Human Impact Project

A video posted online showed five ICE agents in Danbury attempting to wrestle a man's arms behind his back while he lay on the street in front of a preschool center. A masked agent pointed a canister of what appeared to be pepper spray at the man's face, warning, "You're going to get sprayed," while another agent ordered him to put his arms out. The incident occurred during a week in which ICE agents made a sharp uptick in arrests across Danbury, with local advocacy group Danbury Unites for Immigrants confirming dozens of arrests in the city.

Victor Martinez Nieto and his 5-year-old son, Liam Tadeo, were detained by ICE agents during a traffic stop in North Austin on August 16, 2026, while driving to a children's soccer game. Video showed Liam crying and clutching his handcuffed father's hands; a family spokesperson said Liam had been due to start kindergarten that week. The two were held together at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, where attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch said officials denied requests to release Liam to his mother in Austin rather than risk him being placed alone in Office of Refugee Resettlement custody. DHS said Martinez Nieto had entered near Laredo in 2022, was arrested in November 2025, and had reentered after a prior deportation. Lawmakers Joaquin Castro, Greg Casar, and James Talarico called for the pair's release and for Dilley's closure, with Castro denied a facility visit. Martinez Nieto agreed to depart voluntarily with his son, and the two were deported to Mexico, reuniting with relatives with help from the Mexican Consulate, while Liam's mother sought ways to reunite with him.

Matthew Petti, a reporter for Reason, was pulled into secondary inspection at a U.S. airport while returning from abroad with his newlywed foreign wife. CBP agents held him for roughly four hours without explanation, refusing to let him use a landline to contact a lawyer. When Petti pointed out that an American citizen cannot be held indefinitely, the agent at the desk simply replied, "We'll let you know." He was eventually cleared to enter the country but was never told why he had been detained. Petti later filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking records on his detention, and a source told him it was possible he had been flagged by an automated watch-list or itinerary alert.

Lesli Marili Samayoa, 26, was livestreaming on Facebook while driving to work in Fort Myers, Florida, to alert her community about an ICE operation when agents and Florida Highway Patrol officers surrounded her truck. Video shows agents smashing her car window, pulling her out by the hair, throwing her to the ground, and pressing their knees against her neck; the livestream cut off abruptly and became her last Facebook post. She was booked into Lee County Jail on two counts of resisting an officer, not an immigration charge, with bond set at $3,000, and was held for nine days until September 3, during which she said she lost about 16 pounds. ICE agents in Florida operate alongside local and state law enforcement under the 287(g) program, which has reportedly been used against people documenting ICE activity. She told N+ Univision, "I feel like I can't trust anyone, I feel abandoned, I feel like I can't call 911. I have anxiety, I don't want to go out; I'm terrified to go outside."

A Mexican mother experienced a tense week after ICE agents arrived at her home, an episode that culminated in an immigration court appearance. During the ordeal, her child wrote a handwritten letter pleading, "Please ICE, don't take my mom," after agents came to their house.

A 36-year-old asylum seeker from Haiti who fled the country in 2017 after receiving death threats was arrested by local police in Key West and turned over to ICE. He worked as a cook and supervisor at the Half Shell Raw Bar and was described by his manager, Bobby Kuchinsky, as "an excellent worker" and "a family man" who was the main provider for his family. Kuchinsky declined to identify him publicly out of concern for his safety while in ICE custody.

Patricia, a 19-year-old Honduran woman living in Austin, was separated from her 8-month-old breastfeeding son after she called 911 to report abuse by her boyfriend but was instead arrested on an assault charge. Prosecutors later dismissed the charge, but ICE took her into custody and held her nearly six weeks at the South Texas Detention Complex, where she suffered painful, swollen breasts and pleaded for a breast pump while her son stayed with a family friend. Patricia said she fled Honduras two years earlier after being raped by a gang member who continued to harass her, and that she had sought asylum in the U.S. Attorneys with the nonprofit American Gateways sued for her release, and U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia in San Antonio ruled that the government had violated the Constitution by detaining her without a hearing, ordering ICE to release her within two days. She was reunited with her son, but still faces a deportation order that her lawyers are appealing.

Sisi Rose, 33, a member of the Cheyenne River and Sisseton-Wahpeton tribes, was tased and tackled to the pavement by police while protesting outside the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations office in Sacramento, California. An officer allegedly shot pepper spray into her mouth and then arrested her for assault after she spit it out, while officers knelt on her neck with their body weight. She was hospitalized after the taser probe embedded into the bone of her wrist, with doctors saying it may not be safely removed for a week, and she continued to experience burning and respiratory distress from the pepper spray. Rose said she has been protesting for months against what she calls ICE's unlawful detentions of Native Americans and U.S. citizens, saying, "My kids could be snatched up off the streets, and we're from here, and that scares me."

Luis Manuel Aviles, 48, a Nicaraguan handyman who has lived in Key West, Florida for about 19 years, was detained by Border Patrol agents during a traffic stop while driving to drop his car off at a mechanic near a Publix supermarket. Family members said he holds a work permit, Social Security card, and driver's license, has a pending asylum application, and has no criminal record. His son, Navy sailor Joshua Aviles, was more than nine months into a deployment aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East and called his father a 'hardworking, humble man,' describing the arrest as heartbreaking. His wife, Argelia Aviles, said, 'He dedicates himself only to work so he can put food on the table at home. He is a good father,' while his stepdaughter said her half-brother struggled to sleep and eat afterward. DHS said having a family member in the military does not confer legal status or immunity from enforcement. An immigration judge dismissed the case against Aviles days later, and he was released from custody, with his family thanking supporters and asking for privacy. His case is among dozens identified nationally involving parents and spouses of active-duty troops.

Grace Stephanie Calero Cabanilla, 39, and her 19-year-old daughter Giulianna Mía Carriel Calero, Ecuadorian nationals who fled Ecuador three years earlier due to death threats, were detained after being treated for injuries from an Aug. 20 crash at HCA Florida Poinciana Hospital near Kissimmee. Polk County Sheriff's Office deputies, working under a 287(g) agreement with ICE, ran a database check during the crash investigation and said it showed the women had overstayed their visas, leading ICE to confirm civil immigration warrants and lodge detainers. Grace, still sedated and in a cervical collar, was handcuffed at her bedside, while Giulianna, who has epilepsy, suffered a seizure and was handcuffed in her hospital gown and led out in front of other patients and staff. Family members said agents did not identify themselves or produce a warrant, and a relative's GoFundMe and the family's attorney said both women had pending asylum claims, valid work permits, and a visa valid until 2030, though authorities said neither had a criminal history and no state charges were filed. Cellphone video of the arrests circulated widely, prompting protests and a press conference from local immigrant advocates, while Sheriff Grady Judd defended how deputies handled the situation. Fearing for her daughter's health in detention, Grace signed voluntary departure paperwork, and the pair returned to Quito, Ecuador.

Benito Miranda Hernandez, brought to the U.S. from Mexico as a baby, joined the Navy after 9/11 and served three tours during the Iraq War. His mother, Maria Miranda, said he returned traumatized and unrecognizable, later serving years in prison on felony drug and weapons convictions and probation violations. After his green card was reinstated in November 2025, federal immigration agents detained him in June as he left a reentry halfway house in Barrio Logan, San Diego, where he had completed a sentence and was trying to turn his life around. He is now held at Otay Mesa Detention Center facing possible deportation. Advocates including deported Army veteran Hector Barajas and James L. Smith II say he struggles with PTSD from his deployments, and his case is part of a broader trend of immigrant veterans facing deportation despite military service.

Noe Lux Castro, a 24-year-old Guatemalan national whom ICE said entered the United States without authorization, was arrested by Florida Highway Patrol troopers and ICE agents during a multiagency enforcement sweep in the Fort Myers area in August 2026. Authorities said Castro grabbed a trooper's Taser during the arrest and attempted to use it against the officer. He was charged with obstructing a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer with violence, and resisting an officer without violence. His arrest came amid a broader Southwest Florida operation in which ICE reported roughly 500 arrests since August 24, including people suspected of murder, child abuse, and cartel activity. One report noted a discrepancy between his listed age of 24 and a photo caption listing him as 28, which has not been resolved.

A detainee at the Krome Service Processing Center in Miami-Dade County reported that $5,382 belonging to him disappeared while staff were preparing his deportation paperwork. Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office deputies say surveillance footage showed Matthew Christian Torres, a 31-year-old security guard employed by contractor Akima Protective Services who lives in Palmetto Bay, placing the cash in a log book without recording it, then concealing it in his jacket, hiding in an employee bathroom, and later moving it to his cargo pants without ever alerting a supervisor. Torres was arrested on a charge of third-degree grand theft and booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center with bond set at $2,500. ICE said it takes allegations of staff misconduct seriously and would investigate the complaint.

Blerim Skoro, a 55-year-old Kosovo-born cab driver from Staten Island with an American wife and three children, was detained by ICE agents on August 3 while checking in at an immigration office in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Skoro says he spent years working as a confidential informant for U.S. intelligence agencies, infiltrating al-Qaeda training camps in Pakistan and helping secure convictions of members of al Qaeda, al Shabaab and Hezbollah. In November 2022 a federal judge granted him deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture after finding he faced risk of torture and death if returned to Kosovo. His wife, Susan Skoro, said he was taken away after checking in at the front desk, and his former attorney and his taxi union's executive director described him as having led a law-abiding life and performed courageous work for the United States. His attorney, Joshua Dratel, filed a habeas corpus petition arguing ICE detained him without first seeking required judicial permission, and the case has proceeded through expedited briefing in federal court.

Cristy Maryori Villafranca Trejo, 29, wife of active-duty Army Sgt. Hedár Leonel Turcios Juárez stationed at Fort Bliss, was detained by ICE agents on July 11, 2025 outside an El Paso-area Walmart as the couple's 6-year-old U.S. citizen daughter watched masked agents handcuff her. She had fled Honduras in 2016 and received a 2017 removal order after missing a court hearing she says she was never notified of; she had no criminal record and served as the family's primary caregiver, including during her husband's nine-month deployment. She was held at Camp East Montana on Fort Bliss, where she and her husband reported developing an infection, going without clean clothing for about a week, and experiencing unsanitary conditions consistent with a Human Rights Watch report citing excessive force and medical neglect at the facility. An initial deportation attempt in August 2026 was halted mid-flight after a legal appeal, but despite a pending Board of Immigration Appeals case and military parole-in-place application, she was ultimately deported to Honduras on August 24, 2026. Turcios, a naturalized U.S. citizen since 2024, said, 'She has been my everything... I'm just asking for my family to be together so I can continue with my military career,' and has continued his duties while arranging child care alone and paying for private legal representation. Rep. Veronica Escobar opened a congressional inquiry and visited her in detention, saying her heart 'breaks for her, her children and the soldier who must feel so betrayed by the country he is sacrificing for.' She is at least the seventh spouse or parent of an active-duty service member deported under the administration's immigration crackdown, according to an Associated Press tally.

Venkata Vasamsetty, a 59-year-old green card holder who moved to the U.S. from India in 1999, works as a special-needs substitute teacher with Wake County Public School System in Cary, North Carolina, and is a grandmother with a husband, two U.S.-citizen daughters, and grandchildren. Her immigration troubles began after a 2022 trip to India to care for her ill father, during which she contracted COVID-19 and remained abroad for more than seven months, prompting DHS to allege she had abandoned her permanent residency. An immigration judge dismissed that case in May after DHS missed a court deadline, but she was detained anyway during a check-in at the Charlotte ICE office her attorney said she was not legally required to attend, and was transferred to the Irwin County Detention Center in rural Georgia. Her daughter Teja, an immigration attorney, said she was shackled during the arrest while family pleaded with officers. Family and her attorney, Helen Parsonage, said her type 2 diabetes worsened in custody, with low blood sugar, weight loss, and the facility largely ignoring requests for an adequate vegetarian diet respecting her Hindu dietary restrictions. After more than two weeks in detention, an immigration judge in Georgia granted her release on a $7,500 bond, citing her long-standing U.S. ties, a home, tax returns dating back to 2012, her teaching job, and her history of never missing a court appearance or check-in.

A Chinese national entered the United States on a B-2 visitor visa in February 2026, authorized to stay until August 6, 2026. His spouse filed an asylum application in late July 2026 naming him as a derivative beneficiary. On August 24, 2026, after his visa had expired, he appeared with his spouse and children at a USCIS-directed biometrics appointment, where ICE officers arrested him. DHS issued a Notice to Appear alleging removability and detained him under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, where he remained held for about three weeks with no bond hearing yet held. He filed a habeas corpus petition and a motion for a temporary restraining order arguing his detention without a prompt neutral hearing violated due process and seeking immediate release. The court denied the habeas petition, finding he had not shown a due process violation because this was his first ICE detention and he had not yet sought or been denied a bond hearing, and denied the TRO motion as moot.

Fidel, a Guatemalan immigrant working toward U.S. citizenship, was taken into ICE custody Monday morning while driving to work in Stamford, Connecticut. His wife, Olga Guerra, a U.S. citizen, found his car abandoned in the street after friends alerted her that he was seen talking with agents. He was later able to call her from a detention facility in Colorado, expressing worry for their three children. Guerra described him as "a nice husband, a great dad" and "a very hardworking person" who always cares about his family, and has secured legal representation for him.

A man who has lived in the United States since January 2008 was apprehended by immigration authorities in Las Vegas, Nevada in August 2026 and is currently held at the Nevada Southern Detention Center in Pahrump, Nevada. He is charged with having entered the United States without inspection or parole and is not in expedited removal proceedings, is not subject to mandatory detention based on criminal charges, and has no final or reinstated removal order against him. He has a prior DUI conviction but no other criminal history noted. He has not yet requested a bond hearing before an Immigration Court. As a member of the certified class in Jacobo-Ramirez v. Mullin, he filed a habeas corpus petition asserting that he is being unlawfully detained because DHS and the Executive Office for Immigration Review have failed to comply with the court's declaratory judgment requiring bond-hearing consideration under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a). He asks the court to order his release within one day or, alternatively, to require a bond hearing within seven days.

ICE's Boston field office conducted a four-day targeted enforcement operation the week of August 24 in southern Connecticut, arresting 118 people. Officials said many of those arrested had previously been released from local jails after officials declined to honor ICE detainers. Those detained include individuals from Honduras, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, and Guatemala, with charges or convictions ranging from sexual assault against a child, child abuse, weapons offenses, drug dealing, and assault. ICE named one individual, Harvin Rivera-Guardado, in connection with the operation. An ICE field office director criticized Connecticut's sanctuary policies, including the TRUST Act, saying they obstruct enforcement efforts.