Human Impact Project

Kristopher Rivas-Betanco, a Sevier County High School senior and soccer team captain from Honduras who has lived in Tennessee since 2019, was detained by ICE on September 17 alongside his mother, Gladys Betanco-Martinez, after local police stopped their vehicle while driving home from her job, with his two younger sisters also in the car. The two spent a night together in the Knoxville jail before being separated and sent to different facilities; ICE later said it determined Kristopher was still a minor, not 18 as prior records indicated, and released him on September 22, returning him to Tennessee into a guardian's care. He was back with family by September 23 but had not yet returned to school, while his mother remained held at a detention facility in Alabama. Friends and coaches described him as a polite, well-liked young man who hopes to play college soccer and become an engineer; the family's asylum case had been dismissed by a judge in 2024. Kristopher said returning home without his mother and sisters has been difficult, and family and friends started a GoFundMe and online petition to fund an immigration attorney and push for his mother's release.

Anastasio Tomas, a 16-year-old student at Chattanooga Preparatory School who had lived in the U.S. since age six, was deported to Guatemala along with his mother, Maria Vasquez-Mazariegos, and another family member after ICE arrested them on September 16, 2026 in Chattanooga. Tomas said agents stopped the family on their way to school, did not give them a chance to explain their immigration case or speak with a lawyer, and falsely told them they were being taken to see a judge. ICE said the family had received a final removal order in 2019 and had not left the country. A GoFundMe campaign, which received a $2,000 donation from Chattanooga Prep's founders, is raising money for legal fees to help Tomas return to finish his education.

A woman working at El Corralón, an immigrant-owned nightclub and restaurant in Memphis, was arrested during a pre-dawn ICE raid on August 30 dubbed 'Operation Corral Light' and, due to a prior removal order, was flown to Honduras within days, reuniting there with her husband who had been deported the previous year after a traffic stop. Her four U.S.-citizen children remain in Memphis with their grandmother, who said the youngest wakes up crying for his mother while a 16-year-old has taken on helping raise the younger kids; reunification is complicated because no power of attorney was arranged and the children lack passports. The raid, initially targeting illegal gambling and a Honduran national suspected of running criminal activity, resulted in 121 arrests after agents corralled patrons and employees, checked immigration status, and zip-tied them onto buses while children screamed for detained parents. Only five of those arrested had criminal histories, and advocacy group Vecindarios 901 said it is working to identify detainees and connect families with attorneys. The ACLU of Tennessee, a state representative, and Memphis's mayor questioned whether the operation exceeded the scope of its gambling and narcotics warrants, and advocates alleged agents beat two security guards.

Lissette Cruz, a Venezuelan mother of three who has lived in the United States for nearly 11 years, was detained by immigration authorities in Tennessee and remains in custody while her case is processed. Her family describes her as the household's primary breadwinner and a fundamental caretaker for her children. Relatives launched the "Help Lissette Stay With Her Family" campaign on social media to raise awareness and gather community support for her release.

Alberto Ramirez-Diaz, a 39-year-old man from Guatemala, was arrested by ICE on September 1 immediately after his release from the Tennessee Department of Corrections, where he had served a sentence for second-degree child rape. He was removed from the United States on September 7, 2026, and returned to Guatemala. Ramirez-Diaz had previously been deported in 2013 before reentering the country, and was detained again in March 2018, when he received a notice to appear before an immigration judge and was released under an order of recognizance. He was later enrolled in ICE's Alternatives to Detention program but allegedly cut off his GPS ankle monitor, and was rearrested in Homestead, Florida, in November 2019 in connection with sexual assault allegations involving a minor relative.

Hasan Besharat, an 81-year-old Iranian immigrant who came to the U.S. legally on a student visa in 1974 and earned an engineering degree in Nashville, was detained by ICE during a routine check-in in late February despite decades of compliance with an order of supervision. He was held at the CoreCivic-run West Tennessee Detention Center in Mason, where his attorney said his health declined; he is 81, weighs barely 100 pounds, and has high blood pressure. His legal team filed multiple petitions, including two writs of habeas corpus, and Tennessee State Sen. Raumesh Akbari and community members advocated for his release. Besharat, who has a U.S. citizen brother and two U.S. citizen sons, is scheduled to be released and reunited with his family.

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.

An operation at the El Corralón bar in Memphis's Berclair neighborhood, which began just before 1 a.m. on August 30 as a state-led raid targeting illegal gambling and drugs, turned into the city's largest documented immigration sweep. State and federal agents, including Tennessee Highway Patrol and ICE, shut off the music, questioned patrons about their legal status, and restrained many with cable ties before busing 121 people to ICE detention facilities. The Department of Homeland Security later named the operation "Operation Corral Light," and Memphis Mayor Paul Young said local police had no role in planning it; officials have released criminal histories for only five of those detained.

Joselyn Rodriguez's father was arrested by ICE in front of his home after returning from grocery shopping, having just dropped his children off at school. No reason was given for his detention, leaving the family shocked and struggling to understand what happened. His daughter is raising funds to help pay for legal fees and consultations as the family seeks to bring him home.

Maria Perez, a Guatemalan asylum-seeker fleeing domestic violence, was arrested by ICE agents at her Nashville home on May 19, 2026, while preparing to take her two young children to a doctor's appointment. Attorneys said agents had come to serve a warrant on her husband but detained her instead, despite ICE policy generally barring detention of nursing mothers absent extraordinary circumstances. She was breastfeeding an infant and had a toddler with Down syndrome requiring ongoing medical care; the children were left in a neighbor's care without a formal plan, causing them to miss medical appointments. Perez, who has no criminal history, passed a credible fear interview, and had complied with immigration requirements since entering the U.S. in 2022, was held nearly 700 miles from home at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center, where her sudden separation from her nursing infant compounded her diabetes. Advocacy groups including Sanctuary of the South, the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition, ACLU of Louisiana, Amnesty International, and the Kennedy Human Rights Center filed a civil rights complaint with DHS seeking her release. She was released on August 14, 2026, reunited with her children, and continues pursuing her asylum application.

Sulma Johanna Munoz-Castro, a Honduran national seeking asylum, was detained by immigration agents outside a home in South Nashville and transported to the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center. The detention followed a Metro Nashville Police Department welfare check prompted by an unfounded report of child abuse; officers found the child in good health with no signs of abuse. ICE said Munoz-Castro is facing removal proceedings, alleging she entered the U.S. unlawfully in December 2021 and missed two scheduled appointments with federal agents.

ICE arrested three Guatemalan nationals—Magdalena Gomez-Garcia, Elias Gomez-Garcia, and Eulalia Ordonez-Carmelo—in Tennessee following an investigation into alleged fraudulent use of stolen identities and Social Security numbers. All three had final orders of removal; Magdalena Gomez-Garcia is accused of using a stolen identity belonging to a New York resident to obtain employment in Tennessee beginning in February 2026, which reportedly caused the victim to repeatedly contact authorities after wages were misattributed to her Social Security number. Magdalena Gomez-Garcia, who entered the U.S. in Arizona in 2018 and was ordered deported in absentia in 2019, was booked into the Knox County Jail as a U.S. Marshals Service inmate on August 5. Elias Gomez-Garcia had prior traffic offenses in Kentucky and South Carolina and was previously deported in 2009, 2011, and 2018, while Ordonez-Carmelo entered the country in March 2022 and was later released into the interior by a federal judge in 2023.

An Egyptian asylum seeker is an Egyptian citizen who entered the United States without inspection on July 21, 2023, and sought asylum. He was subsequently released on his own recognizance and has lived in the United States continuously since his entry. On August 3, 2026, he was apprehended by immigration officers while attending an ICE check-in meeting that he was required to attend pursuant to his pending appeal of a removal order to the Board of Immigration Appeals. He remains in custody at the West Tennessee Detention Facility and has not received a bond hearing. He filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his detention without prior notice, a warrant, or a bond hearing, alleging violations of his statutory and due process rights. The court issued an order staying his transfer and requiring the respondent to respond, noting that under Lopez-Campos v. Raycraft (6th Cir. 2026), noncitizens who have spent significant time in the U.S. interior and have not committed disqualifying offenses cannot be detained without an individualized bond hearing.

Country music singer Frank Ray publicly disclosed that his brother-in-law, Juan Nevarez, a Mexican national with a valid work visa, was arrested by ICE at El Paso airport on Thanksgiving Day. Nevarez was detained at an ICE facility in Otero County, New Mexico, pending a hearing to determine his immigration status. DHS cited a criminal record from a 2023 dispute, though most charges were dropped and only a misdemeanor trespassing conviction remained. Nevarez's wife and four U.S. citizen children await resolution of the case.

Ezzat Adel Abdalla Magly, an Egyptian national, is detained at the Western Tennessee Detention Facility pending removal proceedings. He filed a habeas corpus petition seeking release from custody or a bond hearing, along with a motion for temporary restraining order to prevent transfer outside the district. The court denied his motion for temporary restraining order, finding he failed to demonstrate irreparable harm from a potential transfer.

Marvin Alexander Mejía Alvarado, a Honduran national with family in Memphis, died on July 27, 2026, weeks after being released from ICE detention. A federal judge in Colorado ordered his release on bond at the end of June after determining the government had not presented clear and convincing evidence to justify continued detention. After his release in early July, Mejía wrote to his aunt thanking God for allowing him to leave the detention facility and acknowledging the prayers that gave him strength to endure mistreatment by detention staff. His family reported that following his release, he experienced severe health complications they attribute to his treatment during detention, including lack of access to medications needed for a preexisting medical condition.

An Indian national who arrived on a student visa, married to a U.S. citizen for 6 years, was arrested by ICE and detained at a facility in Tennessee. He was offered the choice to fight deportation in a Louisiana state prison for 6 months with no guarantee of legal status approval, or to self-deport. He chose self-deportation. His wife, a U.S. citizen, suffers from a debilitating medical condition and their child has special needs. With the father's self-deportation, the family decided the mother and child would relocate to India to reunite with him, leaving behind their life in Tennessee. The mother, who has no family support locally and whose husband's family lives overseas, faces the challenge of traveling internationally for the first time with her child to a country where neither speaks the language, while managing her medical condition and her child's special needs.

Helena Tobias, 8 months pregnant with two other young sons, was left as the sole caregiver after her husband was recently apprehended and deported by ICE. Unable to work due to lack of childcare, she faces financial hardship covering rent and groceries. A coworker organized a fundraiser to help support the family during this period.

A Cuban citizen who entered the United States in 2022 was taken into ICE custody on July 15, 2026, and detained at the West Tennessee Detention Facility. He filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his continued detention without a bond hearing. The court stayed his transfer and ordered ICE to respond to the petition, requiring them to either distinguish the case from Lopez-Campos v. Raycraft or consent to release, as that precedent prohibits detention without individualized bond hearings for noncitizens who spent significant time in the U.S. interior and are not ineligible under § 1226(c).

Lorenzo Thompson, a Jamaican citizen and Southwest Airlines flight attendant, was detained by ICE agents at Nashville International Airport on July 14, 2026, while returning from a work trip. Thompson lawfully entered the United States on April 17, 2021, on a six-month visitor visa and has been working as a flight attendant while pursuing legal status through an active asylum application. He holds a valid work permit and has no criminal record. His best friend Kristin Foster stated that Thompson is seeking refuge from life-threatening abuse, and colleagues described him as a well-liked, caring worker. Thompson and his supporters dispute ICE's characterization that he overstayed his visa, asserting he has followed legal procedures and maintained compliance with immigration requirements. He is being held at a correctional facility in Mississippi pending immigration proceedings. The Transport Workers Union Local 556 stated they are working with Thompson's attorney and committed to supporting him and his family.