Human Impact Project

U.S. District Judge Gary R. Brown, appointed by President Trump, ruled that ICE agents illegally arrested Angel Jesus Almonte during a May operation in the Bronx targeting Dario Santos-Amarante, despite striking physical differences between the two men. Brown's 28-page opinion found agents falsified arrest paperwork, including a "substantially false" administrative warrant prepared after Almonte's detention, and gave testimony about alleged drug transactions that bore "all the hallmarks of coordinated fabrication," while official records showed only motor vehicle charges. A supervisor testified that five database searches had initially returned negative results before the warrant falsely claimed biometric confirmation. The same operation also led to the violent arrest of U.S. citizen Jeury Concepcion, who suffered head injuries requiring stitches after being mistaken for the target; Brown provisionally granted Almonte's habeas petition and ordered the government to explain within 21 days how it will address the problems identified, while considering possible sanctions.

Jeury Concepcion, a 19-year-old U.S. citizen from the Bronx, was tackled by ICE agents near East Gun Hill Road and Hull Avenue after being mistaken for a man with a removal order. Cellphone video showed masked agents with guns drawn forcing him to the ground and handcuffing him outside a barber shop while a bystander yelled 'Why you kidnapping?!' Witnesses said Concepcion repeatedly told agents he was a U.S. citizen as he was restrained and left bleeding from a head wound. Agents later checked his ID, realized they had the wrong person, apologized, and dropped him off bloodied at an unfamiliar park, where his mother and grandmother, Ivelisse Garcia Santana, eventually found him and took him for treatment; he received a concussion diagnosis and seven stitches. A DHS spokesperson said ICE did not arrest him, claiming he was briefly detained for matching a description and refusing to identify himself. Judge Gary R. Brown later reviewed video of the incident, calling it 'extremely violent' and ruling the arrest illegal, citing 'significant injury to a U.S. citizen.' Concepcion's case is among more than 500 U.S. citizens ProPublica identified as having been detained by immigration agents during the Trump administration.

Ricardo Aparecido Barbosa da Cunha, a Brazilian immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for over 20 years and owns a home and business in Massachusetts with his wife and two U.S.-born children, was detained by ICE in September 2025 after a traffic stop in Norwood, Massachusetts while driving to work. He had an asylum application and work permit after entering the country around 2005. Under a Trump administration policy issued in July 2025, DHS classified him as an 'applicant for admission' subject to mandatory detention and held him without a bond hearing in Buffalo, New York. He challenged the detention in federal court; a district judge ordered his release, and he was later released on bond. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected the government's interpretation, joining judges in nine of eleven federal appeals courts who have ruled against it. On October 1, 2026, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to review the administration's appeal, with the ACLU warning the case could affect thousands to millions of noncitizens detained under the same policy.

Mario Mata Cruz, a Salvadoran national with a pending Special Immigrant Juvenile Status application and no criminal record, was arrested by ICE on Long Island in October 2025 while driving to work with his brother. He had crossed the border at age 17 and obtained SIJ status in 2019, putting him on a path toward a green card. ICE transported him to Texas and deported him to El Salvador without a final removal order from an immigration judge or signed voluntary departure paperwork, which his attorney Ed Cuccia says was illegal. His lawyers sued the Trump administration, and the government agreed to return him from El Salvador over the summer, but instead of being released to New York where his brother lives, he has been held in detention facilities in Louisiana, New Jersey, and Virginia with no ties to those states. An immigration judge in New Jersey denied him bond, and a hearing on his green card application was scheduled. His case is part of a broader pattern NY1 documented of at least 132 cases where people were deported without final removal orders.

Gerson Josué Santamaría Turcios, a Honduran immigrant and Rhinebeck High School graduate who ran his own lawn care and landscaping business, was arrested by ICE as he returned home from work. He had lived in the Rhinebeck community for years, building long-term employment relationships with local residents who describe him as warm and hard-working. A Manhattan judge denied his request for a temporary restraining order, and he was held at Orange County Jail before being transferred to the Jena/LaSalle Detention Facility in Louisiana. A coalition called New York Neighbors Unite launched a fundraising campaign that quickly raised more than $26,000, eventually growing to over $132,000 with support from former employers, teachers, classmates, actor Paul Rudd, filmmaker Andrew Jarecki, and U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan. His attorney, Karen Weinstock, pursued a habeas corpus petition, and a U.S. appeals judge from the Second Circuit granted him a stay of removal after more than a year in custody. Local resident Martha Honey said neighbors remain concerned about his ongoing imprisonment.

A coalition called Evict ICE from 250 Delaware is calling on Uniland Development, owned by the Montante family, and Delaware North, owned by the Jacobs family, to end their lease with ICE, which operates its Buffalo field office and a detainee 'hold room' used to detain immigrants, including children, inside the building. On September 26, eight activists were arrested after occupying the intersection outside the building to protest what they call the "Montante family's continued profiteering from deportation," now referring to the site as the "Montante Detention Center." The campaign, which launched on May Day 2026, seeks to end ICE's presence at the site when its lease expires in March 2027.

A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order, later followed by a permanent injunction, requiring ICE to improve conditions at its 26 Federal Plaza detention facility in Manhattan. Detainees, including Sergio Alberto Barco Mercado, who filed a complaint after mass arrests at the site, were reportedly held on floors without beds, given only two meals a day, and denied hygiene products and access to legal counsel. The court found that ICE willfully violated prior orders and kept detainees in overcrowded rooms without adequate bedding, hygiene supplies, or proper temperature control. The rulings required ICE to provide sleeping mats, hygiene products, and legal access to those held at the facility.

Rent-stabilized tenants in East Harlem, mostly noncitizens from Ecuador and Mexico, say landlord Steven Croman and his staff have harassed them for years, including by asking about immigration status after ICE agents were seen at one tenant's door in April 2025. Tenants believe the questioning and a subsequent call from Croman were intimidation tactics tied to their immigration status. Croman's company has been accused by the New York Attorney General of illegally displacing rent-stabilized tenants to convert units to market-rate rentals.

Carlos Arreaga, a Syracuse resident and active community member for eight years, was taken into ICE custody on the morning of June 26 while on his way to work, without a warrant, according to his family's GoFundMe page. He had filed for asylum in the U.S. and was held at the federal detention facility in Batavia, which has faced criticism for overcrowding and poor conditions. Despite a federal judge's order that he receive a bond hearing, Arreaga was repeatedly denied bond. His wife, Amelia, launched a fundraiser to cover legal fees and living expenses after his detention left the family without its sole breadwinner, and about 70 community members gathered at a vigil in Syracuse calling for his release. After roughly three months in detention, Arreaga was released and reunited with his family.

Rabbiatu Kuyateh, a Sierra Leonean nurse who had lived in the United States for nearly 30 years, was detained during a routine ICE check-in in July 2025 and placed on a deportation flight with 18 other people. She was sent to Ghana, a country she had no ties to, and was then transferred onward to Sierra Leone after arriving there. Kuyateh had raised her U.S.-born son, Mohamed, and cared for her parents, and said of her destination, "Ghana? I'm not from Ghana; what am I going to do there?" The First Circuit Court of Appeals later ruled on September 18, 2026, in D.V.D. v. Department of Homeland Security, that the government could not carry out third-country deportations like hers without advance notice and a meaningful chance to challenge the destination, halting such removals while further review proceeds.

As the school year began in Queens, immigrant families expressed fear over ICE activity in their neighborhoods. In one incident, a father was detained by ICE agents while running morning errands in Corona before he could return home to drive his son to school, prompting his wife to rush to the scene in tears. Community members and local advocates, including the group Las Doñas, responded to support the family, while other parents like Margarita described ongoing anxiety about enforcement affecting daily routines like school drop-offs.

Marco was recently detained by ICE, according to his daughter Leire, who is raising money to cover immigration legal representation and attorney fees. The family is working to secure his release and asked for donations, prayers, and help sharing their story.

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.

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.

Wilfredo Giron, a construction worker and father, was taken into ICE custody after someone posing as a potential client contacted him about a job, luring him into an encounter that resulted in his detention. He has been held for more than two weeks, leaving behind his wife, Rachel, who is pregnant, and their 2-year-old son. The family is raising funds for immigration attorney fees, legal filings, and a potential bond to secure his release while his case continues.

On the morning of September 9th, two family members—an aunt's husband and her son-in-law—were detained by ICE agents outside their home as they left for work. The men had lived in the U.S. for nearly 13 years and have three children between them, one of whom was born in the U.S. They were taken to the Buffalo detention center, where they were pressured into signing voluntary departure forms, and were later transferred to a facility in Louisiana. One of the men has heart problems requiring five medications nightly, and one reported experiencing abuse in custody; family members say they are unsure if he is receiving needed medical care. ICE confiscated the men's passports, leaving the family without a way to relocate, and the wives have had only brief phone calls with the detained men since their arrest.

Ibrahim Topkaya, a 33-year-old medical doctor from Turkey working as a bioengineering researcher studying diabetes at Upstate Medical University, was detained by U.S. immigration officials after a GPS error rerouted him toward the Canadian border while he was returning from a trip to Niagara Falls with his visiting mother. Canadian border patrol turned him around with documentation confirming he never entered Canada, but U.S. officials detained him upon his return, and he is now held at the Batavia federal detention facility. His friend Omar Alsafadi said Topkaya has an approved asylum case, active work authorization, and a Social Security number, and described him as a well-respected researcher who has authored numerous medical papers. The Department of Homeland Security said Topkaya overstayed his authorized status after legally entering the country in June 2023. Topkaya has requested research materials to continue his work while detained, and his mother, visiting from Turkey for the first time in three years, has extended her stay while awaiting updates on his case.

More than 60 federal agents raided the Nutrition Bar Confectioners plant in Cato, New York in September 2025, herding roughly 160 workers into a breakroom and arresting 57 of about 100 people questioned, including pregnant women and mothers of young children. Body camera footage later released in a lawsuit showed agents breaking down a locked bathroom stall door to remove a female employee and separating workers by citizenship status, with some told they would be arrested if they asked for an attorney. Argentina Juarez-Lopez, 50, invoked her right to counsel, but an agent falsely claimed she confessed without one; a federal judge called the conduct 'grossly negligent' and suppressed the evidence, yet she was deported after her case was dismissed. Juana Castillo Avelar, a mother of three U.S. citizen children who had lived in the U.S. over 20 years, was granted $9,000 bond but was deported before ICE would release her, based on a false claim she had appealed. Only five of the 57 arrested faced criminal charges, mostly for illegal reentry, and no charges have been filed against the company. The New York Civil Liberties Union and the Worker Justice Center of New York filed a lawsuit alleging officers lacked arrest warrants, exceeded search warrant authority, and violated workers' Fourth Amendment rights; one deported plaintiff has since been allowed to reenter the country while attorneys for another seek his return.

Sean Lopes, a Guyana native, was serving a 14- to 16-year state prison sentence and was not eligible for parole until next February. ICE allowed him to skip the final six months of his sentence so he could be deported. His case was highlighted by ICE's Buffalo office as part of a broader trend of the agency removing people from state custody before their sentences conclude.

Alexandr Dyatchin, a Serbian national, was arrested in 2024 and sentenced last August to five years at the state's Lakeview prison in Chautauqua County, with an earliest release date of July 2029. ICE took him into custody last week, ahead of his scheduled release, to deport him to Russia. His case was cited as an example of ICE removing people already serving state prison sentences before their terms were complete.