Human Impact Project

An immigration detainee who entered the United States without inspection in December 2022 was released on his own recognizance while removal proceedings were underway. On June 21, 2026, after three years of maintaining stable residence, valid employment authorization, and attempted compliance with ICE reporting requirements, he was detained without notice or process when he reported to ICE as instructed. The court granted his habeas corpus petition, finding the detention violated due process rights, and ordered his immediate release with a permanent injunction against re-detention absent constitutional protections including pre-deprivation notice and a hearing.

An immigrant who entered the United States without inspection on November 17, 2023, was initially detained and released two days later. On June 20, 2026, he was re-detained by ICE during a routine check-in appointment without explanation. The federal court granted his habeas petition, finding that his prior release created a liberty interest in continued release and that re-detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated due process. The court ordered his immediate release and enjoined ICE from re-detaining him without notice and a hearing before an immigration judge.

Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez, a Venezuelan asylum-seeker and data analyst for the New York City Council, was arrested by ICE on January 12, 2026, during a routine appointment at the Bethpage Asylum Office on Long Island. He had Temporary Protected Status, no criminal record, and was authorized to work in the U.S. until October, according to City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who disputed ICE's claim he lacked work authorization. The New York Legal Assistance Group filed a habeas corpus petition on his behalf, and protesters gathered outside the Manhattan federal building where he was initially held. He was later moved through several detention facilities, denied bond on February 2, and ultimately granted asylum by an immigration judge on May 2. Rubio was released on $5,000 bond on June 19 after 158 days in custody; DHS has appealed the asylum ruling. Menin said he "had done nothing wrong" and was "wrongfully in ICE detention for months on end."

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.

A man was detained by ICE during an interview at the immigration office in Philadelphia while applying for adjustment of status (green card). He had a final exclusion order issued 30 years prior but no criminal history in the intervening decades. Under current immigration policies, ICE is detaining anyone with a final exclusion order who applies for adjustment of status, and he has been denied access to habeas corpus relief. His family is seeking legal options to prevent his deportation.

A noncitizen subject to an order of supervision under 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b) since 2013 was informed by an ICE officer at a routine check-in on June 16, 2026, that ICE planned to remove him to a third country and instructed him to return with a plane ticket for El Salvador, Guatemala, or Mexico, with threats of deportation to Africa if he did not cooperate. An Immigration Judge had previously granted him withholding of removal in 2022, finding he would likely face persecution in Honduras based on his sexual orientation. The court is examining whether he received proper notice and due process protections regarding the threatened removal and whether a bond hearing is required before any detention.

A Nicaraguan citizen who had resided continuously in the United States since December 2022 was taken into ICE custody on June 13, 2026, and detained at the West Tennessee Detention Facility without an individualized bond hearing. He had strong family and community ties, a fiancée, other relatives, lawful employment history, and no criminal record. The court ordered ICE to respond within two business days and prohibited his transfer during the litigation, citing the Sixth Circuit's Lopez-Campos decision requiring bond hearings for noncitizens with significant interior U.S. presence.

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.

A man was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the San Jose Field Office on June 12, 2026. He filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus and motion for a temporary restraining order challenging his continued detention at a facility in the Eastern District of California. The Northern District of California court transferred the case to the Eastern District of California, finding it lacked jurisdiction because the petitioner was being held in custody outside its territorial bounds.

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.

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.

An immigration detainee filed a habeas corpus petition challenging ICE's mandatory detention without bond at Baker Correctional Institution. An immigration judge conducted a bond hearing on June 18, 2026, and ordered the detainee's release on a $10,000 bond. The federal court dismissed the case as moot on July 2, 2026, after the bond determination was made.

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.

A 22-year-old Colombian national was detained at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana after entering the United States on November 16, 2022. She received deferred action status approved by USCIS on February 3, 2025, valid until February 3, 2029. On June 9, 2026, following a credible fear interview with USCIS, she was taken into custody after the asylum officer determined there was no credible fear of persecution or torture. An Immigration Judge affirmed this negative credible fear determination on June 30, 2026. The district court denied her emergency motion for temporary restraining order and stay of removal on July 9, 2026, citing lack of jurisdiction and finding the motion attempted to improperly shortcut the habeas corpus process.

Louise Hunkporti, a 64-year-old native of Congo, is facing denaturalization after using a falsified identity to obtain U.S. citizenship. In 1995, Hunkporti applied for and was denied an immigration benefit. After being denied, Hunkporti adopted a new identity and submitted a falsified application under that assumed identity. She naturalized as a U.S. citizen on March 2, 2010 under the adopted identity. After USCIS digitized its paper fingerprint cards, the Department of Justice discovered that Hunkporti's fingerprints from her 2010 naturalization matched those she submitted in her 1995 denied application. The complaint alleges eight counts for her numerous misrepresentations and unlawful acts.

Neeraj Sharma, a 50-year-old Indian native and owner/CEO of staffing company Magnavision LLC in New Jersey, is facing denaturalization for concealing fraud when he naturalized. As an officer of Magnavision, Sharma signed and filed eleven fraudulent H-1B visa petitions with USCIS between April 2015 and April 2017, falsely representing that visa beneficiaries would be employed with a particular global financial institution and including forged signatures of executives on corporate letterhead. He became a lawful permanent resident in February 2012 and later naturalized in December 2017 after falsely denying, under penalty of perjury, that he had ever committed crimes or lied to gain immigration benefits. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey filed a complaint on June 4, 2026 seeking to revoke his citizenship as part of a Justice Department effort targeting 17 naturalized citizens.

Leidys Delmas Garcia, a Cuban native who became a U.S. citizen on January 19, 2019, is facing denaturalization proceedings from the Department of Justice. Prosecutors say that between October 2018 and November 2022, she and others ran fraudulent physical therapy clinics that billed Blue Cross Blue Shield about $24.2 million, receiving roughly $5.8 million in payouts, of which Garcia personally obtained about $1.6 million. During her January 2019 naturalization interview, she denied under oath ever having committed a crime, despite her ongoing involvement in the scheme. She was indicted in November 2022 and pleaded guilty in July 2023, admitting her role in the conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud.

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.

A Guatemalan national with familial ties to the United States was taken into ICE custody on June 7, 2026, based on a reinstated 2014 removal order. Despite expressing fear of returning to Guatemala due to widespread violence, ICE failed to provide the mandatory reasonable fear interview required under 8 C.F.R. § 241.8(e) during his one month of detention. The court granted a preliminary injunction ordering ICE to immediately refer him to an asylum officer for a reasonable fear determination within three days and to file a compliance status report.