Human Impact Project

Alejandro, a 10th-grade student at Churchill High School, and his father Jairo were detained by ICE on May 17, 2026 while driving to an after-school soccer game in San Antonio. Unmarked vehicles surrounded their car and transported them to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley. Both are asylum seekers who followed proper legal procedures to enter the country. During detention, Alejandro reported difficulty eating and emotional distress while missing critical final days of his school year and his mother. U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro visited them on May 26 and advocated for their release, citing the need for humane treatment. Following these advocacy efforts, their release was set to occur.

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.

Dolores Bustamante Romero, a 54-year-old apple picker and farmworker advocate from Wayne County, New York, was detained by ICE on April 22, 2026, during a mandatory check-in appointment at the Buffalo office without notice that her supervised release was being revoked. A Mexican national who fled gender violence in 2003 and arrived in the U.S. seeking asylum, Bustamante has lived in upstate New York since 2012 and was a well-known advocate for migrant farmworkers and member of Alianza Agricola. She was instrumental in securing New York's Green Light Law and an executive order banning State Police from inquiring about immigration status. She had no criminal record and had attended four previous check-in appointments without incident while enrolled in an alternatives-to-detention program under the Biden administration. U.S. District Judge Meredith Vacca ordered ICE to return her to Western New York and held an evidentiary hearing on May 26, 2026, to review whether ICE violated her due process rights by detaining her without proper notice.

J.R., a 35-year-old Colombian with valid work authorization and an ankle monitor through ICE's Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, attended what he believed was a routine monitor maintenance appointment. ICE officers detained him instead, confiscating his ID and work permit. He was held overnight at the Aurora detention center despite having a pending appeal of his asylum case and was released the following day with assistance from Casa de Paz.

On May 18, 2026, Rogerio da Silva Lima and his 15-year-old son Nycolas were detained by the U.S. Coast Guard during a recreational fishing trip approximately one mile offshore Martha's Vineyard near Menemsha. Following a vessel safety check, the Coast Guard transferred them to ICE custody at a federal processing facility in Burlington. Da Silva Lima, a Brazilian national who entered the U.S. in 2021 and sought asylum, had a denied asylum application with a removal order issued in 2023-2024. Community advocates and attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition in U.S. District Court of Massachusetts on May 20, which halted a planned transfer to Texas. A federal judge found ICE had exceeded the congressionally mandated 90-day removal period and violated constitutional due process rights. Approximately 200 students at Martha's Vineyard Regional High School, where the son was a freshman, walked out to protest his detention. The teenager was released on May 24 to his older brother, and the father was ordered released by May 28-29.

Daniel Romero, 18, a Colombian national and recent graduate of Ooltewah High School in Tennessee, was taken into ICE custody on May 18, 2026, during what his family believed was a routine appointment related to an immigration program. ICE cited missed check-ins and failure to submit required weekly photos as reasons for detention. Romero's family disputed the allegations, claiming the check-in app malfunctioned for four weeks and provided documented evidence of the technical error, but officials did not allow Romero to present this proof before his arrest. Records provided by the family indicated compliance with program requirements. He was held at Etowah County Jail in Alabama before being transferred to a detention center in Louisiana, where no bond, video calls, or visitation were allowed.

A man pursuing asylum in Maine since 2021 through official legal channels was unexpectedly detained by ICE for 21 days despite having documentation of his ongoing legal process. He was released and returned home to his wife and four children (two born in the U.S.), but his asylum case was moved to formal Immigration Court, requiring a defensive asylum case before a judge to avoid deportation. His family is raising funds for private legal representation to mount his court defense.

A Venezuelan man who fled to the United States in November 2021 was granted humanitarian parole and settled in Ennis, Texas with his wife and child, where he applied for asylum and temporary protected status. On May 22, 2026, ICE officers detained him after he was arrested and charged with assault causing bodily injury, a charge that remains pending. He was offered a custody redetermination hearing on August 14, 2026, but allegedly refused to sign the hearing request form. He filed a habeas corpus petition and motion for a temporary restraining order in federal court seeking release, arguing he was denied due process before his parole was revoked. The government argued his detention was governed by a different statute in light of recent Ninth Circuit precedent and that a material change in circumstances justified his continued detention. The court found he has a protected liberty interest but concluded that, given the pending assault charge, a post-deprivation bond hearing rather than immediate release was appropriate. The court ordered that he receive a substantive bond hearing within 14 days, with the government bearing the burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that he poses a danger or flight risk.

Jorge Cubillos, a 42-year-old truck driver from Bogotá who fled threats from armed groups in Colombia, was deported to the Democratic Republic of Congo despite holding withholding of removal protection granted by an immigration judge in 2022 under the UN Convention Against Torture. He had lived in the U.S. since 2018, settling with his wife and four children in St. Cloud, Florida. After an arrest on a domestic battery charge, ICE lodged a detainer and detained him in Orlando, holding him for more than three months and moving him between facilities in Orlando, Jacksonville, and Louisiana while he filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his detention. He was flown to Kinshasa in shackles on April 15, 2026, after refusing to sign paperwork agreeing to relocation to Mexico, one of 15 Latin American migrants sent to Congo under a Trump administration deal with Kinshasa. He is now housed in a Kinshasa hotel with other deportees, reporting poor conditions including power cuts and lack of drinking water, and is receiving assistance from the International Organization for Migration while awaiting possible repatriation to Colombia.

A 45-year-old farm worker identified as MJMA was detained along with six others when ICE agents stopped a van without a warrant on October 30, 2025. Officers smashed the van window, used facial recognition technology to attempt identification, and detained MJMA despite her assertion of her right to remain silent and request for legal representation. She had an ongoing asylum case at the time. Federal Judge Mustafa Kasubhai ruled in February 2026 that the arrests were unlawful, citing officer misconduct, inaccurate statements in reports, and improper use of facial recognition technology. The judge noted that MJMA had entered the U.S. with a valid temporary visa, contrary to officers' claims.

Andry Hernández Romero, a gay makeup artist from Venezuela, legally entered the U.S. in August 2024 and passed a credible fear interview for asylum. In March 2025, the Trump administration deported him to CECOT, a maximum security prison in El Salvador, under the Alien Enemies Act as part of a broader deportation of 237 Venezuelan migrants. Authorities cited tattoos allegedly linking him to gang activity, which his family disputed as relating to a local cultural festival. Hernández Romero was detained in CECOT for over four months before being released in July 2025 as part of a prisoner swap. He was subsequently returned to Venezuela rather than allowed to remain in the U.S. His case became part of a class-action lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's use of the Alien Enemies Act for deportations. A Venezuelan makeup artist was deported to El Salvador and subsequently traveled to Spain to seek asylum. The person states they feel safe in Spain and is pursuing asylum protection there.

A noncitizen in removal proceedings was detained at Adelanto ICE Processing Center on May 21, 2026 without prior explanation or hearing after missing seven biometric check-ins over ten months in the ISAP program. He had been released on his own recognizance in 2024 and was complying with release conditions while his asylum and withholding of removal application was pending. An immigration judge denied his post-detention bond hearing, citing Matter of Q. Li. The federal court granted his habeas petition, finding his detention violated due process because he was not provided pre-deprivation process and ordered his immediate release on the original conditions of release.

An Indian family of four — parents Jagdish and Gurwinder, and children Guri (12) and Manpreet (11) — were detained by ICE during a routine check-in appointment in February 2026 and held at the Dilley family detention center in Texas. The family fled Punjab, India, after Jagdish converted from Sikhism to Catholicism and faced persistent threats and violence. They arrived in the U.S. in 2022 seeking asylum and settled in Los Angeles. During detention, Guri developed bleeding in his stools without specialist referral, Manpreet lost 6 pounds after a week of vomiting she attributed to tap water, and Gurwinder's arthritis and diabetes worsened without proper medication — her daughter helps her out of bed each morning. Both children have shown behavioral changes: Manpreet is often angry, Guri has stopped listening to his parents. Manpreet celebrated her 11th birthday in detention with a makeshift cake from commissary snacks — she said if there had been candles, she would have wished for her family to leave Dilley. The family reported no meat-free options on the days their Sikh-Hindu faith requires vegetarian meals. Manpreet stopped attending classes because they were taught in Spanish, which she does not speak. Guri stopped attending after his mother's health declined.

Dylan Lopez Contreras, a 21-year-old Venezuelan student at ELLIS Preparatory Academy in the Bronx, was detained by ICE in May 2024 after attending a mandatory immigration court hearing in Lower Manhattan. He was transferred to Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania, where an immigration judge denied his asylum claim in September 2024 and ordered his deportation to Venezuela. After nearly 10 months in detention, Contreras was released on March 18-19, 2025, while his legal team pursued an appeal of the deportation order. He returned to school while applying for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, subject to an ankle monitor and ICE check-ins as his asylum appeal remains pending. Dylan Lopez Contreras, a 20-year-old high school student at Ellis Preparatory Academy in the Bronx, was arrested by ICE agents in May 2025 at a Lower Manhattan courthouse after attending a mandatory immigration hearing. He was held in federal custody for nearly 10 months before being released on March 18, 2026, on his own recognizance with an ankle monitor. His detention was notable as the first widely documented case of a public school student in New York City being detained by federal agents under the Trump administration. A teenager named Ricardo was held in ICE detention and spent time in solitary confinement, prompting outrage from the Chicago community. His mother, Martha Liliana, and community members organized a rally calling for his release. Dylan, a 16-year-old high school student in the Bronx, was arrested by ICE when attending a routine court date at an immigration courthouse in New York City. The arrest occurred as part of ICE's campaign of arresting people at mandated immigration court hearings and fast-tracking deportations. Dylan, a 20-year-old student from Ellis Prep High School, was detained by ICE in May during an asylum hearing. He remains in ICE custody. This case is part of a pattern of ICE detention of NYC public school students attending legal hearings.

A Cuban national was initially detained upon entering the United States on March 8, 2024, then released on humanitarian parole. After living at liberty for over a year while following all conditions of release and filing an asylum application, he was re-detained by ICE on May 19, 2026, following a routine traffic stop. The court found his re-detention violated due process rights because the government provided no finding of changed circumstances showing he was a flight risk or danger to the community, and granted his habeas petition ordering his immediate release.

Yerlys Moreno López, a Venezuelan asylum seeker who entered the United States legally in 2024, was injured during an ICE enforcement encounter on May 19 after agents attempted to pull her over near her home on Detroit's eastside. According to her sworn statement and medical records, after crashing her SUV, she exited the vehicle and was tackled to the ground by ICE agents, sustaining a fractured kneecap, lacerations, head trauma, and injuries requiring emergency surgery. Medical records indicate she told hospital staff her injuries occurred after exiting the vehicle, contradicting ICE's account that she was injured in the crash itself. She was transferred to North Lake detention center despite doctors' recommendation for transfer to a Cincinnati ICE facility better equipped to meet her medical needs. Her attorneys filed a federal habeas corpus petition seeking her immediate release, citing inadequate medical care at the facility.

A man was detained by ICE while attending his asylum appointment. His wife describes him as hardworking and someone who followed the legal process. The family is now facing legal fees, bond costs, and emotional stress while he remains in detention.

Boanerges Flores-Bravo, a Nicaraguan national who entered the U.S. in 2022 and was seeking asylum with his wife, was detained by ICE agents during a routine check-in appointment on May 18, 2026. He is now in ICE custody pending removal proceedings. His wife Alba Matamoro-Hernandez was released with an ankle monitor and placed in the Alternatives to Detention program. The couple has an 8-year-old daughter and both worked for the Maplewood-Richmond Heights School District.

Mojtaba, an Iranian national who fled persecution for his participation in the Women, Life, Freedom movement, was released from ICE detention after 17 months. He won a bond hearing but faced a $35,000 bond set by Immigration Court. Hundreds of individuals and organizations raised the funds to secure his release, and he is now building a life in New Jersey.

LT, a 30-year-old from Haiti, fled after experiencing kidnapping, rape, and violence, and after her sister was murdered. She sought U.S. asylum and gave birth to a daughter, but her asylum case was denied.

Allan Dabrio Marrero, a gay asylum seeker from the Cayman Islands, was detained by ICE on November 24, 2024, immediately after attending a marriage-based green card interview at 26 Federal Plaza in New York City with his U.S. citizen husband Matthew. Although USCIS approved his marriage petition, ICE agents arrested him outside the building after discovering a 2022 removal order that Marrero claims he never received—he states he was in a rehabilitation center when the hearing occurred. Advocates and faith leaders, including Make the Road New York and Middle Collegiate Church, called for his release, citing ICE's failure to provide prescribed medication for anxiety and depression and the lack of notice regarding the original hearing. A motion to reopen his deportation case paused removal proceedings but did not secure immediate release. A judge granted Marrero release on $6,000 bond on January 27, 2026, finding no flight risk given his clean record and marriage to a U.S. citizen. However, ICE refused to accept the bond payment and continued his detention across five facilities. Marrero was finally released on May 15, 2026, reuniting with his husband at Middle Collegiate Church after nearly five months in custody.

Marlon Juvenal Chavez Merchan, a native and citizen of Ecuador, is currently detained at Otay Mesa Detention Facility in ICE custody. He filed a habeas corpus petition alleging that ICE violated his due process rights by detaining him without a bond determination hearing. The court conditionally appointed counsel and issued a limited stay to prevent his removal from the district pending a reasoned decision.

Suzy Gerónimo, a transgender activist and founder of Fuerza y Unión Múltiple in North Carolina, was detained by ICE following a traffic stop in Franklin County in March 2026 and transferred to Stewart Detention Center in Georgia. She reported being housed in a male unit despite being a transgender woman, and faced harassment, unsafe conditions, lack of Spanish-speaking staff, and inadequate privacy. During her April 28 bail hearing, her legal team announced plans to file an asylum application. A judge ordered DHS to provide accommodations, though implementation has been inconsistent. The community organized support funds and legal defense for her case.

A 33-year-old man from the Middle East was detained by ICE in December 2024 after a scheduled check-in with immigration officials. While held in solitary confinement, he experienced panic attacks and chest pains, and repeatedly struck his head against a door. According to his brother, he is a Christian who fled religious persecution in his home country and has no criminal record. An ICE officer informed him he could be deported to Uganda. Facing indefinite detention, he chose to voluntarily depart the United States rather than continue in custody.

Maria Betania Uzcategui Castillo, a Venezuelan asylum-seeker with valid work authorization through 2030, and her two elementary school-aged children—Victor Uzcategui-Labrador Jr. (age 11) and Monserrat Uzcategui-Labrador (age 8)—were detained by ICE agents on April 27, 2026, at a school bus stop in Alamo Heights, Texas. The family, who had arrived at the U.S. border in 2021 seeking asylum and had complied with prior immigration requirements with a court date scheduled for 2027, were transported to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. The children, both students at Cambridge Elementary in Alamo Heights Independent School District, were reported as deeply traumatized by the detention. Community organizing efforts, including a rally and fundraising campaign that raised over $28,000 for legal fees, followed the arrest. U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia ordered their release on May 13, 2026, and the family was released on May 14, pending immigration hearings.

A 33-year-old Indian citizen who entered the United States near Lukeville, Arizona in December 2022 had lived in the country for nearly four years before his arrest. After entering, he was released on his own recognizance by DHS after expressing fear of returning to India and being deemed neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community, and he later filed an I-589 application for asylum and withholding of removal. He complied with all conditions of release, including appearing for immigration check-ins, and has no criminal convictions anywhere. He was arrested by ICE on May 13, 2026 without written notice, a warrant, or any individualized flight-risk determination, and no removal proceedings were pending against him at that time. He was first held at Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, where a federal court later ordered a bond hearing at which an immigration judge improperly placed the burden on him to prove he was not a flight risk and denied bond; he was later transferred to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he has remained in custody for over three months. He filed an emergency habeas corpus petition seeking immediate release, arguing his detention violated his constitutional and statutory rights because he never received a pre-detention bond hearing. The court found he was likely to succeed on the merits and ordered his immediate release, enjoined the government from re-detaining him without prior court authorization, and set a briefing schedule for further proceedings on the petition.

Darisbell Paola Quintero Morillo, a Venezuelan asylum seeker with a pending case, was detained by ICE on April 23, 2026, while attending a scheduled check-in appointment at the Dallas ICE Field Office despite her compliance with immigration requirements. She had entered the U.S. in April 2021 with her husband Gilbert Vicent, both fleeing political persecution in Venezuela. She was transferred to Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, where she discovered she was pregnant during medical evaluation. While in custody, she reported inadequate nutrition, poor food quality, and insufficient medical care, and requested medical attention multiple times due to pregnancy complications. Her attorney filed a federal court petition and emergency motion seeking her release on parole, citing her compliance history and lack of criminal record, but the judge denied the emergency motion. She subsequently miscarried while detained. After learning of the miscarriage from her doctor at the hospital, ICE officers cuffed her ankles to the hospital bed.

Axel Sánchez Toledo called 911 in December 2025 requesting a welfare check on his 4-year-old daughter in Palm Beach. When sheriff's deputies arrived, they accused him of being undocumented and detained him for ICE. Body camera footage shows deputies tasering, tackling, and striking Toledo with a baton while he was on the ground, despite his claims of having a pending asylum case and documentation. Toledo spent four months in jail on a resisting arrest charge before prosecutors dropped it in exchange for an apology letter. ICE took him into custody on May 1, 2026, and he now faces deportation proceedings.

Roman Husar, 37, a Ukrainian artist who arrived in the U.S. in 2023 with his wife, son, and cat under a Biden administration Ukrainian sponsorship program, was arrested in Texas in September for marijuana possession while driving home from Burning Man. After ICE detained him, authorities attempted to deport him to Ukraine despite his conscientious objector status and risk of imprisonment or death if forced to return to the war zone. Husar was denied a bond hearing and assigned to an immigration judge with no immigration experience. Despite holding letters of support from U.S. citizen relatives and church pastors, and despite his attorney's assessment that he had a strong asylum case, Husar withdrew his asylum application and accepted voluntary departure to Turkey or Poland.

Juan Tablante, father of Atlanta United midfielder Moisés Tablante, was detained by ICE during a traffic stop while traveling from Orlando, Florida to Atlanta, Georgia. Tablante has been an asylum applicant since 2016, holds a valid work permit and driver's license, and has no criminal record. He remains in immigration detention despite his pending asylum status.

Olivia Andre, a 19-year-old nursing student and asylum seeker from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was apprehended with her family in November 2025 while attempting to seek asylum. While her mother and two younger siblings were released in March 2026 following a court order, Andre remained detained at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas for approximately six months because she is technically an adult without guardianship of her siblings. During her detention, she experienced severe physical and mental health deterioration including weight loss of nearly 20 pounds, depression, insomnia, nightmares, suicidal ideation, headaches, and received no mental health care despite documented PTSD and depression. On May 9, 2026, a federal district court judge in San Antonio ruled that Andre's detention was unlawful because the government failed to establish she posed a danger or flight risk and that continued detention violated her constitutional right to due process. She was released and reunited with her family in Portland, Maine.

Oscar, a 32-year-old Honduran environmental activist who had fled death threats, was arrested at an ICE check-in appointment and moved to a Texas detention facility before being deported to Honduras. His wife Ana and their 7- and 9-year-old children were granted asylum and remained in Maryland. Oscar's lawyer filed a petition for him to rejoin his family, but processing faces dramatic delays. Oscar remains in hiding in Honduras, staying alone in an apartment and avoiding going outside. When he calls his children, he tells them he didn't leave them by choice.

Anstasiia and Andrei, Russian activists who fled Russia fearing retaliation for their involvement with the Navalny campaign, sought political asylum in the U.S. but were detained at separate ICE facilities in Louisiana. Anstasiia was held at Basile ICE jail, where she alleges she was stripped naked and confined to a glass room for 24 hours. She also reported that women detainees were subjected to male guards while showering and using the bathroom. Andrei was detained at Allen Parish Public Safety Complex. The facilities are reported to have conditions including physical and sexual abuse, medical neglect, rat infestations, black mold, expired food, and prolonged solitary confinement.

Maria Trinidad Loya Medina, a Mexican national who lived in Albany, Oregon for over 20 years and was the primary caregiver for her husband and two U.S. citizen children, was detained by ICE agents on January 10, 2026, during Operation Black Rose while shopping at a sporting goods store in Albany. She was held at Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington for four months. An immigration judge denied her bond request on February 4 after a brief hearing, despite evidence of strong community ties and no criminal history. On May 7, Federal Judge Grady J. Leupold ordered her immediate release, finding that the immigration judge violated her constitutional due process rights by failing to consider relevant factors and abusing discretion in denying bond. The judge cited documented harm to her family, including her husband's stroke and daughter's depression. ICE delayed her release until May 8.

Luis Enrique Cuellar-Padilla, an asylum seeker from Colombia, was detained by ICE after a court hearing despite having his credible fear application approved. He has been held for nearly 8 months and denied bond, with immigration officials claiming he is a flight risk due to insufficient community ties, though his legal team attributes the detention to the current anti-immigrant political climate. Since entering the U.S. in 2022, Cuellar-Padilla has maintained a stable job, attended all immigration appointments and court dates, and held an apartment lease.

Eliana G. was detained before her asylum court proceedings began in 2025. After losing her asylum case, she waived her right to appeal and elected to self-deport. Despite this choice, she remained in ICE custody across Arizona and Louisiana detention facilities for over seven months awaiting travel documents. A court designated Ecuador as her third-country deportation location despite her being originally from Honduras, but she has not been given an opportunity to contest this choice. She has two children, ages 10 and 2, living with family members in Western Massachusetts.

A Russian national who entered the U.S. on a B-2 visa and filed for asylum was detained by Arkansas police during a traffic stop on May 5, 2026. The officer stated he had violated immigration law and took him to county jail, where ICE later transferred him to Jackson Parish Correctional Center in Louisiana. The court granted a temporary restraining order preventing his removal before his June 15, 2026 asylum hearing.

Jean Manuel Izquierdo, a 49-year-old Venezuelan father, was detained by ICE in Herriman, Utah, on May 5, 2026, as he was leaving his apartment complex to go to work. He is currently held in an immigration detention facility. According to his family, Izquierdo has no criminal record, holds valid work authorization, and is an active asylum applicant, but remains out of legal status. His family has launched a GoFundMe fundraising campaign to raise money for his bond and to support his case as it proceeds through immigration proceedings.

Bryan Rafael Gómez, a 27-year-old undocumented immigrant, was detained by ICE at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Rhode Island following his arrest by Worcester police on assault and battery charges. On April 28, 2026, a federal judge ordered his release after ICE and the U.S. attorney's office withheld information about an active homicide warrant from the Dominican Republic. After his release, Gómez disappeared and failed to report to ICE as expected. On May 5, 2026, a federal judge ordered Gómez re-detained after the withheld warrant information emerged. The judge criticized the conduct as a breach of trust and ordered a disciplinary review of the U.S. attorney's office, noting that had she known about the warrant, she would not have granted Gómez's habeas corpus petition.

Meenu Batra, a 53-year-old certified court interpreter fluent in Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu, was detained by ICE agents on March 17, 2026, at Valley International Airport in Harlingen, Texas while traveling for a court assignment in Milwaukee. Batra fled India approximately 35 years ago after her parents were killed in violence connected to their Sikh religion and was granted withholding of removal status by an immigration judge in 2000. She has maintained valid work authorization that she regularly renews and continues to be valid for several more years, and has worked in immigration courts for over 20 years. Batra is a single mother of four U.S. citizen children, including youngest son Jasper Batra, who joined the U.S. Army shortly before her arrest. She was held at El Valle Detention Center in Raymondville for 45 days, during which she alleged denial of food, water, and medication. On April 30, 2026, federal judge Rolando Olvera in Brownsville issued a temporary restraining order ordering her release, finding the government lacked proper justification and had violated procedural protections and due process. Her attorney noted she has had only one speeding ticket in the last 30 years.

A Peruvian asylum seeker was paroled into the United States on March 12, 2022 to pursue asylum. He has complied with all immigration procedures and court orders, has no criminal history, and has established ties to the community. After an immigration judge issued a removal order, he timely appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals and requested a custody redetermination. On April 23, 2026, the immigration court denied his bond request, finding the immigration judge lacked jurisdiction. He was detained at Adelanto ICE Processing Center in California. On May 13, 2026, the federal district court granted his habeas corpus petition, finding that his continued detention violated his Fifth Amendment due process rights because he had a liberty interest in his prior conditional release status and was denied procedural safeguards before re-detention. The court ordered his immediate release subject to former conditions, prohibited future re-detention without notice and a pre-deprivation hearing, and ordered return of confiscated property.

Manuela Hernandez, an asylum seeker from Colombia, was detained at California City's detention center for five months after her electronic monitoring device broke during a household accident in December 2025. She reported severe medical decline in custody, including fainting spells and a bacterial infection, while ICE pursued federal charges for property destruction. After her legal team filed a habeas corpus petition arguing the break was unintentional, she was released on May 4, 2026, and has reunited with her family while continuing her asylum case.

A woman 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.

A native of Nicaragua was detained by ICE in May 2026 and is currently held at Richwood Correctional in Monroe, Louisiana. He was granted withholding of removal as to Nicaragua under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). He filed a habeas corpus petition and emergency motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to prevent his deportation or transfer, arguing that deportation to Mexico would violate his due process rights and expose him to refoulement to Nicaragua despite his CAT withholding order. He is a member of the D.V.D. class, consisting of individuals subject to final removal orders whom ICE plans to deport to third countries. The district court denied his motion for temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, citing the Supreme Court's prior stay denial in the D.V.D. class litigation and the principle of avoiding duplicative litigation.

A Mexican asylum-seeker who fled cartel violence in Michoacan in 2019 was arrested by ICE at her check-in appointment in Santa Rosa in May 2026, separating her from her three children ages 2, 13, and 19. After texting her daughter to bring the younger children home, she was held in a freezing cell with little food before being transported toward a detention center. Attorneys from the newly created Bay Area Habeas Network, led by attorney Jordan Weiner, filed an emergency habeas corpus petition and obtained a federal judge's order for her immediate release within hours. The woman told the Chronicle: "I feel like I have no peace. But I have faith and know that there are good people who will help us."

Henry Morales Hernandez, 55, a former Venezuelan army major who fled the Maduro government and sought asylum in the United States, was detained by ICE following a traffic stop in Collier County, Florida in April 2026. He was charged with driving under the influence, but prosecutors dropped the charge after determining insufficient evidence—breath tests showed blood alcohol levels of 0.036 and 0.037, below Florida's legal limit of 0.08. Despite the criminal case dismissal, ICE lodged a detainer and took him into custody on May 1, 2026. An immigration judge denied his bond request in May, relying on the arrest report despite the DUI charge being dismissed. Morales Hernandez holds an active asylum case in immigration court and previously held Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans, though the Trump administration moved to terminate that program in 2025.

An unaccompanied minor came to the United States as an unaccompanied minor in August 2018 and was initially detained by immigration officers who commenced removal proceedings. He subsequently filed an asylum application that remains pending. He was transferred to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement and released to his sponsor, an uncle. In May 2026, immigration officers arrested him in front of his home without pre-deprivation process or notice. He challenged his detention in federal court, arguing it violated his constitutional due process rights. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California granted his petition for writ of habeas corpus, finding his case indistinguishable from prior cases where courts determined similar detentions violated due process. The court ordered his immediate release and permanently enjoined respondents from re-arresting or re-detaining him without constitutional protections including pre-deprivation notice, a timely hearing, and a government burden to prove by clear and convincing evidence that he poses a danger or flight risk.

Josue Alvarado, who fled gang extortion in Ecuador with his family in 2024, was detained by ICE in 2025 after the Trump administration canceled CBP One paroles. On May 1, 2026, his scheduled asylum hearing was canceled just before trial when a judge granted the government's motion to pretermit his case within hours, denying his attorney the standard 10 days to respond. He was ordered deported to Ecuador despite his family's fear that return would result in kidnapping or death from the gang members pursuing them.

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.

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.