Human Impact Project

On January 14, 2026, an ICE agent shot and wounded Julio Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan immigrant, during an enforcement operation in north Minneapolis following a traffic stop pursuit. The Department of Homeland Security initially claimed Sosa-Celis attacked an agent with a shovel and broomstick for three minutes, but video footage contradicted this account, showing only a 12-second confrontation with no sustained attack. Prosecutors had access to the video within hours but did not review it until nearly three weeks after charging Sosa-Celis and his housemate; both charges were subsequently dropped. Two federal ICE agents were placed on administrative leave after DHS determined their testimony was untrue, and they faced possible termination or criminal charges for apparent perjury.

Federal immigration agents detained an employee at NATIFS, an Indigenous-focused nonprofit restaurant in Minneapolis owned by chef Sean Sherman, outside the restaurant on February 2, 2026. Agents blocked a vehicle carrying staff members, pulled the employee from the car at gunpoint, and stated they were checking paperwork. The employee was transferred to Texas overnight without access to needed medication and without the family being notified in advance. Chef Sherman stated the employee had legal documentation and characterized the armed enforcement as inappropriate.

Steven Saari, a Marine Corps veteran, was detained by federal immigration agents at the scene of Alex Pretti's killing in Minneapolis on February 3, 2026. During his six-hour detention at a federal building, agents collected his biometric data, forced a DNA sample, and copied his cell phone without a warrant or authorization. Saari was denied access to an attorney despite repeated requests and was released without charges.

Farah, a 21-year-old gay woman from Morocco, fled her country in early 2025 after her family attacked her for her sexual orientation and sought asylum in the United States. She was detained for nearly a year while her asylum claim was processed. In August 2025, an immigration judge issued a federal protection order prohibiting her deportation to Morocco due to danger to her life. However, three days before a scheduled hearing on her release, ICE agents detained her and placed her on a flight to Cameroon—a country where homosexuality is criminalized and where she had never lived. After she refused to remain in Cameroon, she was flown to Morocco, where she is now in hiding. She is among dozens of migrants reportedly deported to third countries by the Trump administration despite holding judicial protection orders.

Carlos Chavez, a taco vendor and congregant at North Hills United Methodist Church in Los Angeles who helps with children's ministries, was detained by ICE agents on January 29 during a raid on the church grounds. The raid occurred while the church was conducting a food distribution ministry and hosting an event for mothers and children in the garden. According to church officials, agents forced their way onto the property despite being asked not to enter, carrying weapons and wearing masks, disrupting childcare and after-school programs and forcing attendees to shelter in a secure room for more than four hours. Chavez requested medical treatment for a respiratory illness while in detention, but his request was denied. He was subsequently deported to Mexico after signing a self-deportation order. The raid followed a 2025 policy change that rescinded the long-standing federal "sensitive locations" policy protecting houses of worship, and religious organizations have filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the policy.

Roberto Betancourt, a Venezuelan journalist who fled to Miami with his wife in 2014 after years of armed attacks and death threats from pro-government colectivos over his political reporting, produced political analysis of Latin America in the U.S. alongside exiled journalist Patricia Poleo. An immigration judge granted him deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture in 2024, barring his return to Venezuela. Under a February 2025 DHS directive to re-detain people with CAT protections for third-country removal, ICE took him into custody on July 14, 2025, and over six months transferred him between 12 detention facilities, holding him in shackles for up to 25 hours and in rooms so cramped detainees took turns lying down. Agents tried to push him across the border at Tijuana in December 2025, then tried to force him onto a plane to Venezuela at Arizona's Mesa Gateway airport until a U.S. Marshal intervened. On January 26, 2026, four armed agents at the Nogales port of entry told him "they'll deport you with punches if it's necessary"; he refused to sign the removal notice but was forced onto a Mexican bus and arrived at Tapachula's Siglo XXI migration center on January 28, where deportees were given ten days to seek refugee status or leave Mexico. He later won permission to travel to Mexico City, where he applied for refugee status and launched a sports journalism platform while his wife, seven-year-old son, and ten-year-old daughter remain in Miami. As of September 2026, he remains in Mexico still awaiting resolution of his case, which is among roughly 20,000 third-country removals to Mexico carried out under the policy. "I need to find a way to guarantee stability for my family, for my kids," he said.

Two former detainees at the Everglades immigration detention center testified in federal court that they were punished for seeking legal advice, including having monitored calls dropped when discussing attorneys and being denied access to pen and paper. One detainee from Haiti alleged he was forced to sign self-deportation papers he did not understand without being able to consult with an attorney first. Civil rights attorneys sought a temporary injunction to ensure detainees receive the same legal access as those in federally-run facilities.

Two former detainees at a Florida immigration detention center testified that they faced punishment for seeking legal advice. The detainees provided accounts that they faced retaliation for attempting to access legal representation while in custody.

Texas state Rep. Ray Lopez has formally invoked a state House rule to compel a public hearing into the March 15, 2025 fatal shooting of Ruben Ray Martinez, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen from San Antonio, by a federal immigration agent on South Padre Island. Authorities claim Martinez intentionally ran over an agent before being shot, and the Department of Homeland Security has said a Homeland Security Investigations agent fired "defensive shots." The agent's involvement became publicly known nearly a year later, through internal ICE records obtained by watchdog group American Oversight via a Freedom of Information Act request. Lopez, vice chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Public Safety and Veterans Affairs, is using a newly enacted rule to require Chairman Cole Hefner to schedule the hearing.

William Vermie, a 39-year-old Army combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient, was tackled and detained by ICE agents while standing on a public sidewalk in Minneapolis observing agents detain two young men during an operation the government called Operation Metro Surge. He was taken to the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building and held for eight hours without being allowed to contact an attorney or his family, despite repeatedly requesting legal representation and his wife having already secured a lawyer on his behalf. DHS said Vermie was arrested for allegedly assaulting a law enforcement officer. Four attorneys told ABC News they were denied access to clients held at the same facility, with multiple attorneys reporting similar complaints from others arrested in recent Minneapolis ICE operations and alleging violations of Fifth and Sixth Amendment due process and right-to-counsel protections.

A 16-year-old Ecuadorian asylum seeker named Sebastian, a tri-sport athlete at Osceola High School, was detained by ICE agents in North Minneapolis in mid-January while on a food run. He and his father, who goes by Manuel, had pending asylum applications and had moved to North Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge seeking safety and resources. Sebastian was moved between multiple holding facilities, including a guarded hotel, before being flown to a youth shelter in Grand Rapids, Michigan, operated by Bethany Christian Services. During his detention, his family and ICE's own attorneys reported having no record of him in custody, and lawyers located him after a week-long period.

An Ecuadoran woman seeking asylum was detained at Cumberland County Jail in Portland for five months. In January, ICE transferred her to Massachusetts without court authorization and then to Louisiana via air transport, removing her epilepsy medication despite knowing of her condition. During transfer she was shackled without food or bathroom access, and suffered multiple seizures in Louisiana while receiving no medication for days. U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin found ICE made false and misleading statements to the court, unlawfully detained her without a bond hearing, and deliberately disregarded her medical needs. The judge ordered her released, barred re-arrest, and ordered the government to pay her legal fees of approximately $15,000.

A 21-year-old woman who was eight months pregnant and in medical distress was deported to Colombia by ICE on January 22, 2026, despite a temporary restraining order issued too late to prevent her deportation. The woman, Zharick Daniela Buitrago Ortiz, had crossed the border seeking asylum in November 2025 and was reportedly denied adequate medical care while in custody. A federal judge issued the order enjoining ICE from deporting her, but she had already been boarded on a plane by that time.

Nasra Ahmed, 23, a U.S. citizen born in Minnesota, was detained by ICE agents on January 15, 2026, after being caught in a parking lot during agents' pursuit of two other men. Ahmed sustained injuries including cuts, bruises, and a head injury during the arrest. While in custody at Sherburne County Jail, she experienced a seizure and was transported to a hospital in shackles for an MRI. She was released after two days without charges. Ahmed reported that ICE officers used forceful tactics and that an officer used a racial slur against her. Rep. Samakab Hussein held a press conference where Ahmed shared her account.

A five-year-old U.S. citizen named Génesis Ester Gutiérrez Castellanos disappeared after being transferred to ICE custody following her mother's arrest on Monday morning. The child does not appear in ICE, ORR, CPS, or any Central Texas immigration detention facility databases. Family members are calling on the San Antonio ICE field office to locate the child so custody arrangements can be made while her mother remains detained.

ICE removed Jose Serrano-Maldonado, a Maryland father with no criminal record, to El Salvador on January 20, 2026, despite two court orders prohibiting his removal and a clear "do not remove" banner in his file. Federal authorities admitted the mistake during an emergency hearing but did not provide explanation for why the deportation occurred. The judge ordered daily status updates and the government is working to return him to the United States.

Alfredo A. Aljorna was detained by ICE agents at a Minneapolis home on January 14, 2026, and initially charged after agents claimed he and his cousin attacked an officer with a shovel and broom. Video evidence contradicted ICE's account, leading the Justice Department to drop charges in February. U.S. authorities have opened a criminal investigation into whether two ICE officers lied under oath about the shooting; the officers have been placed on administrative leave and may face termination and criminal prosecution.

Two Minneapolis residents who monitor immigration officers' activities were detained by ICE for several hours without being charged. During their detention, they were held without access to phone calls and were pressured to provide information about protest organizers and undocumented immigrants.

Five-year-old Génesis Ester Gutiérrez Castellanos, a U.S. citizen, was deported to Honduras on January 11, 2026, alongside her mother Karen Guadalupe Gutiérrez Castellanos despite being born in the United States. ICE agents acted on an administrative deportation order against the mother issued in 2019, before the child was born. The two were detained for nearly a week in a hotel without access to legal representation or a judge hearing before being deported. The mother plans to send her daughter back to the U.S. with a relative, as the child is a U.S. citizen.

Jorge Elieser Gonzalez Ochoa, a 27-year-old Colombian national seeking asylum, was arrested by plainclothes ICE agents at Bread Garden Market in Iowa City on September 25, 2025, while working and wearing a court-ordered GPS monitor. Agents charged him with document fraud and misuse of immigration documents. A federal judge ruled the DHS actions "indefensible" and found Gonzalez Ochoa was illegally detained, noting agents attempted to circumvent a court order and violated procedural requirements. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to time served plus one day. After several months in federal immigration detention, Gonzalez Ochoa was released following sustained community organizing and protests by groups including the Iowa City Catholic Worker and Escucha Mi Voz Iowa.