Human Impact Project

Jesus Verde Hernandez, a Worden man who has lived in Montana for 10 years with his partner of 14 years and three young children, was arrested on July 30 by Customs and Border Patrol without a warrant or probable cause while agents searched for another man they said resembled him. He was transported between Lewistown, Jordan, Malta, Havre, and Great Falls over 30 hours and held in the Cascade County Detention Center. Federal authorities attempted to coerce him into self-deporting himself. Chief District Judge Brian Morris ordered his release, finding the detention violated his constitutional rights and that the government had no statutory authority to detain him. The judge rejected the government's argument that Hernandez must exhaust administrative remedies, saying the process was "deficient from the outset." His attorneys at Upper Seven Law are seeking class certification, identifying 17 people similarly unlawfully detained in the same facility.

Mario Alfonso Rivera Santiago, detained at Rio Grande Processing Center in Laredo, Texas, filed a pro se Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 against the Department of Homeland Security and the Warden of Rio Grande Detention Center. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas ordered respondents to submit their response by August 7, 2026, with Rivera Santiago able to reply by August 21, 2026. The court also ordered respondents to notify it at least five days before any anticipated transfer or removal of Rivera Santiago outside the Southern District of Texas.

A noncitizen who has resided in the United States since 2024 was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Wyatt Detention Facility in Rhode Island. The Government argued he was subject to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2), claiming all noncitizens not admitted or paroled are "applicants for admission" seeking entry. The District Court granted his habeas petition, finding the detention unlawful because § 1225(b)(2) applies only to those at the border seeking admission, not interior arrests. The court ordered his immediate release and a bond hearing before an immigration judge under § 1226(a).

An immigrant detained at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, Texas filed a habeas corpus petition. The court ordered respondents to provide information about when the petitioner entered the United States, whether the petitioner was previously apprehended and released by immigration authorities, and the status of the petitioner's immigration and removal proceedings. The court ordered respondents to file a response within 7 days of electronic service.

A Laotian refugee admitted to the U.S. in 1983 and lawful permanent resident since 1986 was detained by ICE on July 30, 2026, during a routine check-in without prior notice or opportunity to be heard. ICE officers informed him they had obtained travel documents for his deportation to Laos and cancelled his 26-year order of supervision, placing him into custody despite his attorney's notice of intent to file a motion to reopen immigration proceedings. The court granted a temporary restraining order requiring his immediate release and prohibiting his re-detention without notice and a pre-deprivation hearing before a neutral decisionmaker.

The petitioner was detained by immigration authorities and, according to the government's return, was arrested on July 29, 2026 pursuant to a Warrant of Removal (Form I-205). He filed a pro se habeas corpus petition arguing that his detention is governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), that he was not shown a warrant bearing his name at the time of arrest, and that his continued detention without an individualized bond hearing violates due process. He sought immediate release or, alternatively, a bond hearing. The government acknowledged he is subject to detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a). The court declined to order immediate release but found a bond hearing to be the appropriate remedy. The court granted the petition and ordered respondents to arrange a bond hearing before an immigration court within seven days, and denied his motion for a temporary restraining order as moot.

Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego, 51, a Mexican citizen who has lived in the U.S. since 1998, was riding as a passenger in a van driven by his boss, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, when an ICE officer fatally shot Salgado Araujo during a traffic stop in Houston's Magnolia Park neighborhood on July 7, 2026. Rojas Pliego has no criminal record and is in a common-law marriage with a U.S. citizen, with whom he has several children and stepchildren. He was detained without an individualized bond hearing at the Montgomery ICE Processing Center in Conroe, and in a sworn statement disputed ICE's account of the shooting, calling it "a lie." U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison ruled that his continued detention violated his due process rights and ordered his release, which occurred on July 29, 2026. Rojas Pliego has a pending U visa application as a crime victim and now wears an ankle monitor while his removal case proceeds.

A Nepali national filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus challenging the constitutionality of his detention in federal immigration custody. He is currently detained at the Rio Grande Processing Center. The petition names Miguel Vergara (ICE-ERO Field Office Director), Markwayne Mullin (Secretary of U.S. Department of Homeland Security), Todd Blanche (U.S. Attorney General), and the Warden of the Rio Grande Processing Center as respondents. On August 3, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas ordered respondents to file a response to the petition by August 10, 2026, with evidence from his A-file. The court directed notification to the U.S. Attorney and ordered respondents to notify the court and his counsel of any planned transfer or release.

A 46-year-old Ecuadorian national who has lived in the United States since 2003 and established community roots in Philadelphia with two U.S. citizen children was detained by DHS/ICE on July 29, 2026, after officers showed him a photograph of a different individual they were seeking. Despite his denial that he was the person depicted, officers detained him anyway at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia. The court granted his habeas corpus petition on August 1, 2026, finding that his detention without a bond hearing violated the Immigration and Nationality Act, ordered his immediate release, and temporarily enjoined re-detention for seven days pending a proper bond hearing.

A 14-year-old Brazilian girl with an expired visitor visa was detained by ICE agents on March 11 in a parking lot outside Bethel Presbyterian Church in Marlboro, Massachusetts, after a car was pulled over. Her attorney stated she was with her U.S. citizen brothers, though DHS disputed this account, claiming she was with two Brazilian men suspected of gang ties with no familial relationship to her. ICE said the men's vehicle was connected to an alleged attempted home invasion in Walpole. The girl was taken to the JFK federal building in Boston for 10 hours, then transported overnight to a children's detention facility in New York. At a hearing, Federal Judge Leo T. Sorokin expressed concern about the detention and overnight transfer, stating it was the first time in his 22 years on the bench that he had seen agents detain a juvenile solely because no appropriate person was available to release her to. He ordered her immediate return to Massachusetts, and she was reunited with her maternal aunt, a U.S. citizen, at the JFK building in Boston.

A 30-year-old Colombian citizen who has lived in the United States since March 2023, when she was admitted on a B-2 visitor visa. She filed an asylum application in June 2023 that remained pending for over one year. She has been employed since April 2024 as a Distribution Analyst with Cordiasla USA in Texas and has a partner residing in California. She has no criminal history and has been treated for depression and anxiety with bupropion medication since 2024. On July 28, 2026, while traveling for work from Houston to Ontario, California, ICE agents detained her upon her arrival at Ontario International Airport without advance notice or a pre-deprivation hearing, and confiscated her documents. She was transferred to the Adelanto ICE Processing Center where she has been held for over one week without receiving her required psychiatric medication, which her physician warned could result in serious health risks if interrupted. She filed an ex parte application for a temporary restraining order seeking immediate release from detention. On August 10, 2026, the federal court granted her application, ordering her immediate release under the same terms as before her detention, requiring return of seized property, and prohibiting re-detention without notice and a pre-deprivation hearing before a neutral adjudicator.

Ezzat Adel Abdalla Magly, an Egyptian national, is detained at the Western Tennessee Detention Facility pending removal proceedings. He filed a habeas corpus petition seeking release from custody or a bond hearing, along with a motion for temporary restraining order to prevent transfer outside the district. The court denied his motion for temporary restraining order, finding he failed to demonstrate irreparable harm from a potential transfer.

The petitioner, who had previously been released on parole in 2023 and again possibly in March 2026, was re-detained by immigration authorities on July 27, 2026. He is currently held at the Central Valley Annex Detention Facility. Government attorneys gave shifting and inconsistent explanations for the legal basis of his detention, first claiming he was subject to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(1), then changing position to argue he was held under the discretionary detention statute, 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a). He filed a pro se petition for writ of habeas corpus and a motion for a temporary restraining order, arguing that his re-detention without a pre-deprivation bond hearing violated his due process rights. The court agreed, finding the case indistinguishable from its prior rulings requiring a neutral-arbiter bond hearing before re-detaining someone previously released on parole or bond. The court ordered his immediate release under the same conditions that applied before his July 2026 detention, without additional restrictions like electronic monitoring, and ruled that any future re-detention requires seven days' notice and a pre-deprivation bond hearing.

A Nicaraguan citizen entered the United States without inspection on November 8, 2022, and was briefly detained before being released on parole with routine ICE check-ins. He filed an asylum application on August 1, 2024, which remains pending, holds a valid work authorization card, and has no criminal history. For over 43 months, he complied with all supervision conditions and DHS repeatedly determined his physical detention was unnecessary. On July 27, 2026, ICE detained him during a scheduled immigration check-in in Los Angeles, alleging no violations, no changed circumstances, and no individualized basis for custody, and providing no pre-deprivation hearing. He filed a habeas petition and TRO application arguing his re-detention violated Fifth Amendment due process rights. The Government did not oppose the TRO. The court found he demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits, irreparable harm, and that the balance of equities favored release, ordering Respondents to immediately release him subject to narrowly tailored conditions and to file a status report within five days confirming release.

A Nicaraguan man is a native and citizen of Nicaragua who was ordered removed from the United States in 2012 and appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals. The removal order became final in 2014. After 2014, he was released under an Order of Supervision and remained under supervision for nearly fifteen years. On July 27, 2026, he reported for a routine ICE check-in, where he was detained and subsequently transferred to River Correctional Facility where he remains. He filed a motion for a temporary restraining order seeking release under supervision, a detention hearing, and an injunction against removal from the United States or outside the Western District. The court denied his motion, finding that the requested preliminary relief mirrored the ultimate relief sought in his habeas corpus petition and should be addressed through standard habeas procedures rather than as an emergency TRO.

Houman Rashidy, an Iranian citizen, was detained at Torrance County Detention Facility for approximately 13 months pending removal. On July 27, 2026, U.S. District Judge Kea W. Riggs granted Rashidy's petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, ordering his release. The court found no significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future, as removal to Iran is withheld and three countries (Canada, Brazil, Honduras) refused to accept him.

An Ecuadorian asylum seeker who has resided in the United States since 2023 entered the country without inspection and filed a timely asylum application shortly thereafter. On November 19, 2025, he was served with a Notice to Appear charging him as removable for being present without admission or parole. On July 25, 2026, ICE took him into custody and transferred him to the Clinton County Correctional Facility in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, where he was held without a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b). His immigration records show no criminal history and no final order of removal. Petitioner filed a pro se habeas corpus petition arguing he should instead be detained under the discretionary provisions of 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), which entitles detainees to a bond hearing, and that his detention without such a hearing violated his Fifth Amendment due process rights. Respondents did not dispute the facts but argued his detention was lawful under § 1225(b). The Court, following the majority view among federal courts and several circuit courts of appeals, agreed with Petitioner, ruling that § 1225(b)(2)(A) applies only to noncitizens affirmatively seeking admission, not those like Petitioner who have resided in the country for years. The Court granted the habeas petition, ordered Petitioner's immediate release, permanently enjoined Respondents from detaining him under § 1225(b), and required a bond hearing before an immigration judge if he is later detained under § 1226(a).

Luis Vasquez Alvarado fled Guatemala in 2023 after being threatened by a gang and applied for asylum with his family, settling in the Las Vegas area. On May 30, 2026, he was arrested by Metropolitan Police Department; upon his June 1 release, ICE detained him without providing a bond hearing. Vasquez Alvarado filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his detention, but federal authorities failed to substantively respond and made misrepresentations about their communication with his attorneys. U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware ruled on Friday that Vasquez Alvarado was subject to mandatory detention, found his detention was erroneous and prolonged, and determined that federal authorities failed to identify any lawful authority permitting continued detention. The judge ordered his immediate release.

A native and citizen of Mexico has been present in the United States since 2018. On July 24, 2026, he was detained by immigration officials in Ocean City, Maryland and taken into custody at the Farmville Detention Center in Virginia, where he remained for over a week. He filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his classification as an "applicant for admission" subject to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2), arguing instead that he should be subject to discretionary detention under § 1226(a) with the right to a bond hearing. The federal government argued that anyone in the United States without lawful admission is subject to mandatory detention. The district court agreed with him, finding that § 1226(a) is the applicable detention scheme for noncitizens already present in the country. The court granted the habeas petition, ordering he be released from custody and provided an individualized bond hearing before an Immigration Judge within 14 days, where the judge must determine whether he poses a danger or is a flight risk.

A Guatemalan national was ordered removed to Guatemala but granted withholding of removal on September 17, 2018. She was released on an Order of Supervision and granted employment authorization by the Department of Homeland Security. She complied with all immigration requirements, including scheduled check-ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). On July 24, 2026, while attending a scheduled ICE check-in, she was detained by ICE and presented with a Notice of Removal to Mexico, which she was forced to sign. Petitioner contends she received no meaningful notice or opportunity to present a fear-based claim to challenge her removal to Mexico. ICE scheduled her removal for August 8, 2026. On August 5, 2026, the court issued a temporary restraining order preventing her removal from the United States and prohibiting her transfer outside the Central District of California pending resolution of her habeas corpus petition.