Human Impact Project

Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan man who entered the U.S. legally in 2024 through CBP One and had lived in Austin for about two years working as a DoorDash driver, was shot in the back by an ICE agent during a vehicle stop near Research Boulevard. He disputes DHS's account that he fled on foot, saying he never left his car, and no body camera footage of the encounter exists. He was discharged from Dell Seton Medical Center about four hours after being shot, still with a bullet lodged near his spine, and transferred roughly 140 miles away to the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall. His attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, says he has been denied timely surgery, given only over-the-counter pain relievers despite a fractured clavicle and partial paralysis, held in isolation, and denied consistent access to counsel; Rep. Greg Casar, who visited him, said he could lose feeling on his left side without surgery. After speaking to reporters, detention staff reportedly confiscated his communication tablet and moved him to solitary confinement. His legal team filed a federal habeas petition seeking his release and applied for a visa citing his status as a victim of violent crime, while Austin Mayor Kirk Watson and Reps. Casar and Joaquin Castro called for an independent investigation and release of body camera footage; DHS said it would investigate through Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI.

Adam Abdullah, a 31-year-old Somali auto mechanic and asylum seeker living in St. Paul with a pending asylum application, work permit and Social Security number, was arrested by masked federal agents on Dec. 12, 2025 during 'Operation Metro Surge.' Despite regularly attending ICE check-ins and having no criminal record beyond two parking tickets, he was moved between detention facilities in Minnesota, Kentucky and Louisiana over roughly nine months before being flown, shackled, toward Somalia but instead held at Guantánamo Bay's Camp Six alongside seven other Somali detainees, several also arrested in the Twin Cities. His attorney, Marc Prokosch, said calls with him were limited to five to ten minutes and possibly not confidential. Abdullah began a hunger strike over lack of information, after which he says guards beat him and placed him in a freezing solitary confinement cell; while detained, his mother died, and he says authorities denied him an international call and a request for voluntary departure to attend to her. The ACLU sued the federal government, arguing it lacks legal authority to detain immigrants overseas, and a judge allowed the case to proceed with a hearing set for October 14. Abdullah was deported to Somalia alongside eight other men, and his attorney said ICE also stopped publishing detainee location data.

Bryan Omar Sánchez, a Honduran man who had lived in Colorado for about a decade working as a gardener, truck driver, and pressure-washing business owner, was detained by ICE at his home on May 13 and moved through detention centers in Texas and Arizona. Despite a 2020 Convention Against Torture protection barring his return to Honduras and a pending asylum claim, he was placed on a nearly 22-hour flight to the Central African Republic on July 29 without his consent; one officer reportedly mocked him, asking 'Hey, Honduras, why are you going to Africa?' while Sánchez protested, 'Africa? I can't go to Africa.' Once in Bangui, he described being held in a shelter with restricted movement, facing language barriers and limited access to services, prompting Honduras' National Human Rights Commissioner (Conadeh) to demand urgent consular assistance and verification of his well-being. While detained, Sánchez represented himself in filings with Colorado's federal court, arguing he should not have been removed to a country he had never visited. U.S. District Judge Regina M. Rodríguez ruled that ICE violated his due process rights by giving him no notice or opportunity to challenge the removal, and ordered the government to return him to Colorado and release him without conditions such as GPS monitoring.

Nathan 'Nate' Samudzi, a delivery driver in Yankton, South Dakota, originally from Zimbabwe, was detained by ICE for a second time this year after reporting to the agency's Sioux Falls sub-field office, where he believed he might receive eased monitoring conditions. He was quickly transferred to a detention center and then to Minneapolis for a deportation flight, but a federal judge granted an emergency Temporary Restraining Order about 30 minutes before the flight was scheduled to depart, halting his removal. Samudzi, who holds a valid work permit and had begun the citizenship process, had been under strict GPS monitoring since a prior detention in St. Louis in February; his wife, a local school teacher, said he complied with every condition. ICE says he has been subject to a final removal order since 2006 due to a drug conviction. His legal team filed an emergency habeas corpus petition citing fear of persecution or torture if returned to Zimbabwe, a country he has not lived in since age four, and he is currently held at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Fort Snelling, Minnesota, while friends, family, and South Dakota's congressional delegation seek updates on his case.

Ahmed Soliman, a gay man in his early 30s who fled Egypt as a child and grew up in Phoenix and Tucson, had won a judge's ruling protecting him from deportation to Egypt over fears of persecution based on his sexuality and family history. Despite this ruling and a pending habeas petition, ICE transferred him from Arizona to Louisiana and deported him in April 2026 to a decommissioned hotel in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, under a $7.5 million third-country removal deal that has sent at least 66 people there since November 2025. After guards confiscated detainees' phones, police pointed rifles at Soliman and forced him to his knees when he tried to film officers and the forced removal of other detainees to Ethiopia. Amnesty International reported he was bound and beaten by police upon arrival. After speaking to journalists, including the American Prospect, about conditions at the facility, he was arrested on accusations of damaging property, then blindfolded, beaten, and pushed down a staircase before being transferred to a prison in Malabo. He and another detainee from Eritrea have since been missing for more than a week, with his attorneys unable to confirm charges against him or his location and fearing for his life, believing the arrest was retaliation for speaking to the media.

A Venezuelan asylum seeker in her mid-20s, who entered the United States legally around 2022-2023 and had lived and worked in the country for several years without a criminal record, was detained by ICE agents during an enforcement operation on August 25, 2026. She held a pending asylum application and a valid work permit. She was held at the GSA Guaynabo Immigration Center in Puerto Rico without receiving a bond hearing, despite her detention falling under a discretionary framework that entitles detainees to one. After learning she was scheduled to be transferred out of Puerto Rico, she filed a habeas corpus petition and an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order, arguing the detention violated the Immigration and Nationality Act and her due process rights. A federal court granted the temporary restraining order, barring her transfer outside Puerto Rico's jurisdiction and ordering that she receive a bond hearing before an Immigration Judge, while holding her habeas petition in abeyance pending further briefing and a government status report.

A man from Pakistan in his early 40s was arrested and initially processed and detained in Baltimore in April 2025 before being transferred to a long-term detention facility in central Pennsylvania, where he stayed nearly three months. Over the following year he was moved 17 more times, three of them back to the same Pennsylvania facility, traveling a total of 11,347 miles before he was conditionally released this summer.

Feride Bardakci, a 26-year-old Turkish national working two restaurant jobs in Jackson, Wyoming, was intercepted by plainclothes ICE agents at a START bus stop near a Target while traveling between shifts. Agents restrained her with zip ties and drove her roughly 270 miles to the Natrona County Detention Center in Casper, citing an alleged visa overstay; DHS said she entered the U.S. legally near Atlanta in June 2023 with authorization until April 2024 but stayed past that date, and officials confirmed she had no criminal record. Her employer, Teton Tiger General Manager Monica Rozzi, called her 'a friend to all of us' and 'a wonderful person,' and coworkers, community members, Jackson's mayor and the Teton County Sheriff criticized ICE for not notifying local law enforcement. The Jackson restaurant and immigrant community rallied to support her roommate, raised money for legal fees, and connected her with an attorney, prompting her to contest her removal rather than self-deport. She has since been transferred to an ICE detention facility in Aurora, Colorado.

Luis Manuel Chavarría-Galeano, a 48-year-old exiled Nicaraguan journalist who directs the interview program Café con Voz, was detained by ICE agents on September 14, 2026 while working as an Uber/Lyft driver near Orlando to supplement his journalism income. He fled Nicaragua in 2018 after police raided his newsroom, charged him, and imprisoned colleagues over his reporting critical of Daniel Ortega's government, and filed for asylum in the U.S. in June 2019, a case that has remained pending for seven years despite his holding a work permit and social security number. In 2023, the Ortega-Murillo government stripped Galeano and 93 other journalists, writers, and activists of their citizenship. His wife, Daykel Santamaría, said she received only a brief 15-second call before his phone was taken, during which he asked her to contact a lawyer and notify journalists, and she has expressed fear he could be deported back to the regime that persecuted him. He was transferred to Baker Correctional Facility and then to Krome North Service Processing Center in Miami-Dade, where he awaits an October 2 immigration hearing, with press freedom groups including the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders, Nicaraguan opposition members, and U.S. lawmakers such as Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar calling for his release and asylum review.

Matías Alejandro Pourrain, a 34-year-old Argentine soccer player for Miami United FC and youth coach, was detained by ICE agents at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on August 6 while preparing to travel with his team to a championship match. He had lived in South Florida since 2019, held a work permit, Social Security number, and Florida state ID, and said he had no criminal record. Pourrain was transferred across multiple facilities, including Krome, one in Miramar, and one in Laredo, Texas, describing being shackled for extended periods, held in overcrowded rooms, and given little or moldy food. His teams, Miami United FC and Club de Lyon FC, described him as an exceptional player and beloved member of their organizations, while his wife, Stefi Almandoz, remained in Miami during his detention. His attorney, Regina Borges, secured a bail hearing, and he was released on a $20,000 bond on August 28 after nearly three weeks in custody, opting for phone check-ins instead of an ankle monitor so he could continue coaching. DHS said Pourrain had overstayed his authorized six-month stay and disputed his claims of inhumane conditions.

Jose Rafael Alambarrio, a Venezuelan national who fled political persecution and arrived in the U.S. in 2023, was detained on January 15, 2026 during a routine annual check-in at the Dallas ICE office while applying for a green card and pursuing asylum. He had no criminal record and had faithfully attended all previous check-ins. He was initially held at Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, before being transferred without notice to an ICE facility in Mississippi. His wife, a McKinney teacher and U.S. citizen, has publicly pleaded for his release and continues to fight for him from a distance. Nine months later, Alambarrio remains in detention while appealing the denial of his asylum application, with a decision on his residency process still pending.

Samson Birhane, 47, arrived in the US as an Eritrean refugee at age 13 and lost his immigration status after a robbery conviction in 1988, though he had already served his sentence and had been regularly checking in with ICE as required. A US immigration judge had previously ruled he faced a risk of torture if returned to Eritrea, but he was instead deported to Equatorial Guinea under a $7.5 million agreement between the countries. On September 11, 2026, Birhane and fellow deportee Ahmed Soliman were arrested and allegedly beaten, blindfolded, and pushed down a staircase by police after helping document abusive conditions at Hotel Bamy, a site used to detain US deportees, with officers accusing him of property damage and seizing his phone. He was transferred to a prison in Malabo, where he has limited access to medical care and his whereabouts have been kept from other detainees.

Diego Mauricio Ospina Sanchez, a 41-year-old Colombian man, was detained by plainclothes ICE agents at an Alaska Airlines departure gate at Portland International Airport while preparing to fly home to New Jersey with his boyfriend, Kewin. Ospina Sanchez had entered the U.S. legally in October 2024, later overstayed his visa and sought asylum, but said he never received notice of his first immigration court hearing, resulting in an August 2026 deportation order. He was held at a detention center in Tacoma, where he reported poor sleep, poor appetite, psychological distress, weight loss, and received medication for an underlying medical condition, before being transferred to a facility in El Paso, Texas. Kewin, left alone at the airport, contacted a local immigrant rights hotline, received help from community members, and said he fears deportation could interrupt his boyfriend's medical treatment. The Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition said it was the first known immigration arrest this year at the airport, amid a reported spike in ICE arrests targeting travelers with expired visas.

On the morning of September 9th, two family members—an aunt's husband and her son-in-law—were detained by ICE agents outside their home as they left for work. The men had lived in the U.S. for nearly 13 years and have three children between them, one of whom was born in the U.S. They were taken to the Buffalo detention center, where they were pressured into signing voluntary departure forms, and were later transferred to a facility in Louisiana. One of the men has heart problems requiring five medications nightly, and one reported experiencing abuse in custody; family members say they are unsure if he is receiving needed medical care. ICE confiscated the men's passports, leaving the family without a way to relocate, and the wives have had only brief phone calls with the detained men since their arrest.

Molis Augustave, a Haitian immigrant pastor and DoorDash driver in York, Pennsylvania, was pulled over on September 4, 2026 for a burned-out headlight and expired registration, then handed to ICE under a local 287(g) agreement. He entered the U.S. legally in 2016 but lost Temporary Protected Status after the Trump administration ended TPS for Haitians in July 2026, despite having a pending green card application through his U.S. citizen wife, Omara Nunez, with whom he has two young children. He was transferred to a Louisiana ICE facility and moved toward a deportation flight to Haiti, but was pulled off the plane at the last minute after advocacy from his wife, church, and organizations including We Are CASA and the Haitian Bridge Alliance; 89 others on that flight were deported. Augustave says he was handled roughly during his initial detention, leaving him with ongoing neck and back pain, but has since become a source of support for other detainees, leading Bible study and counseling men who are frightened or losing hope. His wife filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court and an appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals, while local pastors and state Sen. Patty Kim held a news conference calling for his release.

A Colombian woman who entered the United States on a B-1/B-2 visa in December 2020 was detained by federal law enforcement on September 4, 2026, while attempting to board a flight at the San Juan airport. She has a pending derivative asylum application tied to a petition filed by her father with USCIS. After her detention, ICE officers at the Guaynabo office reportedly told her that if she did not accept voluntary departure, a Notice to Appear would be filed; she declined and was placed in civil immigration custody at the San Juan Staging Facility in Guaynabo. She requested a bond hearing on September 7, 2026, but before it was resolved, ICE informed her she would be transferred to a detention facility in Florida. She filed a habeas corpus petition and a motion for a temporary restraining order, arguing her detention violated her Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights and seeking to block her transfer and secure her release. The district court granted in part her TRO request, ordering that she not be transferred out of Puerto Rico and that she be given a bond hearing before an immigration judge by September 23, 2026, while denying her request for immediate release and holding the underlying habeas petition in abeyance.

Oscar Sanchez-Corona, who was brought to the United States at age 1 and attended Shawnee Mission schools, was detained by ICE agents on August 18 while pouring concrete at a construction site in Lawrence, Kansas. He was transferred through three facilities — Leavenworth's Midwest Regional Reception Center, Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana, and Camp East Montana in Texas — before being deported to Juarez, Mexico, separating him from the two elementary school-aged children he shares custody of in Johnson County. His removal was carried out through reinstatement of a prior removal order tied to a teenage misdemeanor property-damage charge and probation violations; DHS also cited a 2013 deportation after he failed to comply with a voluntary departure order and later re-entered illegally, along with convictions for drug paraphernalia possession, criminal property damage, and driving without a license, and arrests for DUI and illegal entry. A family friend, Skylar Roush, described him as "a regular American guy" who lived a peaceful life as a worker and father, and his daughter drew a picture asking ICE not to take him away.

Eduardo, known as Walter, was detained by immigration agents while resting during his lunch break at work and sent to a detention facility in Georgia. He has since been repeatedly transferred between ICE facilities, limiting contact with his family to two-minute daily phone calls. Walter, described by his family as faithful and headstrong, had a pending case for legal residency and a work permit. His wife and daughters are raising money for legal fees and a possible bond ahead of an upcoming court hearing.

A 67-year-old lawful permanent resident who has lived legally in the U.S. for about 50 years was held for eight days by CBP at San Francisco International Airport after returning from a trip to Guadalajara, Mexico, and landing in Fresno. He told the San Francisco Chronicle that agents removed him from his flight and transported him in handcuffs to San Francisco, where he says he slept sitting in a chair under lights kept on and struggled to manage his blood sugar despite having diabetes, hypertension and vision problems. His detention was reportedly linked to an old criminal record; he was later transferred to an ICE detention facility for several months before his attorneys secured his release. The case is part of a broader investigation that found 25 people were held more than 72 hours at SFO through July, 19 of whom were green card holders, despite CBP policy generally limiting custody to 72 hours.

Manuel Alejandro Nadal-Ortiz, a Venezuelan man who came to the U.S. under an asylum claim and held a work permit, was detained by ICE agents outside a Bloomington Walmart while working as a delivery driver for DoorDash, Uber and Walmart. His girlfriend, Joanna Hanner, said his mother called her crying within minutes of the arrest, and the family spent the day calling detention centers before Ortiz reached them by phone that afternoon from Chicago, saying he was being transferred to a jail in Michigan. Hanner said Ortiz had no criminal record beyond a paid speeding ticket, closely monitored local ICE activity to avoid it, and was saving money to support his father in Venezuela. As of publication, Ortiz did not appear in the ICE detainee locator and his exact location was unknown.