Human Impact Project

Iemad Saifo, a 65-year-old Syrian-born chef who owns Zena's American Mediterranean Cuisine and Catering in Collingswood, New Jersey, was detained by ICE on July 31 at their Mt. Laurel office during what he believed was a routine check-in, despite having a pending immigration case with a December court date. Saifo came to the U.S. with his family on a B1/B2 visa from Syria in 2002, is the primary caregiver for his son with autism, and suffers from several chronic health conditions including a rare neurological condition and kidney disease. His wife and four children are U.S. citizens, and a residency petition filed by his U.S. citizen son had cleared its first approval stage. He was held at Delaney Hall, a privately run detention facility in Newark that has been the site of protests over detainee treatment, prompting his daughter Zena, for whom the restaurant is named, to voice concern over reports of detainee deaths there. His attorneys filed an emergency habeas petition, after which a federal judge barred ICE from transferring him out of state. A petition supporting him gathered more than 12,500 signatures, with support from the Council on American-Islamic Relations and over 150 notarized letters from community members. An immigration judge later granted bond and he was released, with his daughter saying, 'We are so relieved to have him safely back home as the immigration process continues.'

Cornelius Kaihau Holani, a 20-year-old citizen of New Zealand of Tongan ethnicity, was lawfully admitted to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program in July 2023. He lives in Seattle, cares for his elderly grandmother, and volunteers at his church teaching traditional Tongan dance. His mother is a green card holder and his stepfather is a U.S. citizen. On July 31, ICE agents detained Holani at Oakland International Airport as he waited to board a domestic flight to Seattle, handcuffed him, and transported him to an ICE office in San Francisco. Agents presented him with a document and instructed him to sign it; when he asked if it was related to deportation, an officer allegedly told him "No, it's nothing like that." U.S. District Judge Noël Wise ruled that ICE coerced Holani into signing the document without knowing its contents and that the government violated his due process rights by relying on it as a waiver of his right to contest removal. The judge ordered his release and barred re-detention or removal pending a hearing.

Paula Sofia Ramirez Clavijo, a 33-year-old Colombian asylum seeker and survivor of sexual assault, was detained by ICE on July 24, 2025, immediately after appearing at San Francisco Immigration Court for a scheduled removal hearing. She had entered the U.S. without inspection in December 2023 and been released on her own recognizance. ICE arrested her outside the courtroom pursuant to a Warrant of Arrest. Attorney Erin Meyer filed a habeas corpus petition on her behalf. A U.S. District Court judge issued an order for her release while she was already on a United Airlines flight to Honolulu with ICE officers. The court granted her petition, ruling that she has a protected liberty interest and cannot be re-detained without a pre-deprivation bond hearing where the government must prove by clear and convincing evidence that she is a flight risk or danger to the community.

Jaciel Cirrus Rojas, a Mexican national and Chatino-language speaker from rural Oaxaca, came to Racine in 2018 to reunite with his brother. In June 2025, ICE agents arrived at his home searching for a prior tenant and detained him as "collateral" despite no prior criminal convictions or civil citations. Held at Dodge County jail for nine months and separated from his partner and child, Rojas filed for asylum citing fear of torture if returned to Mexico. His attorney Jennifer Bizzotto challenged his detention through a federal habeas petition. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in his favor on July 31, 2026, rejecting the Trump administration's mandatory detention policy and allowing detainees like Rojas to seek bond hearings in immigration court.

A native and citizen of Guatemala who has resided in the United States for over a decade was arrested on July 30, 2026, and detained at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania. He has no criminal history and is gainfully employed. On August 3, 2026, he filed a habeas corpus petition in the Western District of Pennsylvania along with an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order, challenging his continued detention without a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1226 and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. On August 11, 2026, Chief Judge Cathy Bissoon denied the TRO motion, finding he had not shown immediate and irreparable injury, that transfer out of the district would not defeat the court's habeas jurisdiction, and that there was no indication of a final removal order or scheduled immigration court proceedings. The court construed the petition as seeking prompt review of the lawfulness of his detention and, at minimum, an individualized bond hearing, and ordered an expedited case management schedule.

The petitioner is a citizen of India who arrived in the United States around May 18, 2023, and was briefly detained by immigration officials before being released on his own recognizance. He has a pending asylum petition. On or about July 30, 2026, he was re-detained by immigration authorities and has remained in ICE custody since, held at the California City Immigration Processing Center. He filed a habeas corpus petition and a motion for a temporary restraining order challenging his detention, which is governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a). The court found that his detention without a pre-deprivation hearing following his prior release violated his due process rights, citing its reasoning in Cajina v. Wofford and Perez v. Albarran. The court granted his habeas petition, ordering his immediate release and enjoining respondents from re-detaining him without written notice and a hearing before an immigration judge, absent exigent circumstances. His motion for a TRO was denied as moot.

A citizen of Armenia was admitted to the United States in February 2013 and has lived in the U.S. for over 13 years. He was placed into removal proceedings in 2023 and found removable by an immigration judge in September 2023. The Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed this determination in January 2024. In April 2024, an immigration judge released him from custody on a $20,000 bond with an order of supervision, which he complied with for over two years. On July 30, 2026, he was unexpectedly detained by ICE during a routine check-in. He is married to a United States citizen, and his wife is due to give birth to their first child on August 17, 2026. On August 4, 2026, a federal judge granted his motion for a preliminary injunction, ordering his immediate release based on a violation of his due process rights, as he was re-detained without a pre-deprivation hearing before a neutral decision-maker.

Jesus Verde Hernandez, a Worden man who has lived in Montana for 10 years with his partner of 14 years and their three children, ages 9, 6 and 4, was arrested on July 30 by Customs and Border Patrol without a warrant or probable cause while agents searched for another man they said resembled him. He is also stepfather to his partner's two adult children, and his partner and all five children are U.S. citizens. During his 30-hour transport between Lewistown, Jordan, Malta, Havre and Great Falls, he was given only crackers and water, denied medication for chronic pain, and pressured by federal authorities to self-deport. Chief District Judge Brian Morris ordered his release, ruling the detention violated his constitutional rights and that the government lacked statutory authority to hold him, and his attorneys at Upper Seven Law are pursuing class certification for roughly 17 people similarly detained at the Cascade County Detention Center, with a court order barring authorities from moving any of them out of Montana before an Aug. 18 hearing in Missoula.

Mario Alfonso Rivera Santiago, detained at Rio Grande Processing Center in Laredo, Texas, filed a pro se Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 against the Department of Homeland Security and the Warden of Rio Grande Detention Center. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas ordered respondents to submit their response by August 7, 2026, with Rivera Santiago able to reply by August 21, 2026. The court also ordered respondents to notify it at least five days before any anticipated transfer or removal of Rivera Santiago outside the Southern District of Texas.

A noncitizen who has resided in the United States since 2024 was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Wyatt Detention Facility in Rhode Island. The Government argued he was subject to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2), claiming all noncitizens not admitted or paroled are "applicants for admission" seeking entry. The District Court granted his habeas petition, finding the detention unlawful because § 1225(b)(2) applies only to those at the border seeking admission, not interior arrests. The court ordered his immediate release and a bond hearing before an immigration judge under § 1226(a).

An immigrant detained at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, Texas filed a habeas corpus petition. The court ordered respondents to provide information about when the petitioner entered the United States, whether the petitioner was previously apprehended and released by immigration authorities, and the status of the petitioner's immigration and removal proceedings. The court ordered respondents to file a response within 7 days of electronic service.

A Laotian refugee admitted to the U.S. in 1983 and lawful permanent resident since 1986 was detained by ICE on July 30, 2026, during a routine check-in without prior notice or opportunity to be heard. ICE officers informed him they had obtained travel documents for his deportation to Laos and cancelled his 26-year order of supervision, placing him into custody despite his attorney's notice of intent to file a motion to reopen immigration proceedings. The court granted a temporary restraining order requiring his immediate release and prohibiting his re-detention without notice and a pre-deprivation hearing before a neutral decisionmaker.

The petitioner was detained by immigration authorities and, according to the government's return, was arrested on July 29, 2026 pursuant to a Warrant of Removal (Form I-205). He filed a pro se habeas corpus petition arguing that his detention is governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), that he was not shown a warrant bearing his name at the time of arrest, and that his continued detention without an individualized bond hearing violates due process. He sought immediate release or, alternatively, a bond hearing. The government acknowledged he is subject to detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a). The court declined to order immediate release but found a bond hearing to be the appropriate remedy. The court granted the petition and ordered respondents to arrange a bond hearing before an immigration court within seven days, and denied his motion for a temporary restraining order as moot.

Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego, 51, a Mexican citizen who has lived in the U.S. since 1998, was riding as a passenger in a van driven by his boss, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, when an ICE officer fatally shot Salgado Araujo during a traffic stop in Houston's Magnolia Park neighborhood on July 7, 2026. Rojas Pliego has no criminal record and is in a common-law marriage with a U.S. citizen, with whom he has several children and stepchildren. He was detained without an individualized bond hearing at the Montgomery ICE Processing Center in Conroe, and in a sworn statement disputed ICE's account of the shooting, calling it "a lie." U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison ruled that his continued detention violated his due process rights and ordered his release, which occurred on July 29, 2026. Rojas Pliego has a pending U visa application as a crime victim and now wears an ankle monitor while his removal case proceeds.

A Nepali national filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus challenging the constitutionality of his detention in federal immigration custody. He is currently detained at the Rio Grande Processing Center. The petition names Miguel Vergara (ICE-ERO Field Office Director), Markwayne Mullin (Secretary of U.S. Department of Homeland Security), Todd Blanche (U.S. Attorney General), and the Warden of the Rio Grande Processing Center as respondents. On August 3, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas ordered respondents to file a response to the petition by August 10, 2026, with evidence from his A-file. The court directed notification to the U.S. Attorney and ordered respondents to notify the court and his counsel of any planned transfer or release.

A 46-year-old Ecuadorian national who has lived in the United States since 2003 and established community roots in Philadelphia with two U.S. citizen children was detained by DHS/ICE on July 29, 2026, after officers showed him a photograph of a different individual they were seeking. Despite his denial that he was the person depicted, officers detained him anyway at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia. The court granted his habeas corpus petition on August 1, 2026, finding that his detention without a bond hearing violated the Immigration and Nationality Act, ordered his immediate release, and temporarily enjoined re-detention for seven days pending a proper bond hearing.

A 14-year-old Brazilian girl with an expired visitor visa was detained by ICE agents on March 11 in a parking lot outside Bethel Presbyterian Church in Marlboro, Massachusetts, after a car was pulled over. Her attorney stated she was with her U.S. citizen brothers, though DHS disputed this account, claiming she was with two Brazilian men suspected of gang ties with no familial relationship to her. ICE said the men's vehicle was connected to an alleged attempted home invasion in Walpole. The girl was taken to the JFK federal building in Boston for 10 hours, then transported overnight to a children's detention facility in New York. At a hearing, Federal Judge Leo T. Sorokin expressed concern about the detention and overnight transfer, stating it was the first time in his 22 years on the bench that he had seen agents detain a juvenile solely because no appropriate person was available to release her to. He ordered her immediate return to Massachusetts, and she was reunited with her maternal aunt, a U.S. citizen, at the JFK building in Boston.

A 30-year-old Colombian citizen who has lived in the United States since March 2023, when she was admitted on a B-2 visitor visa. She filed an asylum application in June 2023 that remained pending for over one year. She has been employed since April 2024 as a Distribution Analyst with Cordiasla USA in Texas and has a partner residing in California. She has no criminal history and has been treated for depression and anxiety with bupropion medication since 2024. On July 28, 2026, while traveling for work from Houston to Ontario, California, ICE agents detained her upon her arrival at Ontario International Airport without advance notice or a pre-deprivation hearing, and confiscated her documents. She was transferred to the Adelanto ICE Processing Center where she has been held for over one week without receiving her required psychiatric medication, which her physician warned could result in serious health risks if interrupted. She filed an ex parte application for a temporary restraining order seeking immediate release from detention. On August 10, 2026, the federal court granted her application, ordering her immediate release under the same terms as before her detention, requiring return of seized property, and prohibiting re-detention without notice and a pre-deprivation hearing before a neutral adjudicator.

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.

Carrera Macias, a Venezuelan national who entered the United States at age 17 and applied for asylum, was arrested by police in Salt Lake City, Utah in July 2026 and subsequently transferred to the ICE Processing Center in Adelanto, California. He filed a habeas corpus petition, Carrera Macias v. Warden, Adelanto ICE Processing Center, challenging his detention as unlawful under the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause and immigration statutes, and sought a temporary restraining order for his immediate release. The court denied the temporary restraining order application, finding that his alleged harms could be addressed through the court's expedited habeas corpus process.