Human Impact Project

Cristian Vaca, a 28-year-old roofer from Ecuador who moved to Biddeford, Maine in September 2023, said ICE agents repeatedly threatened him and his family outside his home on Wednesday. Vaca, who has a Social Security number, a work permit, and pays income taxes, said he was sitting on his couch when he noticed agents photographing him outside. A video he recorded shows an ICE agent telling him through his closed front door, "We're going to come back for your whole family, OK?" while a child's voice can be heard in the background. Vaca lives with his wife and young son.

An employee at Pancho's Taqueria & Mexican Café in Circle Pines was detained by ICE agents on January 15 while possessing a valid work visa. He was transported to the Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, then to El Paso and later San Antonio, Texas, before being released and returned to Minnesota in early February. The restaurant owner's GoFundMe, which raised $25,000 from customers and supporters, helped cover legal fees that led to his release after nearly a month in custody.

A Peruvian man who had been paroled into the United States under the Migrant Protection Protocols program was detained during a scheduled ICE check-in appointment on January 13, 2026. He had been living in Memphis, Tennessee, had obtained a driver's license and work authorization, and had been regularly reporting to ICE as required. The court denied his habeas corpus petition challenging his detention without an individualized bond hearing. Another Peruvian citizen, who entered the U.S. in November 2022, was detained on December 1, 2025 after voluntarily appearing at the Memphis Immigration office for allegedly failing to comply with ATD program conditions. He had previously been released on parole due to time in custody constraints and placed in the Alternatives to Detention program. The court denied his habeas petition seeking release or a bond hearing, ruling that as an applicant for admission he is subject to mandatory detention under federal law.

A New York City Council employee was detained by ICE during a routine immigration court appointment in Bethpage, Long Island on Monday. DHS identified the employee as Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez from Venezuela, alleging he entered the U.S. on a tourist visa in 2017 that expired and has a criminal history. City officials and Democratic leaders called the detention egregious government overreach, noting the employee had work authorization and passed background checks for his position as a data analyst.

Shovgi Huseynov, a UB medical researcher from Azerbaijan, was detained by ICE after making a wrong turn onto the Peace Bridge on January 7 and crossing into Canada. Upon his return to the United States, border agents arrested him. ICE claims he was in the country illegally on an expired visa, but his attorney states he applied for permanent legal status while his visa was active, which provides authorized stay, and he has valid work authorization through 2029. Multiple state and local officials, including Rep. Tim Kennedy, have condemned his detention and called for his immediate release.

Danny Briceno-Solano, a Venezuelan national with work authorization and legal status to remain in the U.S., was detained by ICE on January 11, 2026, after being stopped on I-77 for unclear paper license plates. U.S. District Judge Thomas Johnston ordered his release from South Central Regional Jail on February 5, 2026, ruling that the government violated due process by detaining him without explanation, hearing, notice, or means of challenging the detention. Briceno-Solano crossed the border illegally in 2022 but was lawfully released and granted permission to stay based on unsafe conditions in Venezuela; he was employed as a contractor, paid taxes, and had a North Carolina driver's license. His removal hearings had been dismissed nine days before his detention.

Jose Avendano, a 62-year-old dishwasher from El Salvador with temporary protected status and a valid work permit, was arrested on January 9, 2026, while driving to work. He told officers he had legal authorization to be in the United States, but was detained and transferred to El Paso. Avendano has lived in the U.S. for 32 years, has a heart condition requiring daily medication and a pacemaker, and missed a critical medical procedure due to his arrest. A federal judge ordered his release after his lawyer filed suit, but ICE kept him in custody for three additional days in violation of the court order.

Pablo Nieves, a Venezuelan asylum seeker who legally entered the U.S. in 2018 with a work permit, was detained by ICE agents in a Home Depot parking lot in Plymouth, Minnesota on January 8, 2026. He was transferred to a detention center in El Paso, Texas, where he was held for two weeks before being released on bond after a court hearing. The detention occurred during Operation Metro Surge, a federal immigration enforcement initiative targeting asylum seekers with pending applications.

Melisa, a Maryland resident with a valid work permit and pending asylum case, was detained on December 15, 2025 during a routine immigration check-in. She had no criminal record and was employed full-time while preparing to start classes at Carroll Community College and planning her wedding. Her community is raising funds to help her hire an immigration attorney.

Angel Camacho, a Venezuelan asylum seeker with temporary protected status and a valid work permit, was arrested by Border Patrol agents at a Dania Beach station on January 6, 2025, despite being cleared and approved to perform IT work there. Camacho is married to a U.S. citizen, has American-born children, and was in the process of applying for permanent residency at the time of his detention. He spent 30 days detained at an Everglades detention facility before being released on bond.

Sabrina Carmona Sanchez, a 41-year-old transgender woman from Ecuador, was arrested by immigration agents on January 3, 2026, at a hotel on Long Island and transferred to ICE custody at Adams County detention facility in Mississippi. She had previously been released on recognizance by Border Patrol in 2023, granted work authorization, and allowed to remain free while her immigration case proceeded. She is now held in a men's dormitory without being offered a bond hearing, in violation of her Fifth Amendment due process rights, according to her legal team at the Center for Constitutional Rights. Her habeas corpus petition challenges the government's policy of categorically denying bond hearings to undocumented immigrants arrested under the Trump administration's July 2025 detention guidance.

During Operation Metro Surge from December 2025 through February 2026, ICE arrested over 4,000 people in Minneapolis under a reinterpretation of a 1996 law requiring detention without bond. Federal judges, including U.S. District Judge Patrick J. Schiltz, found that ICE violated court orders in at least 113 cases involving 77 people by January 28, 2026, and the violations continued thereafter. Of 66 cases examined by The Washington Post, 52 involved immigrants with pending applications for asylum or other legal status, none with final deportation orders; most were not criminals and over one-third had lived in the United States for more than a decade. The operation targeted immigrants with valid work permits, pending asylum applications, and temporary protected status despite government claims of prioritizing serious criminals.

Isabel, a 41-year-old single mother of two from Honduras with a pending asylum case and valid five-year work permit, was arrested at her monthly immigration check-in in Bloomington. She was detained for four days across three facilities before a federal judge ordered her release with her belongings. However, ICE returned only her wallet and checks; her work permit, state ID, daughter's U.S. passport, and over $700 in checks were withheld. Despite the judge's order, ICE has not returned the documents, leaving her unable to work or travel without fear of arrest.

Rev. James Eliud Ngahu Mwangi, a Kenyan priest and assistant rector in the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, was arrested by ICE on October 24-25, 2025, while returning home from his job as a correctional officer with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville, Texas. Despite holding a valid work permit verified through E-Verify and lawful employment status, ICE detained him at a facility in Conroe, alleging he had overstayed his B1 visa. The Episcopal Diocese of Texas disputed ICE's claims and coordinated legal counsel to document his employment and immigration records. After months in detention, described as punitive and emotionally draining, and facing denial of bond despite his pending asylum application, Rev. Mwangi chose to voluntarily depart to Kenya in early January 2026. His attorney indicated the voluntary departure was a strategic decision to preserve his future eligibility to legally re-enter the United States.

Luis Gilberto Loja Mayancela, 24, an Ecuadorian immigrant with Special Immigrant Juvenile status and valid work authorization, was detained by ICE on January 15, 2026, despite his protective status. A U.S. District judge ruled he is entitled to a bond hearing in immigration court, with seven days to schedule the hearing or he must be released. Mayancela, held at Moshannon Valley Processing Center, was separated from his wife and 3-month-old son at the time of his arrest.

Oudone Lothirath, a 57-year-old Laotian refugee who arrived in the U.S. in the early 1980s, was detained by ICE in January 2026 during an immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota. While held for 10 days at a detention facility in El Paso, Texas, he missed vital chemotherapy sessions for terminal Hodgkin's lymphoma and received no medical care for his diabetes and heart condition. After his release, he was too weakened to continue his remaining chemotherapy treatments, and his cancer subsequently spread to his bone marrow. His care assistant, Christina Vilay, said he would have had "many more months" to live had he completed his scheduled chemotherapy. Lothirath, a working member of the Minneapolis Lao community who attended a local Buddhist temple and held a current work authorization card issued in 2023, is now receiving hospice care.

Arturo Rafael Brito Goncalvez, a 22-year-old Venezuelan pilot, was detained by ICE during a scheduled immigration appointment in Westerville, Ohio. His family claims he entered the country legally in 2023 with valid visas and employment authorization. He is fighting deportation and fears returning to Venezuela due to political persecution.

Federal agents arrested a teacher at a Chicago daycare in front of parents and children; the educator had a work permit and can be heard telling authorities she had papers. In a separate incident in Los Angeles, federal immigration agents arrested a U.S. citizen during a Home Depot raid and drove away with his 1-year-old daughter still in the vehicle; the child and her grandmother are both U.S. citizens.

A man with valid asylum status, no criminal history, and a valid work permit was detained by ICE agents in a Walmart parking lot in Yakima, Washington on Christmas Eve while placing groceries in his vehicle. Yeimi Ortiz, a volunteer with the Yakima Immigrant Response Network, witnessed and filmed the arrest. The incident occurred as part of a pattern of federal enforcement actions in the Yakima area during the Christmas holiday period, prompting Ortiz and local activists to hold a boycott protest of Walmart on December 28, alleging the corporation's cooperation with immigration authorities.

Fatima Issela Velazquez-Antonio, 23, was detained by Customs and Border Patrol agents at her job site in Raleigh in November and transferred to a Georgia federal detention facility. She was released from ICE custody and returned to North Carolina on December 23, 2025. Velazquez-Antonio, who has lived legally in the U.S. since age 14 fleeing gang violence in Honduras, has valid work authorization and no criminal record, and her case remains pending.