport with her son for more than a week without adequate food or medical care. She was twice transported to a hospital for treatment. DHS denied her care was inadequate. The ACLU of Virginia filed an emergency petition, and Judge Leonie Brinkema called the detention a "terrible situation," saying Gyasi should not spend another night at the airport. A Justice Department attorney said immigration authorities were prepared to deport Gyasi and her son back to Ghana that night. CBP had interviewed her and judged she did not have a "credible fear" of returning. The judge ordered the government to confirm her departure and ruled the petition moot. Gyasi and her son were deported to Ghana.

A U.S.-born mother of four was stopped at an ICE checkpoint in a residential area of Lafayette and detained despite presenting a valid Louisiana state ID and Social Security card. ICE agents accused her documents of being forged, handcuffed and shackled her at the ankles, and transported her to a USCIS field office for interrogation before moving her to South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile. An immigration attorney secured her release by submitting identification documents. ICE did not apologize and confiscated her Social Security card.