Human Impact Project

Immigration Judge Shana Chen denied a bond hearing to Elmer Gonzalez Altamirano, a Mexican immigrant and Bronx restaurant cook with no criminal record who has lived in the U.S. for 20 years and supports his ailing wife and five U.S.-citizen children. Chen falsely blamed his attorney for late-filed evidence and denied his bond request despite a federal judge's order that he receive a hearing within seven days. Federal courts later ruled that Chen's rushed hearings, including this one, violated the constitutional right to due process for people held at the Delaney Hall Detention Facility. On March 25, 2026, a U.S. District Court judge in New Jersey granted Gonzalez Altamirano's request for immediate release after finding that immigration authorities failed to comply with the court's earlier order to provide him a proper bond hearing.

César, a hardworking father with no criminal record, has been detained by ICE for six months, far from his wife and three young children, ages 6, 4, and 2. His wife has struggled to cover attorney fees, send him money for food and phone calls, and meet the family's basic needs while caring for their children alone. Described by his partner of ten years as responsible and dedicated, César previously worked to support his family and help others in need.

Djeniffer Ribeiro-Semedo, a 22-year-old from Cape Verde who came to the U.S. in 2015 under her mother's lawful permanent resident status, was detained by ICE agents on February 11 after appearing at Brockton District Court. While roughly 24 weeks pregnant, she was held at the Burlington ICE field office—a facility not designed for long-term detention—where her condition "deteriorated rapidly," and she was hospitalized at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, with a treating doctor determining her detention put her at higher risk of dangerous pregnancy complications. She was released from ICE custody last week after her attorney, Carl Hurvich, filed a habeas petition challenging the legality of her detention.

An ICE officer fired a weapon during a targeted enforcement operation in Roxbury when the arrest subject, Jesus Fabian Lopez-Banegas, rammed a law enforcement vehicle and attempted to run over an officer. The officer shot out the vehicle's tires to stop the threat. No injuries were reported and the subject was taken into custody. The state attorney general's office is investigating the incident.

On October 4, 2025, Marimar Martinez was shot five times by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent Charles Exum during an immigration enforcement encounter in Chicago's Brighton Park neighborhood. Federal agents claimed Martinez chased and rammed her car into an agent's vehicle. Martinez was initially charged with assault on federal law enforcement, but the government dropped the charges nearly two months later, and a judge dismissed them with prejudice. Body camera footage and text messages released by the U.S. attorney's office provided details of the incident, though Exum was not wearing his body camera during the shooting. Martinez testified before Congress in February 2026 about the incident and filed a tort claim seeking damages for her injuries.

Yebio Kifle, a 48-year-old intellectually disabled man with congestive heart failure, was detained at California City Detention Facility in Kern County in November 2025 after arrest in Sacramento. His sister reported severe medical neglect, including jaundiced eyes, swollen legs, inability to urinate, and vomiting blood. Medical experts stated he required immediate hospitalization and risked death without urgent care. In February 2026, U.S. District Judge Maxine M. Chesney issued a ruling in response to a class-action lawsuit filed by detainees, ordering ICE to provide constitutionally adequate healthcare, legal representation access, temperature-appropriate clothing, and daily outdoor recreation at the facility. The judge appointed an external monitor to oversee compliance through medical record reviews and on-site inspections.

Alejandro Villegas Angel was one of two other immigrants released by a lower court in February 2025 after the judge granted bond hearings. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals stayed Angel's habeas petition, freezing the lower court's release order and sending the case back into legal limbo pending full appeal proceedings.

U.S. District Judge Susan Bazis ordered ICE to provide Carlos Roldan Chang a bond hearing within seven days or release him immediately. Chang, 44, has lived in the U.S. since 2005 and was detained at the McCook facility under ICE's mandatory detention policy. The ACLU of Nebraska filed the civil lawsuit on his behalf after he was denied a bond hearing.

Jimmy Paz, a Georgia man with a valid work permit and no criminal record, was detained by ICE agents during a traffic stop in January despite presenting valid identification documents. Paz, who has lived in the U.S. for 21 years and was approved for temporary protected status in 2022, is being held at the ICE Processing Center in Folkston. His family expresses concern about his health, as he had a heart transplant four years ago, and hopes he will be released to continue his asylum process outside of custody.

Individuals held at the Whipple Federal Building immigration detention facility reported experiencing poor conditions and lack of basic humanitarian treatment. Detainees described their firsthand experiences of the conditions at the facility. Activists called for the closure of the detention site and demanded ICE's departure from the location.

A boat carrying a passenger who had been bused from the U.S. to Tapachula, Mexico, alongside Venezuelan journalist Roberto Betancourt capsized on February 10, 2026, near Gaigirgordub island in Panama's Guna Yala archipelago, killing two Venezuelan women and one Colombian man. The vessel, identified as the Maryi and based in Miramar, Colón province, was carrying 16 migrants; one Venezuelan survivor was pulled from under the overturned boat by local divers and later transferred to Panama City for medical care. Many of the Venezuelans on the late-January deportation bus had been told by immigration agents that it would take them to Mexico City to board a plane to Caracas; when the bus instead continued to Tapachula, some attempted the dangerous route south through Central America and Panama to reach Colombia's northern coast. A separate boat carrying migrants capsized in the same region hours earlier, with all aboard surviving.

Carlos Roberto García, 42, the former mayor of Mérida, Venezuela, now living in Butler County, Ohio, and working as an Amazon delivery driver, was detained by federal agents on January 23 during what his wife described as a routine immigration check-in. García fled Venezuela in 2017 after refusing government orders to suppress anti-Maduro protests and being removed from office and sentenced to prison by the Chavista-controlled Supreme Court; he later crossed into Texas with his family in 2022, applied for asylum, and received Temporary Protected Status along with a work permit valid through 2030. His wife, Gaby Duarte, said he has no criminal record and fears torture if returned to Venezuela, where an outstanding arrest order remains against him. His attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition seeking his release from Butler County Jail, but a February 10 hearing revealed the Department of Homeland Security is instead seeking to deport him to Ecuador, a country where his wife says he has no family, home, or support network. Duarte said, 'We are simply asking that he be allowed to defend his case where he formally requested asylum.'

A Venezuelan family who legally entered the U.S. through the CBP One program and were released on notice to appear in court chose to self-deport to Mexico after ICE arrested the husband and son. The family said ICE agents came to their home in New Mexico claiming a routine status check, detained the husband from his workplace, and took the son from a construction site. The remaining family members decided to relocate to Mexico rather than risk deportation to Venezuela.

Martin Romero was deported to Mexico while dealing with multiple serious health conditions including lupus vasculitis, hypertension, anemia, and kidney failure requiring dialysis every other day. His daughter created a fundraiser to help cover the costs of his medical treatment, medications, specialist visits, and transportation to dialysis appointments in Mexico, as the family struggles with overwhelming medical expenses.

Adelso Bravo, a 39-year-old house painter from Guatemala, was arrested by ICE agents on February 10 near his Syracuse home. After 18 days in the Batavia immigration detention center, he had a court hearing. With support from his wife, community members, and lawyers, plus $18,000 raised by friends and supporters, he was released on bond after 21 days in detention. Bravo had been living in Syracuse for over 20 years and had started his own painting business with a work permit.

High school students in Clovis, California walked out of class on February 10, 2026 in response to Trump administration immigration enforcement. The action followed the death of an ICU nurse during an immigration raid. The Clovis Police Department announced it was investigating up to six adults, including Fresno Resistance co-founder Alfred Aldrete, for potentially violating state law by inducing student truancy, though no arrests or charges have been filed. The LAPD also issued similar warnings to adults in Los Angeles who helped organize school walkouts, but only Clovis publicly named its investigation.

On February 9-10, 2026, ICE agents conducted an enforcement operation in Lower Providence Township/Trooper area of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, to apprehend Jose Manuel Cordova Lopez, a Mexican citizen who overstayed his H-2A visa. The operation involved over 20 unmarked vehicles and masked federal agents who pursued Cordova Lopez to a residential home, broke down doors, and detained him while two minors and other family members were present. Elected officials commented on reports that an ICE agent assaulted a family member, broken doors caused distress to children and families, and the operation disrupted the neighborhood and prevented school bus pickup.

Federal Border Patrol and Homeland Security agents took Jose Cordova-Lopez into custody after a hours-long operation at a home in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Cordova-Lopez, a Mexican national with no legal status, was wanted in connection with immigration proceedings and allegedly resisting an ICE officer's attempted traffic stop. Family members reported that agents broke down the door and used force, with claims that one family member was hit in the face. Children were present during the operation.

Google provided ICE with personal and financial information about Amandla Thomas-Johnson, a British doctoral student and journalist at Cornell University, in response to an administrative subpoena that had not been approved by a judge. The data, including addresses, phone numbers, IP addresses, device identifiers, credit card and bank account numbers, was turned over approximately 90 minutes after his student visa was revoked, which followed his participation in a protest against defense contractors linked to Israel's war in Gaza. ICE reportedly obtained the data under a gag order that prevented Google from notifying him, in contrast to Meta, which has notified users subject to similar subpoenas. Thomas-Johnson subsequently left the United States for Canada and later Switzerland.

Teenage brothers Ben and Sam Luhmann, legal observers from Chicago, documented federal immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota and Illinois for months. They witnessed ICE raids including one in Shakopee where agents arrested someone in front of his children, and say their observations contradicted DHS public statements. The brothers compared the scale and tactics of operations between the two states, noting Minnesota had significantly more agents deployed.