Human Impact Project

Carlos Ernesto Guerra Cruz, who arrived in the United States four years ago with a pending asylum case, was detained by ICE on a Saturday following a local incident. He was initially taken to a detention facility in Centennial, Colorado, and after spending the weekend in custody, was told he would be released on Monday. However, as he was being released, ICE took him into custody and transferred him to the ICE detention facility in Aurora, Colorado. His wife Yorliana and their two children, ages 8 and 12, are now facing financial and emotional hardship due to his detention.

A man who entered the U.S. on a valid visa and had complied with immigration appointments for seven years was arrested in the middle of his asylum interview. He faced transfer to a detention center near Bakersfield, separated from his American spouse and U.S.-born children. Attorney Elizabeth Knowles from the Bay Area Habeas Network filed an emergency habeas petition after midnight, and a federal judge ordered his immediate release within five hours.

A Colombian man, a citizen of Colombia, has been in the United States since December 29, 2024, when he presented at the border, was issued a Notice to Appear charging him as removable for lacking valid entry documents, and was granted parole and released on his own recognizance. He has applied for asylum. On July 13, 2026, he was arrested and detained by ICE and has remained in custody without a bond hearing since. He has no criminal history and no final order of removal, and is detained at the Pike County Correctional Facility in Pennsylvania. On July 20, 2026, he filed a habeas corpus petition and a motion for a temporary restraining order in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, arguing that his detention under the mandatory detention provision of 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b) is unlawful because he was paroled into the country and is no longer 'seeking admission,' and that he is instead subject to the discretionary detention provision, 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), which entitles him to a bond hearing.

An Iranian man who was previously arrested, suspended from university, held in solitary confinement, and threatened with death in Iran for publishing political opposition magazines was arrested by ICE during a routine check-in in February 2025 after an immigration judge canceled his bond. He had twice been granted asylum by immigration judges, but the government appealed both grants and the Board of Immigration Appeals had not yet ruled on the merits when Judge Linda Lopez of the US District Court for the Southern District of California denied his habeas petition on July 13. Lopez said her hands were tied under a Ninth Circuit ruling and that his prolonged detention, while lengthy, was not indefinite.

A Chinese national admitted to the U.S. on a valid B-1/B-2 visa on April 4, 2024, was re-detained by ICE on July 13, 2026, at Los Angeles International Airport without notice, warrant, or hearing. During her two+ years in the country, she had been granted employment authorization, worked lawfully, established community ties, and maintained a clean criminal record while her asylum application was pending. The court ordered her release on her prior conditions within 24 hours, finding her re-detention without pre-deprivation process violated Fifth Amendment due process rights.

Supreet Singh Khanchi, a native and citizen of India, entered the United States without inspection in December 2022 and was released under an order of supervision while his asylum application was pending. He consistently complied with his release conditions and had no criminal history, but on June 25, 2026, he was re-detained without notice or explanation while attending a routine ICE check-in. Khanchi filed a federal habeas corpus case, Khanchi v. Blanch et al, in the Central District of California, case number 5:26-cv-03801. The court ordered his immediate release, finding that ICE's revocation of his prior release violated his Fifth Amendment due process rights because he was deprived of liberty without an opportunity to be heard and there was no evidence of changed circumstances.

The petitioner, a citizen of Colombia, entered the United States in June 2017 and filed an asylum application in December 2017. She was detained by ICE on July 9, 2026, and has been held since at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana. There is no final removal order in her case. On July 24, 2026, an Immigration Judge denied her request for release on bond. She filed a habeas petition seeking immediate release, or alternatively a transfer to a facility in South Florida, or alternatively a new bond hearing. She also filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction seeking the same relief. The federal district court denied the emergency motion, finding it was essentially an attempt to obtain a merits ruling on the habeas petition through injunctive relief, and stated the issues should be addressed through ordinary adjudication of the habeas petition.

Jacob Zepeta-Castro, owner of the El Quetzal bakery in Lake Worth Beach, was arrested by ICE agents and Florida Highway Patrol troopers after an hours-long standoff that drew a crowd of officers, protesters and passersby. He was charged with defying deportation orders by returning to Florida more than once from his native Guatemala; his family said he was working legally and had a pending asylum application. Zepeta-Castro's family and advocates disputed ICE's claim that he tried to ram an agent's car, saying he locked the bakery's doors to protect his employees and surrendered voluntarily as his distraught children watched. A federal judge has ordered him held without bond at a Stuart detention facility, ruling his asylum application is no defense against the reentry charge.

A Nicaraguan national who entered the U.S. in September 2022 and was released on recognizance with asylum pending was arrested for driving under the influence on July 4, 2026. He reported to ICE offices on July 9, 2026 pursuant to his release conditions and was detained at Golden State Annex Detention Facility. The court granted his habeas corpus petition, finding his re-detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause, and ordered a substantive bond hearing within 14 days where the government must prove by clear and convincing evidence that he poses a danger or flight risk.

Marcos, an asylum seeker detained at Florence Correctional Center in Arizona, expressed fear for his safety while in custody. He fears becoming the next person to die in detention, referencing Emmanuel Damas. The facility was experiencing a measles outbreak at the time of contact.

Luis U., 51, a Venezuelan immigrant who had become part of the Lake Placid community, was detained by ICE agents on July 8, 2026, while taking out the trash at his hotel job. Witnesses said the agents were in plain clothes with no tactical gear or visible identification. His family asked that his full last name be withheld out of fear of further detentions, and advocates note the incident followed a separate detention of another Lake Placid man the day before and a series of operations in June that led to 21 roofers and restaurant workers being detained. Family, friends, and advocates continue to seek his release.

Juan Bonilla Lagos, a 32-year-old Colombian national, was arrested by ICE agents in Plainview in October 2024 while sitting in his car with his wife and 5-year-old son during what his family says was a trip to a doctor's appointment. During the arrest, agents threatened to break the car window as his child clung to him and pleaded with agents not to take him away. Bonilla Lagos, who entered the U.S. in 2022 fleeing gang violence in Colombia, was detained at an ICE facility in Batavia, New York, where he attempted suicide three times during his nine-month custody. He has no criminal record and has filed an asylum petition. On July 7, 2026, he was released and reunited with his wife and two children at Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan. The prolonged separation caused severe mental health trauma to his family, including depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress.

Jose Enrique Ojeda Duarte, a 31-year-old Venezuelan asylum-seeker and father of two who entered the U.S. legally in 2024, was arrested by ICE agents in Chicago on September 15, 2025, while driving to work during Operation Midway Blitz. He was told he was being taken to a court date but instead spent about seven months in detention, including at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas, where he described 'inhumane' conditions such as frozen or expired food and lack of medical care when he contracted COVID-19. In April 2026, despite his pending asylum case, he was deported to Venezuela; DHS later admitted in court filings that a data error in its removal system caused the wrongful deportation. After his attorneys and partner, Leydimar Castillo, pushed for his return, a federal judge intervened and he was brought back to the U.S. in June 2026, reuniting with Castillo and their two children on Chicago's South Side. He has since struggled with anxiety, insomnia and fear, saying, 'Sometimes, I get a terrible feeling, like a fear of going out.' His asylum case remains unresolved.

Erianny Rodriguez Balza, a Venezuelan woman with active Temporary Protected Status (TPS), was detained by ICE at Eloy Detention Center in Arizona for approximately 9 months. Court filings show that a federal government attorney acknowledged her legal status, yet she remained in detention despite this acknowledgment. She was eventually released after the wrongful detention.

The petitioner has lived in the United States continuously since 2000 and is married to a U.S. citizen wife, with four U.S. citizen children ages 14 to 24, three of whom are minors who rely on him for financial and emotional support. He owns and operates JMQ Construction Inc., a family business that supports his household. He was paroled from custody in February 2022 under ICE's Alternatives to Detention program and was later placed in withholding-only proceedings after a positive reasonable fear determination, with an appeal pending before the Board of Immigration Appeals since June 2025; he also has a pending U-visa application based on being the victim of a 2016 machete assault. On July 6, 2026, he was detained by immigration agents while appearing for a scheduled biometrics appointment at a USCIS Application Support Center in connection with renewing his work authorization, and was held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. He filed a counseled habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 seeking a bond hearing or release, arguing his re-detention without notice or a hearing violated procedural and substantive due process and the APA. The court found his re-detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated procedural due process and ordered him released within 24 hours on the same conditions that existed before detention, with his belongings and documents returned and a status report filed confirming compliance.

A Georgian citizen who was paroled into the United States on May 8, 2023 to pursue a pending asylum application was detained by ICE on July 6, 2026 at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana. She filed a habeas petition challenging her detention and seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent removal, arguing violations of due process rights and procedural requirements under immigration law. The federal court denied her emergency motion for a temporary restraining order and stay of removal, finding it lacked jurisdiction over the removal order and finding insufficient grounds for the extraordinary relief sought.

An Eritrean asylum seeker entered the United States in September 2023 and has a pending asylum application. He was detained on July 5, 2026, and is currently held in ICE custody at the Jackson Parish Correctional Center in Jonesboro, Louisiana. He filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus arguing that his continued detention without an individualized custody determination violates his due process rights. He also moved for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction seeking either a custody redetermination hearing or immediate release, and requested an expedited hearing. The court denied the motions, finding that he showed no threat of imminent harm beyond ordinary detention hardships and was effectively trying to obtain the ultimate relief sought in his habeas petition through emergency motions. The court noted he had only been detained for one month and provided no basis to prioritize his case over the 1,406 other alien detainee habeas petitions pending in the district.

A party worker from India entered the United States without inspection in March 2022 and was apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol. He timely filed an asylum application on August 12, 2022, seeking asylum, withholding of removal, and Convention Against Torture protection based on political opinion, and had been faithfully conducting ICE reporting check-ins. On February 16, 2026, he was arrested by local police for assault with a deadly weapon following an altercation at a convenience store where he worked as a clerk; he claims the charge was subsequently dropped. On July 5, 2026, he was arrested by ICE during a routine supervision check-in and taken into custody at Golden State Annex Detention Facility in McFarland, California. He filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his re-detention without a bond hearing as a violation of his Fifth Amendment due process rights. The federal court granted his petition in part, finding that 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), not § 1225(b), governs his detention, and ordered respondents to provide him an individualized bond hearing within 14 days before an immigration judge where the government must prove by clear and convincing evidence that he poses a danger to the community or flight risk.

An Indian citizen who entered the U.S. on July 15, 2023, was detained on July 3, 2026, when he appeared at a local ICE office for a routine check-in appointment. He had been released on his own recognizance in an Alternatives to Detention program and had a pending asylum application with valid employment authorization. The court found his detention violated due process and ordered his immediate release, prohibiting future detention without seven days' notice and a bond hearing before a neutral arbiter.

Jesus Eduardo Reyes Hermes, a Venezuelan national with valid Temporary Protected Status, was arrested by ICE on April 28, 2026, while working on his car outside his South-Central El Paso home. His 11-year-old son, identified in court records as J.R.C., was also detained during the incident despite both having pending asylum claims; the boy told El Paso Matters he believes the arrest stemmed from a neighbor's noise complaint to ICE. Reyes Hermes had lived in El Paso for nearly four years and was in the process of applying for a TPS exemption at the time of his arrest. He was transferred to the Camp East Montana detention facility at Fort Bliss and separated from his son. After attorneys filed federal habeas corpus petitions, a federal judge ordered bond hearings, and an immigration judge set a $5,000 bond on June 16; Reyes Hermes was released on June 24, the same day USCIS issued a negative credible fear determination triggering expedited removal proceedings against him. In July, his son requested voluntary deportation to reunite with his mother in Venezuela after three years in El Paso.