Human Impact Project

Noel Quintana, a 50-year-old legal permanent resident and owner of Señor Machetes restaurant in Madison, was detained by ICE at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on January 23, 2026, after returning from Mexico on a valid green card. DHS initiated removal proceedings based on a 2006 cocaine possession conviction. A federal immigration judge ordered termination of removal proceedings and granted bond, but DHS filed an intent to appeal, keeping Quintana detained at Miami Correctional Facility in Indiana. Community members organized fundraisers that collected over $50,000 in support, and local leaders including Rep. Francesca Hong criticized the detention.

Efrem Yemane Berhe, a Cincinnati business owner and father of two from Eritrea, was detained by ICE agents outside his home on February 16, 2026, after living legally in the U.S. for 15 years. His detention stems from a civil immigration matter related to a prior marriage. A judge denied his bond request on March 5 citing flight risk concerns, and his family is appealing the decision while he awaits a green card hearing scheduled for April 30.

A judge dismissed the deportation case of Narciso Barranco, an Orange County landscaper and father of three U.S. Marines, who was detained by Border Patrol agents in June 2025. Video showed agents pinning him to the ground and punching him during the detention in Santa Ana. The judge ruled Barranco is eligible for lawful status due to his three sons serving in the military, and his attorney is now working to secure permanent residency and a work permit.

Owen Ramsingh, a Columbia resident and lawful permanent resident, was detained by border patrol at Chicago's O'Hare Airport in September 2025 after returning from visiting his father in the Netherlands. ICE cited a cocaine possession charge from his teenage years as grounds for deportation. After spending approximately four and a half months in detention facilities across Chicago, Texas, and New Mexico, Ramsingh was deported to the Netherlands on February 8, 2026, and banned from the United States for 8-10 years. His wife and daughter remained in the United States.

Owen Ramsingh, a 45-year-old Missouri resident and green card holder, was detained at O'Hare Airport in September 2025 after Border Patrol discovered a felony drug conviction from nearly 30 years prior. He was deported to the Netherlands in February 2026 and is now rebuilding his life in his birth country while separated from his wife and teenage daughter. Ramsingh, who last lived in the Netherlands at age 5, is living with his reconnected father and reports experiencing nightmares from his detention.

ICE chartered a private Gulfstream IV jet owned by Florida property developer Gil Dezer, a Trump associate and donor, to deport Palestinian men from the United States to the West Bank. At least two deportation flights occurred on January 20-21 and February 1-2, 2026, transporting eight or more detainees from an Arizona detention facility through multiple countries (New Jersey, Ireland, Bulgaria) before reaching Tel Aviv and the West Bank. Among those deported was 24-year-old Maher Awad, a long-term green card holder who had lived in the U.S. for nearly a decade and had a newborn son in Michigan. The men were shackled throughout the multi-country journey and reported being abandoned at checkpoints with minimal resources. A joint investigation by +972 Magazine and The Guardian documented the flights, with former U.S. officials and immigration lawyers characterizing them as indicative of a shift in Trump administration deportation policy toward more aggressive mass deportation tactics.

Dylan, a 20-year-old Venezuelan student at Ellis Prep High School in the Bronx, was detained by ICE on May 21, 2025, immediately after appearing at federal immigration court in Lower Manhattan for an asylum hearing. He entered the United States legally under Biden-era policies and has no criminal record. His attorney stated he was entitled to full legal protections to pursue asylum relief. Dylan's mother reported he has been suffering from untreated stomach problems and has been moved to at least four different detention centers within five to six days. The Department of Homeland Security placed him under expedited removal proceedings.

Francisco Chan Reyes, a 25-year-old U.S. resident with lawful status, was detained by ICE agents during a traffic stop on the west side of San Antonio on January 26, 2026, while returning home from a market with three cousins. Video shows agents breaking his car window, pepper-spraying him, and holding him facedown on the pavement without identifying themselves. Despite Reyes showing agents his Texas driver's license and work permit, they initially refused to accept these documents and told his wife he was in the country illegally. After approximately four hours in custody, including DNA swabbing and fingerprint processing, fingerprints confirmed his lawful presence and he was released. He sustained a head injury and pepper-spray burns. His three cousins were deported to Mexico the following day. Immigration attorney Marlyn Moreno noted that a Texas driver's license should have been sufficient proof of lawful presence, as the state only issues them to people who demonstrate citizenship or lawful presence. He and his wife plan legal action.

Hassan Hamka, a lawful permanent resident, has been held in ICE detention for over six months while his legal case proceeds. His daughter created a petition seeking community support and character testimonials to present to the judge at his trial.

ICE agents detained Marcos Da Silva, a 32-year-old Brazilian contractor, during a traffic stop in Maine on Tuesday. Da Silva has a pending green card petition filed by his U.S. citizen wife Alex in 2024 and entered the country as an asylum seeker. He is currently being held at Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania with a court date scheduled for early February.

Juan Sebastián Carvajal-Muñoz, a Colombian civil engineer with a master's degree from the University of Maine and a valid H-1B work visa, was violently detained by ICE agents while driving to work in Portland, Maine. Masked agents in unmarked vehicles surrounded his car, smashed his driver's side window with a crowbar, pointed a Taser at him, and dragged him out despite his attempts to show proof of lawful status, leaving his car running in the street. He was placed in full-body shackles and transported across state lines to an ICE facility in Massachusetts, where he was held for hours in a windowless cell before being released without charges roughly 105 miles from his home. Carvajal-Muñoz, who has no criminal record despite the operation reportedly targeting immigrants with criminal histories, said he continues to fear being detained again. With assistance from the ACLU of Maine, he filed a federal lawsuit against ICE agent Jack Cory Ravencamp and two unidentified agents, alleging excessive force, warrantless arrest, unlawful detention, racial discrimination, and violations of his Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights.

An Eritrean single mother of three with a pending green card application was detained during Operation PARRIS operations beginning January 9, 2026. During a five-hour interview with USCIS officers, she was questioned about her application materials and reasons for fleeing her country. Her attorney reported that the USCIS officer conducting the interview stated he had no knowledge of why she was detained or authority regarding her detention. She was released a few days after arrest and returned to Minnesota, and her green card application was approved while she was in detention.

Rebecca Pinyerd, a 70-year-old Filipina lawful permanent resident who has lived in the United States for over 40 years, was scheduled for deportation to the Philippines but the flight was cancelled after airline officials determined she was medically unfit to fly due to advanced kidney disease, thyroid complications, and uncontrolled hypertension. She remains in immigration detention at Clay County Jail in Indiana with no new deportation date announced. Her family has expressed concerns about her access to medical care while in custody and has called for an independent medical evaluation.

Izzy Aly, a legal immigrant with an active green card application, was arrested on December 23, 2025, at Philadelphia International Airport upon returning from an approved USCIS visit to Egypt to handle his deceased father's estate. He was held for six months at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania, where he was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure three months into detention. Aly reports receiving inadequate medical care, including only two visits with a nephrologist despite his serious condition, threats of solitary confinement when reporting COVID concerns, and widespread viral infections in crowded detention pods. He was released on June 19, 2026, after advocacy efforts by civil rights groups, members of Congress, and public figures brought attention to his case, and is now returning to Florida while his legal appeal continues. Aly, an Orlando-area Libertarian Party activist and owner of a media consulting firm, met with U.S. Rep. Summer Lee following his release; Lee had previously conducted an oversight visit to the detention facility. He now suffers from trauma, lacks health insurance, and is working to recover while advocating for closure of the detention facility.

Donna Hughes Brown, an Irish citizen and permanent U.S. resident, was released from ICE detention after nearly five months. She had been detained in July due to two misdemeanor charges from over 10 years ago for writing bad checks. Her case gained national attention after her husband testified before Congress and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem promised a review.

Donna Hughes-Brown, a green card holder who has lived in the U.S. since age 11, was detained by ICE upon returning from a trip to Ireland to visit relatives. She was held for nearly 5 months over two overdrawn checks totaling less than $80 that she had written over 10 years prior. She was released last week and stated she will not visit Ireland again until becoming a full U.S. citizen due to fear of deportation.

U.S. Army veteran Zahid Chaudhry, a green card holder and disabled veteran who has lived in the U.S. for 25 years, was released from ICE detention at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma after more than three months. A federal judge ordered his release following a habeas hearing on December 22, 2025, calling his detention "flat out wrong." Chaudhry had been detained since August 2025 after being taken into custody at a citizenship interview, during which time he was separated from his wife and two young children and lost vision due to untreated thyroid eye disease. The government acknowledged it had cited an incorrect statute but maintains the detention was lawful, and the case continues before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Donna Hughes-Brown, a 59-year-old Irish green card holder, was detained by ICE for nearly five months after arriving in Chicago from Dublin in July. She was arrested on moral turpitude charges related to two bounced checks totaling less than $80 from over a decade prior, cited under President Trump's amendments to immigration law. Hughes-Brown was initially held at the airport before being transferred to Campbell County Detention Centre in Kentucky, where she reported poor conditions. She was eventually released and reunited with her family in Missouri, avoiding deportation. Hughes-Brown stated she would not return to Ireland until becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen.

A man who entered the US in 1989 and has four adult US citizen children was detained by ICE on December 16, 2025. An Immigration Judge had granted him cancellation of removal in March 2023, but the Board of Immigration Appeals reversed that decision in April 2026 and ordered his removal to Mexico. The court denied his habeas petition, finding his detention lawful under federal immigration law.

Jair Celis, a 29-year-old Utah father and soccer coach, was detained by ICE during his final green card interview despite being married to a U.S. citizen. The Department of Homeland Security posted on social media claiming Celis had a history of child sexual abuse, referencing sealed juvenile court records from when he was a minor. His attorneys plan to sue DHS for libel, arguing that juvenile cases are civil proceedings that cannot be used as convictions and should not be publicly disclosed.