Human Impact Project

Jorge was detained by ICE agents who followed him until he stopped his vehicle on his way to work. His brother Geovanni describes him as a hard worker with no criminal record who has lived in the U.S. almost his entire life, and a devoted father whose four children depend on him. The family is raising funds to hire a lawyer to fight his deportation and seek his release on bail while he remains in detention.

Roxana Valladares, a 29-year-old Salvadoran woman, spent the night at a hospital in Homestead, Florida with her 6-year-old son, who had a fever and was struggling to breathe, before rushing to line up outside the Miami immigration court for a mass hearing. She arrived by Uber at 4 a.m. with a blanket, a change of clothes, a cooler with water and snacks, and a folding beach chair, ending up third in line for a 1 p.m. hearing amid crowds stretching around the building. Her son slept on a blanket on the sidewalk while she fanned him as they waited. Valladares said she had originally been scheduled for a hearing in September 2027 but received a notice the week before to appear instead. She said she crossed the border two years earlier to seek asylum after fleeing domestic violence and fearing for her life and her son's, and that she was told missing the hearing could result in an automatic deportation order.

A Latino man identified in court filings as J.M.R. alleges ICE agents pulled him from his car, threw him to the ground and shocked him with a Taser before detaining him. A federal judge later ruled his detention unlawful and ordered his release. He is among the named plaintiffs in a proposed federal class-action lawsuit, Guzmán v. DHS, filed Sept. 9 in U.S. District Court in Maryland challenging alleged warrantless ICE arrests.

Two 17-year-old U.S. citizens, including Luis Ochoa, were stopped by ICE agents at a stoplight in Alamo, Texas, on September 11 after pausing to observe an immigration enforcement action on their way to a Marine Corps recruiting office. One was pulled from the car, handcuffed and allegedly struck repeatedly by an agent, suffering a broken wrist, while the other, who was driving, was pepper sprayed. Both were held in ICE custody for about eight hours without their families being given information, until a local politician intervened to secure their release; DHS described the teens as anti-ICE agitators who obstructed agents.

A 16-year-old minor was chased by several ICE agents in Livonia, Michigan, and climbed onto a residential rooftop with his hands raised while an agent pointed a gun directly at him. Video shared by @metrodetroitnews shows additional agents then climbing onto the roof and taking him into custody.

Renatho Kemsley Casseus, a Haitian national described by San Diego City College as a student, was arrested by ICE agents on September 8, 2026, after unmarked vehicles boxed in his car near campus at 16th and C Street. A passenger, also said to be a student, fled on foot onto campus grounds, with agents pursuing him before retreating once they realized they had entered college property. DHS disputed that Casseus was a student, stating he entered the U.S. without authorization through El Paso, Texas, in May 2023 and was released into the country under the Biden administration, with his case now before an immigration judge. San Diego Community College District Chancellor Greg Smith denounced the incident, and officials said the college, district, and campus police do not cooperate with ICE enforcement. The college offered counseling and legal support to affected students, who organized a rally, and elected officials condemned the arrest.

Estefany Rodríguez Flórez, a reporter for Spanish-language outlet Nashville Noticias, was arrested by ICE agents on March 4, 2026, after agents surveilled her leaving home with her husband and 7-year-old daughter in a car bearing the outlet's logo, then stopped them after the child was dropped off at school. A Colombian citizen who entered the U.S. legally on a tourist visa in 2021, Rodríguez had fled Colombia after receiving threats over her reporting on militant groups and government corruption, and has a pending asylum claim along with a green card application through marriage to her U.S. citizen husband. ICE cited her as a flight risk for allegedly missing check-in meetings, though her attorney said no record of a scheduled appointment could be found. She spent 15-16 days detained in facilities in Alabama and Louisiana, reporting difficult conditions including forced chemical washing, isolation, and limited legal access, before an immigration judge granted bond and she was released after a $10,000 payment. Her attorneys argued the arrest, bond denial, and out-of-state transfer were unconstitutional retaliation for her ICE coverage, but a federal judge later dismissed those claims on procedural grounds, ruling they were improperly raised in a habeas petition and that the case was moot following her release.

A Boston federal judge ordered the release of Eleandro Almeida de Souza, a Brazilian citizen who has lived in the U.S. since 2019 with no criminal convictions and no final removal order, after finding he credibly rebutted ICE's account of his August 14 arrest. De Souza's lawyer said he was violently cut off and pinned by multiple unmarked cars without sirens or lights, prompting him to flee out of fear, contradicting ICE's report that he ran after being identified as law enforcement. An immigration judge had initially ordered him detained as a flight risk based on ICE's arrest report, but U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy later ruled that ICE was no longer entitled to a legal presumption that its official reports are truthful, citing a "litany of deception and outright falsehoods" in the agency's representations to courts, and noted de Souza's account aligned with other disputed ICE arrests, including that of Rümeysa Öztürk.

A man living on Brook Street in Croton-on-Hudson was taken into ICE custody during a 'verified immigration enforcement' operation around 7 a.m. on September 11, 2026, near a school bus stop on a school day. Village Mayor Brian Pugh said the village police department had no advance knowledge of the operation and did not participate in it. Pugh criticized ICE for conducting the operation without notifying local officials or the school district, calling it 'unnecessarily disruptive,' and said he notified the state attorney general through her Federal Action Reporting Form. He noted this is the second such case on Brook Street, after another man was taken into ICE custody in an incident reported in the village's April 19-25, 2026 police blotter and who remains in federal custody; Pugh added that village police do not enforce federal civil immigration laws and only cooperate with immigration officials in cases involving judicial criminal warrants, terrorism, or probable cause of a criminal offense.

Levi, a Honduran man who arrived in the U.S. at age 15 and has lived there for 20 years, was followed and detained by ICE after leaving a Home Depot in his work truck, despite holding a valid driver's license. He was held at the Aurora Processing Center for four days before being transferred to facilities in Florence, Arizona, and Alexandria, Louisiana, and was ultimately deported to Honduras. Levi built a family-owned construction business and is described by his community as hardworking, reliable, and kind. His wife Amanda, who works full-time supporting foster-care-impacted teenagers, and their four daughters remain in the United States without his income and support.

G.M., a lawful permanent resident from the Dominican Republic, was arrested by ICE at his home on Oct. 5, 2020, and held for 21 months without a bond hearing during removal proceedings tied to a 2015 second-degree assault conviction. He was released in 2022 after a nationwide injunction required ICE to review the custody status of detainees with certain medical conditions, though the legal questions in his case remained unresolved. His case had been scheduled for Supreme Court arguments in October, but it was dismissed as moot on Sept. 11, 2026, after New York Gov. Kathy Hochul granted him a full pardon for the assault conviction in late August, eliminating the legal basis for his detention and deportation.

Liliana and Jorge, a couple in their 30s from Michoacán, Mexico, believed they had until 2029 to find an attorney and prepare for their asylum hearing, but in mid-August 2026 they received notice that their hearing had been moved up to Sept. 11 at immigration court in Concord, California. Unable to find a lawyer on short notice, the couple appeared alone with their four children, ages 3, 6, 14 and 15. During the three-hour proceeding, Judge Michael Rapizo told Liliana her lack of evidence reflected a 'lack of diligence' rather than circumstances beyond her control, and said her claimed fear of her ex-partner, who she said is affiliated with a cartel in Michoacán, did not rise to the level of past persecution. 'I feel discouraged,' Liliana said afterward. 'We were not prepared.' An attorney with the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice said she has seen dozens of immigrants in recent weeks similarly forced into unprepared, fast-tracked hearings without lawyers.

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, who grew up in Phoenix after his family fled Egypt when he was young, were arrested after helping document abusive conditions at Hotel Bamy, a site used to detain US deportees; officers covered their heads with bags, beat them, and pushed one down a staircase while demanding to know where phones were hidden, accusing them of breaking a mirror. Amnesty International said the men are now held in an overcrowded police cell without access to their attorneys and called for their immediate release, saying the arrest was retaliation for exposing authorities' efforts to coerce deportees into returning to their home countries; the group also cited a September 5 incident in which police pointed firearms at Soliman and other deportees.

An unidentified immigrant man with an active work permit was detained by ICE agents in a West Palm Beach parking lot on September 11, according to the nonprofit Guatemalan-Maya Center. His two U.S. citizen children, one of whom is deaf, were left without a parent because their mother was already in ICE custody. The nonprofit's assistant director rushed to the scene to provide legal guidance and care for the remaining family members.

Ainara Andreina Calderon Pena, a woman from Ecuador who legally entered the U.S. through New York City in August 2022, was arrested by ICE agents at Tweed New Haven Airport on September 11, 2026. A DHS spokesperson said she is being held for overstaying her visa and will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings. State court records show no pending criminal cases or convictions associated with her, and her attorney, Janne Reisch, filed a sealed petition for a writ of habeas corpus on her behalf in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts contesting the legality of her arrest and detention. A status conference in her case was scheduled before U.S. Judge Patti B. Sarris on September 14, 2026.

Six employees of GLC Property Maintenance, a landscaping company in Highland Township, Michigan, were stopped by nine ICE vehicles while driving to work, an encounter partly captured on video by one worker. The company says all six are legally employed on H-2B visas, and agents released them after reviewing their paperwork. Owner Tyler Ralko, whose parents founded the business 25 years ago, said the employees are hardworking and pay taxes, described the stop as what he believes was a targeted raid, and has contacted an immigration attorney and U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin's office, which he says has been helpful. Ralko said he reached out to ICE for an explanation but has not heard back, and other local landscaping businesses have since contacted him, taking the incident as a reminder for H-2B workers to keep their paperwork on hand at all times.

A former Guilford County detention officer, Michael Diehl, 40, was charged with 20 counts of felony forgery after allegedly submitting fake magistrate signatures on ICE detainer forms. The investigation began after the Magistrate's Office flagged a forged document in the case of detainee Claudio Nepornuceno, filed under North Carolina's HB 153 detainer process, which allows magistrates to hold ICE detainees up to 48 additional hours before transfer to federal custody. A review of jail records then uncovered 19 more forms with allegedly forged magistrate signatures. Diehl, who had worked for the Sheriff's Office since June 2008, was fired and arrested, and the investigation is ongoing.

A Mexican man identified only as John Doe, who testified against drug traffickers on behalf of U.S. prosecutors, was arrested by ICE as soon as he returned to U.S. soil despite a federal judge's order allowing his safe return. He had been deported three times, most recently on August 1, to an area of high drug-trafficking activity in Mexico, even though an immigration judge had deferred his deportation in 2024 under the Convention Against Torture due to fears he could be tortured by the Mexican government or others acting with its consent. He was never enrolled in the federal witness protection program despite cooperating in criminal cases, and his lawyer, Anna Tijerina, says his life remains at risk from organized crime. U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher had ordered that if detained again, he be held within 200 miles of Baltimore, where he lived, with guaranteed access to his attorney.

Samuel Guzmán, a 24-year-old U.S. citizen born in Maryland who spent part of his childhood in Mexico and lives in Anne Arundel County, was surrounded and handcuffed by masked ICE agents near a 7-Eleven in Annapolis one Sunday in June while driving to his restaurant job. He said he repeatedly told officers he was born in the country, and that one officer asked him, 'If you are an American citizen, why don't you speak better English?' He was held for more than an hour alongside other Latino individuals and said he worried about a co-worker who lived nearby. Guzmán is now the lead plaintiff in a proposed federal class-action lawsuit, Guzmán v. DHS, filed September 9, 2026 in U.S. District Court in Maryland by immigrant rights group CASA. He is joined by three other Maryland residents from Prince George's, Montgomery and Wicomico counties who say they were similarly arrested without warrants or probable cause. The lawsuit alleges ICE adopted an 'arrest first, ask questions later' policy targeting people perceived to be Brown or Black immigrants without individualized assessments, and asks a federal judge to declare such warrantless arrests unconstitutional.

Pietro Graza de Lima, a gay Brazilian man who lived in Orlando, Florida for about seven years running a small services business, fled Brazil after corrupt police shot him over his sexuality, an attack that cost him a kidney and left lasting physical damage. After his student visa expired and he was arrested for drug possession, ICE detained him for nearly two years, including time at Eloy Detention Center in Arizona. On April 16, 2026, an immigration judge granted him protection from deportation to Brazil under the Convention Against Torture, but ICE continued holding him while seeking another country to deport him to. After he refused to sign a document accepting removal to Liberia, he was shackled for roughly 36 hours and flown to Liberia—where he and other detainees refused to disembark—and then to Equatorial Guinea, a country with which he has no ties. His attorney said he was denied the interview he was entitled to under CAT protections before being sent there. He and about a dozen other deportees have been confined at a decommissioned hotel, Hotel Bamy, in Malabo, where armed officers confiscated his phone on September 8, 2026 after he spoke with journalists, cutting off contact with his attorneys and leaving him unreachable since September 9, 2026.