Human Impact Project

Sunday Goshit, a University of Iowa adjunct assistant professor and Nigerian immigrant who arrived in the U.S. in 2000, was approved for naturalization in October 2025 after passing his citizenship interview. His naturalization ceremony scheduled for January 16, 2026 was canceled without explanation less than a month before the date. Goshit and his wife filed a lawsuit against U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in federal court challenging the halting of their naturalization application.

Subramanyam "Subu" Vedam, a 64-year-old legal permanent resident from India, won an immigration hearing to remain in the United States after his 1980 murder conviction was vacated in 2024 following over 43 years in prison. Immigration Judge Adam Panopoulos ruled that Vedam's lengthy wrongful imprisonment, spotless prison record, and demonstrated rehabilitation outweighed prior drug convictions from the early 1980s, finding he poses no danger to the community and possesses good moral character. Vedam had been taken into ICE custody after his conviction was dismissed and was days away from naturalized citizenship when the deportation case was heard.

Everlee Wihongi, a New Zealand citizen and long-term U.S. resident with a green card, was detained by ICE in early April after returning from New Zealand. She was held for more than 70 days because of a 2016 cannabis conviction that was later thrown out by the courts in June. During her detention at facilities in California, Arizona, and Texas, Wihongi described dehumanizing conditions including being referred to by her bunk-bed number rather than her name, extremely early meal times (3:45 a.m. in Arizona), shackling during transit, and witnessing children and pregnant women being shackled and moved between facilities. She has since been released and returned to Wisconsin with her family.

Daniela, originally from Colombia, came to the United States on a work permit and is married to a U.S. citizen with a pending green card application. For months, she cooperated with a detective from the Florida Department of Financial Services, answering dozens of questions and providing documentation about insurance fraud committed by her former employer. When the detective asked her to meet in April to discuss the case, Daniela was instead detained, handcuffed, and arrested. "It's very cruel the way they arrested me," she said; neither the detective nor the department responded to requests for comment. She has no criminal record. She was taken to the Palm Beach County jail and then transferred in chains to ICE facilities in two different states before being released on bond in May. The 287(g) Task Force program now includes more than 1,300 law enforcement agencies across 32 states and two U.S. territories deputized to enforce federal immigration laws.

ICE agents detained Edgar Gomez in Bridgeton, New Jersey, after he left a court appearance where all charges against him had been dropped. Agents smashed the window of an immigration lawyer's vehicle and removed Gomez without producing a warrant despite requests from his attorney. Gomez was one step away from obtaining lawful permanent residency. The detention occurred one day after New Jersey passed a law requiring ICE agents to produce warrants.

Yaima de las Mercedes Suárez, a mother of five including three children with autism, was released after a judge granted her a pardon, ending her six-month ICE detention and allowing her to retain her permanent residency status. She had been arrested at Miami International Airport in February upon returning from Cuba, where she had traveled with her young daughter to visit her grandmother and honor her deceased father. The case stemmed from a 2013 conviction for theft and conspiracy in Manatee County, Florida, which resurfaced under immigration law treating each reentry as a new admission request. During her detention, her husband cared for their five children, and her defense team argued she was not subject to mandatory detention despite lacking the 15 years of residency needed to seek cancellation of removal.

Reza Zavvar, a 52-year-old Iranian green card holder who came to the U.S. as a student 40 years ago, was detained by ICE agents on June 28, 2025, while walking his dog near his Gaithersburg, Maryland home. Zavvar was granted withholding of removal to Iran in 2007 and has lived and worked legally in the U.S. for decades. He is currently held in a detention center in Texas and faces deportation. His family and attorney say they do not understand the legal basis for his detention. His case occurred as part of a surge in arrests of Iranian immigrants under the Trump administration's hardline immigration policies.

An Indian immigrant who has lived in the US for 25 years was first detained by ICE in March 2012 following a 2007 conviction for attempted lewd acts with a minor. He lost his lawful permanent resident status and has been under Orders of Supervision since 2017, requiring regular ICE check-ins. A court granted a temporary restraining order preventing ICE from re-arresting him without notice and a hearing before a neutral adjudicator.

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.

Psalm "Sam" Behpoor, 42, manager of Pismo's Coastal Grill in Fresno, was detained by ICE on June 23, 2025, after reporting for a routine check-in, where he was separated from his attorney. He came to the U.S. from Iran as a toddler after his family fled the Iranian Revolution, and says he has had no trouble with the law since a non-aggravated burglary conviction at age 18, nearly 25 years earlier. He had filed paperwork to reinstate his green card and was held at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield without a scheduled hearing. His wife, Lera Mirakyan, said their 3-year-old son repeatedly asked for his father, and employer Dave Fansler called him "the best of the best." Community members raised more than $30,000 for his family, and Fresno councilmembers sent ICE a letter of support. Gov. Gavin Newsom pardoned Behpoor for the old offense in November 2025, and after new legal filings corrected errors in his case, he was released on bond after nine months in detention. "Seeing my wife and my child again was everything," Behpoor said, though further immigration hearings remain pending and he says he cannot legally be deported to Iran.

A Vietnamese immigrant who arrived in the U.S. in 1991 as a lawful permanent resident was arrested by immigration authorities outside his home on March 5, 2026. He had been living in the community on supervised release since 2006 after his removal to Vietnam proved impracticable following a 2004 conviction. The court ordered his immediate release, finding the government failed to demonstrate his removal was reasonably foreseeable and violated procedures for revoking his supervised release.

A Laotian refugee who entered the United States in 1988 as a child refugee and was adjusted to lawful permanent resident status was detained by ICE on March 3, 2026, when he reported to the ICE office in Portland, Oregon. He was taken to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington. He has a U.S. citizen spouse, one child, and four step-children. A final removal order to Laos was entered on January 5, 2012, but he had been released on Orders of Supervision since May 2015 based on nonremovability. On January 8, 2026, his spouse filed an I-130 Petition for Alien Relative. He was served with a Notice of Revocation of Release citing changed circumstances making removal reasonably foreseeable. On April 10, 2026, ICE obtained a Laissez-Passer from Laos valid for 90 days. He filed a habeas corpus petition and motion for temporary restraining order seeking to prevent his removal and transfer pending the court's consideration of his case. On May 1, 2026, the federal magistrate judge denied his motion, finding he had not shown a likelihood of success on the merits because ICE had obtained a valid travel document establishing an unchallenged basis for his detention.

San Juanita Guerra, a lawful permanent resident, was detained by ICE on March 2 at the Progreso International Bridge over a 1994 conviction involving an unloaded firearm. She was held at El Valle Detention Center for over three weeks before being released on a $15,000 bond and now wears an ankle monitor while her legal case continues. Guerra reported difficult detention conditions including inadequate access to water, medications, and medical care despite her heart and kidney conditions. She says she had completed probation and community service for the 1994 incident decades ago.

Taeha Hwang, a 39-year-old who has lived in the U.S. since he was 3 months old, was detained by ICE on October 29 during his green card interview in downtown Los Angeles. His wife, Xelena Diaz, says they were following all proper procedures and were not expecting the detention. Hwang has no criminal record and is being held at the Adelanto Detention Center with his next court hearing scheduled for March 2026.

A Laotian refugee from Raymond, Washington, who arrived in the U.S. in 1981 with a green card, was detained at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma after ICE requested an unscheduled check-in in March. He faced a decades-old deportation order, and for over 20 years Laos had refused to accept deportees, though pressure from the Trump administration has recently increased deportation flights. His lawyers discovered he was not informed of immigration consequences when he entered a prior guilty plea, leading to that conviction being overturned and his green card status restored. An immigration judge terminated the deportation case, and he was released after months in custody; his family, including daughter Melissa Ekkaphanh, described their roots in Pacific County's Laotian refugee community, where relatives settled after the Vietnam War to work in canneries and logging.

Seamus Culleton, an Irish national who has lived in the U.S. for nearly 20 years and is married to U.S. citizen Tiffany Smith, was arrested by ICE agents at a hardware store in Boston on September 9, 2025, during a random immigration sweep. Culleton entered the country in 2009 on a visa waiver and overstayed, but held a valid work permit tied to a pending green card application as the spouse of a citizen and has no criminal record. He was detained for roughly six months across facilities in Massachusetts, New York, and Texas, including El Paso Camp East Montana, where he and his attorney reported overcrowding, inadequate food, lack of outdoor time, unsanitary conditions, and significant weight loss. A judge approved his release on bond in November 2025, but ICE continued to detain him after claiming he had signed deportation documents, a claim Culleton and his lawyer dispute due to documentation irregularities. His prolonged detention caused him to miss a critical green card interview. In March 2026, a U.S. Court of Appeals judge paused his deportation pending resolution of his petition for review.

Dayton Andre Lindsay, a Jamaican green-card holder who has legally resided in the United States for over 28 years, was detained by ICE at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport upon returning from vacation in Jamaica. He and his wife, Benji Lindsay, have been married for over six years and share a blended family of five children and seven grandchildren. Before his arrest, he worked at a Walmart Distribution Center in Joliet, Illinois, and as a chef at several local restaurants. As of July, he remains in ICE custody, and his attorneys have filed a federal habeas corpus petition challenging the legality of his detention.

Amanda Isabel Cardoso, a 22-year-old Cuban immigrant living in Tampa who was awaiting a green card, was arrested in Orlando in August 2024 while pregnant and subsequently detained by ICE for nearly three months at Otero County Processing Center in rural New Mexico. During her detention, Cardoso received minimal prenatal care despite being in her first pregnancy—the facility lacked ultrasound machines and she was denied access to her medical records. After her release in February 2025 following legal intervention by immigration attorney Sam Badawi, Cardoso was diagnosed with preeclampsia and gestational diabetes, conditions medical experts say can be triggered by stress. Cardoso, who fled Cuba after her grandmother was killed in an act of political violence, now faces ongoing uncertainty about her immigration status and potential separation from her baby if detained again.

Greggy Valerio Sorio, a 37-year-old green card holder, was deported to the Philippines after ICE denied his stay request despite severe medical conditions including inflammatory bowel disease, anemia, and a toe amputation requiring wheelchair use. Sorio's deportation stemmed from criminal convictions dating back over a decade, and ICE determined he was medically fit to fly despite advocates' warnings and his recent hospitalization. Community groups and immigrant-rights advocates condemned the deportation as a systemic failure, with 60 protesters rallying outside the detention center, and airline staff initially removing him from the flight after being alerted to his condition.

The Department of Justice filed a denaturalization case against former North Miami Mayor Philippe Bien-Aime, alleging he misrepresented his identity and immigration history during his naturalization process in 2006. According to federal prosecutors, Bien-Aime entered the United States in 1997 using a fraudulent passport under a different name, was ordered removed in 2000, but remained in the country under an assumed identity. The complaint also alleges he obtained permanent resident status through an invalid marriage to a U.S. citizen using a fraudulent divorce certificate.