Human Impact Project

An Indian citizen with a 2003 removal order was re-detained by ICE on October 7, 2025 after nearly two decades on supervised release. He had been released from detention in 2006 after six months because the government could not obtain travel documents from India. Despite complying with all supervision conditions for nearly 20 years, he was re-detained and has been held for over 5 months at Port Isabel Detention Center while India continues to refuse issuing travel documents.

Gustavo Santiago, a 13-year-old from Tamaulipas, Mexico, living in San Antonio, Texas, was detained with his mother on October 5, 2025, at a Border Patrol checkpoint. He has been sick multiple times in detention. When he had a fever, medical staff told his mother he was old enough to fight it off without medication. He was treated for a skin rash believed caused by poor water quality and suffered stomach pain and nausea attributed to unsanitary food preparation. He expressed fear of deportation and uncertainty about what he did wrong to be detained.

Aurelio was arrested on October 5, 2025, after a woman accused him of assaulting a child without providing evidence. Local police took him to the woman's house for identification, then booked him on assault charges and transferred custody to ICE the next day under a 287(g) cooperation agreement. The case was dismissed on March 26, 2026, after prosecutors could not obtain evidence from the arresting officer. Aurelio spent two months in ICE detention before posting bond in December 2025 and now wears an electronic ankle monitor while awaiting an asylum hearing.

Emmanuel González García, a 15-year-old with intellectual disability, speech impediment, and partial deafness, went missing on October 4, 2025, after wandering from his mother Maria García's fruit stand in northwest Houston. Houston Fire Department found him the next day, but Houston Police Department failed to link him to his mother's missing-person report due to a name discrepancy and instead contacted ICE, which transferred him to the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Maria had no way to know her son's location for five days until an immigration attorney called the missing-persons hotline on his behalf, and he underwent emergency appendicitis surgery while in custody. Emmanuel remained in federal detention for a total of 48 days despite his mother's pleas for his release, during which members of a local group, Autism Moms of Houston, held nightly vigils outside the facility in support.

LT, a 30-year-old Haitian asylum seeker, was detained at Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas, 1,500 miles from her 13-month-old daughter in Florida. Her baby, who is allergic to formula and has food sensitivities, vomited constantly and needed breastmilk. The government denied her petition to pump and mail breastmilk, denied bringing the child into detention, and refused bond. LT fled political violence in Haiti where supporters of an opposing party burned her house, kidnapped and raped her. She fears her daughter will end up in foster care.

Rey, a Cuban in his mid-fifties who arrived in the U.S. in 1994 and had been authorized to remain in the country due to Cuba's non-cooperation with deportation, was arrested at an ISAP (Intensive Supervision Appearance Program) check-in in El Paso in October 2025. Rey had built a life in El Paso as a truck driver and small business owner, opening a Cuban pizzeria, nightclub, and trash-collection and furniture-restoration businesses. He was married to Sara, a U.S. citizen and Texas state employee, and was a father figure to her son. After his arrest at the ISAP office, he was transferred to Camp East Montana, where he spent six weeks in the facility's deteriorating conditions.

Catalina 'Xóchitl' Santiago, a 28-year-old DACA recipient and community organizer from El Paso, was detained by Border Patrol agents on August 3, 2025, at El Paso International Airport while traveling for work with her wife, Desiree Miller, a U.S. citizen whom Santiago married earlier in 2025. Despite holding valid DACA status since 2012—renewed seven times with her current renewal expiring in April 2026—Santiago was subjected to deportation proceedings. Originally from Mexico, Santiago has lived in the U.S. since age 8. On October 1, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone ruled that Santiago's arrest and detention violated her Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights and ordered her release from the ICE El Paso Service Processing Center. Judge Cardone found that the government presented no evidence that Santiago endangered anyone during her twenty years at liberty, including her thirteen years under DACA, and failed to articulate any individualized reason for her detention. Santiago's brother Jose said the family was deeply affected by her detention and expressed relief at her release.

On September 24, 2025, a gunman identified as 29-year-old Joshua Jahn opened fire from a rooftop across the street from a Dallas ICE field office, targeting a transport van and the facility's controlled entrance. The attack killed detainees and critically wounded others before Jahn died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Investigators found shell casings and handwritten notes bearing anti-ICE messages, leading authorities to classify the shooting as a premeditated, targeted attack meant to instill fear in ICE agents. One of the critically wounded victims later died from injuries six days after the shooting.

Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez, a 32-year-old Mexican immigrant and father of four with another child on the way, was shot on September 24, 2025, when a gunman opened fire at a Dallas ICE facility's controlled entrance. Garcia-Hernandez, who had lived in the U.S. since age 13 and worked as a painter, was in ICE custody after being arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence on August 8. He died from his injuries on September 30. His widow, Stephany Gauffeny, stated that he was the sole provider for their family and that they had just purchased their first home together.

Miguel Ángel García Hernández, 31, a Mexican national who immigrated to the U.S. at age 13, died on September 30, 2025, from injuries sustained during a shooting at a Dallas ICE facility on September 24, 2025. He was shot approximately eight times in the shoulder, stomach, tailbone, neck, and urethra while detained. According to witness accounts and his wife's account, García shielded another young detainee with his body when gunfire began, telling the person to get under him for protection. García was married to Stephany Gauffeny, a U.S. citizen, in 2016 and was the sole breadwinner and father of four children with a fifth on the way; the family had recently purchased their first home together. He worked as a painter and contractor and had been pursuing permanent legal status through an I-130 visa petition sponsored by his wife, following legal immigration procedures. His wife said: "My husband Miguel was a good man, a loving father, and the provider for our family. He worked hard every single day to make sure our children had what they needed." García had been detained on August 8, 2025, on a DUI charge; evading arrest charges were later dropped. He was one of three detainees shot; a second detainee from El Salvador also died from his injuries.

Miguel Ángel García, 31, died after being removed from life support following a shooting attack at an ICE field office in Dallas. García was among detainees in an ICE transport van when a gunman opened fire from a nearby rooftop in an attack federal investigators said was intended to target immigration officers.

Miguel García-Hernández, an undocumented immigrant awaiting intake at an ICE facility in Dallas, was shot on September 24, 2025, when a gunman opened fire outside the facility. He died from his injuries on September 29, leaving behind his wife Stephany Gauffeny and three children. García-Hernández had been in ICE custody following a DUI arrest and was working toward legal status through a Biden administration initiative when the shooting occurred.

Watchdog groups alleged in a court filing that children and families held at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas face prolonged detention beyond legal limits, along with shortages of clean drinking water, chronic sleep deprivation, inadequate medical care, and lack of hygiene products. Legal experts filed accounts describing the facility environment and conditions for detainees.

Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez, 32, died from injuries sustained in a sniper-style shooting at a Dallas ICE facility on September 24. He was shot at least eight times and had been in critical condition at Parkland Hospital before being removed from life support. Garcia-Hernandez was the second victim to die from the attack, leaving behind his wife and four children.

Norlan Guzman-Fuentes, a 37-year-old El Salvadoran national, was shot and killed on September 24, 2025, when a gunman opened fire at a Dallas ICE facility's controlled entrance. Guzman-Fuentes was in ICE custody at the time. He was the financial provider for his mother in El Salvador, who depended on his support.

Roberto López Falcón, a Cuban immigrant and fifth-grade ESL teacher at Hart Elementary School in Austin, was detained on September 3, 2025, during a routine immigration check-in in San Antonio after entering the U.S. without authorization in March 2022. He was held for 297 days at the Karnes County Immigration Processing Center while his asylum claim, which cited conflicts with Cuban officials over his teaching of civics, was denied in October. He was released in late June 2026 and is now seeking to return to the classroom. At least five Austin ISD employees have been detained amid the broader immigration enforcement crackdown, according to the local teachers' union.

Two 17-year-old U.S. citizens, including Luis Ochoa, were detained by ICE agents in Alamo, Texas, after stopping to record an immigration enforcement operation on their way to a Marine Corps recruitment office. Video showed an agent repeatedly hitting one teen and agents using pepper spray while pulling him from his car and handcuffing him; Ochoa said his wrist was broken and that an agent told him, after he identified himself as a citizen, "I don't give a damn. Your parents can't help you now." The teens were held for eight hours before being released, and DHS described them as "anti-ICE agitators" who obstructed and assaulted officers. Ten days later, Luis's mother, Teresa de Jesus Ochoa Briseño, was arrested outside the Alamo restaurant where she worked as a cook, denied the chance to sign voluntary departure papers, issued a final removal order, and sent to Reynosa, Mexico the same day without Luis or her attorney being allowed to see her beforehand; Luis said agents told the family the arrest was connected to their Facebook posts and pending lawsuits over his detention.

A young man was pulled from a vehicle, thrown to the ground, and punched in the face by ICE agents on a frontage road in Alamo, Texas, according to video shared by the group Stop ICE. The driver of the vehicle was also taken into custody during the incident, which occurred in the middle of the road as bystanders in traffic recorded and tried to alert others nearby. The group reports that ICE and Border Patrol activity has been increasing in the area, with drivers targeted in stops based on vehicle registration information.

A Honduran asylum seeker was detained by federal immigration authorities on or about September 10, 2025, and has since been held at the T. Don Hutto Detention Center in Taylor, Texas. He filed a habeas corpus petition along with applications for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, seeking an order barring his removal from the district, production of his detention records, a show-cause hearing, an expedited individualized custody hearing, and his release. He argued that his detention without a bond hearing violates due process and that he faces practical prejudice in preparing his asylum application while detained, raising a right-to-counsel claim. The court found he was not likely to succeed on the merits, citing statutory authorization for detention during removal proceedings and holding that right-to-counsel claims must be raised before the court of appeals on review of a removal order. The court also found no showing of irreparable harm, noting he did not demonstrate how a transfer or his continued detention would harm his asylum claim beyond ordinary hardships of detention. The court denied the TRO application and held the preliminary injunction request in abeyance.

Maria, 39, who came to El Paso from Ciudad Juárez on a visitor visa fleeing violence targeting her husband, a Mexican doctor now a naturalized U.S. citizen, was detained on Sept. 9, 2025, immediately after an immigration judge ordered her deportation at a hearing. About seven plainclothes, masked agents handcuffed her outside the courtroom and took her to the El Paso Processing Service Center, where she remained detained through Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. She was released Jan. 20, 2026, with an ankle monitor, and said she and her four U.S.-born children underwent family therapy after the ordeal.