Human Impact Project

Joselyn Chipantiza Sisalema, a 20-year-old Ecuadorean public school student, was arrested inside immigration court and held at ICE's 10th-floor processing facility at 26 Federal Plaza for 10 days between June 24 and July 4, 2025. She menstruated for five of those days without access to sanitary pads; guards distributed only two pads for all women in the overcrowded cell, forcing her to remain in blood-stained clothing. She was recently freed following a federal judge's order. Her sworn affidavit is part of a lawsuit filed by immigration rights groups against ICE seeking to improve conditions at the facility, which detainees describe as severely overcrowded with limited food, water, hygiene access, and no bathing facilities.

A 15-year-old Manhattan high school student, Roger Iza, was arrested by ICE at a check-in appointment on August 9, 2025, along with his father. The pair were transported to private hotels in Louisiana and Texas where they were held incommunicado without access to phones or the internet, prevented from contacting lawyers or the outside world. They were deported to Ecuador on August 14, 2025, after just five days of detention in hotels rather than standard ICE detention facilities.

Benjamin Marcelo Guerrero-Cruz, a Reseda Charter High School student preparing for his senior year, was detained by federal agents on August 8, 2025, while walking his dog in Van Nuys. He was held at a Los Angeles detention center before being transferred to Arizona on August 26. An immigration judge granted him bond on November 17, and he was released and reunited with his family just before Thanksgiving after months in ICE custody.

Valeria Pacheco, a 21-year-old UNLV honors psychology student and president of the Español Club, was detained by ICE on Aug. 7 after landing in Denver to visit a friend before the fall semester. She had no criminal record, a valid Social Security number, work authorization, and a pending immigration case, but was held for 35 days at the Aurora ICE Processing Center. Her family and friends organized a GoFundMe that raised $8,866 to support legal fees, and an immigration judge granted her a bond hearing allowing her to return home on Sept. 10, though her legal case remains ongoing.

Yeonsoo Go, a 21-year-old Scarsdale High School graduate attending Purdue University, was arrested by ICE on July 31, 2025, outside a federal courthouse in New York following a routine visa hearing. ICE claimed her R-2 religious worker visa had expired over two years prior, but Go was released on August 5 after her attorney confirmed the visa remained valid through December 2025. Go's mother is an Episcopal church pastor in Scarsdale, and Go had been in the process of converting to a student visa at the time of her detention.

Tae Heung "Will" Kim, a Korean American green card holder who has lived in the U.S. since age 5 and whose mother is a U.S. citizen, was detained by CBP at San Francisco International Airport on July 21, 2025, upon returning from his brother's wedding in South Korea. He is a Ph.D. candidate at Texas A&M University researching a vaccine for Lyme disease. Kim was held for more than a week without access to legal counsel, his asthma medication, sunlight, or a bed to sleep in, with lights kept on continuously in his holding room, before being transferred to detention facilities in Arizona and Texas. His attorney, Eric Lee, said a CBP supervisor told him the Constitution did not apply to Kim and that deportation proceedings were based on a 2011 misdemeanor marijuana charge for which Kim had completed community service.

A Nicaraguan-born superintendent of Winooski schools, a naturalized U.S. citizen since 2018, was detained for nearly five hours at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport while returning from visiting family in Nicaragua with his U.S.-born husband. Agents questioned him about his citizenship, marriage and profession, and pressed him for passwords to his personal and district-issued devices; his husband was not told where he was being held or for how long. After the devices were searched, he was released, and his Global Entry membership was later revoked without explanation. Vermont leaders and advocacy groups are now calling for an investigation into the incident, which follows other recent detentions of immigrants in the state.

Derlis Snaider Chusin Toaquiza, a 19-year-old 11th grader from Ecuador at Grover Cleveland High School in Queens, was detained by ICE on June 4, 2025, during a scheduled immigration court hearing. He was initially held at 26 Federal Plaza in New York City in severely overcrowded conditions—confined in a room so crowded he could not lie down and forced to sleep sitting up with approximately two dozen other people. Over two days of detention at that facility, he was given only two meals total. He was then moved to a gymnasium inside the facility that was equally overcrowded with no beds, blankets, or access to basic necessities. After six weeks in a Texas detention facility, the Envision Freedom Fund posted his $20,000 bond, and he was released on July 18, 2025, to reunite with his family.

An 18-year-old Key West High School senior and wrestler was detained by immigration agents on December 2 while driving his mother's car to school and was held at the Everglades detention facility before being deported to Honduras within a week. He is now staying with his grandparents near San Pedro Sula, a place he left with his mother at age 6, and says he hopes to return to the life they built together. His mother says he had been in the process of adjusting his legal status through a petition filed by her husband, a U.S. citizen, and friends and community members have raised funds to pay for an attorney to review his case.

Derlis Snaider Chusin Toaquiza, a 19-year-old Ecuadorian asylum-seeker and 11th grader at Grover Cleveland High School in Queens, was detained by ICE on June 4 at a scheduled immigration court appearance in Texas. An immigration judge granted him release on bond, and the Envision Freedom Fund posted a $20,000 bond to secure his release. Chusin reunited with his family on Friday after a month in detention, with his legal team arguing that ICE violated his due process rights. His asylum case remains pending.

Cristian Romo-Bermejo, a former Virginia Tech student, was arrested in July 2025 following an incident while he was being treated for alcohol poisoning. He was detained by ICE due to his undocumented status and deported before his scheduled Montgomery County Circuit Court appearance on assault charges. Officials confirmed he was no longer at the Farmville Detention Center as of late 2025 and remains outside the United States, missing a subsequent court date in March 2026. Virginia Tech has confirmed he is no longer enrolled as a student.

A mother named Marisol and her 11-year-old daughter hid in their Minnesota home for two months to avoid ICE raids, surviving on donated food. When provisions ran out, the mother ventured out to purchase food for her daughter and was detained by ICE agents. The daughter, now being cared for by an activist, has a pending asylum case and is advocating for her mother's release.

Joselyn Chipantiza-Sisalema, a 20-year-old from Ecuador, was arrested on June 24, 2025, and sent to a Louisiana detention center. She was released three weeks later.

Caroline Dias Goncalves, a 19-year-old University of Utah nursing student from Brazil, was detained by ICE on June 5, 2025, following a traffic stop by a Mesa County Sheriff's deputy on Interstate 70 near Fruita, Colorado. The deputy shared information about her in a group chat used for drug interdiction efforts, which ICE agents then used to target her for immigration enforcement. Goncalves, who immigrated to the U.S. at age 7 and has a pending asylum application, was held at an ICE facility in Aurora, Colorado for 15 days, where she reported receiving poor quality food and confusing schedules, and observed differential treatment based on English proficiency. She was released on bond on June 20, 2025, and became a named plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against ICE leadership.

Job Garcia, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen and PhD student, was arrested and detained for over 24 hours on June 19, 2025, while filming an ICE immigration raid at a Home Depot in Hollywood, Los Angeles. CBP agents tackled Garcia without warning, smashed his phone, and restrained him as he attempted to document the arrest of day laborers and inform them of their rights. Garcia was released without arraignment or court date notification. MALDEF and Garcia are seeking $1 million in damages from the Department of Homeland Security through a Federal Tort Claims Act notice, citing wrongful arrest, detention based on race, assault, battery, false imprisonment, and interference with his right to document government actions.

Yunseo Chung, a 21-year-old permanent resident and Columbia University undergraduate, was pursued by ICE in March 2025 following her arrest for trespassing at a pro-Palestine demonstration on Barnard College campus in early 2025, for which she paid a fine. ICE searched her dorm room and her parents' home but did not locate her. She filed suit against the Trump Administration alleging violation of her First Amendment rights. On June 5, 2025, U.S. District Judge Naomi Buchwald issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting ICE from arresting or detaining Chung and rejected the government's motion to dismiss, noting that ICE failed to issue her a notice to appear in immigration court. Chung subsequently returned to court on May 29, 2025, seeking to consolidate the protective order while her constitutional case proceeds.

Lisandro Pantaleon Pacheco, 22, attended the University of Utah for more than two years, pursuing a bachelor's degree in Parks, Recreation, and Tourism, but had not completed his degree when ICE detained him while driving to a new job in Park City. He was transported to West Valley City and then to a county jail in Evanston, Wyoming, where his attorney says he awaits transfer before pursuing bond or a habeas corpus filing. His girlfriend, Britney Xiques, said the couple had recently celebrated their second anniversary and that Pacheco had bought an engagement ring before his detention; more than 70 supporters gathered on his family's behalf. Pacheco came to the U.S. at age 1 and was undocumented at the time of his arrest, which his attorney says followed only a traffic citation; up to eight others were detained in the same ICE operation.

An 18-year-old Milford High School student, Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, was detained by ICE agents off campus on Saturday while driving his father's vehicle. Da Silva came to the United States on a student visa in 2012 that has since lapsed, and he intends to apply for asylum. A federal judge ordered he not be moved out of state for 72 hours following a habeas corpus petition filed by his attorney.

Federal immigration authorities deported a 9-year-old Torrance Elementary School student and his 50-year-old father to Honduras after they appeared for a routine immigration hearing on May 29, 2025. Both were undocumented, and an immigration judge had ordered their deportation in September 2022, though they remained in the United States and appealed. The boy had attended the school since first grade. The boy stated he was unhappy about separation from his friends and remaining family members in California.

Sara Lopez Garcia, a 20-year-old student at Suffolk County Community College with a 3.9 GPA, was arrested by ICE agents on May 21 during a raid on her family home in Mastic. She claimed she had special immigrant juvenile legal status and a valid work permit. She was detained for over two months and subsequently deported to Colombia in August.