Human Impact Project

Aidar Nafikov, a Russian asylum seeker, has been held at the Adams County Correctional Center in Mississippi for over a year and a half while hoping to be reunited with his family. He filed a habeas petition in April challenging his detention, and though his case was argued before Judge David C. Bramlette III in June, it remained unresolved months later. His wife, Liudmila Nafikov, said his health has deteriorated in detention, including repeated bouts of strep throat and new kidney problems, and that he has struggled to get timely medical care. A DHS spokesperson denied claims of medical neglect at ICE facilities, saying comprehensive medical care is provided to all detainees.

Sebastian Jimenez Peroza, a 17-year-old Venezuelan senior at Gainesville High School who plays football, soccer and baseball, was detained by ICE agents along with his mother Antmary Peroza Barrios, stepfather, and sister Fabiana Morillo Peroza at their Gainesville apartment complex days before the school year began. The family had fled Venezuela due to his mother's activism against the government and had been pursuing asylum after their visa expired. Football coach Ashour Peera rallied community support, describing Jimenez as 'a remarkable young man' who 'lights up a room' and a teammate who checked in on others; students displayed a Venezuelan flag with his jersey number, and a GoFundMe raised more than $20,000. After two weeks at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas, Sebastian and his mother were released on $5,000 bonds each and flew back to Jacksonville, where they were greeted by his coach and classmates; his stepfather was released separately on a $6,500 bond, his location undisclosed. His sister's case remained open, with a bond hearing scheduled for Sept. 9, and ICE has not explained why the family was detained.

Ya'akub Vijandre, a DACA recipient, Filipino activist, and photojournalist, was arrested at gunpoint at his home in Texas last October by federal immigration agents and has since been held at the Folkston ICE Processing Center in Georgia. His lawyers say he was targeted because of his photojournalism and social media posts critical of the Israeli genocide in Palestine and the U.S. government's treatment of prisoners held under the war on terror. A federal judge denied the Trump administration's attempt to block him from seeking release from ICE custody.

ICE Boston arrested Leonel Santos-Diaz, a twice-deported migrant from El Salvador, during targeted immigration enforcement operations in Chelsea, Massachusetts. ICE alleged he is wanted in El Salvador on charges including aggravated homicide, human trafficking, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest, and is a suspect in an aggravated robbery investigation there. Authorities said he illegally entered the U.S. to evade prosecution. An ICE official criticized Massachusetts' 'Protect Act' sanctuary law for allegedly shielding him from arrest and deportation.

Luis Alejandro Olarte Gosling, a 19-year-old Washington and Lee University sophomore attending on a full QuestBridge scholarship, and his father Luis Felipe Olarte Lugo, 55, were detained by ICE and Border Patrol agents during a traffic stop on Interstate 95 in St. Johns County, Florida. The two were driving from Orlando to Virginia so Luis Alejandro could begin his sophomore year, having chosen to drive rather than fly due to fears about ICE activity at airports. The family are Venezuelan asylum seekers with a pending immigration court case who say they held valid work permits, attended every required appointment, and have never been arrested. Their car was towed, and both remain held at Baker Correctional Institute in Sanderson, Florida, where they have reported extreme heat and insufficient food. A GoFundMe was set up by the family to support them, and Washington and Lee University said it is 'aware of the situation and concerned for the individual and his family.'

Daniel Hidalgo-Argote was detained by ICE at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on September 2, 2026 while returning home from a work trip. He has lived in the United States for over 10 years, earned scholarships for his academic performance in high school, and graduated from Colorado State University with a degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering. He remains in custody awaiting a court date of September 21, 2026, while family and friends work with lawyers to seek his release on bond.

An 18-year-old Honduran student was traveling by bus from Houston to California to begin university studies on a scholarship when he was deported to Honduras instead. His mother is now searching for answers about what happened to her son during the trip.

Maria Rocha-Martinez, mother of U.S. Naval Academy midshipman David Garcia, was detained by ICE on Aug. 25 while attending a scheduled green card interview at a USCIS office. She had previously been granted parole in place, a protection sometimes extended to family members of active service members, and was in the process of obtaining a green card. She was transferred to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas and deported to Mexico despite efforts by Rep. Joaquin Castro, who had nominated Garcia for the Naval Academy, to intervene. DHS said Rocha-Martinez had a prior removal and unlawful reentry, but Castro described her as someone who was 'doing everything the right way' and 'raised a bright young man with good character who is serving our nation.' Castro said ICE denied his office's request to visit her in custody, citing a 48-hour advance notice requirement for congressional visits.

Rogério da Silva Lima, 42, a Brazilian carpenter and painter living on Martha's Vineyard, was taken into ICE custody with his teenage son Nycolas during their first fishing trip together near Menemsha after the U.S. Coast Guard boarded their boat and transferred them to ICE at Woods Hole. His employer, Rory Moreis, called him a 'hard worker' who was 'determined, dedicated, no limit to the hours or days to work,' while family friend Andrea James described him as 'a hard-working man' and his son as 'the kindest kid on the planet.' DHS said the pair entered the U.S. without authorization in 2021, that da Silva Lima's asylum claim was denied and his appeal dismissed in 2024, and both had been issued removal orders in 2023. His attorney, Amelia Ritenour, filed an emergency habeas corpus petition, and a community GoFundMe raised more than $17,000 for legal aid. Nycolas was released after four days into his adult brother's care, and a federal judge, Indira Talwani, later ordered da Silva Lima's release, ruling ICE had missed the 90-day statutory window to detain and remove him. He remained under the removal order and ultimately departed the U.S. unshackled on a civilian flight paid for by ICE, saying, 'It was the worst feeling in the world. I love my sons, and I did not want to leave them behind.' His sons Nycolas and Nayran remain on Martha's Vineyard to continue school and work.

Federal immigration agents, supported by state and local law enforcement, conducted an operation at China Buffet restaurant in Greeneville, Tennessee on September 2, 2026. Homeland Security Investigations confirmed that several undocumented individuals were detained, with witnesses reporting that around 10 to 14 people, some of Mexican origin, were held. Photos and videos shared by nearby witnesses showed the detained individuals sitting on a curb and in the parking lot behind the restaurant while officers stood by. The restaurant, located in the Fairgrounds Plaza, closed early and remained closed that evening. ICE described the matter as an active, ongoing investigation and officials have not confirmed an exact number of arrests.

Milo Morales, a 27-year-old Indianapolis man, was detained by ICE agents Tuesday morning while working at an east-side job site. His sister, Dulce Morales, an active-duty servicemember, tracked his phone to a parking lot off 38th Street and confronted an ICE agent who confirmed multiple people had been taken into custody at the site but would not say if Milo was among them. Because Milo has no criminal record, he was not assigned a federal identification number, leaving his family unable to track his location. Dulce described him as a hard-working man who is soon expecting a child, and said she feels disheartened as a servicemember watching her family targeted.

Loreto Javar, a 76-year-old Filipino national and green card holder who has lived in Fife, Washington since 1995, was detained by ICE during his U.S. citizenship interview in Tukwila. A retired hotel worker and married father of two who raised his family in the U.S. and had renewed his residency multiple times without issue, Javar has stage 4 prostate cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease requiring multiple daily medications. ICE alleges he failed to disclose a decades-old conviction related to a fatal altercation in the Philippines when he applied for his visa in 1995, though his daughter, Daisy Javar, says he has no U.S. criminal record. He has been held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma for more than two months, missing oncology appointments due to delayed meals disrupting his medication schedule, and has developed a blood clot. Advocates with the Tanggol Migrante Movement have pressed the Philippine consulate in Seattle and pushed for his compassionate release, gathering more than 150 petition signatures. An immigration judge extended his case to September 20, which his daughter said will cause him to miss another cancer treatment appointment.

Juan Francisco Areche Minaya, a 49-year-old Dominican citizen who has lived in Puerto Rico for more than 28 years with no criminal record, was detained in San Juan on August 11, 2026 by several masked ICE agents while waiting near a business for a friend who was picking up electrical materials for a job. He is the father of two U.S.-citizen children and the son of a U.S.-citizen mother, both of whom depend on him for financial and daily support, and he has two previously approved I-130 family petitions. His daughter, Darjeerling Areche, said he has 'been present throughout my entire life' and called his detention 'completely incomprehensible.' U.S. District Judge Gina Méndez Miró barred his transfer out of Puerto Rico and ordered a bond hearing under the First Circuit's ruling in Guerrero Orellana v. Moniz, but Immigration Judge Elvin Talavera Peraza denied him bond on August 21, 2026, citing an alleged flight risk; his habeas petition alleges the stop was racially motivated. The ACLU of Puerto Rico and the University of Puerto Rico's Immigration Clinic denounced the bond denial as part of a broader pattern of biased rulings. On September 1, 2026, the federal court dismissed his amended habeas petition without prejudice, finding he had not exhausted administrative remedies or presented a proper constitutional question.

An unnamed Cuban man detained at the GEO Group-run Montgomery ICE Processing Center near Houston, Texas, was arrested by ICE on July 22 and declared a hunger striker three days later. DHS says he entered the U.S. unlawfully in 1980, was ordered deported in 2004, and has prior convictions; he currently lacks legal representation and many of his court records are sealed. U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen authorized force-feeding, first via nasogastric tube and later approving a rare, nonconsensual surgical gastrostomy (PEG) tube procedure, with the order extended into September. DHS later said the man had resumed eating and drinking and was not being force-fed, though it remains unconfirmed whether the surgical procedure was performed. ACLU of Texas attorney Savannah Kumar and civil rights attorney Eunice Cho criticized the tactics as torturous, noting the case is likely the 19th in which ICE has sought court approval for involuntary medical procedures on hunger-striking detainees since January 2025.

An Iranian woman in her early thirties, a pro-democracy activist who said she had been threatened by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, fled Iran, crossed the Darién Gap, and arrived in the U.S. at the end of 2024, where a judge granted her legal protection from being deported back to Iran after finding she had credible fear of persecution. Despite that protection, she was deported on June 12, 2026, from Louisiana to the Central African Republic on a flight carrying roughly two dozen migrants from countries including Jordan, Armenia, Turkey, Georgia, and Afghanistan, under the Trump administration's third-country deportation agreements. Her attorney, Emily Trostle, said she was left in a country where she has no status, no connection, and no support network. She now lives in isolation, afraid to leave her apartment, and says local police have extorted her for cash. Her family said she could be killed if ever returned to Iran, and she fears execution if her situation changes once her temporary visa expires. Two other Iranian women originally scheduled for the same flight, whose asylum claims had been denied under a transit rule later vacated by a California federal court, received emergency court orders temporarily halting their removal.

The Gámez-Cuéllar family—parents Luis Antonio Gámez Martínez and Emma Guadalupe Cuéllar López, and their three sons Antonio (18), Caleb (12), and Joshua (14)—were detained by ICE on February 25, 2026, during a routine immigration check-in in Edinburg, Texas. The family had legally entered the U.S. in May 2023 through the CBP One asylum app and were in active asylum proceedings with a final hearing scheduled for September. Antonio was separated from his family and shackled during transport to an adult detention facility in Raymondville, while his younger brothers and parents were held at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley. Two of the brothers are award-winning mariachi musicians with McAllen High School's Mariachi Oro band, which has performed at the White House and Carnegie Hall and won eight state championships. After approximately 13 days in detention, bipartisan congressional pressure from lawmakers including Rep. Monica De La Cruz and Rep. Joaquin Castro, combined with a successful parole request by their attorneys, resulted in the family's release on February 28, 2026. The parents were required to wear ankle monitors and restrict travel to 75 miles from their home.

Hector "Alessandro" Negrete, who came to the U.S. from Mexico as an infant and lived in Los Angeles for decades, self-deported to Guadalajara in September 2025 after facing immigration enforcement fears under the second Trump administration. Nine months later, he received a letter at his old U.S. address demanding a $1,820,352 civil penalty for failing to comply with a 2009 deportation order he says he was unaware of. Negrete and his lawyers have twice provided evidence that he is living in Mexico, but officials have demanded additional documentation. He is one of more than 100,000 undocumented immigrants who have received DHS fines totaling more than $84 billion since the start of the second Trump administration through mid-July.

On September 20, 2026, immigration agents in Evanston, Illinois, mistook a U.S. citizen for a fugitive they were seeking and tried to handcuff him after he declined to show identification. The man was left bloodied, suffering injuries to his head, neck and teeth, and was taken by ambulance to St. Francis Hospital for treatment. Agents released him after determining he was not the person named in their warrant, and Evanston police are investigating the encounter.

A citizen of the Dominican Republic who has lived in Puerto Rico since entering the United States without inspection in 2008 was detained by law enforcement agents during an immigration enforcement operation at his place of work on September 1, 2026. He is married to a U.S. citizen, who had filed a relative petition on his behalf with USCIS that was approved in March 2023. Since his arrest he has been held at the GSA Guaynabo Detention Center and was reportedly denied a bond hearing. He filed a habeas corpus petition and an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order, arguing his detention falls under 8 U.S.C. § 1226 and that he is prima facie eligible for cancellation of removal. The court found he is likely entitled to a bond hearing under Section 1226(a) rather than mandatory detention under Section 1225, and held that he faces irreparable harm without one. The court granted the TRO, barring the government from transferring him outside Puerto Rico, ordered that he receive a bond hearing before an Immigration Judge by September 18, 2026, and held the underlying habeas petition in abeyance pending that hearing.

On Sept. 1, ICE agents raided a day laborer gathering spot near General Hart Playground in Woodside, Queens, detaining about eight men, the second such raid in three days. Workers say ICE has specifically targeted the site during a weekly mobile soup kitchen distribution, and the usual crowd of about 100 day laborers has dwindled to just a few people showing up for work. Local officials, including Assemblymember Steven Raga and City Council Member Julie Won, say the raids are part of a broader, deliberate pattern of ICE activity across western Queens in recent weeks, including incidents near 37th Avenue and 69th Street. DHS says its "Operation Rotten Apple" resulted in 2,197 arrests statewide between July 27 and Aug. 29, though nationwide data shows fewer than a third of those in ICE detention have any criminal conviction.