Human Impact Project

Xavier Jordán, an Ecuadorian businessman accused by Ecuadorian prosecutors of being an intellectual author and financier of the 2023 assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on September 16, 2026 at an intersection in Doral, Florida. Video circulated on social media showing masked agents taking Jordán into custody, and his wife was also detained during the operation. His lawyer, Juan Carlos Salazar, said Jordán had applied for asylum, had a hearing scheduled for the following May, had been legally residing in the U.S., and said the Interpol red notice against him was not active. DHS said Jordán entered the U.S. on February 3, 2020 with authorization to stay until August 2, 2020, overstayed by more than six years, and cited a prior criminal record and an outstanding Ecuadorian arrest warrant. He is one of seven people charged in Ecuador in connection with Villavicencio's killing, which occurred after a campaign rally in Quito in August 2023; prosecutors allege Jordán orchestrated the assassination to protect economic interests tied to slain drug trafficker Leandro Norero. He remains in ICE custody at the Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana, as deportation proceedings continue.

Anastasio Tomas, a 16-year-old student at Chattanooga Preparatory School who had lived in the U.S. since age six, was deported to Guatemala along with his mother, Maria Vasquez-Mazariegos, and another family member after ICE arrested them on September 16, 2026 in Chattanooga. Tomas said agents stopped the family on their way to school, did not give them a chance to explain their immigration case or speak with a lawyer, and falsely told them they were being taken to see a judge. ICE said the family had received a final removal order in 2019 and had not left the country. A GoFundMe campaign, which received a $2,000 donation from Chattanooga Prep's founders, is raising money for legal fees to help Tomas return to finish his education.

A Venezuelan legal permanent resident who operates a food truck with his son in Miami-Dade was repeatedly confronted by a man posing as a high-ranking ICE official, according to a federal complaint. Jonathan Christian Gonzalez Reyes, a 45-year-old Colombian national, allegedly used a badge, firearm, and a vehicle equipped with police-style lights to convince the victim he worked for ICE, then offered to help with immigration issues in exchange for money. When the victim refused, Gonzalez Reyes allegedly threatened to plant drugs in the food truck and pistol-whip the operator's son, prompting the victim to call police. He was later identified through a photo lineup and vehicle registration records, and has been charged with falsely impersonating a federal officer.

Cece Mokua, a 29-year-old pregnant Kenyan asylum applicant living in Spokane with her husband, Humphrey Oyoo, and their 1-year-old son, was detained by ICE agents while attending what she believed was a scheduled asylum interview with USCIS in Tukwila, WA, after the couple traveled five hours from Spokane. While Oyoo was delayed at a ground-floor metal detector with their child's stroller, Mokua was called upstairs, led into a separate room by an unidentified officer who did not show documents, and taken out a back door; Oyoo waited for hours unaware she had already been transferred to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma. She said she experienced contractions and a migraine in custody, was given only a doctor's note for a bottom bunk, and was released after roughly 36 hours without explanation for either her detention or release. She remains in deportation proceedings with an ankle monitor and a scheduled ICE check-in in Spokane; ICE has since pointed to a 2023 traffic stop in which she was charged with driving under the influence as a basis for the arrest. Mokua came to the U.S. legally as a teenager fleeing female genital mutilation but later fell out of legal status. Supporters, including the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and Defend Migrants Alliance, said ICE has used USCIS appointments as a basis for similar arrests in other cases.

Ydienays Dariana Dominguez, 26, and her six-year-old daughter Zoeh were detained by ICE agents during what the family believed was a routine immigration check-in in Charlotte. The family had lived in the U.S. since 2024, where Ydienays's husband Anderson works as a barber, Ydienays worked at a warehouse, and Zoeh had just started first grade at Sugar Creek Charter School. Their removal order stemmed from a July 9 virtual immigration hearing that a judge failed to attend, after which an advisor who was supposed to file an appeal never submitted it. Anderson said an ICE officer initially indicated the pair would be transferred to Texas, but he later learned they had been deported to Venezuela before their attorney could file a motion to reopen the case, and he said he could not reach his wife or daughter for nearly two days. Anderson started a GoFundMe to help the family rebuild, and advocacy group Siembra NC organized a press conference, with State Rep. Julia Greenfield saying the family did not receive due process before being removed.

ICE agents from the New Orleans field office arrested 13 suspected undocumented immigrants in Marshall County, Alabama, including 10 Haitian nationals and three Guatemalans. The operation, assisted by the Marshall County Sheriff's Office, Albertville Police Department and Guntersville Police Department, marked the first arrests of Haitian nationals in the area since the Trump administration ended Temporary Protected Status for Haiti in July. An ICE spokesperson described the arrests as 'standard daily enforcement,' and Sheriff Phil Sims said the number of arrests was typical for monthly operations, though the presence of Haitian nationals was notable. Marshall County is home to more than 700 Haitians, many drawn by jobs at local chicken plants.

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.

Sergio Ivan Chaparro Ayala, a longtime shift supervisor at Oceanview Diner in Berkeley who lives in Richmond and supports two children, was detained by federal immigration agents at Oakland International Airport on August 28, 2026, while preparing to board a flight to Las Vegas for an anniversary trip with his partner, Estefani Montes. Chaparro, who entered the U.S. on a tourist visa that expired in 2020, has no criminal record and suffers from severe sleep apnea requiring a CPAP machine; he was moved between several detention facilities in California and Washington state, and Montes struggled to get him access to his medical equipment. Restaurant co-owner Will Bishop described him as friendly and well-liked by customers and coworkers. Attorneys from Centro Legal de la Raza filed a habeas corpus petition arguing his detention violated due process, and a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order ordering his immediate release and barring ICE from re-detaining him without a hearing before a neutral decisionmaker. Coworkers and community members raised more than $25,000 through a GoFundMe to cover his legal costs, and a preliminary injunction hearing was scheduled for September 15, 2026.

A woman working at El Corralón, an immigrant-owned nightclub and restaurant in Memphis, was arrested during a pre-dawn ICE raid on August 30 dubbed 'Operation Corral Light' and, due to a prior removal order, was flown to Honduras within days, reuniting there with her husband who had been deported the previous year after a traffic stop. Her four U.S.-citizen children remain in Memphis with their grandmother, who said the youngest wakes up crying for his mother while a 16-year-old has taken on helping raise the younger kids; reunification is complicated because no power of attorney was arranged and the children lack passports. The raid, initially targeting illegal gambling and a Honduran national suspected of running criminal activity, resulted in 121 arrests after agents corralled patrons and employees, checked immigration status, and zip-tied them onto buses while children screamed for detained parents. Only five of those arrested had criminal histories, and advocacy group Vecindarios 901 said it is working to identify detainees and connect families with attorneys. The ACLU of Tennessee, a state representative, and Memphis's mayor questioned whether the operation exceeded the scope of its gambling and narcotics warrants, and advocates alleged agents beat two security guards.

Laura Rojas Ortiz, a 21-year-old mother, has been detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley for more than 40 days while pregnant with a high-risk pregnancy. She was detained during a mandated ICE check-in in Dallas while applying for a U visa after she and her young son were struck by a stray bullet in their neighborhood, despite regularly attending check-ins while wearing an ankle monitor. Two days before her detention, she had gone to the ER with miscarriage symptoms and was diagnosed with a high-risk obstetric condition; a physician at Dilley later determined she needed to see a specialist, but the facility has not scheduled the consultation. Now approaching her third trimester, she reports persistent abdominal pain and bleeding and says she has not received an ultrasound, blood tests, or an OB-GYN visit. Her mother, Paola, said facility staff moved her to a medical room during a congressional visit and removed her afterward, and that her toddler son, who is lactose intolerant, was given whole milk at the facility. The advocacy group Each Step Home has provided commissary support so she can buy food for her children.

Arelys Barahona-Martinez, a 40-year-old Honduran national, was detained by ICE on June 10 during a routine, scheduled check-in appointment at an ICE office in Dallas, where she had checked in without incident for years. She was transferred to a detention facility in Oklahoma and faces deportation under a removal order issued in 2005, after having entered the U.S. without authorization more than 20 years ago and again in 2018, reportedly to seek medical care for her son. She is married to retired Staff Sergeant Wilmer Trujillo, who served 20 years in the U.S. Army and Texas National Guard with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan; the couple's household includes his daughters and her 20-year-old son, a U.S. citizen with neurofibromatosis. Trujillo says she has no criminal record and that they have been working with an attorney to correct her immigration status. Her attorney argues she is eligible for permanent residency through marriage to a U.S. citizen and may qualify for a parole-in-place program for military families, though USCIS rejected her application in November 2024. She was later granted bond but remains in custody pending payment; advocates say she is one of at least 52 parents and spouses of active-duty service members detained since the administration took office.

Daniel Yunsan Acosta, a 23-year-old Panamanian asylum seeker who works for his U.S. citizen sister's cleaning business, was pulled over by ICE agents in unmarked vehicles while driving home after dropping his nephew at school in Anchorage's Midtown neighborhood. Agents handcuffed him, placed him in their vehicle, then released him with instructions to report to the ICE office three days later, where he was required to download a check-in app requiring weekly facial verification. Yunsan Acosta, who fled gang extortion and threats in Panama and has no criminal history, said he complies out of fear of being detained and transferred to the ICE Northwest Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington while his asylum case, with a hearing scheduled for December 2027, remains pending.

Edgar Martinez, 33, was detained by ICE outside his West Phoenix home near 83rd Avenue and Lower Buckeye Road after agents allegedly posing as electricians cut power to his house to lure him outside. His partner, Marisol Lopez, said the agents wore construction-style vests, tampered with the exterior electrical box, never identified themselves or showed a warrant, and pinned Martinez to the ground before detaining him. Lopez said Martinez had no serious criminal record and was applying for a T visa as a victim of human trafficking, while ICE said he lacked lawful status and cited two prior domestic violence misdemeanors. He was being held at a detention facility in Florence, Arizona due to capacity issues elsewhere and was set to appear in immigration court. His sister-in-law, Clara Armenta Aguilar, launched a fundraiser for legal fees and bond, describing him as a devoted husband, brother, and son whose wife has been with him since they were 15-year-old high school sweethearts. The family said they previously experienced the deportation of another relative in June 2019 and are praying for his return.

A college freshman and her father were detained by ICE agents on a Tuesday evening while she was on her way to college orientation and he was accompanying her. The family has a pending case with USCIS and says they were carrying up-to-date legal documentation, which agents refused to review before arresting them and sending them to separate detention centers. Relatives created a fundraiser to help cover immigration attorney fees and seek the family's release from detention.

ICE agents entered a laundromat in Lindenwold, New Jersey on September 15 without a warrant and detained customers inside, according to a social media post. During the encounter, agents maced a woman in the face while she recorded the interaction. The incident took place near an elementary school and a high school.

Johnny Jules was arrested by ICE on September 15 in Columbus, Ohio after reporting for a mandatory check-in, even though he was pursuing a green card through his U.S.-citizen wife, Lourdes Miya Dorsonne. The couple, married since 2024, has a 1-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter who Dorsonne said keep asking where their father is. Jules survived a 2022 boat capsizing in the Mona Passage that killed 11 women, was later released from ICE custody with periodic check-in requirements, and was deported to Haiti on the same flight as Augustave despite having submitted marriage-based adjustment documents to ICE.

Zach Cosseboom, a 37-year-old UC Santa Barbara employee and U.S. citizen, was pepper-sprayed by a federal immigration agent while volunteering as an observer with immigrant advocacy group SB Resiste at the Santa Barbara County Jail. Cosseboom, a 12-year Santa Barbara resident, was watching ICE agents in the jail's lobby when an agent sprayed him at close range in an incident captured on video, also hitting his wife, Ana Garcia. He was treated at Cottage Health's emergency room afterward and described feeling 'a little helpless' during the incident.

Lissette Cruz, a Venezuelan mother of three who has lived in the United States for nearly 11 years, was detained by immigration authorities in Tennessee and remains in custody while her case is processed. Her family describes her as the household's primary breadwinner and a fundamental caretaker for her children. Relatives launched the "Help Lissette Stay With Her Family" campaign on social media to raise awareness and gather community support for her release.

Rodrigo, a lawful permanent resident living with advanced throat cancer and other serious medical conditions, endured what his attorneys describe as substantial medical neglect during nearly a year in ICE custody at the California City Detention Facility. He suffered two strokes while detained, and his throat tumor grew to the size of a lemon without proper treatment. Senior Staff Attorney Victoria Petty filed a habeas petition on his behalf and secured his release, after which Rodrigo began speaking publicly about the medical neglect and dangerous conditions he experienced in ICE custody.

Miran Kostic, a 66-year-old Bosnian national living in Boise, Idaho, was indicted by a federal grand jury following an investigation by ICE Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI, with cooperation from Bosnian authorities and a UN tribunal. Prosecutors allege that as a high-level official in the so-called Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia, Kostic personally pistol-whipped, beat, and kicked prisoners, and ordered subordinates to abuse detainees as well. He is accused of lying about this conduct and concealing war crimes charges filed against him in Bosnia and Herzegovina during his naturalization process, including in applications and interviews with USCIS and the FBI. He faces charges of attempted naturalization fraud and making false statements to federal agents, carrying penalties of up to 10 years in prison per fraud count and five years for the false statements charge.