Human Impact Project

Owen Ramsingh, a Netherlands native who arrived in the United States at age 5 in 1986 and held a green card for over 40 years, was detained by ICE at Chicago's O'Hare Airport in November 2025 based on decades-old drug convictions from 1997 and 2011. He was deported to the Netherlands in February 2026 after months in detention, receiving a lifetime ban from the United States. Ramsingh had been living in Columbia, Missouri with his wife Diana and daughter, working in property management and security at local venues. After finding conditions in the Netherlands difficult, Ramsingh and his family relocated to Mexico to be closer to U.S.-based friends and relatives while his wife pursues remote work opportunities, unable to visit his daughter's gravesite in the United States. Owen Ramsingh, a long-term green card holder who immigrated to the U.S. at age 5 in 1986, was detained by ICE at Chicago airport on September 30 while returning from a family visit to the Netherlands. DHS cited prior drug-related convictions from 1997 and 2011 as justification for his detention. Ramsingh, who had worked in property management and security at music venues in Columbia, Missouri, was held in ICE custody in Texas and New Mexico. In December, a New Mexico judge issued him a lifetime ban from the U.S., and he was deported to the Netherlands in February. Unable to secure housing or viable visa options in the Netherlands, Ramsingh and his family have since relocated to Mexico, where they are working on obtaining residency and rebuilding their lives closer to family and friends.

Micaela Mendez Sandiz, a 16-year-old from Chiapas, Mexico, contacted her family on July 8 to report that she and her cousin were traveling through the desert. She was abandoned in serious health condition, reporting lack of water and inability to continue. Her cousin is reportedly detained. The family is seeking information about Micaela's whereabouts.

Juan Bonilla Lagos, a 32-year-old Colombian national, was arrested by ICE agents in Plainview in October 2024 while sitting in his car with his wife and 5-year-old son during what his family says was a trip to a doctor's appointment. During the arrest, agents threatened to break the car window as his child clung to him and pleaded with agents not to take him away. Bonilla Lagos, who entered the U.S. in 2022 fleeing gang violence in Colombia, was detained at an ICE facility in Batavia, New York, where he attempted suicide three times during his nine-month custody. He has no criminal record and has filed an asylum petition. On July 7, 2026, he was released and reunited with his wife and two children at Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan. The prolonged separation caused severe mental health trauma to his family, including depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress.

The petitioner has lived in the United States continuously since 2000 and is married to a U.S. citizen wife, with four U.S. citizen children ages 14 to 24, three of whom are minors who rely on him for financial and emotional support. He owns and operates JMQ Construction Inc., a family business that supports his household. He was paroled from custody in February 2022 under ICE's Alternatives to Detention program and was later placed in withholding-only proceedings after a positive reasonable fear determination, with an appeal pending before the Board of Immigration Appeals since June 2025; he also has a pending U-visa application based on being the victim of a 2016 machete assault. On July 6, 2026, he was detained by immigration agents while appearing for a scheduled biometrics appointment at a USCIS Application Support Center in connection with renewing his work authorization, and was held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. He filed a counseled habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 seeking a bond hearing or release, arguing his re-detention without notice or a hearing violated procedural and substantive due process and the APA. The court found his re-detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated procedural due process and ordered him released within 24 hours on the same conditions that existed before detention, with his belongings and documents returned and a status report filed confirming compliance.

A mother and her child were detained by ICE agents in Houston, Texas on July 2, 2026. According to the post, ICE agents used two vehicles to stop the mother's car in a parking lot near an apartment complex around 2:30 p.m. A video of the incident shows the child pleading for help as her mother was taken into custody.

Jesus Eduardo Reyes Hermes, a Venezuelan national with valid Temporary Protected Status, was arrested by ICE on April 28, 2026, while working on his car outside his South-Central El Paso home. His 11-year-old son, identified in court records as J.R.C., was also detained during the incident despite both having pending asylum claims; the boy told El Paso Matters he believes the arrest stemmed from a neighbor's noise complaint to ICE. Reyes Hermes had lived in El Paso for nearly four years and was in the process of applying for a TPS exemption at the time of his arrest. He was transferred to the Camp East Montana detention facility at Fort Bliss and separated from his son. After attorneys filed federal habeas corpus petitions, a federal judge ordered bond hearings, and an immigration judge set a $5,000 bond on June 16; Reyes Hermes was released on June 24, the same day USCIS issued a negative credible fear determination triggering expedited removal proceedings against him. In July, his son requested voluntary deportation to reunite with his mother in Venezuela after three years in El Paso.

JeanCarlos Fiallos Manzanares, a 31-year-old DACA recipient from Miami, was detained by ICE agents following a traffic stop near his mother's house despite holding valid deferred action status. He was transferred to Otero County Processing Center in New Mexico, approximately 2,000 miles from his family. While detained, USCIS approved his deferred action renewal in January, but ICE did not release him. An immigration judge subsequently ordered his deportation to Honduras, and USCIS rescinded his approved deferred action protections. Fiallos Manzanares filed a lawsuit challenging his detention after a federal judge found merit to his petition, but he was deported after more than a year in custody, separated from his U.S. citizen wife and two young sons.

A Peruvian asylum seeker and father of two US citizen toddlers, a citizen of Peru, entered the United States on June 9, 2023, and has lived and worked in the country since then, employed in the A/C mechanics and warehouse industry while paying taxes and contributing to his community. He has two toddlers who are United States citizens. After presenting himself at a port of entry and expressing fear of returning to Peru, he passed a credible fear interview and was paroled into the country to pursue asylum, with his asylum application still pending in ongoing removal proceedings. On July 1, 2026, DHS detained him after he left his local DMV office, and he argued his parole and liberty had been unlawfully revoked without notice or justification. He was held at the Denver Contract Detention Facility and filed a habeas petition seeking immediate release or, alternatively, a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a). The court found he was improperly subject to mandatory detention under § 1225(b)(2), citing prior rulings and a Tenth Circuit decision limiting that provision's application to noncitizens detained at the border. The court granted the habeas petition, ordered his immediate release without conditions such as GPS monitoring, enjoined his re-arrest absent a clear-and-convincing-evidence bond hearing, and denied his TRO/preliminary injunction motion as moot.

Fatima Eminzada, a 24-year-old citizen of Azerbaijan, was detained by ICE on April 4, 2026, and transferred to the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana. She is pregnant in her first trimester with medical complications including hypothyroidism, possible UTI, and mild anemia. After bond was denied at a redetermination hearing on May 14, 2026, and an immigration judge denied her renewed motion for bond on June 12, 2026, she filed a federal habeas corpus petition on June 25, 2026, represented by attorneys Logan Joseph Duplessis and Giedre Stasiunaite. On July 1, 2026, the court issued a temporary restraining order and ordered ICE respondents to file a medical-status report addressing her current medical conditions, treatment, and access to medical care, with the deadline extended to July 13, 2026.

On July 1, 2026, Bozeman resident Brandi Straub was driving near Camp Equinox summer theater camp, about 10 minutes after dropping off her daughter, when ICE agents conducting an enforcement operation pursued two men who had jumped from a moving pickup truck after it sideswiped a post. An agent ran past her vehicle and pointed a gun through her passenger window before continuing the pursuit. Straub's 12-year-old daughter and a neighbor's 11-year-old were at the camp, three blocks away with about 120 children present; she called the camp director, who had not been notified of the operation but was already keeping children inside due to a storm. When Straub called 911, dispatch told her local police could not intervene in ICE operations.

Margarita Melgar, a mother from Honduras who had lived in the U.S. for 12 years, was given a choice by immigration agents: be detained indefinitely or self-deport. She chose to self-deport and left for Honduras on Sunday, taking her 10-year-old daughter Katherin, a U.S. citizen who has never been to Honduras. Her two older daughters, ages 17 and 20, remained in the United States. Margarita had fled Honduras after facing extreme violence. The family said goodbye at Logan Airport, with her eldest daughter Damary, a college student, remaining in Boston.

Laura, a mother of four children including a 2-week-old newborn, is in immigration detention facing deportation proceedings. She has lived in the United States since age 9 and has no criminal record. Her children are being cared for by their grandmother while Laura's case moves through the legal system. The family is seeking financial support for food, childcare, rent, legal expenses, and other necessities while Laura is detained.

An 18-year-old from El Salvador was detained by ICE on June 29, 2026, and transferred to Golden State Annex Detention Facility in McFarland, California. He entered the United States in May 2019 and was released on his own recognizance. He obtained Special Immigrant Juvenile status in September 2023 and had his removal proceedings administratively closed in October 2023, with no criminal history and no final removal order. The court granted his habeas corpus petition, finding his detention violated the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause, and ordered his immediate release with restrictions on future detention requiring advance notice and bond hearings.

Diana Socha Torres and her 8-year-old son were taken from their home in Wisconsin Dells in late June during the ICE surge. Socha Torres had an active asylum case, was wearing an ICE-issued ankle monitor, and had no criminal charges or convictions in Wisconsin. She and her son were transported to an ICE office in downtown Milwaukee and then transferred to the South Texas Residential Detention Center in Dilley, Texas. The arrest separated the child from their home and disrupted an active legal case.

Eight children from three South Florida families, including a one-year-old, departed Miami International Airport for Guatemala City to reunite with relatives after their parents were deported or chose to leave the country. Three of the children are U.S. citizens. The Guatemalan-Maya Center, which has aided families for over 30 years, coordinated travel logistics, provided chaperones and packed backpacks with toys and snacks for the children's first flight without their parents. The center said it has now flown 45 children to Latin America since the immigration crackdown began, after first stepping in following a February 2025 raid in Palm Beach County.

Leonardo Santiago "Santi" Soto Uribe, a 13-year-old 9th grader, was arrested by ICE agents in June along with his father, Benjamin Lerma-Huipio, just outside San Antonio. The boy is being held in a child welfare center in San Antonio while his father is detained at T. Don Hutto Detention Facility in Taylor. Rep. Joaquin Castro reports that ICE initially told the boy he could go home but then reversed the decision, and that the child has not showered and has only been given cookies and juice.

Geremy Arteaga Cruz, a 19-year-old Lamar High School junior, was detained by ICE in January 2026 after the Trump administration reversed his asylum application approval, which had been granted by USCIS in June 2025. Arteaga Cruz arrived in the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor in 2023 with his twin sister. He was arrested at a convenience store on a misdemeanor public intoxication charge, pleaded guilty, and paid fines, but was transferred to ICE custody while in Harris County jail instead of being released. Before his detention, he was a student at Lamar High School, volunteered at an English literacy program at the University of St. Thomas, and worked as a barber. He has also been identified as a victim of human trafficking and has a pending T visa application. As of June 2026, Arteaga Cruz has been held at Polk Adult Detention Facility for four months. His attorneys contend that had USCIS issued a timely notice of its asylum decision, he would not have been detained. His asylum case is scheduled to be heard by an immigration judge on June 23, 2026.

Iker, a 5-year-old child, has been detained by ICE at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas for over 65 days. His mother is also detained at the same facility. According to advocacy posts by Each Step Home, Iker is not eating while in detention. The posts call for complaints to CoreCivic, the private company operating the facility, donations to commissary accounts for detained children, and calls to congressional representatives to support legislation ending ICE detention of children.

ICE agents detained 42-year-old Diana Socha Torres and her 8-year-old son at their home in Wisconsin Dells on June 23, 2026. Socha Torres was wearing an ankle monitor as part of her ongoing asylum case when agents arrived, claiming to conduct a monitoring system change but instead taking both into custody. A deportation order had been entered in April 2026 after Socha Torres missed an asylum hearing; she stated she never received notice of the hearing. An attorney had filed an appeal, but ICE reported having no record of it. Mother and son were taken to ICE offices in Milwaukee and subsequently transferred to Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas.

A Guatemalan citizen who entered the United States 22 years ago on a temporary visa was arrested by ICE on June 22, 2026, while on his way to work in Baltimore. He is married with a child who has special needs and requires frequent medical care. He is the sole financial provider for his family. He was arrested without a warrant and has not been presented with one. He filed a habeas corpus petition and application for temporary restraining order challenging the lawfulness of his warrantless arrest under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) and § 1357(a)(2). On August 7, 2026, the federal court granted his petition, finding that his warrantless arrest was unlawful because no statutory exception applied. The court ordered his immediate release and converted his temporary restraining order application into a preliminary injunction, also waiving bond requirements.