Human Impact Project

Melissa Tran, a Maryland mother who came to the U.S. from Vietnam in the 1990s as a refugee with a Green Card, was deported to Vietnam after being detained by ICE in May. Though a judge ordered her release in October, she still faced deportation due to a 2003 removal order stemming from a 2001 conviction for stealing checks as a teenager. Vietnam had previously refused to accept her, allowing her to remain in the U.S. for over 20 years while completing regular immigration check-ins, until her detention during a check-in in Baltimore.

In Adelphi, Maryland, Montgomery County Councilmember Kristin Mink filmed federal agents detaining a person near a school. She said an agent grabbed her arm, touched her face and reached for her phone while ordering her to leave, and two vehicles then drove toward her before leaving the area. Mink said she is considering legal options and plans to continue monitoring ICE activity in her community.

Melissa Tran, a Vietnamese refugee and Maryland mother of five who legally immigrated in 1993, was detained by ICE for over five months following a routine check-in due to a non-violent theft conviction from 2001. After a federal judge ordered her release, finding the detention unnecessary, Tran was freed and required to wear an ankle monitor while reporting to ICE authorities. She described harsh detention conditions including poor hygiene facilities and being transported shackled across multiple states, though she now faces potential deportation despite her two decades of clean immigration status.

In Bowie, Maryland, federal agents arrested a father after he had just left home to drive his children to school in the family minivan. His three children — ages 6, 7, and 8 — were in the backseat as masked agents smashed his window, pulled him from the car, pinned him to the ground, pressed a hand on his neck, and pointed a Taser at him while he was pinned. The children later told their mother they saw agents point a gun at their father. He was detained one day after his wife said he had checked in for immigration supervision.

Job Arias-Mendoza was arrested by ICE on September 24 in the middle of an intersection in Hyattsville, Maryland, in an encounter captured on a viral nine-minute video. The footage shows officers pinning him to the pavement as he yelled 'help me' and 'I am American. I love America.' During the struggle, an agent's handgun fell from his belt onto the street; after retrieving it, the agent appeared to point the weapon toward bystanders, and another officer asked members of the crowd if they wanted 'to be next.' DHS said Arias-Mendoza entered the U.S. from El Salvador without authorization and has a prior arrest record. Neighbors held a rally near the arrest site, and Arias-Mendoza remains in ICE custody at an undisclosed location.

In Hyattsville, Maryland, federal agents pinned a man in a busy intersection, pressing against his neck, when one agent dropped his gun. After scrambling to retrieve it, the agent turned the weapon toward the crowd of bystanders. A second agent later drew his weapon and moved toward bystanders.

Alice Correia Barbosa, a transgender Brazilian woman, was detained by plainclothes ICE agents on August 23 after being pulled from a car in Silver Spring, Maryland, near Washington, D.C. Video of the arrest showed multiple men unbuckling and forcibly removing her from the vehicle while misgendering her. DHS said Barbosa overstayed her B-2 tourist visa by nearly six years and cited prior arrests for drug possession as reasons for the detainment; a senior DHS official also referred to her by her birth name and male pronouns when asked for comment. She has since been held at the Caroline Detention Center in Virginia, and ICE has announced plans to deport her. Brazilian Congresswoman Erika Hilton called the arrest unconstitutional and asked Brazil's Foreign Ministry to intervene, and the Brazilian Consulate General in Washington said it is monitoring the case and providing consular assistance. A friend, describing her as a vibrant volleyball player and beloved daughter, started a GoFundMe to help fund her legal defense.

Daniel Fuentes Espinal, a 54-year-old volunteer pastor and construction worker from Honduras, was detained by ICE on July 21, 2025, while driving to a construction job in Easton, Maryland, after purchasing supplies at Lowe's and picking up breakfast at McDonald's. He arrived legally in 2001 on a six-month visitor visa and had been living in the country on an expired visa ever since. For the past 24 years, Fuentes Espinal has been a cornerstone of his Easton community, working steadily in construction to support his wife and three adult children, and serving as a volunteer pastor at Iglesia del Nazareno Jesus Te Ama for over a decade, where he has built the congregation to 70 families. His daughter Clarissa had begun sponsoring him for permanent residence through legal channels. According to court records and his family, he has no criminal history. During his detention, he was transferred through facilities in Salisbury and Baltimore before being moved to Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana, where he reported deplorable conditions including sleeping on concrete or cold benches, lack of adequate food and sanitation, and denial of access to his heart and stomach medications. His community, congregation, and Maryland congressional representatives—including U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen, Representative Sarah Elfreth, and Representative Glenn Ivey—rallied to support him. A GoFundMe campaign raised over $50,000 for his legal expenses. He was released from ICE detention and returned home to his family in Easton nearly a month after his arrest.

Gonzalo Salas, a painter with 25+ years in the U.S., three American children, a home, and a business, was detained by ICE on August 4, 2025, after taking his seven-year-old son to a dentist appointment. He remains in custody at an ICE facility in Virginia pending a bond hearing on August 28, 2025. His family is raising funds for legal representation to fight his deportation to Mexico.

Customers at a gas station in Takoma Park, Maryland, witnessed armed, masked agents in vests marked only 'POLICE' emerge from an unmarked black Kia with generic Maryland license plates, chase a man, and swiftly handcuff him. One agent repeatedly asked him in Spanish, 'Why were you running?' then demanded to know whether he was 'legal or illegal' and asked for his papers, while the driver stood nearby holding a rifle before stowing it in the vehicle's trunk. A CNN reporter who witnessed the arrest said, 'I felt like I was watching someone being kidnapped,' and later spent days trying to locate the man.

An immigrant man who lived in Maryland with his wife and children was deported to Mexico on August 1 despite a 2024 immigration judge ruling that granted him protection under the Convention Against Torture, finding he faced likely torture or death there. The man had cooperated with federal prosecutors, providing 'substantial assistance' by testifying against defendants affiliated with Mexican drug cartels. He was detained during a routine ICE check-in in January, held for six months at a Louisiana detention facility, then deported first to Guatemala (which refused him) and then to Mexico (which also refused him) before finally being deported to Mexico again after Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Acting ICE Director David Venturella intervened to override his torture protection. A federal judge later ruled the deportation violated his due process rights and ordered his return, but as of the report he remained in hiding in Mexico.

A 27-year-old Filipino housekeeping attendant identified as C was removed from a Carnival cruise ship docked in Baltimore by CBP agents who questioned him about child sexual abuse material. Agents examined his phone but found no evidence of illegal content. C denied all allegations and was never shown evidence or charged with any crime. His visa was revoked and marked cancelled without prejudice, and he was deported to the Philippines, ending his maritime career.

A 37-year-old Guatemalan woman, identified in court papers as D.N.N., was arrested by masked ICE agents at a routine immigration check-in in Baltimore on May 7, 2025. She had previously been granted withholding of removal in 2012 after an immigration judge found she would likely face torture or persecution if returned to Guatemala, but ICE sought to deport her to Mexico as a third country. She was transferred from New Jersey to a tent facility in Texas and then to New Mexico, losing contact with her husband, young daughter, and lawyer along the way.

19-year-old Javier Salazar, a Venezuelan who came to the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor in 2022, was arrested in Maryland and detained by ICE on suspicion of gang membership based on a photo showing what may have been a toy water pistol. A Supreme Court intervention blocked his deportation to El Salvador hours before he was to be removed. His legal battle continues as the Trump administration seeks to expedite his removal.

An undocumented Maryland mother whose teenage son died of cancer while she was in ICE custody has requested deportation to Mexico. Officials did not release Martinez-Carrada in time to see her son before his death in late January, though she was permitted to attend his funeral.

Eliezar was detained by ICE on March 13 while returning home from work. After being held in an ICE detention center for weeks, he decided to self-deport to Guatemala. His wife Josselin and three children (ages 11, 6, and 16 months) were left without their sole income provider.

In Maryland, a federal agent sitting outside a church, waiting for the target of his operation to leave his house, acknowledged to journalists that they could never have conducted such an operation before the sensitive locations policy was rescinded.

Jorge Reyes Medina, a Mexican father of four, was arrested in Baltimore in March 2025 and held at the George H. Fallon Federal Building before being transferred to Arizona and then California. After a federal judge ordered ICE to return him to Maryland for a bond hearing as part of a habeas corpus petition, he was moved through Louisiana, Pennsylvania, back to Baltimore, then Louisiana and Texas again. He was denied bond, and a judge ordered his deportation on June 23, 2025; no appeal was filed.

Val, a Mexican national, was apprehended during a Department of Homeland Security check-in in March and deported under expedited removal, leaving behind his 7-year-old son Alex and partner Renee in Baltimore. The deportation is one of thousands of ICE enforcement actions in Maryland under the Trump administration—arrests surged 165% compared with 2024—causing widespread anxiety and stress among immigrant families in the region.

Elmerson Campos, a 45-year-old from Guatemala who has lived in Easton for 24 years, was arrested by ICE on February 5 and transferred through multiple detention facilities, eventually being held in California. His truck was later found at a local car wash, and he told family by phone that he felt very sick and had not eaten in over a day. A federal judge ordered ICE to release him on bond or schedule a bond hearing by February 23. Campos, who owns a construction business and has no criminal record beyond a 2007 traffic citation, has not received his medication for diabetes and a back injury while detained; a friend started a GoFundMe that has raised over $3,100 to help cover the family's legal and living expenses.