Human Impact Project

Yoelí Altagracia Bracho Casanova, a 26-year-old Venezuelan, was arrested by ICE during an immigration appointment in Jacksonville on June 13 and detained alongside her 20-month-old U.S. citizen daughter, Rebeca Peña Bracho. Despite an approved I-130 family petition and legal documents prepared by her attorney—including a stay of removal request, a cancellation of removal application, and a permanent residency petition—ICE transferred both to a detention center in Texas and deported them to Venezuela within hours. Her husband, a Cuban-American U.S. citizen, stated that ICE refused to accept the legal documents when presented at the appointment, and transferred them out of state at approximately 2 a.m., preventing the attorney from filing additional documents the following day.

Manuel de Jesus Montes-Lazo, an undocumented Honduran immigrant who had lived in Indiana for more than 15 years, was arrested by ICE in April 2026 while heading to wake an employee for the roofing business he owned with his wife, Joanna Garzes Lopez, a U.S. citizen. Despite being married to a U.S. citizen and in the final stages of a marriage-based green card petition, Manuel was detained at Clay County Justice Center and later transferred to a federal facility in South Texas. A 2025 Board of Immigration Appeals decision rendered him ineligible for bond release because he had crossed the border unlawfully. An immigration judge denied his cancellation of removal application—reportedly concluding that Joanna was well educated and could support the children without him—and facing months or years of appeals he could not afford, Manuel waived his appeal and was deported. With Manuel detained, Joanna said she struggled to keep the household and business running simultaneously, warning that the family risked losing their home, cars and business, which also threatened the livelihoods of their employees. Rather than remain in the United States as a single parent, Joanna, a devout Christian who values family unity, made the difficult decision to self-deport to Honduras with their two sons, Macario (6) and Jacob (4). On June 12, 2026, the family flew to Honduras with minimal belongings to reunite with Manuel and live with his family in Yorito. The move required Joanna to close their roofing business, sell their home in the Brookstone neighborhood of Indianapolis and their two cars, and uproot her children from school and friends after over a decade of building their life in the United States. Jacob has experienced bedwetting and nightmares since his father's arrest; Macario has taken on emotional weight beyond his years, feeling responsible for protecting his mother.

Nikolas De Bremaeker, a 38-year-old immigration attorney at Centro Legal de la Raza in Oakland, was pulled aside for enhanced screening by TSA at San Francisco International Airport on June 10, 2026. During a 45-minute search, agents examined his belongings, phones, and laptops. When De Bremaeker asked why, a TSA agent stated it was "not random" and that he was on a "watch list" but provided no further details. De Bremaeker was ultimately allowed to board his flight to Boston. The incident prompted him to cancel a planned trip to Belgium and raised questions about federal surveillance of immigration attorneys.

Ricky, a longtime U.S. resident who arrived as a young child in 2000 and lost his DACA status, was detained by ICE. He is married to an American citizen, Katya, and they have two young children in East Tennessee. His family is seeking legal assistance for a T Visa application, waiver, work permit, and other relief options to prevent his deportation to Mexico, where they say he faces safety risks.

A U.S. citizen leaving a coffee shop in Annapolis was handcuffed by federal immigration agents, denied permission to make a phone call, and held for nearly two hours. DHS said agents moved the person elsewhere for questioning because "agitators" had gathered at the location.

A Honduran woman who had lived in the United States for nearly three years gave birth to her U.S. citizen daughter in Brownsville, Texas in February 2026. Shortly after giving birth, she sought emergency shelter due to abuse by her partner, but was arrested on a misdemeanor charge in March 2026 (later dismissed) and separated from her five-week-old breastfeeding daughter, who was last seen with the abusive partner. She was taken into ICE custody at the Laredo Processing Center and remained detained during her ongoing removal proceedings. Her counsel submitted a humanitarian parole request in August 2026 citing her postpartum and nursing status, requesting electronic monitoring as a release condition, but received no substantive response from ICE. She filed a habeas corpus petition arguing her detention violated the Accardi Doctrine and Fifth Amendment because ICE failed to follow its own directive on detaining pregnant, postpartum, or nursing individuals. The court found she qualified as postpartum and nursing, that ICE had failed to conduct required weekly custody reevaluations, and that she was prejudiced by being unable to arrange care for her infant or continue breastfeeding, ultimately ordering her immediate release under reasonable conditions.

ICE agents arrested two members of a roofing crew on June 4, 2026, in the parking lot of Sabores Latinos, an Ecuadorian restaurant on North Main Street in Brockton, Massachusetts. At least six ICE vehicles surrounded the crew's van as they arrived to pick up coworkers for a job in Boston. Tony Heredia, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen and member of the crew, was handcuffed and punched three times in the face by an agent after he demanded badge numbers; he said his wrists were left swollen from the cuffs and that he is consulting an attorney about possible charges against the officer. ICE accused Heredia of spitting at an agent, which he said was saliva that flew while he was yelling, though video he posted afterward shows him spitting on an ICE vehicle as agents left. ICE said one of the arrested men had prior arrests including operating under the influence and unlicensed operation of a vehicle, with pending charges, while the other had prior arrests for driving after a suspended license and hit-and-run property damage and was subject to a final order of removal; ICE said both men will remain in custody pending removal.

An 8-year-old U.S. citizen was detained in a federally contracted shelter in Brooklyn for nearly seven months after being dropped off by relatives at the Mexico-U.S. border last November. He was sometimes held with no other children present, showed signs of depression, and turned nine while in federal custody. Despite his grandmother providing officials with his birth certificate establishing his U.S. citizenship through his mother, the Office of Refugee Resettlement did not investigate his status; the agency has said in court filings that no one informed them he was a citizen until late May. He was released only after an immigration judge ruled him a U.S. citizen and a federal lawsuit was filed, with custody transferred to New York City's child welfare agency before he was placed with his grandmother in Brooklyn within hours.

Miguel Angel Tercero Raudes, a Salvadoran national who had been living and working legally in the United States for over a decade with a 2023 Withholding of Removal court order, was detained at a routine ICE check-in on May 29, 2026. He is married to a U.S. citizen and is the father of two U.S. citizen daughters. The government has indicated plans to remove him to a third country where he has no family or legal status, in apparent violation of his court-ordered withholding of removal protection.

Marcelo Jerez, a Dominican Republic national who entered Puerto Rico in 2001 without proper admission, was stopped by four ICE vans on May 11, 2026 while driving to work, despite having no traffic infractions or criminal history. He is married to U.S. citizen Laura Maria de Jesus Rosario and is the father of a one-year-old U.S. citizen daughter with a serious medical condition requiring ongoing monitoring and care. Jerez says ICE officers had him sign documents he did not understand, which he has since tried to retract, and he is being held at the San Juan Staging Facility in Guaynabo. He filed an emergency federal habeas corpus petition seeking release, but a federal court denied his motion for a temporary restraining order, ruling he is subject to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225 and is not entitled to a bond hearing. The court ordered him to show cause by May 27, 2026 why his habeas case should not be dismissed.

In March 2025, ICE agent fatally shot 23-year-old U.S. citizen Ruben Ray Martinez on South Padre Island, Texas. Bodycam footage shows the vehicle with brake lights engaged when three shots were fired through the window. Martinez was removed from the car and restrained before receiving medical care, but died at a Brownsville hospital. The agency's involvement was not publicly revealed until nearly eleven months later. A grand jury declined to indict the agent, and ICE stated the shooting was justified. Martinez's family is pursuing a tort claim for wrongful death.

Aliya Rahman, a Bangladeshi American U.S. citizen with autism and traumatic brain injury, was detained by ICE agents in Minneapolis on her way to a doctor's appointment during Operation Metro Surge. At the intersection of 34th Street and Park Avenue, agents smashed her passenger side window and violently pulled her from her car despite her calling out that she was disabled. Four agents carried her handcuffed in a hogtied position before placing her in an SUV and transporting her to the Whipple Federal Building. At the facility, her requests for medical care were denied for more than an hour until she lost consciousness and was transported to the emergency room. She was released without charge and never cited, and subsequently filed formal complaints alleging violations of her First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendment rights, as well as human rights breaches, and pursued a tort claim for damages from unlawful detention and detention conditions.

On October 1, 2025, federal agents from Border Patrol, FBI, and ATF conducted a predawn military-style raid on a five-story apartment building at 7500 S. South Shore Drive in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood around 1 a.m. as part of "Operation Midway Blitz." Agents rappelled from helicopters, kicked down doors, and threw flash bang grenades, resulting in 37 arrests and the detention of dozens of people, including children placed in zip-ties and without clothing. Four of the detained children are U.S. citizens with undocumented parents, and U.S. citizens were also detained for hours during the operation. Residents reported missing belongings and property damage throughout the building. By May 2026, seventeen of those detained filed tort claims collectively seeking approximately $85 million in damages for their treatment during the raid.

Marvin Suazo, 43, self-deported to Honduras on May 25, 2026, after ICE agents raided his workplace and deported six of his employees earlier in the year. Suazo had lived in the U.S. undocumented since 2014, after fleeing violence and economic hardship in Honduras and seeking asylum, but a prior deportation made him ineligible to stay legally. His wife Maribel and daughters, including Samantha, who became a U.S. citizen in 2025, and 11-year-old Zhoe, remained in the country. Before his departure, the family took a final trip together, visiting Washington, D.C., Orlando and Miami, following Samantha's graduation from Yale University, with photojournalist John Moore documenting their farewell at the Miami airport.

Jose Danilo Diaz Sandoval, who had lived in the U.S. for nearly 20 years and was in the process of obtaining a green card, was detained and deported by ICE in January 2026. His granddaughter Malani, whom he was raising, is a survivor of the 2022 Uvalde school shooting. Diaz's wife is a U.S. citizen. After spending four months in Honduras, he returned to the United States following legal efforts by his family.

A U.S.-born mother of four was stopped at an ICE checkpoint in a residential area of Lafayette and detained despite presenting a valid Louisiana state ID and Social Security card. ICE agents accused her documents of being forged, handcuffed and shackled her at the ankles, and transported her to a USCIS field office for interrogation before moving her to South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile. An immigration attorney secured her release by submitting identification documents. ICE did not apologize and confiscated her Social Security card.

Etinosa Osahon, a 49-year-old Nigerian lawful permanent resident who came to the U.S. in 2002, was granted protection under the Convention Against Torture in 2012 after an immigration judge found Nigerian officials had tortured him, tying him to a tree, beating him, hanging him from a ceiling and forcing him to stare at the sun. He lived in California with his U.S. citizen wife and three U.S. citizen children and complied with ICE supervision for 14 years. In May, he was detained by ICE at what he believed was a routine check-in at the agency's Los Angeles field office and deported through Ghana toward Nigeria. After Ghanaian officials said he would be sent on to Nigeria, he fled into hiding in neighboring Togo, where his attorneys say he has contracted malaria and lacks legal status or medical care. A federal judge found the government likely acted in "flagrant violation" of his due-process rights and its own regulations by removing him without revoking his supervision or torture protections, and ordered officials to disclose his location and detail steps to bring him back.

Elvira Benitez-Suarez, 51, a Mexican-born woman who fled sexual assault and domestic violence in Mexico at age 15, has lived in Wisconsin for over 35 years and is the mother of four U.S. citizen children with no criminal record. An immigration judge previously ruled that deporting her would cause exceptional harm to her children, canceled her deportation order, and approved her green card application, leading to her release in December. On March 10, 2026, ICE agents detained her again during a routine check-in in Milwaukee after the Department of Homeland Security appealed the ruling on the final day allowed, transferring her to Campbell County Detention Center in Kentucky. Her family and local activists held a press conference calling for her release, and her attorney filed a habeas petition. After more than two months in custody, a 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling against the administration's mandatory detention policy opened the door to a bond hearing, and on May 21, 2026, an immigration judge granted her a $1,500 bond, though the government retained a 30-day window to appeal.

Rafie Ollah Shouhed, a 79-year-old U.S. citizen and owner of Valley Car Wash in Van Nuys, California, was physically assaulted by immigration agents during a September 9, 2025 raid on his business. When Shouhed questioned the operation and attempted to vouch for employees being arrested, masked agents forced him to the ground. Surveillance footage shows an agent striking him while three agents tackled him as he pleaded for an ambulance, stating he had recently undergone heart surgery and couldn't breathe. One agent pressed a knee on his neck while applying additional physical force. The incident resulted in broken ribs, an injured elbow, and post-concussive symptoms of a traumatic brain injury. Shouhed was taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center and held for 12 hours without medical attention before being released without charges. He filed a $50 million civil rights lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Dixuan 'Kai' Li, a 27-year-old Chinese woman who came to the U.S. in 2019 on a student visa, was detained by ICE officers without a warrant as she left her Arlington apartment with her husband in May and has since spent more than four months at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado. Li, who says she and her family faced religious persecution in China as Christians—her mother reportedly led a house church there for more than 30 years before later receiving asylum in the U.S.—has a bipolar disorder diagnosis and previously survived two suicide attempts related to depression. She married U.S. citizen Nathaniel Clemetson in February; he says she was pregnant at the time of her arrest and may have suffered a miscarriage in custody without adequate medical care, according to a family-run advocacy website. Li has a deportation order under appeal, and her family says legal costs have exceeded $25,000, prompting a GoFundMe campaign to help cover expenses.