Human Impact Project

Fernando Vazquez, an 18-year-old U.S. citizen born in Raleigh, North Carolina, and a commercial landscaper, was detained by masked Border Patrol agents at a construction site in Cary during a large-scale immigration enforcement sweep that detained over 250 people in the Charlotte area. Agents pinned him against a gate and questioned him about his birthplace despite his showing a North Carolina Real ID, then handcuffed him and separated him from his brother. He says agents drove him around for about two miles before releasing him in an isolated wooded area, throwing his wallet, IDs, and AirPods on the ground rather than returning them. Vazquez recorded video of the encounter that was viewed millions of times online, and said the experience left him 'feeling powerless, frightened, humiliated, and deeply shaken.' In July 2026, he filed a federal damages claim with ACLU of North Carolina representation alleging wrist injuries and emotional trauma, part of more than 500 cases ProPublica documented of U.S. citizens detained by immigration agents during the Trump administration.

Fatima Eminzada, a 24-year-old citizen of Azerbaijan, was detained by ICE on April 4, 2026, and transferred to the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana. She is pregnant in her first trimester with medical complications including hypothyroidism, possible UTI, and mild anemia. After bond was denied at a redetermination hearing on May 14, 2026, and an immigration judge denied her renewed motion for bond on June 12, 2026, she filed a federal habeas corpus petition on June 25, 2026, represented by attorneys Logan Joseph Duplessis and Giedre Stasiunaite. On July 1, 2026, the court issued a temporary restraining order and ordered ICE respondents to file a medical-status report addressing her current medical conditions, treatment, and access to medical care, with the deadline extended to July 13, 2026.

Video documented an incident in which a man struck his head on the ground during an ICE detention in a parking lot in Bethany, Oklahoma. The incident occurred amid reports of increased ICE activity in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area.

On June 24-26, 2026, the US deported approximately 146 Venezuelans, including minors, on a repatriation flight to Venezuela. The deportees were placed in Hotel Santuario (also called Hotel El Santuario) in La Guaira while undergoing repatriation processing. Within hours, twin earthquakes struck Venezuela with magnitude and force sufficient to collapse the hotel. At least 2,200 people were killed and 50,000 reported missing across the country. Among the deportees, some were killed, others severely injured with amputations, and many remain unaccounted for. Families gathered outside the hotel rubble searching for information, hampered by limited rescue access and unclear communication from authorities.

Carlos Iván Mendoza Hernández was shot seven times by ICE agents during a traffic stop in Patterson, Stanislaus County, California on April 8, 2026. According to dashcam video and eyewitness accounts, Hernández reversed away from officers who had drawn weapons, then drove forward as agents opened fire; ICE stated he attempted to run over agents with his vehicle. While hospitalized at Doctors Medical Center in Modesto, FBI agents accessed his HIPAA-protected medical records without clear authorization or warrant, prompting concerns from his federal public defenders. After discharge, Hernández was arrested by the FBI and placed in solitary confinement at California City Detention Center with his gunshot wound injuries remaining unaddressed. On June 27, 2026, he was removed from the facility for a scheduled medical appointment to evaluate bullet fragments, but his family received no updates for hours and the detention center refused to confirm his whereabouts or safety.

A 44-year-old man from Ukraine suffered a stroke while in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody and did not receive suitable medical care despite showing clear signs of medical emergency, including seizure-like movements. The case was highlighted in a joint report by Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights documenting that the rate of people dying in ICE custody has reached its highest level in over a decade, with at least 52 deaths reported since Trump's second term began in January 2025.

Arturo, a Guatemalan man who fled extortion and violence, was detained by ICE while returning home from a work shift. He was scheduled for hernia surgery and has Type II diabetes, but is receiving no medical attention in out-of-state detention. His family—wife Maricel and three children—faces financial hardship due to loss of his income.

Gavilan Sanchez, a Mexican national without legal immigration status and mother of U.S. citizen children, was arrested by ICE agents during the same June 11 operation that led to the detention of her husband, Jesus Acevedo Sanchez, outside a Baltimore school. Her attorney said agents threatened to do to her "what we did to your husband or worse," and ICE initially accused her of punching officers, though a later affidavit described only "minimal physical resistance." A federal judge ordered her release in early July, and since then her daughters have been staying with relatives. On July 23, a separate judge ordered ICE to release Acevedo Sanchez as well, calling the case a "stomach churner" and finding that ICE lacked probable cause and failed to follow due process procedures during the arrest.

Lisbeth Portillo, 58, was deported to Venezuela on June 24, 2026, on Flight 164 carrying approximately 146 people. She was housed at Hotel Santuario La Llanada with over 100 other recently deported Venezuelans, in a second-floor room with 16 other women. Twin earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude struck hours after her arrival, causing the building to collapse. Portillo was buried under a beam but escaped the rubble, surviving with bruises covering her body. She was reunited with her children the following night. Portillo had crossed the U.S. border in November 2021 with a pending asylum claim and had lived in South Florida for more than four years before her deportation.

Anderson Daniel Salcedo, 22, a construction worker who had lived in the U.S. for three years, was deported to Venezuela on June 24, 2026 via Flight 164. Upon arrival, he was taken to Hotel Santuario La Llanada in La Guaira for processing. Twin earthquakes struck hours later, collapsing the hotel. Salcedo was trapped in the rubble for 40 hours without access to his phone or documents—which had been withheld by authorities—leaving his family unable to locate or contact him during the crisis. He was rescued and admitted to Caracas's university hospital, where both of his legs were amputated due to his injuries.

A man from Azerbaijan was detained at Otay Mesa Detention Center and hospitalized for nine days due to acute gastrointestinal distress. He experienced nausea and severe pain and was severely intolerant of the facility's food, causing him to lose approximately 20 pounds while detained. His case was documented in habeas corpus petitions challenging detention conditions.

A 34-year-old Pakistani woman with asthma and anxiety was detained at Otay Mesa Detention Center where she experienced panic attacks that knocked her unconscious and suffered numerous head injuries. She was hospitalized for three days while detained. In a court declaration, she expressed fear that her condition would worsen and stated she feared dying from lack of breathing. Her case was documented in habeas corpus petitions challenging her detention.

A woman from Mexico who uses a cane to walk was injured at Otay Mesa Detention Center after staff mixed up her prescription medication with another detainee's laxative. She rushed to the bathroom and fell, further injuring her knee, back and hips. Her case was documented in habeas corpus petitions filed to challenge detention.

Abelardo Rincón, 23, spent six years in Georgia, where he worked at a car dealership, married, and was expecting the birth of his daughter before being detained in a U.S. immigration crackdown and deported to Venezuela on Flight 164 on June 24, 2026, with more than 140 other Venezuelans. He called his family in Atlanta from Hotel Santuario La Llanada in La Guaira, a coastal area later heavily damaged by twin earthquakes that killed at least 2,200 people, injured over 10,000, and left a reported 50,000 missing, according to the U.N. Rincón and other passengers from his flight remain unaccounted for, and his family continues searching for information. The Department of Homeland Security said the flight landed safely and that its responsibility ends once a person leaves ICE custody.

A 77-year-old Iranian man with a rare, life-threatening liver disease was detained at Otay Mesa Detention Center and placed in solitary confinement despite doctors recommending his release. He had lived in the U.S. under supervised release for over two decades and had multiple health conditions including sleep apnea, severe diabetes, and hearing loss. While detained for six weeks, he lost 10 pounds, experienced high blood sugar readings, and was denied essential CPAP equipment after staff reported losing parts of the machine. Two doctors and a nurse practitioner wrote letters urging his release. A federal judge ordered his release in January after finding ICE officers violated his due process rights.

Loreto Javar, a 76-year-old lawful permanent resident from the Philippines who has lived in the U.S. for over three decades, was released from the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma after more than two months in detention. The retired hotel worker from Fife, who has Stage 4 prostate cancer, was detained by ICE during his U.S. citizenship interview in Tukwila after officials said he failed to disclose a decades-old criminal conviction from the Philippines on his original visa application. During detention he was fed only foods advocates say were not nutritious enough for someone with cancer, and his daughter said he now suffers from PTSD and is afraid to leave his house. He was released on recognizance with an ankle monitor and still faces deportation proceedings, with a check-in and a master hearing scheduled for later in September.

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 Haitian asylum seeker in her 40s, who had lived in Brazil before entering the U.S. in June 2024 on humanitarian parole, was detained for over six months at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility after ICE arrested her following a domestic disturbance in Massachusetts. She had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and severe anxiety during a prior psychiatric hospitalization, and a hearing revealed conflicting assessments of her mental health among the facility's mental health providers, a corrections officer, and outside clinicians, a dispute the judge did not resolve. U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Lanthier ruled that her prolonged detention without an individualized hearing violated her Fifth Amendment due process rights and ordered her release, giving her legal team time to arrange her return to Massachusetts, though the judge did not rule on claims of deliberate indifference to her mental health needs.

Eighteen Venezuelan men expelled by the US to El Salvador's Cecot prison in March 2025 filed a petition before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights alleging torture, sexual assault, and medical neglect. The men, who were released and returned to Venezuela in July, detail a pattern of abuse including beatings, humiliation, and being held in windowless cells with constant bright lights. Human rights groups filed the petition on their behalf seeking international accountability for violations.

Aliaksei Shcharbachenia, a 35-year-old asylum-seeker from Belarus, has spent nearly a year at Farmville Detention Center in Virginia, where he says he is experiencing medical neglect as a tumor grows on his arm. He claims the U.S. government attempted to illegally deport him back to Belarus in a botched operation, and that despite requesting specialist care in December, he has not received a diagnosis or seen a specialist for the growth.