Human Impact Project

Dr. Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown University peace scholar, returned to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals one year after being arrested and detained by ICE in March 2025. He was arrested without a warrant, held in multiple detention facilities for nearly six weeks, and was subjected to detention conditions including denial of religious accommodations. The Trump administration is attempting to re-detain him, arguing federal courts lack jurisdiction to review his case, while the ACLU argues the Virginia court has proper habeas jurisdiction and he must remain free.

The Department of Homeland Security plans to convert a warehouse in Oakwood, Georgia into an ICE regional processing facility to detain over 1,000 immigrants before deportation. Local businesses, residents, and officials are opposing the facility due to concerns about infrastructure, water and sewer capacity, and the impact on the community's Latino population and local economy.

ICE agents arrested an undocumented father while he was taking his 15-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter, both U.S. citizens, to school in New Jersey. According to witnesses and the family, agents asked the boy to call a relative but drove away before anyone arrived, leaving the two minors unattended on the roadside. The incident violates ICE policy and DHS directives requiring agents to remain on scene until a third party assumes physical custody of minor children.

Zahid Chaudhry, a disabled U.S. Army veteran and lawful permanent resident from Pakistan, was detained by ICE at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma in August 2025 after being arrested during a citizenship interview at a USCIS office. ICE cited undisclosed criminal charges from Australia in the early 1990s involving financial deception and passport-related offenses. After 124 days in custody, a federal judge ruled the detention was wrongful, finding that the government failed to provide Chaudhry notice or opportunity to be heard before detaining him, violating his constitutional rights. A government attorney apologized during the habeas hearing. In December 2025, Judge David G. Estudillo ordered Chaudhry's release.

On March 14, 2026, a traffic stop in San Marcos resulted in the arrest of 44-year-old Gerardo Gonzalez Reyes and his 17-year-old son Esteban on charges of interference with public duties after officers removed the teen from a vehicle. After booking into the Hays County Jail, an existing ICE detainer was discovered, and Gonzalez Reyes was taken into federal custody pending removal proceedings. His family, including U.S. citizen children and a disabled wife, protested the circumstances and sought his release, with a county judge requesting ICE exercise discretion for family reunification.

On March 14, 2026, Gerardo Gonzalez Reyes, 44, and his son Esteban, 17, were arrested during a traffic stop in San Marcos on charges of interference with public duties. The arrests stemmed from a false report claiming a man was attempting to help a 15-year-old girl leave home; authorities later determined the girl was at home and had not left. After being booked into jail, ICE placed a detainer on Gonzalez Reyes, citing prior DWI convictions from 2004 and 2005, and he was transferred to federal custody pending removal proceedings. Protesters subsequently called for his release and for charges against both individuals to be dismissed.

A man with no criminal record who entered the United States legally and pursued an asylum claim for a decade was transported across multiple states in federal custody. During the multi-day transfer beginning March 14, he experienced prolonged restraint, overcrowding, sleep deprivation, and limited access to food, water, and medical care. Detainees were handcuffed for up to 14 hours, held in facilities beyond capacity, and did not receive proper medical screening or attorney notification.

A vehicle associated with federal immigration enforcement made contact with a protester outside an ICE detention center on Alameda Street in Los Angeles during a demonstration. Video footage shows the vehicle striking the protester, who then clung to the vehicle as it continued forward. The incident has circulated widely on social media, prompting calls for information about potential injuries.

Daniel Lomeli-Rodriguez, a 42-year-old who has lived in the United States since 2004, was detained by ICE on March 13, 2026, while attending a court hearing for the dismissal of an offense. He is engaged to a U.S. citizen and is the father of three U.S. citizens. The federal court ordered his release from Adelanto Detention Facility within 48 hours, finding he was entitled to a bond hearing.

Curtis Wright, an Edmonton-born permanent resident who lived in the United States for 30 years, was detained by ICE on November 6, 2025, after returning from a work trip to Mexico at a U.S. port of entry. ICE cited drug possession charges from when Wright was 17 years old as grounds for detention. After four months in custody at the South Texas ICE Processing Center, a judge ordered his deportation on March 13, 2026. Wright's legal team filed evidence supporting his case and is pursuing a habeas corpus request and plans to appeal the deportation order.

A whistleblower at the Baltimore ICE detention facility alleged severe conditions including use of a restraint chair and unsanitary environments. A video documented overcrowding in January 2026, prompting Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen to raise concerns. ICE transferred approximately 100 detainees from the facility to Arizona on March 12, 2026, the day before a congressional oversight visit. A federal judge subsequently ruled in March 2026 that ICE must limit capacity at the downtown Baltimore holding facility to 56 people across five cells, citing health and safety risks. The court ordered ICE to conduct medical screenings within 12 hours of arrival, clean cells daily, and ensure access to hygiene supplies and medication within 24 hours.

A pregnant woman reported being shot in the stomach with a rubber bullet by a federal agent while observing an anti-ICE protest in downtown Los Angeles on a Saturday night.

Aidar N. Masalbekov, a citizen of Kyrgyzstan who entered the U.S. without inspection in 2023, was arrested by Indiana State Police during a traffic stop on March 12, 2026. ICE subsequently detained him at Clay County Jail after revoking his Order of Release on Recognizance. Masalbekov had filed an asylum application in 2024 which remains pending. The court ordered that he must be given a bond hearing or released by April 7, 2026.

Lorenzo Chavez Rascon, a 22-year-old Utah man, was arrested on February 23, 2026, on suspicion of selling drugs, but the substances were determined to be dried pinto beans. He was released from initial criminal custody but subsequently detained by ICE based on a detainer, despite holding deferred action status from a pending U-visa petition. On March 11, 2026, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking his deportation and ordered the government to explain why he should not be released, ruling that his continued detention violated his constitutional due process rights. As of March 14, he remained in federal custody.

A 14-year-old Brazilian national was detained by ICE agents in Marlborough, Massachusetts on March 10, 2026, during an operation targeting suspected gang members and transferred to a juvenile detention facility in New York. A federal judge ordered her immediate release on March 12, 2026, after finding the detention and out-of-state transfer violated legal procedures and constitutional protections. She was reunited with her aunt and uncle in Massachusetts but received a notice to appear in immigration court. The girl, who entered the U.S. legally on a visitor visa in 2019 and has U.S. citizen siblings, now faces deportation to Brazil. Her attorney plans to challenge the deportation and petition for special immigrant juvenile status.

Maine nurses called on Senator Susan Collins to stop accepting political donations from Palantir Technologies, a company that provides surveillance technology to ICE. According to advocacy group Purge Palantir, Collins has received over $105,000 in donations from the company, making her one of the top three recipients in Congress. Nurses argued the company profits from personal data collection and surveillance of communities.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado granted a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the case of Luis Alfredo Chavelas Rosas, a Mexican citizen detained by ICE on July 16, 2025, in Aurora, Colorado. The court ruled that the detainee was improperly detained under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A) without a bond hearing and determined that the default rule under § 1226(a) applies, requiring the government to provide a bond hearing. The court concluded that § 1225(b)(2)(A) does not authorize detention for noncitizens who have been present in the country for years and are not actively seeking admission.

Five Venezuelan construction workers with valid work permits were detained by federal immigration authorities on March 6-7 while working on Buffalo Bills stadium construction. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, two of the men crossed the border illegally and three overstayed their visas. All five are being held at Batavia Federal Detention Facility awaiting removal hearings.

A federal judge ruled that ICE illegally detained Andrei Bankevich, a Belarusian asylum seeker, in Muscatine County Jail for over a year in violation of his due process rights. Bankevich was subject to a final deportation order to a third country, but federal law prohibits holding such individuals in jail for more than six months.

On March 9, 2026, ICE detained and deported two 12-year-old twin sisters who are U.S. citizens born in Orlando, Florida, after their mother attended a scheduled immigration appointment at an ICE facility. ICE invoked a "family unity" policy to take the children into custody and deport them to Guatemala. The mother had previously submitted paperwork requesting the children remain with their grandmother, though ICE stated she verbally requested to take them with her. A federal court granted a habeas corpus petition filed by the grandmother, ordering the children's immediate return to the United States at ICE's expense and restraining ICE from rearresting them.

Multiple immigration detainees, including Will Castillo and members of the Gámez-Cuéllar family, were released from ICE custody in March 2026 following federal court rulings that their confinement was unlawful. Castillo had been detained for nearly 11 months and had no criminal history and an ongoing asylum claim. The Gámez-Cuéllar family are mariachi musicians who were detained during a routine check-in while maintaining legal entry and active asylum proceedings since 2023. A federal judge in Washington, DC ruled that ICE's practice of detaining immigrants for extended periods without bond hearings violated statutory requirements and found noncompliance with previous court orders restricting warrantless arrests.

An Egyptian family—mother Hayam El Gamal and her five children—has been detained at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center for more than nine months. The family submitted 59 pages of written accounts and drawings to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary describing moldy food, medical neglect including delayed appendicitis treatment and denied dental surgery, and inadequate mental health care. The children's detention stems from their father's federal charges related to an attack on protesters in Colorado in June 2025, though the family states they had no knowledge of or involvement in the incident.

Christian Humberto Jerez Andrade, a Honduran man, was detained during an ICE raid on March 11 at a South Burlington home. ICE agents had a warrant to search the residence but Jerez Andrade's name was not on it; they were searching for another man who was not present. An immigration judge granted him release on $10,000 bond on March 20, though deportation proceedings against him have begun.

The Burlington Police Commission met on March 24, 2026 to review the police department's response to an ICE operation that occurred on March 11 in South Burlington. The meeting followed a City Council hearing where over 100 complaints were filed against the Burlington Police Department's handling of the incident. Interim Police Chief Shawn Burke acknowledged the strain the incident has caused on community trust and indicated an internal review is underway.

A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking construction of a planned ICE detention facility in western Maryland near Williamsport. Maryland's Attorney General filed an emergency motion to halt work on the warehouse conversion while the state's legal challenge proceeds, arguing the project violates federal administrative and environmental laws and could harm waterways and wildlife.

Pío Figueroa, a Latin convenience store owner in Russellville, Alabama, was detained by ICE on January 30 while transporting $21,000 in cash to a bank for his money transfer business. The funds, collected from community members sending remittances to Latin America, have not been accounted for since his arrest. His legal team notes that ICE agents do not use body cameras, making it impossible to track what happened to the money. Figueroa was held at Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana and now faces deportation proceedings.

Andres Doroteo Garcia, a 50-year-old Mexican national who had lived in the U.S. for over three decades without criminal history, was arrested by immigration officers on March 10, 2026 while going to work. Officers claimed he had a court order regarding a domestic violence case but never showed him the order. He was placed in the Adelanto Detention Center and the court ordered his immediate release, finding he was denied due process protections.

Wulfrano Portillo, a pastor at La Hermosa Church in Tulsa for 24 years, was detained on March 10, 2026, during a routine immigration check-in appointment in Oklahoma City and deported to Mexico the following day. His family, including his wife and four adult children, was not informed of the reason for his deportation. Both Portillo and his wife have been living in the country without authorization since a 2007 deportation removal order was issued after a highway traffic stop.

Elvira Benitez, a Mexican-born woman who has lived in the U.S. for 36 years without legal trouble, was detained by ICE on March 10 during a routine check-in at the ICE office. An immigration judge found her a good candidate for permanent residency and she was released in December. The federal government appealed her case on the final day allowed, and she was re-detained and transported to Kentucky. Her family and local activists held a press conference regarding her case, with her attorney arguing the law does not require her detention.

ICE agents detained Reginald Toussaint, a Haitian with Temporary Protected Status, while he was picking up his wife from work in Birmingham, Alabama. Agents approached multiple unmarked vehicles and removed Toussaint from the family's minivan in front of his children. Toussaint stated he had valid TPS status. He was charged with impersonating a U.S. citizen based on an alleged pistol permit application from August 2025 where he marked the citizenship box. His wife disputes this characterization.

Federal immigration agents arrested a person outside the Culver City Police Department on Monday after the individual was cited and released following arrest for driving under the influence and weapon possession. The Culver City Police Department stated it was not notified in advance of the federal action and did not participate in the detention, emphasizing its commitment to not assisting with immigration enforcement under California law.

Six U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Maria Trinidad Loya Medina in Albany, Oregon. The detention separated her from her teenage children.

Rogelio, a 39-year-old Guatemalan immigrant married to a U.S. citizen with five U.S.-born children, was detained by ICE for seven months after being stopped by local police in La Belle, Florida. He spent over six months at the Broward Transitional Center in deportation proceedings. A judge approved his cancellation of removal application, allowing him to pursue citizenship and a green card. Approximately 4,000 cancellations of removal are granted nationally each year.

Adriana Laya, Miguel Alberto Caicedo, and their two children were detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas for two months following a routine ICE check-in in January 2026. The family, who entered the U.S. in 2024 under asylum parole, reported poor detention conditions including undrinkable water, constant lighting, and inadequate medical care for their son with kidney issues. Upon their release in mid-February, they discovered they had been evicted from their apartment and lost their possessions, life savings, and pet dog. The family is now living in their car while attempting to rebuild their lives.

A federal judge in Oregon has restricted federal officers from using tear gas at protests at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland. The ruling limits law enforcement's use of force against demonstrators at the ICE facility.

On March 8, 2026, CBP agents at O'Hare International Airport detained six people returning from Turkey, including Sundas Naqvi, a U.S. citizen born in the Chicago area. The group consisted of three U.S. citizens and three green card holders with Pakistani passports who had been on a work trip that was canceled. Three green card holders were initially turned back during a layover in Istanbul due to visa issues. After detention at O'Hare, the individuals were transferred to ICE facilities in Broadview, Illinois, and then to Dodge Detention Facility in Wisconsin. Naqvi was released early Saturday morning without paperwork or her passport, while federal authorities initially refused to confirm the whereabouts or custody status of the other detainees.

An man who was in ICE custody escaped from an ICE agent's vehicle near Chambers Drive and Sigman Road in Rockdale County, Georgia on Monday afternoon. The man had been arrested by Conyers Police on Saturday for a traffic violation and was being transferred by ICE when he jumped from the vehicle and fled. Law enforcement from multiple agencies established a perimeter and captured the man shortly after 3 p.m.

Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez, a Colombian asylum-seeker, was detained by ICE on March 5, 2026, after reporting for a routine check-in appointment at the ICE office in San Francisco. Her two children were detained with her; the older child is deaf and was separated from his hearing aids during detention. Attorneys were unable to locate the family, and ICE provided conflicting information about their whereabouts. The family was deported to Colombia three days after the arrest. California officials and immigration attorneys subsequently called for the family's return, citing the separation of a deaf child from necessary medical devices and lack of due process.

Jefferson Fernando Cando Llano, 29, a father of one seeking asylum from Ecuador, was detained by masked federal immigration agents in an unmarked vehicle at a laundromat in Spokane on March 8. Friends who witnessed the detention filed a missing persons report because they could not identify the agents. The incident raised concerns among local police about secretive federal immigration enforcement tactics.

An asylum seeker from Ghana working as a health aide in Central Ohio is facing deportation to Uganda following a recent immigration hearing. The individual is seeking assistance after the government determined she should be removed to a country unfamiliar to her.

Sundas Naqvi, a U.S. citizen from Skokie, along with two other U.S. citizens and three green card holders, was detained by CBP agents at O'Hare International Airport for approximately 30 hours on March 6, 2026, upon returning from Turkey. The group was then transferred to ICE detention facilities in Broadview, Illinois and Dodge County, Wisconsin. Federal authorities denied knowledge of Naqvi's whereabouts to her family despite evidence of her location, and Naqvi was released early Saturday morning.

Joseph Andrey Londono Rodriguez, a 6-year-old deaf student at the California School for the Deaf, was detained by ICE agents on March 3, 2026, during a check-in appointment in Hayward, California, along with his 5-year-old brother and mother Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez. The mother, an asylum seeker from Colombia who had been in the country for four years and was under a supervision order, was told she was attending a routine photo renewal but was instead detained. The family was deported to Colombia within days without access to hearing aids, cochlear implants, legal representation, or accurate information about their location. State officials alleged ICE misrepresented the family's location to obstruct legal intervention. California officials, congressional members, and State Superintendent Tony Thurmond requested an investigation and humanitarian parole to return the family, stating the deportation violated due process protections.

Giovanny Alexander Alfaro Cruz, a native of El Salvador who had been on supervised release (OSUP) since 2016, was detained by ICE during his routine check-in on March 5, 2026. Cruz had a final removal order but was granted withholding from removal to El Salvador in 2014. The federal court granted his temporary restraining order, finding ICE likely violated due process by failing to follow proper procedures when revoking his supervised release, and ordered his immediate release.

Hai Nguyen, a Vietnamese national who has lived in the U.S. since 1993 and worked in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, was detained by ICE during a routine appointment. His detention stems from a decades-old marijuana charge from college that was expunged from his record. He now faces possible deportation despite previously being considered non-deportable because Vietnam would not accept deportees who arrived before 1995.

Two separate ICE detention cases involved individuals serving critical caregiving roles. Maher Tarabishi was detained while being the sole caregiver for his son with Pompe disease, who is completely immobile and dependent on his father for all daily care. Josué, a day laborer from El Salvador, was detained by ICE agents and reported that his heart condition went unaddressed during detention, with medication withheld and inadequate medical attention provided despite his history of heart attacks.

John Bol Ajak, 26, a former Syracuse University basketball player who fled civil war in South Sudan, was arrested and detained by federal immigration agents. Ajak's student visa had expired and he was no longer enrolled as a student. He is being held at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania.

Over 1,100 Afghan refugees, many of whom served alongside U.S. forces, are at Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar. Since February 28, 2026, residents have experienced missile attacks and are housed in shipping containers. President Trump suspended their refugee resettlement program in 2025. The refugees remain in Qatar with unresolved immigration status.

Federal agents arrested Arnoldo Jose Marquez-Pulido, a 33-year-old Venezuelan man, outside a Sam's Club in Utica on March 4, 2026, after he allegedly resisted arrest during a scuffle. The U.S. Attorney's Office charged him with assaulting, resisting, and interfering with a federal officer, as well as illegal possession of a firearm. The arrest occurred during surveillance of the Sam's Club based on allegations that undocumented immigrants were working as delivery drivers there.

Irvin Cruz Nape, a father of four, died on March 4, 2026, days after being released from the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. Cruz Nape reported heart attack-like symptoms while in custody but allegedly did not receive proper medical treatment. He had been detained by ICE agents in the fall after being mistaken for another target, and was granted bond and released in late February.

ICE is deporting crime survivors who have long been protected by Congress through programs like the U-Visa, Violence Against Women Act, and T-Visa for trafficking survivors. A multi-state class-action lawsuit challenges the Trump administration's 2025 ICE guidance that rescinds policies protecting these groups from deportation. Plaintiff Yessenia Ruano, a former Milwaukee teacher's aide with a pending T-Visa application, self-deported to El Salvador with her U.S. citizen children after ICE threatened her during a check-in.