Human Impact Project

Jesus Hernandez, a single father of six children including two U.S. Marines, was detained by ICE on May 12, 2026, despite having spent seven years in immigration court proceedings to pursue legal citizenship. His family launched a fundraising campaign to secure legal representation, pay an immigration bond, and cover household expenses during his detention. The family believes he has a strong case to remain in the United States.

A long-term U.S. resident who has resided in the United States since 1999 was detained by immigration authorities on May 12, 2026, and had not received a bond hearing. The court converted his motion for temporary restraining order to a preliminary injunction motion and ordered that he be provided an individualized bond hearing within ten days, but denied his request for immediate release.

A Mexican agricultural worker first entered the United States in 1989 and most recently in 2000. He has lived in Napa, California with his wife, a U.S. permanent resident, and four U.S. citizen children, working as an agricultural worker. He was arrested by DHS in April 2016 and placed in removal proceedings under INA § 240; he was released on bond by an immigration judge that same year. In 2017, he filed an EOIR-42B application for cancellation of removal, noting his youngest son's emotional and behavioral health problems and the hardship his family would experience upon his removal. On May 12, 2026, he was detained by ICE without a pre-detention hearing and taken to the ICE Detention Facility at 630 Sansome Street in San Francisco. He filed a habeas corpus petition and motion for temporary restraining order seeking release and an injunction preventing re-detention without a hearing. On May 21, 2026, the federal court granted a preliminary injunction, finding that he has serious questions going to the merits of his Fifth Amendment due process claim and that he is likely to suffer irreparable harm. The court ordered that he cannot be re-detained without notice and a pre-deprivation hearing before a neutral immigration judge at which the government must establish by clear and convincing evidence that re-detention is warranted.

Jennifer Santos, a Colombian national with valid work authorization through 2029, was detained by ICE after attending a routine immigration appointment in Texas on October 15, 2025. She was held for seven months and then transported while shackled at the neck, hands, and feet for 30 hours from Texas to Louisiana for deportation to Honduras. Honduras did not authorize her entry, and she was returned to Texas. Her family alleges ICE subjected her to inhumane treatment and reports she was pursuing permanent residency. Her deportation was subsequently postponed, and her family is requesting she be deported to Colombia instead.

Federal agents stopped a man in Cathedral City, California and attempted to forcibly remove him from his vehicle despite his attempts to show valid driver's license identification. Agents dismissed his ID as fake and proceeded to pull him from the car. He was released only after his wife arrived with additional documentation. The man's hand was left bruised and bleeding during the encounter. The Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice reports this is part of a pattern of targeting individuals based on appearance.

Darwin Andres Gordon-Ruiz, 20, a Pittsfield High School 2025 graduate originally from Colombia, was arrested by ICE on Tuesday outside a Burger King parking lot, the same morning he was scheduled to appear at Berkshire County Superior Court. Witnesses described the arrest as violent and chaotic. He is currently being held at Plymouth County Correctional Facility and filed a habeas corpus petition. Gordon-Ruiz faces charges including two counts of rape and one count of providing alcohol to a minor, to which he pleaded not guilty after his November arrest; his bail was set at $20,000.

Ramon Santoyo-Cristobal was a convicted Sinaloa Cartel trafficker sentenced to eight years in prison after law enforcement extradited him to the U.S. in 2020. Two years into his prison stint, ICE moved him into deportation proceedings.

Juan Benitez-Ortega was deported two weeks before his arraignment in Colorado on charges that he strangled his girlfriend. He was charged with second-degree assault but the case has been abandoned.

Elder Lopez-Avalos, a 27-year-old undocumented immigrant, was arrested by Nassau County police on May 10 on fire and arson charges connected to multiple vehicle fires in Freeport, including fires near a children's center parking area. ICE took him into custody on May 12 with assistance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and he remains in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

Wualter Jesus Travieso Soto, 29, was arrested February 1, 2025, and charged with felony sexual intercourse without consent with a child under 16 after the victim's aunt obtained guardianship and the girl reported multiple assaults. Soto, who entered the U.S. without authorization in 2023, remains in Flathead County jail on $200,000 bail with an ICE detainer. He pleaded not guilty at his April 9 arraignment, with his next court date scheduled for August 3, 2026.

Dinh Quy Nguyen, a Vietnamese national convicted in 1989 of attempted capital murder of a police officer and burglary, was arrested by ICE in Houston on May 5, 2026. Despite being ordered deported in 1997, he remained in the U.S. for over 15 years due to Vietnam's refusal to repatriate nationals who arrived before July 1995; he was released back into the community in 2011 after the initial removal order. He is currently held at Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, Texas, with preparations underway for his removal to Vietnam.

Carmelo Gonzalez, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, discovered his 11-year-old daughter Maria murdered in their Pasadena, Texas apartment in August 2023. Maria had been sexually assaulted and strangled; a neighbor was arrested and charged with capital murder. Gonzalez is a crucial witness in the case and had filed a U-Visa application, which is granted to crime victims and witnesses who assist law enforcement investigations. On January 26, 2025, Gonzalez was arrested for a first-time misdemeanor DWI offense and flagged by ICE. Despite his pending U-Visa application, he was taken into ICE custody upon bond release and placed on a deportation flight within a week. Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare expressed alarm, stating he had never seen a witness with a pending U-Visa application removed so quickly, and warned that such enforcement policies are deterring witnesses from cooperating in criminal prosecutions.

Miami Correctional Facility in Indiana received its first 15 ICE detainees as part of the "Speedway Slammer" agreement, a two-year contract to house up to 1,000 immigrant detainees. The facility, which sits on a former air force base near Kokomo, has a history of violence and understaffing, with over 400 violent incidents logged annually in 2019-2021 and custody staff declining from 367 in 2015 to 288 as of 2025. Indiana has spent at least $12.5 million on the arrangement but received less than $5.1 million in federal reimbursement.

Juan David Arango-Caicedo, a 28-year-old Colombian immigrant who had lived legally in the U.S. for over three years, was detained by ICE at a check-in appointment in May 2026. He became temporarily out of status when his lawyer failed to meet a deadline to file necessary paperwork following his marriage to a U.S. citizen, Nicole, despite having an approved green card petition from USCIS and valid work authorization. He was held at Moshannon Valley Processing Center while his wife pursued legal proceedings for his release. Arango-Caicedo was among 4,400 people whom federal judges determined were unlawfully detained by ICE during President Donald Trump's administration.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed rulings ordering the release of two long-time U.S. residents detained by ICE without bond, finding that mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A) applies only to noncitizens actively "seeking admission," not those apprehended in the interior years after entering the country. The court also held that detaining such long-resident noncitizens without a bond hearing violates due process protections under the Fifth Amendment. Judge Mascott dissented, arguing the statute should be read more broadly to permit detention without bond. The ruling addresses the cases of two individuals previously ordered released by federal judges in Philadelphia after more than a decade in the United States.

Carlos Lool, owner and chef of La Granja Rotisserie and Fuego Rotisserie in South Los Angeles, was detained by ICE agents on May 10, 2026, while picking up supplies for a catering event. According to witnesses, masked agents followed their vehicle and forcibly removed Lool with guns drawn, placing him on the floor at gunpoint. The detention followed a report from a former employee claiming a firearm was kept at the restaurant in violation of Lool's parole conditions. Lool, originally from Guatemala and raised in Connecticut, has a criminal conviction from approximately 30 years ago for which he has already served his sentence. He now faces deportation proceedings while his children, employees, and businesses remain in the U.S., with supporters launching a GoFundMe campaign to cover legal expenses.

José Contreras Díaz, a 30-year-old DACA recipient raised in Edinburg, Texas, was arrested by ICE agents during a routine check-in appointment in January 2026 and deported to Honduras despite holding valid DACA status. He missed the birth of his son, Mateo, while separated from his family. His attorney, Stacy Tolchin, argued the deportation was unlawful, citing a federal judge's ruling in a similar DACA case, and immigration officials agreed to facilitate his return. When he landed at Harlingen Airport on April 29, 2026, agents detained him again at the Port Isabel Detention Center rather than releasing him. He was released on May 7-8, 2026, after more than three months of separation from his family, and reunited with his wife and newborn son. Contreras said, "They detained me, sent me to a country I barely remember, and then gave me hope — the hope that I could come home, see my family, and hold my son again. Then that hope was taken away." DHS has stated it still intends to deport him, arguing DACA does not confer legal status, and he continues to face removal proceedings.

Cleon 'Uncle Lou' Williams, 62, a Jamaican-born owner of Uncle Lou's Entertainment Hall in Orlando's Mills 50 district, was detained by ICE on May 9-10, 2026, following his arrest during a raid by the Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco investigating alcohol licensing violations at his venue. ICE placed an immigration detainer on Williams due to an expired visa, and he was booked into Orange County Corrections Facility with no criminal charges filed. Williams has operated the prominent music venue since 2005 and is widely recognized in Orlando's music community for supporting emerging artists, offering free performance opportunities to hundreds of local indie bands over two decades. Community members including U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost and State Rep. Anna Eskamani expressed concern about his detention, with Frost visiting him in jail. Friends described Williams as 'a pure light and joy' and a pillar of the community, and fundraisers raised over $28,000 for his legal representation.

A Mexican citizen who entered the United States without inspection in November 1986 and lived in the country for nearly 40 years was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on May 11, 2026. The government initially claimed he was subject to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2), but the court found his detention governed by § 1226(a). The court granted in part the petition for habeas corpus, ordering respondents to provide him with an individualized bond hearing before an immigration judge within seven days, while denying his request for immediate release.

Maria Lidia Valle-Hernandez, a 28-year-old from Mexico, was removed from the United States on May 11, 2026, after attempting to fraudulently transfer her newborn baby to another undocumented immigrant to pay a debt to smugglers. She registered under a false name at St. Joseph's Hospital in Lake Saint Louis before giving birth in January 2024 and gave her hospital identification wristband to another woman to falsely claim the infant. Valle-Hernandez had been caught illegally entering the U.S. five times in August 2022 and was arrested for domestic assault in April 2026, which led to an ICE detainer. The newborn was taken into protective custody by Missouri Children's Division.