Human Impact Project

Miguel, 22, was taken into ICE custody while working in Houston. He came to the United States seeking better opportunities and supports himself and his mother. His partner Xiomarah is raising funds for legal representation to fight his detention.

Luis Ramirez has been held for more than two weeks at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma after being detained while driving to work. His wife, Vanessa Jimenez, confronted ICE officers at a courthouse following his arrest. The family, based in Wapato, Washington, includes a spouse and four children—among them a nonverbal three-year-old and a three-month-old infant—who have lost their primary income and face financial hardship such as wage garnishment and credit damage. Ramirez moved to the U.S. from Mexico as a teenager, has lived in the country for roughly two decades, and had worked at the same Yakima Valley fruit company for 15 years before his detention.

A woman is detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the El Valle Detention Center in Willacy County, Texas. She filed a habeas petition challenging the government's authority to detain her without a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A). While conceding she is subject to mandatory detention under that statute, she alleges the application violates her Fifth Amendment due process rights. The court denied her request for preliminary injunctive relief and decided to await a Fifth Circuit decision in a related case before ruling on her due process claims.

Adrian Andreas Florian, an 85-year-old German national, died at Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen, Texas on June 24, 2026, after spending nearly eight months hospitalized while in ICE custody. Florian presented himself at the Colombia Solidarity Bridge port of entry in Laredo on August 28, 2025, without valid documentation and was taken into ICE custody the following day. On October 1, 2025, ICE placed him at a rehabilitation and assisted living center before transferring him to the hospital on November 4, 2025 due to dementia concerns, high blood pressure, cognitive impairment, and ulcers. He is the 21st person to die in ICE custody in 2026 and the first German national to die in custody that year, with the cause of death pending autopsy results.

A 33-year-old Venezuelan man was detained at an ICE facility in El Paso, Texas and deported on a flight to Venezuela on June 24, 2026. He was transported to a hotel in La Guaira where earthquakes struck hours later, part of a group of more than 100 deportees held there at the time. His partner, Liliana Rojas, has been unable to locate him, and search efforts continue amid rubble as survivors and bodies are recovered.

Geremy Arteaga Cruz, a 19-year-old Lamar High School junior, was detained by ICE in January 2026 after the Trump administration reversed his asylum application approval, which had been granted by USCIS in June 2025. Arteaga Cruz arrived in the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor in 2023 with his twin sister. He was arrested at a convenience store on a misdemeanor public intoxication charge, pleaded guilty, and paid fines, but was transferred to ICE custody while in Harris County jail instead of being released. Before his detention, he was a student at Lamar High School, volunteered at an English literacy program at the University of St. Thomas, and worked as a barber. He has also been identified as a victim of human trafficking and has a pending T visa application. As of June 2026, Arteaga Cruz has been held at Polk Adult Detention Facility for four months. His attorneys contend that had USCIS issued a timely notice of its asylum decision, he would not have been detained. His asylum case is scheduled to be heard by an immigration judge on June 23, 2026.

Iker, a 5-year-old child, has been detained by ICE at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas for over 65 days. His mother is also detained at the same facility. According to advocacy posts by Each Step Home, Iker is not eating while in detention. The posts call for complaints to CoreCivic, the private company operating the facility, donations to commissary accounts for detained children, and calls to congressional representatives to support legislation ending ICE detention of children.

A woman is currently detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the El Valle Detention Center in Willacy County, Texas. She is subject to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A). In her habeas corpus petition, she contests the government's ability to detain her without a bond hearing, arguing that the application of the mandatory detention statute violates her constitutional rights under the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The court reviewed her petition and indicated it is inclined to deny her request for relief, citing analogous cases. However, the court noted that the Fifth Circuit is currently considering a similar due process challenge in Sosnava Rodriguez v. Ortega and decided to await that decision before ruling on her claims. The court denied her request for a preliminary injunction or other immediate injunctive relief.

Eight anti-ICE activists were sentenced to 30 to 100 years in prison on June 23, 2026, following convictions on federal charges including riot, material support for terrorism, and explosives-related offenses stemming from a July 4, 2025 noise demonstration at Prairieland ICE Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas. Benjamin Hanil Song received a 100-year sentence after being convicted of attempted murder for allegedly shooting a police officer during the protest. Daniel Sanchez Estrada, a lawful permanent resident who was not present at the protest, received a 30-year sentence for transporting a box of antifascist zines after his wife attended the demonstration. The remaining six defendants received 50 to 70-year sentences. Defendants and their supporters challenged the convictions, arguing the government presented insufficient evidence and that the prosecution constituted political persecution, but sentencing proceeded despite pending motions to overturn the convictions.

Cameron Arnold, Savanna Batten, Zachary Evetts, Bradford Morris, and Elizabeth Soto were each sentenced to 50 years in federal prison for participating in the July 4, 2025 protest at Prairieland ICE Detention Center. All five were convicted on terrorism-related charges. Prosecutors pointed to defendants wearing black clothing and using encrypted messaging as evidence. The combined sentences for all eight defendants sentenced that day total 450 years — longer than any sentences given to January 6 Capitol assault participants.

A Honduran national was deported to Honduras on June 20, 2026, following completion of a Texas prison sentence and a final removal order issued by a Department of Justice immigration judge. According to ICE, he entered the United States at an unknown time and location. He was arrested by Irving Police in January 2024 and again in June 2025 by the Colleyville Police Department, with charges later reduced by prosecutors. He was convicted in December 2025 and sentenced to two years in prison, after which the Texas Department of Criminal Justice transferred him to ICE custody in May 2026.

Lucy's husband was deported by ICE to Mexico, leaving Lucy and their four children without his income. Lucy is seeking financial support for rent, groceries, and family stability while she works additional jobs to support the family.

A 64-year-old certified nursing assistant from Kenya was detained by ICE on June 18, 2026, during a routine check-in in Houston after complying with mandatory immigration appointments for more than 14 years. She first entered the U.S. legally in 1995 and again in 2005 on a dependent visa tied to her husband's status; after their divorce, a final removal order was issued in 2011 and upheld on appeal in 2012, leading to her placement under an order of supervision. A court granted a stay of deportation on July 23 while a humanitarian petition remains pending, but she remains in detention and now faces a $1.8 million fine linked to her visa overstay. Her longtime employer and friend, Houston engineer Maureen Mendrek-Laske, for whom she helped raise four children, says she has shown signs of physical decline in custody, and family continue to visit her regularly.

Fidel Ramos, 52, a previously deported registered sex offender, was captured during a forced-entry tactical raid at a residence in Grimes County, Texas on June 17, 2026, after allegedly refusing to come out, and was initially charged with failing to register as a sex offender. An active federal immigration detainer was placed on him the following day. On June 26, 2026, a Grimes County Grand Jury indicted Ramos on five additional felony charges, including three counts of sexual assault of a child and two counts of indecency with a child by contact. Jamie Ramos was also arrested on July 10, 2026, on a misdemeanor charge of failing to report child abuse in connection with the same investigation.

Miguel Gorasieta Jaimes, a Mexican national, and Santos Ruben Gutierrez, an El Salvadoran national, were arrested by ICE during a nationwide weekend enforcement operation targeting individuals with prior criminal convictions. Jaimes was arrested in Harris County and had a prior conviction for aggravated sexual assault of a child. Gutierrez was arrested in Lewisville and had a prior conviction for indecency with a child. Both men were in the country illegally at the time of their arrests. The operation targeted 15 individuals across at least nine states.

Law enforcement executed a search warrant at El Ranchito Night Club in Pecos, an adult entertainment establishment that had drawn resident complaints for operating out of compliance with local ordinance, and discovered seven women ages 20 to 40 confined in a padlocked room hidden behind metal storage cabinets. All seven victims were given clothing and water, removed from the location, and placed into the care of a federal agency. The operation resulted in 24 arrests: 16 people for federal immigration violations and eight others on state or local charges, with state charges also being pursued against the business owners. Homeland Security Investigations is leading the trafficking probe, and officials say the investigation is ongoing with additional charges possible.

A 7-year-old boy appeared in immigration court to request reunification with his father, who had been detained and deported to South America. The immigration judge approved the boy's voluntary return within 60 days at government expense with child safety protections. The hearing is part of a pattern of fast-tracked immigration court cases involving minors under the Trump administration, with attorneys reporting violations of the 10-day notice requirement and compressed timelines.

A noncitizen detained at Karnes County Immigration Processing Center filed a federal habeas corpus petition challenging his detention without a bond hearing. The petition argues that his detention without a bond hearing violates due process rights afforded to noncitizens who have established a presence in the United States. On June 12, 2026, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery issued an order requiring respondents to file a response within seven days identifying his country of birth, date of entry, statutory basis for removability, previous detention history, and immigration status. The court issued an immediate stay on any transfer of him outside the Western District of Texas judicial district pending further court order, while preserving the government's ability to proceed with removal proceedings. The order references multiple similar cases the court has previously decided regarding detention without bond hearings.

A federal immigration detention center in Texas built by the Trump administration failed to issue use-of-force reports and did not provide medicine to seriously ill detainees. The facility wasted tens of millions in taxpayer dollars through rushed spending. Protesters have opposed the facility's operations at Fort Bliss.

Miguel, a South American migrant held at an ICE detention center in Texas, was subjected to systematic extortion and violence by members of the prison gang Los Paisas. He was forced to give gang members portions of food purchased with money his family sent him, and was beaten and confined when he refused or failed to comply. After pressure to join the gang, which he resisted, he endured further retaliation. Fearing retaliation and doubting that immigration authorities would protect him, Miguel never reported the abuse until after his release from detention.