Human Impact Project

D.E., a 44-year-old Mexican national who has lived with a brain tumor for 12 years, was arrested by ICE without a warrant just blocks from his home in Long Branch, New Jersey, days before he was scheduled to begin chemotherapy. He was initially held at Delaney Hall in Newark before being transferred to the California City Detention Center, a CoreCivic-run facility, where a guard was more than five hours late delivering his twice-daily seizure medication, Keppra, resulting in a severe nighttime seizure. D.E. said he jammed his arm between his bed frame and the wall to keep from falling into a nearby toilet during the convulsion. He filed a written medical grievance requesting a radiation and chemotherapy specialist that went largely unanswered. His case was cited in a broader investigation finding that the ICE detention grievance system, meant to allow detainees to report medical neglect and abuse, has collapsed after the Trump administration cut oversight offices, including the Office of Detention Oversight, the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, and the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

A lawsuit alleges that an ICE detainee was repeatedly denied his antipsychotic medication while in custody. The denial of medication allegedly resulted in cascading symptoms that caused the detainee to harm himself and lose vision in one eye.

Detainees at facilities including the Buffalo Federal Detention Center have faced delayed or denied medical treatment since ICE stopped paying external medical providers on October 3, 2025, after the Department of Veterans Affairs abruptly ended its decades-old agreement to process these payments following criticism from activists who falsely claimed immigrants were diverting veterans' resources. Eleven months later, ICE still has no system to pay for outside care, leaving providers like UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital owed more than $4 million for 150 detainee hospital admissions and visits, and Moshannon Valley EMS in Pennsylvania unpaid for 43 ambulance calls to a detention center since October 2025. The VA had processed over $246 million in claims for detainee medical care in 2024 before ending the arrangement, even though ICE had been fully reimbursing the VA for the service.

Heber Sánchez Domínguez, a 34-year-old day laborer from Las Choapas, Veracruz, Mexico, who had lived in the U.S. for two years, died while in ICE custody at the Robert A. Deyton Detention Facility in Georgia. He was arrested on January 7, 2026, for driving without a license following a traffic incident, then transferred to the detention facility days later. On January 14, after about a week in custody, guards found him unconscious with a rope around his neck; resuscitation attempts failed and he was pronounced dead. His cellmate said he had complained of feeling sick beforehand, and his family said he was never allowed to contact them after his arrest. His brother Feliciano said, "We want justice because they should have given him medical attention," while his 102-year-old mother, Catalina Sánchez Domínguez, expressed anguish over his death. The Mexican Consulate and Foreign Ministry have requested a transparent investigation, and his family disputes the suicide finding, demanding answers about his medical care. He is survived by a wife and two children.

Randall Gamboa Esquivel, a Costa Rican man, was detained by ICE after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in December 2024. During nearly 10 months in detention at facilities in south Texas, his health deteriorated significantly, and he was deported to Costa Rica in September 2025 in a vegetative state. He died five weeks later without regaining consciousness, while his family and authorities remain unclear about what caused his severe health decline while in ICE custody.

A man named Julio, an ImmDef Law Center client and father of a U.S. military servicemember, died on February 25 after his health rapidly declined following ICE detention. Despite having a lawful pathway to permanent residency and being medically vulnerable, ICE refused to release him and he was handcuffed to a hospital bed during his final days. His attorney secured his release but the damage to his health was irreversible.

Rebecca Pinyerd, a 70-year-old Filipina lawful permanent resident who has lived in the United States for over 40 years, was scheduled for deportation to the Philippines but the flight was cancelled after airline officials determined she was medically unfit to fly due to advanced kidney disease, thyroid complications, and uncontrolled hypertension. She remains in immigration detention at Clay County Jail in Indiana with no new deportation date announced. Her family has expressed concerns about her access to medical care while in custody and has called for an independent medical evaluation.

Hanne Daguman, a Norwegian national who entered the U.S. on an F-1 student visa in 2022, was detained by ICE on November 17, 2025, during a USCIS marriage-based green card interview in San Diego after acknowledging her visa had lapsed. Daguman, who has Type 1 diabetes and no criminal record, was held for nine days at Otay Mesa Detention Center, where she said she was denied proper medical care and experienced dangerously high blood sugar levels and untreated infections. A court hearing in her case was scheduled for November 24, 2025. In January 2026, a judge terminated her removal case, but she remains fitted with an ankle monitor that ICE has not yet authorized for removal despite the court order.

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.

Tiago Alexandre Sousa-Martins, a 30-year-old Portuguese immigrant who arrived in the U.S. at age 13 and became a licensed general contractor and homeowner in Baltimore, was shot multiple times by ICE agents during a targeted enforcement operation in Glen Burnie, Maryland, on Christmas Eve while driving to an electrical job. Agents said they fired after Sousa-Martins allegedly tried to run them over; his van then crashed into a tree. Anne Arundel County Police later contradicted DHS's account, saying one person DHS identified as a passenger in the van was actually already in ICE custody in a separate vehicle at the time of the shooting. Sousa-Martins was hospitalized for about two weeks with spine, lung and thigh injuries before being detained at facilities in Maryland and Virginia, where his attorneys said ICE denied him prescribed medication and physical therapy. He had applied for a visa for trafficking survivors, citing abuse by his father, and was protected from deportation under a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling. After pleading guilty to damaging government property and being sentenced to time served, a federal judge granted his habeas petition and ordered his release after nearly nine months in custody, reuniting him with his partner and two young sons. "Today, I can finally say I am free," he said, while advocacy group We Are CASA said it continues seeking accountability from ICE.

Karla, an activist who publicly exposed medical neglect of a lesbian woman with cancer detained in Eloy, has herself been detained at the same facility. Activists are demanding her immediate release, protection from retaliation, and access to her hormones while in detention.

Mubashir, a 20-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen of Somali descent, was detained by ICE agents while on his lunch break near Cedar Avenue in Minneapolis's Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. Video footage showed agents forcibly removing him, slamming him against a door, placing him in a chokehold, and handcuffing him despite his repeated attempts to show identification, including his U.S. passport. He was held for about two hours at the Whipple Federal Building, where he alleged he was denied water and medical assistance, before being released once his citizenship was verified. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Brian O'Hara said the detention amounted to wrongful, unconstitutional racial profiling based on his Somali appearance, and Governor Tim Walz called for a DHS review of ICE arrests of U.S. citizens in the city. ICE said its agents acted on reasonable suspicion.

Immigrant families detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas describe prolonged stays, despondent children, limited access to potable water, and inadequate food in court declarations filed in December 2025. A report from Human Rights First and RAICES found more than 5,600 people, including parents, toddlers and newborns, were held at the facility between April 2025 and February 2026, alleging months-long detentions, limited access to asylum protections, poor medical care and psychological harm. A Canadian citizen living in Texas said she and her 7-year-old daughter were detained for hours at a checkpoint and later transferred to a processing center despite her pending lawful immigration status. ICE and the Department of Homeland Security maintain the facility is safe and family-friendly, providing food, medical care, education and legal access, and say some detained families raise enforcement or security concerns.

Neysis Mairena, a Nicaraguan immigrant six months pregnant with twins, was hospitalized while in ICE detention at the Basile, Louisiana processing center after experiencing contractions. She was shackled to a hospital bed during her hospitalization. Mairena had been arrested on allegations of child endangerment related to an incident in which her 7-year-old daughter was present during an altercation with her partner; her attorney states she was acting in self-defense. She was released from detention on November 26, 2025, following a news outlet's inquiry into her case.

The ACLU and human rights organizations released reports on 12/8/2025 documenting conditions at Fort Bliss, the largest immigration detention site in the U.S., specifically at Camp East Montana, a tent facility in El Paso. Based on interviews with over 45 detained immigrants and 16 sworn declarations, the reports detail physical abuse, sexual abuse by officers, medical neglect, and coercive deportations to third countries. Specific cases cited include a teenager beaten into unconsciousness and another who sustained a broken tooth and ear damage, a Cuban immigrant whose head was slammed against a wall, and Geraldo Lunas Campos, whose death in ICE custody at a nearby facility was ruled a homicide following reports an officer choked him.

Jose Paniagua Calderón was detained in front of a Mexican restaurant on East 4th Plain Boulevard in Vancouver, Washington. Videos on social media show him screaming in pain as a silver-colored SUV drives over his legs during the detention. ICE denies that its agents ran over Paniagua's legs, while his family alleges ICE agents denied him medical care and forced him into their vehicle. He is reportedly being held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma.

ICE detained a critically ill man who was traveling to receive medical treatment. Williams Javier Toro Enamorado, a 27-year-old Honduran man with end-stage kidney disease, was detained by ICE agents on November 19 while traveling to a dialysis appointment during an operation called "Charlotte's Web." He claims he was denied dialysis treatment and pressured to sign a voluntary deportation order, with officers allegedly telling him "If you want to leave, sign. If not, you're going to die here." He is being held at an ICE detention center in Folkston, Georgia, over 360 miles from his family in North Carolina.

ICE agents arrested Julio, a man with end-stage kidney failure requiring regular dialysis, as he returned home from a medical appointment. He was held in detention facilities and denied appropriate medical care, eventually suffering a severe stroke while hospitalized under ICE surveillance. His family, all U.S. citizens including a military servicemember, advocated for his release but ICE refused despite his critical medical needs.

Beatriz Pastrana Candela, detained by ICE in Tempe last November, said medical and detention staff at the Eloy Detention Center repeatedly told her she was not pregnant despite a positive pregnancy test, and she later miscarried. She was placed in a segregated room for her mental health after reporting hallucinations in which she saw herself holding her baby and heard voices telling her to hurt herself, and she needed a wheelchair due to difficulty walking; she described the small, barred outdoor area she was allowed into as another cage. Five months after the miscarriage, Pastrana remains in detention, and the Florence Project has worked with three other women who were pregnant at Eloy between January and June 2026, including one held until she was seven months pregnant.

Elmer M., a 28-year-old Guatemalan man, developed a rash on his penis that became infected because the facility failed to provide soap or supplies to wash or treat it. Starting in December, he asked guards and signed up to see a medic daily. As of March — four months later — he had still not been seen by a medic.