Human Impact Project

Michael James Garcia, a 39-year-old marine engineer with a valid crew visa, was interrogated by CBP agents aboard a Viking Ocean Cruises ship docked in Charleston on October 1, 2025. Agents claimed his email was linked to child pornography but never provided evidence or filed charges against him. Without a formal criminal proceeding or due process, his visa was revoked and he received a 10-year ban from entering the United States.

Abdullahi Mohamed, a Somali immigrant with 25+ years in the U.S. and valid work authorization, was detained by ICE near Portland, Maine, and held for more than seven weeks in Massachusetts before being rapidly transferred across multiple states, including Mississippi and Louisiana, in December 2025. His family lost contact with him for about five days during the transfers, piecing together his location through a lawyer's email, a call from another detainee's wife, and a brief two-minute call from Mohamed himself at an undisclosed airport, before he was deported to Somalia. According to a Marshall Project investigation, rapid transfers of detainees have become increasingly common under the Trump administration, with transfers of five or more times more than tripling and out-of-state transfers within 24 hours more than doubling since the Biden administration's final year.

A Chicago couple was arrested during Operation Midway Blitz just eight days after getting married. The wife was deported to Mexico while the husband remained in detention in Michigan. Despite being named in a federal lawsuit alleging unlawful arrests, a judge ordered the husband's removal to El Salvador.

Catalina 'Xóchitl' Santiago, a 28-year-old DACA recipient and community organizer from El Paso, was detained by Border Patrol agents on August 3, 2025, at El Paso International Airport while traveling for work with her wife, Desiree Miller, a U.S. citizen whom Santiago married earlier in 2025. Despite holding valid DACA status since 2012—renewed seven times with her current renewal expiring in April 2026—Santiago was subjected to deportation proceedings. Originally from Mexico, Santiago has lived in the U.S. since age 8. On October 1, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone ruled that Santiago's arrest and detention violated her Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights and ordered her release from the ICE El Paso Service Processing Center. Judge Cardone found that the government presented no evidence that Santiago endangered anyone during her twenty years at liberty, including her thirteen years under DACA, and failed to articulate any individualized reason for her detention. Santiago's brother Jose said the family was deeply affected by her detention and expressed relief at her release.