Human Impact Project

A fifth-grade teacher at Global Village Academy in Parker, Colorado was detained by ICE agents along with her minor children and transferred to an ICE facility in Texas over the weekend. The school said the teacher was authorized to work with valid employment authorization through spring 2029, but ICE stated she entered the country illegally near Yuma, Arizona on December 2, 2022.

Marina Ortiz, a fifth-grade teacher at Global Village Academy in Douglas County, was detained along with her family by ICE on October 24 during a routine immigration appointment at an ICE field office in Centennial. Despite possessing valid legal work authorization documentation through spring 2029, Ortiz was transferred to a detention facility in Texas; ICE said she entered the country near Yuma, Arizona, in December 2022 and was later paroled. School officials confirmed her employment was fully authorized and said they are working with immigration attorneys to help the family return to Colorado, while a school board member said the incident has caused fear in the community.

Gabriel García Avilés, 56, a Mexican immigrant who had lived in the United States for over 30 years and held a work permit, was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol on October 14, 2025, during a roving operation in Costa Mesa, California. He was transferred to ICE custody and moved to Adelanto ICE Processing Center on October 15. Avilés was subsequently hospitalized at Victor Valley Global Medical Center in critical condition. He died on October 23, 2025. ICE and hospital staff attributed his death to cardiac arrest resulting from suspected alcohol withdrawal symptoms. His family reported poor communication from detention staff, concerning hospital conditions, and observed physical injuries on Avilés including dried blood, cuts, broken teeth, and bruising. His family requested that medical staff cease resuscitation attempts.

Ruperto Vicens Marquez, head chef at Emilio's Kitchen in Atlantic Highlands, was detained by ICE on October 19, 2025. According to ICE, Marquez is from Mexico and has a final removal order, though his lawyer disputes this claim and states he has a pending merits hearing scheduled for 2028. Marquez has valid work authorization through 2029 according to Atlantic Highlands Mayor Lori Hohenleitner, and his wife and three children remain in the U.S. A protest was held in support of Marquez, and a GoFundMe campaign has raised $85,000 to cover legal fees.

Hanover Park police officer Radule Bojovic, a Montenegrin citizen, was detained by ICE on October 15, 2025, as part of Operation Midway Blitz after overstaying his B2 tourist visa by approximately 10 years—he was supposed to leave in March 2015 but remained in the country unlawfully while serving as a sworn officer with firearm access. He was released on bond on October 31 after federal authorities did not contest the release, and returned to full duty shortly after. Village officials stated Bojovic was legally authorized to work and carry a firearm at the time of hire with no criminal history.

A 55-year-old Hillsboro business owner who has lived in the area for nearly three decades was released on bond from the Northwest Processing Center in Tacoma on November 7 after more than three weeks in ICE custody. He was arrested October 14 in a case his family says involved mistaken identity, and he described cold conditions, limited food, and crowded facilities during his detention. Local leaders and Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici had pushed for his release, though his immigration case is still ongoing.

Guilherme Lemes Cardoso E Silva, a 35-year-old Brazilian visual artist and former attorney based in Sausalito, was detained by ICE agents on July 11, 2025, while driving on San Juan Island, Washington, to pick up his 4-year-old daughter. His wife, Rachel Leidig, who is an American makeup artist 7 months pregnant with their first child due in October, says ICE agents surrounded Silva's car with approximately six unmarked vehicles, refused to show a warrant, confiscated his phone while he was recording, and used physical force during the arrest, pushing him against the car and handcuffing him. Silva, who entered the U.S. on a valid six-month visa eight years ago and overstayed his status, had no criminal record and was in the final stages of applying for a green card through an I-130 petition filed by his wife after they married in April 2025. ICE agents claimed to have found illicit images on Silva's phone and charged him with possessing depictions of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Silva was held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, where according to Leidig he was subjected to invasive searches, made to sleep on the floor with 35 other detainees, and shackled during transport. On July 29, a judge ordered Silva's release on bond, which Leidig paid in full, but ICE transferred him to Whatcom County without explanation, complicating his legal representation. On September 12, after 63 days in custody, Silva was released on personal recognizance. On October 6, a judge dismissed the criminal charges against him without prejudice, four days before the birth of his newborn son, Isidore. The Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney indicated charges could be refiled pending investigation completion. Leidig speculated that the detention may have been related to a custody battle Silva was involved in.

Spanish-language journalist Mario Guevara was arrested by police on June 14, 2025, while covering a protest in DeKalb County, Georgia, and charged with obstructing police, unlawful assembly, and improperly entering a roadway. After a judge granted him bond, ICE placed a 48-hour hold on him despite his work authorization and pending green card application. Guevara spent 110 days in ICE custody, including 22 hours daily in solitary confinement, before being deported to El Salvador. A federal judge questioned the legality of his detention. His attorneys argued it violated his constitutional rights to free speech and due process. The government claimed broad discretion to detain him as a deportable immigrant. Guevara stated he was targeted for his journalistic work documenting immigration raids rather than for any criminal activity.

Gratien Milandou-Wamba, a 32-year-old corrections officer at the Cumberland County Jail, was detained by ICE on April 19, 2025, while driving to work. He had fled torture and political persecution in the Republic of Congo, entered the U.S. lawfully in May 2023 on a visitor's visa, and obtained a work permit while his asylum application was pending, allowing him to be hired as a corrections officer in August 2024 after passing a background screening. ICE cited his expired visa as grounds for detention, though his attorney said Milandou-Wamba believed he was in legal status while awaiting his asylum decision, and suggested an attempted firearm purchase in September 2024 may have flagged his status to immigration authorities. Cumberland County District Attorney Jackie Sartoris publicly defended him as an upstanding community member, and his friend and landlord, Tyler Brinkmann, described him as kind and gentle and involved in his church. He left his corrections officer position on May 31, 2025, while remaining in ICE custody at Strafford County Department of Corrections in New Hampshire, fearing imprisonment or death if deported to Congo. A federal judge denied him bail citing flight risk, a decision he is appealing, with his asylum hearing scheduled for October 2025.

Stanley Minjale, who immigrated to the United States from Malawi in 2021 on a student visa initially valid through 2022, later received an extension through March 2027, but that status was terminated after he failed to enroll in a university as required. At the time of his detention in October 2025, he held a valid work permit and was employed full-time as a nursing assistant in Indiana. He has a nearly two-year-old U.S. citizen son, and during his nine-month detention at North Lake Processing Center he has missed several of the boy's milestones, including his second birthday. Minjale has received a deportation order but continues to appeal, describing life in detention as a difficult, repetitive routine without freedom.

Alberto, a 59-year-old surgical technician who fled to the U.S. in 1990 by running across the border from Tijuana to San Ysidro while his wife and two young sons crossed hidden in a car, later served as a confidential informant for federal immigration agents in the 1990s, collecting names of undocumented farmworkers in exchange for a temporary work permit and a promise of future legal status. After 36 years in Fresno — working first as a hospital janitor, then as a surgical technician, and eventually buying a home — he was arrested in October 2025 during a scheduled green card interview at a USCIS field office when ICE agents entered the room. Released after four days following a successful habeas petition, he was re-arrested at a subsequent ICE check-in appointment in November and detained for nearly four months at Golden State Annex detention center near Bakersfield before being released on bond in February with an ankle monitor.

a 24-year-old Colombian migrant, Angie Rodriguez, suffered a miscarriage in the facility. Upon discovering her pregnancy while in detention, she was provided no medical care or prenatal vitamins. Her diet was also inadequate, forcing her to supplement provided meals with instant ramen, chips, and candy, often purchased at a high cost from the commissary.

Abdullahi Mohamed, a Somali immigrant with 25+ years in the U.S. and valid work authorization, was detained by ICE near Portland, Maine, and held for more than seven weeks in Massachusetts before being rapidly transferred across multiple states, including Mississippi and Louisiana, in December 2025. His family lost contact with him for about five days during the transfers, piecing together his location through a lawyer's email, a call from another detainee's wife, and a brief two-minute call from Mohamed himself at an undisclosed airport, before he was deported to Somalia. According to a Marshall Project investigation, rapid transfers of detainees have become increasingly common under the Trump administration, with transfers of five or more times more than tripling and out-of-state transfers within 24 hours more than doubling since the Biden administration's final year.

Ian Roberts, superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools and a native of Guyana, was arrested by ICE on September 26, 2025, on a fugitive warrant after living in the U.S. illegally following a federal immigration judge's removal order. Roberts entered the country on an F-1 student visa in 1999, and his work authorization expired in 2020; he had falsely claimed U.S. citizenship when hired by the district in 2023. During the arrest, authorities found him in possession of a loaded handgun, a hunting knife, and $3,000 in cash, and he reportedly fled in a school-provided vehicle before being apprehended with state patrol assistance. He has prior weapons charges on his record and is expected to plead guilty to federal charges of making false statements on employment verification forms. Roberts is no longer serving as superintendent of the district.

Nicolas W., a 43-year-old father of four from Guatemala who owned a tow truck company, had a valid work permit, and had lived in the United States for 10 years, was arrested by ICE on September 26, 2025. He was walking to his truck after buying tools at Home Depot when a masked agent grabbed him by the arm, refused to let go, and told him to shut up. Agents searched him and told him he did not have the right to speak. He was taken to a station in Burlington, Massachusetts, and later transferred to Camp East Montana.

Denny Lener Abad, a Venezuelan actor and singer known on social media as Lener Abad, was detained by ICE agents on September 18 while traveling from Miami to Orlando for work commitments. He has lived in the U.S. for more than four years, has a pending immigration case, and holds a valid work permit and driver's license, according to people close to him. He is currently being held at the Indian River County Jail in Vero Beach, Florida. Abad is known for appearing in the Puerto Rican reality show "PR La Casa del Campo," and family and friends say he has no criminal record and are requesting help spreading information about his case.

Richard Antonio Goitia, a 37-year-old Venezuelan insurance agent and father of two young daughters, was detained by ICE following a traffic stop on September 9 in the Kissimmee area near Orlando, Florida. According to family members, police contacted immigration agents after asking for his documents, and ICE agents arrived within minutes and arrested him. Goitia has lived in the U.S. for about 11 years, has a pending asylum case, holds a valid work permit, and has no criminal record. His family started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for his legal defense.

Iara do Carmo Santana, a 29-year-old Brazilian woman recovering from a miscarriage, surgery and subsequent infection, was arrested by Malden police after her fiancé, Gabriel Lemos, called 911 out of concern for her mental health; she was charged with domestic violence. After being released from police custody, she was detained by ICE agents waiting outside and taken to an ICE field office in Burlington, where she said she was denied a medical assessment, a Portuguese interpreter, and consistent antibiotics and pain medication for roughly four days as her infection worsened. Her lawyers filed a habeas petition alleging ICE violated her due process rights given her recent surgery, and U.S. District Judge Leo T. Sorokin ordered her release, calling the lack of medical care 'a serious issue' and the Burlington facility's conditions 'troubling as a systemic matter.' Santana had applied for asylum and held employment authorization working as a house cleaner; she is engaged to Lemos, a lawful permanent resident, and has since been reunited with him and her six-year-old son, though her domestic violence case remains pending and she still faces possible deportation.

More than 300 South Korean workers among 475 people detained in a September 4, 2025 immigration raid at the Hyundai-LG battery plant in Ellabell, Georgia have begun filing administrative claims against nine federal agencies, the first step toward a federal lawsuit. The claims note that the search warrant used to enter the plant named only four targets, who court records describe as Hispanic, not Korean. Workers, including a lead organizer identified only as Kim, allege they were shackled, denied interpreters, pressured to sign documents they could not read, and held for about a week in overcrowded, cold cells with limited food and sanitation at a detention facility in Folkston, Georgia. One worker, Ryu, said he lost nearly 10 pounds in custody, while another, Choi, said he has since returned to work at the same plant but wants a government apology; Hyundai and LG have publicly distanced themselves from the litigation.

M., who prefers to use only her first initial, was forcibly separated from her two-year-old U.S.-citizen child during a raid at the Nutrition Bar Confectioners factory. Despite showing agents her work permit, Social Security documentation, and evidence of a pending asylum appeal, she was sent to a detention facility in Texas and then deported to Guatemala. She is now a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the ICE and CBP agents involved in the raid.