Human Impact Project

A Peruvian asylum seeker and father of two US citizen toddlers, a citizen of Peru, entered the United States on June 9, 2023, and has lived and worked in the country since then, employed in the A/C mechanics and warehouse industry while paying taxes and contributing to his community. He has two toddlers who are United States citizens. After presenting himself at a port of entry and expressing fear of returning to Peru, he passed a credible fear interview and was paroled into the country to pursue asylum, with his asylum application still pending in ongoing removal proceedings. On July 1, 2026, DHS detained him after he left his local DMV office, and he argued his parole and liberty had been unlawfully revoked without notice or justification. He was held at the Denver Contract Detention Facility and filed a habeas petition seeking immediate release or, alternatively, a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a). The court found he was improperly subject to mandatory detention under § 1225(b)(2), citing prior rulings and a Tenth Circuit decision limiting that provision's application to noncitizens detained at the border. The court granted the habeas petition, ordered his immediate release without conditions such as GPS monitoring, enjoined his re-arrest absent a clear-and-convincing-evidence bond hearing, and denied his TRO/preliminary injunction motion as moot.

Daniel Ouguegazu, a Venezuelan asylum-seeker, was detained by ICE agents at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in July 2026 as he attempted to board a flight. Ouguegazu had filed an asylum application and was awaiting a hearing before an immigration judge. His family later filed a complaint alleging he faced persecution and that his case involved legal violations. According to DHS, he remains in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

A Mexican national who first entered the United States in February 2003 and has lived in the U.S. for over 20 years. He was apprehended by ICE in July 2026 during a routine check-in and taken into custody. He has an asylum application pending since May 1, 2023. He is currently detained at Golden State Annex Detention Facility in McFarland, California. On July 27, 2026, he filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his detention as violating Fifth Amendment Due Process rights. The court granted the petition in part and ordered that Respondents provide him with an individualized bond hearing before an immigration judge within 14 days, where the government must prove by clear and convincing evidence that he poses a danger to the community or is a flight risk. If determined not to be a danger or flight risk, the immigration judge should consider alternative conditions of release based on his financial circumstances.

A man who was legally in the United States and in the asylum process was detained by ICE at Chicago airport, according to his immigration attorney Joe Moravec. He is currently being held by ICE.

An unnamed woman who entered the United States legally and is in the asylum process was detained by ICE at a Washington, DC-area airport this month while traveling home to Texas to attend her father's funeral, according to her immigration attorney Joe Moravec. She is currently being held in Virginia.

A Nicaraguan citizen paroled into the United States in October 2022 was detained on July 1, 2026, when she appeared for a routine check-in appointment at the ICE Office in Los Angeles. She had complied with all release conditions, maintained employment, paid taxes, and had no criminal record for nearly four years. The court granted her petition for habeas corpus, finding that her re-detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated procedural due process, and ordered her release on her prior conditions within 24 hours.

An Egyptian citizen and practicing Coptic Orthodox Christian who has resided in the United States since August 2023 was taken into ICE custody on July 1, 2026, during a routine ICE check-in. He was detained at the West Tennessee Detention Facility without an individualized determination regarding the necessity of continued confinement. The court stayed his transfer and required ICE to respond to his habeas petition, noting that under Lopez-Campos v. Raycraft, noncitizens who have spent significant time in the United States interior and have not committed disqualifying offenses may not be detained without an individualized bond hearing. A second Egyptian citizen and Coptic Orthodox Christian who fled religious persecution was detained by ICE on July 1, 2026, at the West Tennessee Detention Facility. He had resided in the United States continuously since July 2023, maintained steady employment in Nashville, attended all required ICE check-ins, and had no criminal history. He filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his detention without an individualized bond hearing. The court issued an order staying his transfer and requiring the government to respond within two business days, with instructions to either distinguish the case from Lopez-Campos v. Raycraft or consent to release.

A 52-year-old asylum seeker from Mexico was detained on July 1, 2026, at an ICE check-in in San Francisco after ICE revoked her Order of Supervision without a hearing. She had been released under supervision after her 1999 removal order was reinstated on March 23, 2026, following a USCIS adjustment of status interview. The court granted her preliminary injunction, prohibiting re-detention without notice and a pre-deprivation hearing before a neutral decisionmaker, finding she had a constitutionally protected liberty interest based on the government's affirmative decision to release her.

A Colombian national who entered the U.S. without inspection in 2023 and was paroled after indicating credible fear of persecution was detained by ICE on July 1, 2026, while delivering packages for Amazon with a valid work permit. DHS and EOIR ordered his mandatory detention without bond eligibility under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A). On July 10, 2026, the U.S. District Court for Idaho granted his habeas corpus petition and ordered his immediate release, finding that § 1226(a) applies because he was already present in the country and was not subject to the cited detention statutes.

Jhon Perez Romero, 39, a former Venezuelan intelligence officer who fled after refusing an order during a 2019 crackdown on the opposition, was arrested by ICE in Philadelphia on June 30 when he appeared for what he expected to be a routine check-in. He entered the U.S. seeking asylum in late 2023, settled in York, Pa., worked as a Spark Driver for Walmart, and married U.S. citizen Sandra Quinones, a high school teacher, in 2025. He is now held at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Philipsburg, Pa., and fears he could be tortured or killed if deported to Venezuela, where he has been branded a traitor. His wife said she believed the U.S. was a place where people fleeing persecution could find safety.

A Burkina Faso citizen who fled violence and religious persecution and was lawfully admitted on a B-2 visa in November 2021 filed an asylum application within one year of arrival and maintained compliance with all USCIS requirements. ICE arrested him at his Portland home on June 30, 2026, and transported him to the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Rhode Island. The court issued a temporary restraining order enjoining ICE from removing him from the District of Rhode Island pending resolution of his habeas corpus petition, with exceptions only for medical emergencies or bond hearings before an Immigration Judge.

A 37-year-old Venezuelan national fleeing political persecution was re-detained on June 20, 2026 when he arrived for a routine check-in at the ICE Los Angeles Field Office. He had been previously released on conditional parole under the Alternatives to Detention program, had complied with all check-in requirements, maintained employment as a payroll manager, and had no criminal history. ICE agents allegedly used excessive force, tackling him during arrest without notice or opportunity to be heard. The court granted his temporary restraining order, ordering his immediate release under the original conditions of supervision and enjoining re-detention without a custody hearing before a neutral arbiter.

Galo Suárez, a Nicaraguan asylum seeker, was arrested on S. 13th Street on Milwaukee's South Side when unmarked ICE vehicles boxed in his car. An agent broke his car window with gun drawn. Suárez, his fiancee Reyna Elizabeth Garcia (25), and her brother Teodoro Rafael Garcia (37) were all detained. All three are eligible for work permits as asylum applicants. Suárez alleged that an agent claimed his work permit was forged and that officers used excessive force, pushing his fiancee against the car and verbally abusing her. Suárez was released later that day but his fiancee remains in custody in Kenosha County and the whereabouts of her brother are unknown.

A Venezuelan national who presented at the El Paso port of entry on March 19, 2024, was released on her own recognizance and enrolled in an Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP). She complied fully with all terms including GPS monitoring and court appearances. On June 29, 2026, she was arrested without warning during a routine ICE check-in appointment and remained detained. The court granted her habeas corpus petition and ordered ICE to provide a bond hearing by July 31, 2026, requiring the government to prove by clear and convincing evidence that detention was justified.

Diana Socha Torres and her 8-year-old son were taken from their home in Wisconsin Dells in late June during the ICE surge. Socha Torres had an active asylum case, was wearing an ICE-issued ankle monitor, and had no criminal charges or convictions in Wisconsin. She and her son were transported to an ICE office in downtown Milwaukee and then transferred to the South Texas Residential Detention Center in Dilley, Texas. The arrest separated the child from their home and disrupted an active legal case.

A Russian national entered the United States and was released on his own recognizance in July 2022. On June 27, 2026, ICE re-detained him after a routine check-in with immigration authorities. He is seeking asylum in the United States. He filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus and motion for temporary restraining order challenging his detention. The court found that his prior release by immigration authorities created a liberty interest in his continued release and that his re-detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated due process. On July 8, 2026, the federal court granted his habeas petition and ordered his immediate release on the same terms and conditions he was subject to prior to his re-detention.

A 19-year-old Russian asylum seeker who had been paroled and living lawfully in California since April 2023 was arrested by ICE on June 27, 2026, at a worksite without notice or pre-deprivation hearing. He was transported to Adelanto ICE Processing Center. A federal judge granted his habeas corpus petition, finding that ICE violated his Fifth Amendment due process rights by detaining him without a pre-deprivation hearing, and ordered his immediate release.

Artyom Vovchenko, a 27-year-old Russian who deserted the military in 2022 in opposition to the war in Ukraine, was deported back to Russia by the Trump administration last summer after spending 13 months in three U.S. detention centers and being denied asylum. After his return to Russia, where he faced potential imprisonment or forced deployment to Ukraine, Vovchenko escaped again and crossed into Belarus earlier this year. He is now in an undisclosed country attempting to start a new life.

Wilbur Garcia, an 18-year-old honors high school graduate from South Los Angeles, was detained by ICE during an asylum appointment scheduled one day after his graduation. Garcia, whose family fled political persecution in Nicaragua and has been in the asylum process for years, was held at the Adelanto ICE detention center for over two weeks in poor conditions including sewage overflow in cells and showers, and insufficient food provisions. After public defenders challenged ICE's justification for detaining him—that he was no longer covered under his mother's asylum application upon turning 18—a judge ordered his release on June 26. Garcia said he was helped by older detainees who treated him like family. He plans to pursue pre-med classes in college.

A Belizean asylum seeker has been detained by ICE at the California City Detention Facility in Kern County for nearly two years. In a Los Angeles Times op-ed, he described inhumane conditions including forced labor, medical neglect, and retaliation for advocating for others' medical care, and he has filed habeas petitions resulting in the release of several other detainees. His first habeas petition was granted, leading a federal court to order the government to provide him a bond hearing; he has since filed a second petition challenging his continued detention and the constitutional adequacy of that hearing. A federal judge in the Eastern District of California denied, without prejudice, his request for appointed counsel while granting him more time to reply in the case.