Human Impact Project

Zoilo Viloria, a 66-year-old Colombian asylum seeker who worked in building maintenance in Tacoma, Washington, was detained by ICE agents in a McDonald's parking lot while stopping for coffee on his way to work. His daughter, Stephany Viloria, said agents had been scanning license plates to check drivers' immigration status and took her father away in handcuffs after he nervously handed over his documents. She described him as a hardworking man with no criminal record, not even a traffic infraction, who entered the U.S. legally in 2018 on a tourist visa and later filed for asylum after receiving threats in Colombia tied to his work in the transportation business. He held a valid work permit and driver's license and paid taxes while his asylum case was pending. Days after his arrest, he was transferred, shackled at the hands and feet, to a detention facility in El Paso, Texas, where he has struggled with cold conditions and uncertainty about his care. His daughter posted a video denouncing the arrest, drawing attention to the case.

Since the US ended Temporary Protected Status for Haitians in late July 2026, more than 450 people have been deported to Haiti, with flights to Cap-Haïtien increasing from about once a month to once a week because the Port-au-Prince airport remains unsafe. Human Rights Watch interviewed 44 deportees after the August 20 and 27 flights and found Haitian authorities lack the funding, staff, and policies to safely receive and assist returnees amid a surge in criminal violence and hunger. Many deportees had lived in the US for years, were separated from US citizen family members, or had pending asylum claims. The US Senate is considering House-approved legislation to reinstate TPS for Haitians as litigation over the termination continues.

Fidel Cordero Garcia, a father and pastor in Woodburn, Oregon, was detained by federal immigration agents the same week as another local man, Juan Miguel Aldape. Cordero Garcia's son had joined the U.S. Marines with the goal of eventually helping his father obtain a green card, and was just one week away from turning 21 — the age at which he would have been eligible to petition for his father's residency. Family members say the timing meant Cordero Garcia was detained just before that path to legal status could open.

Renan Hédouville, a lawyer, human-rights advocate and former head of Haiti's Office of Citizen Protection (ombudsman), was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, on August 25 while attempting to update his immigration status, after Haitian authorities issued warrants accusing him of embezzling nearly $130,000 in public funds. An investigation by Haiti's Anti-Corruption Unit alleges he billed for ten fictitious business trips and funneled payments to his daughter and chief of staff, Régine Hédouville, and his son-in-law, Tex Willer Célafoi Louis, among other irregularities; Hédouville had sued the anti-corruption unit and declined to cooperate with investigators. He requested voluntary deportation and was among 79 Haitians sent back on a flight that departed Alexandria, Louisiana, on September 3, one of three such flights since the Trump administration ended temporary protected status for more than 300,000 Haitians.

A joint operation by the Lorain County Sheriff's Office, Homeland Security Investigations, and ICE swept through farmland and roadways near Oberlin, Ohio, arresting two men on criminal human trafficking charges and detaining roughly 50 other people on civil immigration violations. The yearlong investigation targeted a suspected smuggling network accused of recruiting workers under false pretenses and transporting them to agricultural businesses using shell transportation and contracting companies. Law enforcement conducted traffic stops of at least six vans and used a drone to track movement during the operation; three U.S. citizens were left behind in a Walmart parking lot after others nearby were detained. Oberlin city officials said they had no advance knowledge of the operation, which conflicts with the city's longstanding sanctuary policy limiting local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

Adnero Pinto Sebastiao, an Angolan national with a pending asylum application, was arrested by ICE agents as he returned from lunch to his job at a bank in the Lewiston area. He had entered the U.S. legally on a tourist visa in March 2024 before applying for asylum, and his immigration case remains pending. His attorneys filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus arguing the detention was an unlawful warrantless arrest lacking individualized assessment. A federal judge issued an indefinite injunction barring ICE from removing him from the U.S. or transferring him out of the District of Maine, and ordered the government to justify the detention. A DHS spokesperson said Sebastiao overstayed his visa and that a pending asylum application does not confer legal status.

Leonardo Sánchez, a 49-year-old Cuban national and lawful permanent resident who arrived in the U.S. in 2010 under the Cuban Adjustment Act and worked as a welder, was deported to Liberia and then Equatorial Guinea after ICE detained him at a gas station. Sánchez suffers from a severe abdominal hernia caused by a stabbing that once left him in a coma for 40 days, and had reconstructive surgery scheduled at Jackson Memorial Hospital before his removal. He said agents refused to remove his shackles or let him use the bathroom during the 14-hour flight, and when he refused to disembark in Liberia out of fear of being abandoned, agents allegedly threw him down the aircraft steps and knelt on his exposed hernia. In Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, doctors refused to treat him without documents, leaving him only paracetamol for pain, and he is now held with five other deportees at a former hotel under armed guard, unable to contact family. His mother and sister in Florida say a lawyer they hired to help him was a scam, and Equatorial Guinea has no asylum framework, leaving him facing indefinite detention or return to Cuba. DHS said Sánchez was ordered removed following a cocaine possession conviction and denied mistreating him.

A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled that an Ecuadorean national taken into custody by ICE agents in Keene, New Hampshire, earlier this month is being unlawfully detained because he was denied a bond hearing. The ruling found that immigration authorities violated the man's rights by holding him without the opportunity to seek release on bond.

Hasan Besharat, an 81-year-old Iranian immigrant who came to the U.S. legally on a student visa in 1974 and earned an engineering degree in Nashville, was detained by ICE during a routine check-in in late February despite decades of compliance with an order of supervision issued in 2004. He was held at the CoreCivic-run West Tennessee Detention Center in Mason, where his attorney said his health declined; he is 81, weighs barely 100 pounds, and has high blood pressure. His legal team filed multiple federal court petitions, including two writs of habeas corpus, while Tennessee State Sen. Raumesh Akbari and community members advocated for his release. Besharat, who has a U.S. citizen brother and two U.S. citizen sons, was scheduled for release after seven months in detention, with family members reportedly describing themselves as 'thrilled and ecstatic.'

Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez, a 28-year-old Colombian asylum seeker who fled domestic violence, attended a routine ICE check-in in the San Francisco Bay Area with her two sons, including six-year-old Joseph Andrey Londono Rodriguez, a Deaf student at the California School for the Deaf in Fremont. Rodriguez Gutierrez had lived in Hayward for about four years working as a cleaner and child care worker with no criminal record. Instead of a routine visit, agents fingerprinted the family, pressured her to sign an unexplained document, and detained all three despite an existing order of supervision that should have prevented deportation. Her attorney said she repeatedly pleaded with agents to let a relative bring Joseph's hearing aids and cochlear implants, but the devices were never provided, and the family was deported to Colombia within days without legal representation. The attorney said ICE misled his team about the family's whereabouts and obstructed access to counsel. California State Superintendent Tony Thurmond, members of Congress, and immigration attorneys have called for an investigation and the family's return so Joseph can resume school and ASL services. Joseph's case is one of more than 650 children detained by ICE in California during Trump's second term, 61% of whom were ultimately deported.

ICE agents surrounded and entered a factory in McCook, Illinois without a warrant, detaining two people. Video from the scene shows an agent tackling a man to the ground inside a restroom and drawing a gun. When workers inside the factory asked agents to produce a warrant, an agent reportedly yelled at them to back off before pushing people aside and removing one of the men.

Jose Diaz, a father of three and the primary provider for his family, was detained by ICE on September 3, 2026. At a court hearing on September 28, his family learned he needs $30,000 for release, in addition to legal fees. His son Luis Diaz describes him as a devoted family man and man of faith who has always supported his children's education and goals, and the family is now struggling financially and emotionally since his detention.

A driver was arrested by ICE agents in North Brunswick, New Jersey after fleeing a traffic stop, running a red light, and crashing into another vehicle on Route 130. The second vehicle, reportedly carrying the wife of East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen, sustained heavy front-end damage, and both of its occupants were taken to the hospital with minor injuries. ICE agents pursued and detained the driver following a foot chase, according to police, who said local officers only responded after the crash occurred and were not involved in the federal operation.

Luis Ivan Campos was detained by ICE while driving to work and subsequently deported on September 3rd, according to his son Christian Campos. He was not pulled over for a traffic violation or detained by local law enforcement before being taken into ICE custody. Campos was the primary caregiver for two of his children with disabilities: a 17-year-old with severe Hemophilia Type A who uses a wheelchair and was recently hospitalized, and a 4-year-old with Down syndrome who also has severe Hemophilia Type A. His family, including his wife Karina, started a fundraiser to help cover expenses and support the children following his deportation.

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.

Set Salvador Esquivel Alvarado, who came to the United States at age 12 and has no criminal record, was detained by immigration agents outside his home while preparing to leave for work. His community describes him as quiet, respectful, and hardworking. Set is the primary financial provider for his parents, including his disabled father who cannot work. He has since been transferred to the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, and his family is raising funds to cover an estimated $20,000 bond and legal fees.

Vic Bud, who has lived in the United States since 1987, is being held in ICE custody at the Northlake Detention Center under a final deportation order to Romania. He is married to a U.S. citizen and has five U.S. citizen children, ages 2 to 14, who depend on him as the family's sole breadwinner. His wife launched a fundraiser to cover rent, daily expenses, and relocation costs as the family prepares to move to Romania to stay together.

The petitioner, an immigration detainee, filed a habeas corpus petition arguing he is not subject to mandatory detention under immigration law and is entitled to an individualized bond hearing. He is currently held at the Florida Baker Correctional Institute. Along with the petition, he filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order seeking to prevent his transfer outside the court's jurisdiction while the case is pending. The court found he showed a substantial likelihood of success on his claim that his mandatory detention is unlawful. The court granted the TRO, barring immigration officials from removing him from the Middle District of Florida through September 21, 2026, and construed part of his request as a motion for preliminary injunction. The court ordered the government to respond by September 11, 2026, and consolidated the injunction request with merits review of the habeas petition.

The petitioner, born in a Philippine refugee camp to parents who fled Laos, entered the United States as a refugee at one month old and later became a lawful permanent resident. He has lived in the U.S. for over 40 years, is the primary breadwinner for his family as a certified glazier, and cares for his U.S. citizen partner, her three children, their shared five-year-old autistic son, and his elderly disabled U.S. citizen mother. After a 2002 robbery conviction, he was ordered removed to Laos in 2017 but released on an order of supervision because Laos would not accept him as it does not recognize stateless former refugees as citizens; he complied with ICE reporting requirements without further arrests for nearly nine years. In March 2026 a state court vacated his underlying conviction as unconstitutional, and he filed a pending motion to reopen his immigration case. On September 3, 2026, he was abruptly re-detained at a routine ICE check-in after Laos reportedly issued a travel document that ICE refused to show him or his attorney, and he was denied a proper informal interview before being served a removal warrant. He filed a habeas petition and TRO motion the same day seeking immediate release and protection from removal, and the court granted the TRO, ordering his immediate release, barring re-detention without notice and a hearing, and prohibiting his removal pending further proceedings, with a preliminary injunction hearing set for September 21, 2026.

Anthony Tyrone Higgs, a Bahamas national who was admitted to the United States as a lawful permanent resident in October 1976, was arrested by ICE Homeland Security Investigations agents on September 3 in Decatur, Georgia. DHS said Higgs has a lengthy criminal history including weapons offenses, grand larceny, armed robbery, domestic violence and assault on a police officer, and has been placed in removal proceedings seeking to revoke his residency status. DHS also said an investigation confirmed Higgs illegally voted in the 2020 election, and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Higgs would be removed from the country as a result. The agency noted the arrest follows a June directive instructing ICE to pursue stricter penalties, including deportation, for noncitizens who vote illegally. Higgs remains in ICE custody while removal proceedings continue.