Human Impact Project

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.

Erick Lionel Cristal Cumes, a Guatemalan immigrant, was detained by ICE on May 28 at Don Patron Mexican Grill in Weston during a raid that also resulted in the detention of more than a dozen other employees. He has been held at Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania since his arrest. Cumes is married to Lauren, an American-born citizen whom he married in April; they have been together four years. His attorney argues ICE violated his constitutional rights by detaining him without individualized assessment of flight risk or danger to the community. A federal judge ruled Cumes is entitled to a bond hearing and that his continued detention would be unlawful if the government cannot prove he poses danger or flight risk, with a bond hearing ordered by July 14. Over 50 community members appeared in federal court on June 25 to support Cumes, testifying he is a member of the community in good standing. Lauren testified about poor detention conditions including spoiled food and lack of responsiveness to requests for help, stating she is allowed contact with her husband about once per day. His attorney also argued the case should remain in West Virginia court rather than be transferred to Pennsylvania, contending that transfer could delay resolution of his case.

Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder and Columbia University graduate student of Syrian-Palestinian descent, was arrested by ICE without a warrant at his apartment building on March 8, 2025, following his pro-Palestinian activism and organizing campus protests. The Trump administration pursued deportation based on allegations he concealed prior employment with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees and the British Embassy on his visa application. Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked a rarely used immigration provision claiming his activism threatens U.S. foreign policy. Khalil was held for 104 days at LaSalle Detention Center in Louisiana before a federal judge released him on bail in June 2025. In July 2026, he filed a lawsuit against Trump administration officials and pro-Israel groups, alleging they conspired to target him and others for supporting Palestinian rights, claiming the administration coordinated with surveillance groups Betar and Canary Mission using a document called "Project Esther" as a blueprint.

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 mother and her adult son have lived in the United States since December 2022, when they were paroled into the country. The mother worked at a laundromat and supported her son's education, while the son worked at a food-packing facility, attended school, and earned his high school equivalency diploma. Both had complied with all ICE reporting requirements and had no criminal history. On July 13, 2026, over three and a half years after entering the country, they were detained without warning at a routine ICE check-in. They were held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center and filed petitions for writs of habeas corpus arguing their re-detention without notice or a hearing violated their Fifth Amendment due process rights. The government did not oppose their claims. The federal court granted the petitions, finding their re-detention violated due process, and ordered their release within 24 hours under their prior conditions of release, with return of their personal belongings and immigration documents.

A Mexican national and noncitizen is currently held in ICE custody at Diamondback Correctional Facility in Oklahoma. He has a final order of removal and is seeking to prevent his removal to Mexico or a third country. He claims membership in the Immigration Center for Women and Children (ICWC) class of ICE detainees with pending immigration benefit applications, including U Visa petitions, and states he has a pending Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)-based petition that bears on his removability and eligibility for relief. He filed a habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 and moved for a stay of removal pending resolution of his petition, or alternatively, for a temporary restraining order (TRO). The Magistrate Judge recommended denying his motion for stay/TRO, finding the Western District of Oklahoma lacks jurisdiction to enjoin removal proceedings under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(g), which bars district courts from hearing claims arising from DHS decisions to execute removal orders.

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.

A noncitizen was re-detained on June 26, 2026, after having been previously released on bond or conditional parole. The government failed to provide him with a pre-deprivation bond hearing before a neutral arbiter before re-detaining him, violating the Due Process Clause. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California granted his petition for writ of habeas corpus and motion for temporary restraining order, ordering his immediate release with the same conditions he was subject to prior to detention, and requiring the government to provide at least seven days' notice and a pre-deprivation bond hearing before any future re-detention.

A noncitizen who had been previously released on conditional parole was detained on July 11, 2026, at an ICE check-in without a pre-deprivation bond hearing. The court found that the government violated the Due Process Clause by re-detaining him without providing a constitutionally compliant hearing before a neutral arbiter to determine his eligibility for bond. The court ordered his immediate release with the same conditions he was subject to prior to his July 11 detention.

Severo Gonzalez Reyes, a Mexican national who has lived in the United States since 1999, was detained by ICE on May 3, 2026, while preparing to leave for work in Oxnard, California. He was transferred to the Desert View Facility in Adelanto, California, where an immigration judge denied him bond, citing his immigration history and unauthorized work as flight-risk factors. Gonzalez Reyes filed a federal habeas case, Severo Gonzalez Reyes v. Jaime Rios et al., challenging the denial. The federal court found the immigration judge had abused his discretion and ordered Gonzalez Reyes released immediately under reasonable conditions of supervision.

Eduard Safaryan, an Armenian national who entered the U.S. on a tourist visa in 1999 and overstayed, married his wife in Los Angeles in 2000 and had three U.S. citizen children; his wife later became a U.S. citizen. He has faced a final removal order since 2020, when the 9th Circuit upheld his removability based on a single conviction for a road rage incident on the 101-405 interchange in Sherman Oaks, for which he served five days of a 270-day sentence. On July 8, 2026, he was released from ICE custody on supervision under a prior court order, but when he reported to ICE on July 10, 2026, he was re-detained after the agency obtained travel documents from Armenia and scheduled his removal for July 26, 2026. Safaryan sued federal officials, including Todd Blanche, seeking emergency release, but a federal court denied his request, finding he had not shown a likelihood of success on the merits of his three legal grounds challenging the revocation of his supervision.

A Mexican migrant identified in court filings as 'John Doe,' a father of two who cooperated with the U.S. Department of Justice and testified against members of Mexican drug cartels, was deported three times by ICE despite holding protection under the Convention Against Torture. He was first removed to Guatemala on July 10, then twice to Mexico, most recently to an area with significant cartel activity, where he has been in hiding fearing torture or death. U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher ordered the government to take active steps within 14 days to facilitate his return, writing there is an 'immense public interest' in protecting those who risk their safety to assist government prosecutions. Before his deportation, he had been held for six months at a Louisiana detention center after ICE detained him during a routine immigration check-in.

Inocencia Rodríguez, a 32-year-old Dominican mother of an eight-year-old daughter who works as a housekeeper in Guaynabo, was detained by at least eight ICE agents at a checkpoint while driving a friend to work. She had been pursuing a six-year process to regularize her status, including an I-130 petition filed by her permanent resident husband and an approved I-601A provisional waiver. Immigration Judge Elvin Talavera Peraza set a $5,000 bond allowing her to remain free while her case continues, and the ACLU of Puerto Rico, which represented her, called the bond "excessive and unjustified" given she posed no flight risk. Rodríguez thanked her legal team, family and community after her release, saying it showed people could still trust the justice system.

A 45-year-old Honduran national who entered without inspection over 20 years ago was arrested without an immigration warrant on July 10, 2026, while traveling to work in Florida. He has four U.S. citizen children, stable employment with a valid Employment Authorization Document, deep community ties, and no criminal history. His removal proceedings were administratively closed in 2015. He was detained at Krome North Service Processing Center without a bond hearing, and the petition challenges his detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A), arguing he should be detained under § 1226(a) with bond eligibility.

Tou Lue Vang, a Laotian citizen who legally entered the United States in 1994, was convicted in 2006 of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for repeatedly sexually assaulting a child between 2002 and 2004. He was ordered deported in October 2006 but remained in the country for approximately 20 years because Laos restricted deportee acceptance. ICE arrested Vang on December 10, 2025, with plans to deport him based on his prior conviction. A federal judge in the District of Minnesota ordered his release from ICE custody on February 19, 2026. The Minnesota Clemency Review Commission granted Vang a pardon on June 10, 2026, which removed the conviction from his record. Despite the pardon, Secretary of State Marco Rubio terminated Vang's legal status, and ICE deported him to Laos on July 10, 2026. DHS argued that the pardon did not prevent removal, and the agency criticized the clemency decision.

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.

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.

An Eritrean national ordered removed in 2016, was released on an Order of Supervision in 2016 and lived in the community for approximately 10 years before being re-detained in 2026. The court found that ICE failed to establish a significant likelihood of removal to Eritrea, which does not cooperate with the United States for repatriation. The court granted his habeas corpus petition and ordered his immediate release, also establishing procedural protections against removal to third countries.