Human Impact Project

Carol Black, a Jamaican-born lawful permanent resident who moved to New York in 1983, was detained by ICE in 2019 for seven months without a bond hearing following a 2000 sex abuse conviction for which he had completed probation. Unable to obtain a hearing to post bond while deportation proceedings continued, Black filed a federal habeas petition arguing the detention violated his constitutional due process rights. During the proceedings, Black sold his home and business and voluntarily left the United States after 40 years of residency. His case is now before the Supreme Court, which will decide whether ICE can hold lawful permanent residents indefinitely without bond hearings.

Keisy G.M., a lawful permanent resident from the Dominican Republic who has lived in New York City since 2011, was detained by ICE for 21 months without receiving a bond hearing. G.M. was arrested in October 2020 after being charged with assault following a fight and served a two-year sentence. Throughout his detention, the government sought to deport him without providing an individualized bond hearing to determine whether continued detention was justified. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2024 that his prolonged detention violated due process, and G.M. was ultimately released following a court order. The Supreme Court agreed to hear Genalo v. Black, which will determine whether the Constitution requires the government to provide bond hearings for lawful permanent residents in deportation proceedings and whether due process requires the government to justify continued detention by clear and convincing evidence.

On June 17, 2026, ICE agents detained three people—a man, a woman, and a child—at the Bridgeview Courthouse in Illinois. The man had run through courthouse security before deputies stopped him; ICE then handcuffed and removed him, claiming to possess an arrest warrant that was never presented for inspection. The woman and child were detained earlier that morning as they attempted to enter the courthouse. State and local officials, including State Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid and multiple elected representatives, characterized the detentions as violations of Illinois state law and a Cook County court order prohibiting civil immigration arrests at courthouses without judicial warrants.

Adriana Quiroz Zapata, a 53-year-old Colombian national and torture survivor with New Jersey ties, was detained by ICE in August 2024 after re-entering the United States despite a prior removal order. In February 2025, she passed a Reasonable Fear Interview and received withholding of removal under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). Despite these protections, ICE deported her to the Democratic Republic of the Congo on April 16, 2026—a country where she has no ties and where she cannot receive adequate medical care for her chronic conditions. On May 14, 2026, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to return her, ruling the deportation likely illegal. However, on June 15, 2026, the judge reversed that order after the administration produced evidence claiming the DRC had agreed to accept her, leaving Zapata in the DRC.

An immigration detainee held at California City Corrections facility is the subject of a habeas corpus petition. The court granted his petition for a writ of habeas corpus, ordering respondents to provide him with a bond hearing before a neutral arbiter pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) within ten days of the order dated June 18, 2026. Respondents must provide him with 48 hours' written notice before the hearing, or release him if the hearing is not provided within the ten-day deadline.

Yoelí Altagracia Bracho Casanova, a 26-year-old Venezuelan, was arrested by ICE during an immigration appointment in Jacksonville on June 13 and detained alongside her 20-month-old U.S. citizen daughter, Rebeca Peña Bracho. Despite an approved I-130 family petition and legal documents prepared by her attorney—including a stay of removal request, a cancellation of removal application, and a permanent residency petition—ICE transferred both to a detention center in Texas and deported them to Venezuela within hours. Her husband, a Cuban-American U.S. citizen, stated that ICE refused to accept the legal documents when presented at the appointment, and transferred them out of state at approximately 2 a.m., preventing the attorney from filing additional documents the following day.

Manuel de Jesus Montes-Lazo, an undocumented Honduran immigrant who had lived in Indiana for more than 15 years, was arrested by ICE in April 2026 while heading to wake an employee for the roofing business he owned with his wife, Joanna Garzes Lopez, a U.S. citizen. Despite being married to a U.S. citizen and in the final stages of a marriage-based green card petition, Manuel was detained at Clay County Justice Center and later transferred to a federal facility in South Texas. A 2025 Board of Immigration Appeals decision rendered him ineligible for bond release because he had crossed the border unlawfully. An immigration judge denied his cancellation of removal application—reportedly concluding that Joanna was well educated and could support the children without him—and facing months or years of appeals he could not afford, Manuel waived his appeal and was deported. With Manuel detained, Joanna said she struggled to keep the household and business running simultaneously, warning that the family risked losing their home, cars and business, which also threatened the livelihoods of their employees. Rather than remain in the United States as a single parent, Joanna, a devout Christian who values family unity, made the difficult decision to self-deport to Honduras with their two sons, Macario (6) and Jacob (4). On June 12, 2026, the family flew to Honduras with minimal belongings to reunite with Manuel and live with his family in Yorito. The move required Joanna to close their roofing business, sell their home in the Brookstone neighborhood of Indianapolis and their two cars, and uproot her children from school and friends after over a decade of building their life in the United States. Jacob has experienced bedwetting and nightmares since his father's arrest; Macario has taken on emotional weight beyond his years, feeling responsible for protecting his mother.

A Salvadoran citizen who received withholding of removal in 2024 and was released on supervision was detained without warning on June 12, 2026, when he reported to the Baltimore ICE Field Office as directed. ICE revoked his release and prepared removal documents intending to deport him to Mexico without following required procedural safeguards or providing notice and opportunity to be heard. The court granted his habeas corpus petition, finding ICE violated due process and the Accardi doctrine by failing to follow its own regulations, and ordered his immediate release on the previous supervision conditions.

U.S. District Judge Kyle Dudek ordered the immediate release of Dmitrii Iastrebov, detained at Baker County Detention Facility in Florida, after finding the Trump administration repeatedly violated court orders regarding his right to an individualized bond hearing. The government initially conceded Iastrebov was entitled to a bond hearing, but when an immigration judge refused to hold it, government lawyers accepted that refusal without appeal. When Iastrebov petitioned federal court again, the government claimed its previous concession "was in error" and asked the court to reverse its own decision. Judge Dudek rejected this request, criticizing the government's conduct as "a masterclass in litigation cynicism" and "a complete inability to follow judicial directions," and ordered Iastrebov's release within 48 hours.

Mohsen Mahdawi, a lawful permanent resident and Columbia University graduate student living in the U.S. since 2014, was arrested by federal agents on April 14, 2025, when he arrived at a Vermont immigration office for a routine citizenship interview. Federal authorities initiated removal proceedings, alleging his pro-Palestinian activism threatened U.S. foreign policy. Immigration Judge Nina Froes terminated the deportation case on February 17, 2026, after the government failed to authenticate supporting documentation. The Trump administration revived deportation efforts, and Immigration Judge Angela Munson ordered him deported on June 3, 2026, based on the foreign policy bar and his pro-Palestinian speech. The ACLU is representing Mahdawi and filed a federal appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on June 10, 2026, challenging the use of the foreign policy bar to target his speech.

Elias Cardoza-Torres, a 58-year-old Cuban national, was arrested by ICE on June 11, 2026, after being released from Miami-Dade County custody. Cardoza-Torres entered the United States in 1989 with a temporary stay permit and was eligible to adjust his immigration status under the Cuban Adjustment Act but never did. An immigration judge issued a final deportation order against him in April 2000, but he remained in the United States for over 26 years, accumulating convictions from 1991 to 2018 for selling heroin, cocaine possession, burglary, vehicle theft, drug possession, and a weapons-related felony, as well as an arrest for assault. ICE acting director David J. Venturella said Cardoza-Torres had never been a lawful permanent resident and had disregarded both immigration and criminal laws; he remains in ICE custody pending deportation.

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 Guatemalan man was arrested in a Bonita Springs park after a Florida Fish and Wildlife officer falsely claimed the man's dog had bitten him, though the officer never exited his vehicle. The man was held for approximately 40 minutes before ICE officers arrived and took him into custody. His wife, who witnessed the incident, said both are pending asylum cases and spoke anonymously to avoid jeopardizing their immigration status.

Kaleth, a 2-year-old boy seeking asylum with his mother Joani, was detained in March 2026 after attending a required immigration check-in appointment in California. His father was handcuffed and taken to an adult detention facility in California while Kaleth and Joani were transferred to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas. Without his father, Kaleth became despondent and stopped eating for 12 days, vomited when forced to eat, and stopped having bowel movements—conditions doctors attributed to depression. Kaleth and his mother were released in April 2026 and reunited with his father, with reports indicating the boy is recovering well.

Willian, the father of two U.S.-citizen children and son of a naturalized U.S. citizen, was detained by ICE while at work on Monday. He has active work authorization issued by the U.S. government and was actively pursuing his immigration case through the legal system. A federal judge subsequently ordered that he cannot be transferred or removed while his case is reviewed.

Mohamed Fofana, a 22-year-old asylum seeker from Guinea employed at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, was detained by ICE on November 11, 2025, near his home. He was held for seven months in detention facilities in Batavia and La Salle County, Texas. In February 2026, his attorney reported losing contact with him for a month due to facility transfer confusion, and an immigration judge granted a 45-day continuance. An immigration judge ordered his deportation in May 2026, but a federal judge vacated that order and approved his habeas corpus petition in June 2026. Fofana was released and returned to Syracuse on June 7-9, 2026, to reunite with his family.

Thien, who arrived in the U.S. as a refugee in 1984 at age 3 and became a permanent resident, lost his green card status at 16 due to a mistake. After serving his sentence, he was placed on an order of supervision rather than deported because Vietnam was not accepting deportees. For 24 years, he complied with every condition of the order, maintained work authorization, built a business, and raised a family. When he attended a scheduled immigration appointment, he was detained within 10 minutes without an interview and is now facing deportation.

Akram Mahmoud Omar, 77, a Palestinian-born lawful permanent resident who lived in the United States for 50 years, was detained by ICE in October 2025 during a routine check-in at Angola prison's ICE detention facility. While in custody, Omar suffered a heart attack and underwent triple-bypass surgery. On May 29, 2026, Federal Judge Brian Jackson ordered Omar's release, finding ICE violated his constitutional rights and due process. However, on June 8, 2026, ICE re-arrested Omar at his home without warning and attempted to deport him to Israel the following morning, directly defying the judge's order. A second emergency court order forced ICE to release him again and prohibited further detention or removal pending a June 24 hearing.

The petitioner, a Cuban citizen and native of Cuba, is subject to a final order of removal entered in 2018. At that time he was detained for approximately eight months while the government unsuccessfully attempted to effect his removal, after which he was released. He was re-detained by immigration authorities on June 7, 2026 (described as June 6, 2026 in a related filing) and has remained in immigration custody since then. A petition for writ of habeas corpus was filed on his behalf by a relative acting as 'next friend,' arguing his continued detention violates the Due Process Clause under Zadvydas v. Davis and federal immigration detention regulations, and seeking his immediate release. However, the court found that the petitioner had separately filed his own pro se habeas petition in his own name one day earlier, raising the same claims and seeking the same relief against a more complete set of respondents. Because the petitioner was shown to be capable of litigating on his own behalf, the court held the 'next friend' could not establish standing and dismissed this duplicative action, along with pending motions for a temporary restraining order and for entry of judgment. The court clarified that dismissal does not limit the petitioner's ability to pursue his claims in the separately filed prior action.