Human Impact Project

A citizen of Kosovo was granted deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture (CAT) on November 9, 2022. He was detained by immigration authorities at the Newark Field Office and filed a habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 on August 3, 2026, challenging the legality of his detention. He argued he is being wrongfully held under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b) and sought release or a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a). The court noted there is no indication he is currently in removal proceedings, and clarified that a CAT grant does not preclude detention or removal to a third country. The court denied his motion for a temporary restraining order without prejudice, finding insufficient facts to determine whether his detention is lawful under 8 U.S.C. § 1231. The court declined to dismiss the petition and ordered an expedited briefing schedule, requiring the government to file a full answer within 7 days addressing the statutory basis for detention. A prior stay of transfer from the District of New Jersey, entered by the Chief Judge, remains in effect during the proceedings.

An Egyptian asylum seeker is an Egyptian citizen who entered the United States without inspection on July 21, 2023, and sought asylum. He was subsequently released on his own recognizance and has lived in the United States continuously since his entry. On August 3, 2026, he was apprehended by immigration officers while attending an ICE check-in meeting that he was required to attend pursuant to his pending appeal of a removal order to the Board of Immigration Appeals. He remains in custody at the West Tennessee Detention Facility and has not received a bond hearing. He filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his detention without prior notice, a warrant, or a bond hearing, alleging violations of his statutory and due process rights. The court issued an order staying his transfer and requiring the respondent to respond, noting that under Lopez-Campos v. Raycraft (6th Cir. 2026), noncitizens who have spent significant time in the U.S. interior and have not committed disqualifying offenses cannot be detained without an individualized bond hearing.

Josue Aldair Alfaro Herrera, a Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) petitioner, filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his prolonged civil immigration detention at Aurora Contract Detention Facility after ICE renewed his removal proceedings despite his SIJS status. The U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado granted the petition, finding that his prolonged detention violated his constitutional rights and the Administrative Procedure Act. The Court ordered ICE to immediately release Petitioner from immigration detention.

Esteban Rios Sosa, a Mexican national who has lived in Oceanside, California since 1988, was detained with his wife by ICE at the gate of Camp Pendleton while visiting his pregnant daughter, who lives on base with her active-duty Marine husband. Rios Sosa's son, a former Marine Sergeant, said the family held deferred action status tied to his wife's pending U visa petition and had valid work permits that should have shielded them from enforcement. After being fitted with ankle monitors and told to report for a routine ICE check-in, Rios Sosa was instead taken to a federal building basement and deported to Mexico within 24 hours, without notice that his status had been revoked. His son has accused ICE and DHS of discrimination and false accusations of criminal activity, and the family sued the agencies for violating federal law and due process rights. A federal judge later ordered the government to immediately facilitate Rios Sosa's return to the U.S. and restore his immigration status.

Domingo Tot Quip, a 31-year-old Portland resident from Guatemala and restaurant worker, was arrested at a bus stop in January 2026 during an ICE enforcement operation while heading to work. ICE agents mistakenly identified him as another Guatemalan man with the same first name and birthday who had a final removal order, despite Tot Quip having valid identification documents with him at the time of arrest. He spoke primarily an indigenous Guatemalan language, had no criminal history, and had never interacted with ICE before. A federal judge ordered ICE not to remove him from the country, but Tot Quip was deported to Guatemala one day after the order. His attorney, Kerry Doyle, alleged racial profiling was involved in the misidentification. After months in Guatemala, ICE acknowledged "the gravity of the inadvertent removal" in court records and agreed to return Tot Quip to the U.S. at government expense, with his return to Maine expected in August 2026.

Jose Eliezer Martinez-Andino, a 20-year-old mechanic living in Raleigh, North Carolina, and father to a U.S.-citizen daughter, was stopped by Border Patrol agents in Montana in March 2026 while riding in a car with a forged license plate. He had entered the U.S. in 2020 as an unaccompanied minor and held Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, deferred action, and a work permit, with his removal proceedings previously dismissed by a judge. Despite this status, he was pressured into signing a voluntary-departure form, moved between at least six detention centers, denied contact with his attorneys for more than ten days, and deported to Honduras in April after his attempts to revoke the agreement were allegedly ignored. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell found the removal was carried out "in a manner that boggles the mind" without due process and ordered the government to facilitate his return along with his daughter. He was flown to Harlingen, Texas in August but remained in CBP custody as DHS filed a new removal case against him.

Curtis Wright, a 40-year-old Edmonton-born permanent resident who moved to Houston as a child and worked in the oil and gas industry, was detained by ICE at a Houston-area airport in November 2025 after returning from a work trip to Mexico. Authorities cited a drug possession conviction from when he was 17, involving Xanax tablets found in a car he was in, for which he had already completed community service. During nearly nine months in detention across several Texas facilities, including the South Texas ICE Processing Centre, Wright described freezing cells, contaminated water, poor food, and being denied medication for a chronic condition. His attorney pursued appeals and a habeas corpus request, but a judge ultimately ordered his deportation, and Wright gave up further legal fights. His fiancée Kayla Thomsen said their toddler daughter learned to walk during his absence, while his two older sons, ages 8 and 11, remained in Texas with their mother. Wright was deported to Canada and is now staying with his parents in Kelowna, B.C., planning an eventual move to Edmonton.

A Mexican national living in Maryland, whose testimony for the Justice Department against drug cartels led an immigration judge in 2024 to bar his deportation to Mexico under the Convention Against Torture, was re-detained in January during a routine ICE check-in. He was sent to a detention facility in Louisiana and deported without notice to Guatemala, which refused to accept him and handed him to Mexican consular officials, who also declined to take him because of his CAT protection. He was deported to Mexico twice more, including once after the Trump administration terminated the immigration judge's CAT order, and told U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher he has been in hiding since Aug. 1 fearing retaliation from the cartels he testified against. Gallagher issued a temporary restraining order requiring the administration to take steps to facilitate his return within 200 miles of Baltimore.

A Mexican man in his late 40s, identified in court filings only as "John Doe" and a father of two, had cooperated with U.S. prosecutors in cases against Mexican drug cartel members and was granted deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture in July 2024. While living in Maryland, he was detained by ICE in January 2026 at a routine check-in and held for six months at a facility in Louisiana. Authorities attempted to deport him multiple times, first to Guatemala on July 10, which refused him and turned him over to Mexican officials, and then to Mexico, most recently on August 1 to a region with active cartel activity. He has since gone into hiding without money, belongings, or his phone, fearing the cartels he testified against will find and kill him. U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher in Baltimore ruled that the termination of his CAT protections likely violated due process and placed him in imminent danger, ordering the government to facilitate his return within 14 days and to hold him near Baltimore with attorney access if detained again.

A man detained in ICE custody filed a habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 in the Eastern District of California on July 31, 2026, along with an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order. The same day, District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston found that he appeared likely to succeed on at least one of his claims and that some form of immediate relief may be appropriate, and ordered the government to show cause by August 7, 2026, why a TRO should not issue. Citing exigent circumstances, the court ordered that the government may not remove him from the United States or transfer him out of the district while the case is pending. The court also directed the government to produce documentation related to any asserted violations of release conditions, and set the matter for further briefing and a possible hearing.

A man who was granted voluntary departure by an immigration judge in 2017 but never left the country, causing that order to automatically convert into a final removal order under federal law. In June 2025, he was detained after law enforcement executed a search warrant at his place of employment, and he was held for nearly a year at the Montgomery Municipal Jail under a material witness warrant. On May 22, 2026, a magistrate judge dismissed the material witness warrant and ordered his release, but he was not released and remained in custody for reasons unknown to the court. He filed a federal habeas corpus petition on July 31, 2026, seeking release or a bond hearing before an immigration judge. Respondents indicated that ICE had only lodged a detainer at the time the petition was filed and did not take physical custody of him until August 4, 2026, after which he was transferred to a facility within the Northern District of Alabama. The court dismissed the petition without prejudice, finding both that Petitioner failed to comply with a show-cause order and that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction because he was not in ICE custody at the time of filing, noting jurisdiction now lies only in the district of his current confinement.

A Honduran citizen who entered the United States through the southern border in 2021 and was briefly detained by ICE before being released. He subsequently settled in New Jersey. On July 31, 2026, ICE apprehended him in Pottsville, Pennsylvania and detained him at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia. On August 6, 2026, ICE transferred him to Moshannon Valley Processing Center and detained him under Section 1225 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which provides for mandatory detention. He filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his detention. The federal court granted his petition, holding that Section 1226(a)—not Section 1225(b)(2)—governs the detention of noncitizens who have entered without admission but have long resided in the interior. The court ordered his immediate release and a temporary seven-day enjoinder against re-detention. If the government seeks to re-detain him after that period, it must first provide him with a bond hearing before an immigration judge.

Iemad Saifo, a 65-year-old Syrian-born chef who owns Zena's American Mediterranean Cuisine and Catering in Collingswood, New Jersey, was detained by ICE on July 31 at their Mt. Laurel office during what he believed was a routine check-in, despite having a pending immigration case with a December court date. Saifo came to the U.S. with his family on a B1/B2 visa from Syria in 2002, is the primary caregiver for his son with autism, and suffers from several chronic health conditions including a rare neurological condition and kidney disease. His wife and four children are U.S. citizens, and a residency petition filed by his U.S. citizen son had cleared its first approval stage. He was held at Delaney Hall, a privately run detention facility in Newark that has been the site of protests over detainee treatment, prompting his daughter Zena, for whom the restaurant is named, to voice concern over reports of detainee deaths there. His attorneys filed an emergency habeas petition, after which a federal judge barred ICE from transferring him out of state. A petition supporting him gathered more than 12,500 signatures, with support from the Council on American-Islamic Relations and over 150 notarized letters from community members. An immigration judge later granted bond and he was released, with his daughter saying, 'We are so relieved to have him safely back home as the immigration process continues.'

Cornelius Kaihau Holani, a 20-year-old citizen of New Zealand of Tongan ethnicity, was lawfully admitted to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program in July 2023. He lives in Seattle, cares for his elderly grandmother, and volunteers at his church teaching traditional Tongan dance. His mother is a green card holder and his stepfather is a U.S. citizen. On July 31, ICE agents detained Holani at Oakland International Airport as he waited to board a domestic flight to Seattle, handcuffed him, and transported him to an ICE office in San Francisco. Agents presented him with a document and instructed him to sign it; when he asked if it was related to deportation, an officer allegedly told him "No, it's nothing like that." U.S. District Judge Noël Wise ruled that ICE coerced Holani into signing the document without knowing its contents and that the government violated his due process rights by relying on it as a waiver of his right to contest removal. The judge ordered his release and barred re-detention or removal pending a hearing.

Paula Sofia Ramirez Clavijo, a 33-year-old Colombian asylum seeker and survivor of sexual assault, was detained by ICE on July 24, 2025, immediately after appearing at San Francisco Immigration Court for a scheduled removal hearing. She had entered the U.S. without inspection in December 2023 and been released on her own recognizance. ICE arrested her outside the courtroom pursuant to a Warrant of Arrest. Attorney Erin Meyer filed a habeas corpus petition on her behalf. A U.S. District Court judge issued an order for her release while she was already on a United Airlines flight to Honolulu with ICE officers. The court granted her petition, ruling that she has a protected liberty interest and cannot be re-detained without a pre-deprivation bond hearing where the government must prove by clear and convincing evidence that she is a flight risk or danger to the community.

Jaciel Cirrus Rojas, a Mexican national and Chatino-language speaker from rural Oaxaca, came to Racine in 2018 to reunite with his brother. In June 2025, ICE agents arrived at his home searching for a prior tenant and detained him as "collateral" despite no prior criminal convictions or civil citations. Held at Dodge County jail for nine months and separated from his partner and child, Rojas filed for asylum citing fear of torture if returned to Mexico. His attorney Jennifer Bizzotto challenged his detention through a federal habeas petition. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in his favor on July 31, 2026, rejecting the Trump administration's mandatory detention policy and allowing detainees like Rojas to seek bond hearings in immigration court.

A native and citizen of Guatemala who has resided in the United States for over a decade was arrested on July 30, 2026, and detained at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania. He has no criminal history and is gainfully employed. On August 3, 2026, he filed a habeas corpus petition in the Western District of Pennsylvania along with an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order, challenging his continued detention without a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1226 and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. On August 11, 2026, Chief Judge Cathy Bissoon denied the TRO motion, finding he had not shown immediate and irreparable injury, that transfer out of the district would not defeat the court's habeas jurisdiction, and that there was no indication of a final removal order or scheduled immigration court proceedings. The court construed the petition as seeking prompt review of the lawfulness of his detention and, at minimum, an individualized bond hearing, and ordered an expedited case management schedule.

The petitioner, a citizen of Honduras, entered the United States without inspection in 2013 and was placed into removal proceedings, which were administratively closed in 2017 and remain closed with no final removal order issued. He lived in the community for more than a decade without any criminal convictions in the U.S. or abroad. His father is a U.S. citizen, and he has begun pursuing consular processing for an immigrant visa on that basis. On July 30, 2026, he was apprehended by ICE in San Diego near the U.S.-Mexico border after Border Patrol agents discovered four individuals hidden in the back seat of the truck he was driving; he was arrested for alien smuggling. He has since been detained at the Otay Mesa Detention Center. He filed a habeas petition arguing his continued detention without a bond hearing violates the Fifth Amendment, seeking release or a bond hearing. Respondents conceded he is subject to detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) and did not oppose a court-ordered bond hearing. The court granted the habeas petition, ordered a constitutionally adequate bond hearing by September 25, 2026, denied the TRO motion as moot, and enjoined his transfer before the hearing.

The petitioner is a citizen of India who arrived in the United States around May 18, 2023, and was briefly detained by immigration officials before being released on his own recognizance. He has a pending asylum petition. On or about July 30, 2026, he was re-detained by immigration authorities and has remained in ICE custody since, held at the California City Immigration Processing Center. He filed a habeas corpus petition and a motion for a temporary restraining order challenging his detention, which is governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a). The court found that his detention without a pre-deprivation hearing following his prior release violated his due process rights, citing its reasoning in Cajina v. Wofford and Perez v. Albarran. The court granted his habeas petition, ordering his immediate release and enjoining respondents from re-detaining him without written notice and a hearing before an immigration judge, absent exigent circumstances. His motion for a TRO was denied as moot.

A citizen of Armenia was admitted to the United States in February 2013 and has lived in the U.S. for over 13 years. He was placed into removal proceedings in 2023 and found removable by an immigration judge in September 2023. The Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed this determination in January 2024. In April 2024, an immigration judge released him from custody on a $20,000 bond with an order of supervision, which he complied with for over two years. On July 30, 2026, he was unexpectedly detained by ICE during a routine check-in. He is married to a United States citizen, and his wife is due to give birth to their first child on August 17, 2026. On August 4, 2026, a federal judge granted his motion for a preliminary injunction, ordering his immediate release based on a violation of his due process rights, as he was re-detained without a pre-deprivation hearing before a neutral decision-maker.