Human Impact Project

Federal immigration agents detained Hugo Leonel Ardon Osorio, Martin Zambrano Diaz, and Alexandro Rivera Magana in Greenport on Wednesday morning, while a fourth man fled on foot during a separate operation on Ludlum Place. According to community advocates, the three detained men have lived in the area for over 20 years with no criminal backgrounds. The operations prompted school absences throughout the district as families responded to ICE presence in the community.

A woman reported that ICE agents attempted to kidnap her twin brother, a Black American man, in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. According to the account, agents rammed into his pickup truck and chased him without apparent reason. The family is seeking public awareness of the incident.

A Natalia high school junior attended what was supposed to be a routine U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement check-in appointment in San Antonio to update his photograph. The appointment resulted in his arrest and detainment, leaving a toddler and stepfather behind for months.

Elizabeth Zuna Caisaguano, a 10-year-old fourth-grade student, and her mother were released from the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas after nearly a month in ICE detention. The child and her mother were taken by immigration agents in early January. They walked free on Tuesday night and are returning home to reunite with Elizabeth's father. School officials and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz had called for their release at a news conference on February 3, 2026.

Ta Eh Doh Lah, a Burmese refugee mother of four lawfully admitted to the U.S. in November 2024, was arrested by ICE agents at her St. Paul apartment on January 10, 2026, while breastfeeding her five-month-old baby. The arrest occurred one day after USCIS announced Operation PARRIS to re-examine refugee cases. She was immediately transferred to Texas despite having a pending adjustment of status application and no criminal record. Ta Eh Doh Lah has congenital heart disease requiring expert medical care. A federal magistrate judge found her detention was not authorized under federal law and recommended her release. The federal court ordered her immediate transfer back to Minnesota and release, and blocked Operation PARRIS across Minnesota, preventing the arrest or detention of refugees solely because they are awaiting status adjustment.

An attorney stated that ICE arrested a mother. The attorney noted that ICE enforcement priorities differ from focusing on individuals with criminal records.

ICE agents smashed the windows of a car and arrested a man without a warrant while his wife held their crying baby and pleaded with the agents. During the arrest, the man briefly escaped from the ICE van while still wearing handcuffs.

Medina, an asylum applicant with a valid work permit, was detained by ICE on February 2, 2026, after appearing at a scheduled court date in San Diego. He was transferred to Otay Mesa Detention Center and is scheduled to remain detained at least until his next court date on February 24. Medina has lived in the United States since adolescence, is married to a U.S. citizen, and has two U.S. citizen children. His detention has caused financial hardship for his family, who lost his primary income.

Amalia, an 18-month-old, and her parents, Kheilin Valero Marcano and Stiven Arrieta Prieto, who fled Venezuela after facing persecution for opposing President Nicolás Maduro, were detained after being arrested in El Paso and transferred to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center. Amalia's parents repeatedly sought help at the facility's clinic as she grew feverish and lethargic, receiving only Tylenol, until she lost consciousness and was hospitalized at a children's hospital in San Antonio for over a week with COVID-19, an ear infection, pneumonia, bronchitis and RSV. After her January 28 discharge, she was returned to Dilley, where her parents say she was denied access to prescribed medication despite medical warnings that she remained vulnerable to reinfection. The family was released from Dilley in February 2026 after two months in detention.

Johanny Lacruz, a Venezuelan asylum seeker and fiancée of Juan Rodriguez, was detained by ICE at a Border Patrol checkpoint in February 2026 despite having valid work authorization and no criminal record. Rodriguez observed that U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz secured the release of Antonio Gámez-Cuéllar, a teenager in the same detention facility with similar legal status, but was unable to obtain similar assistance for his fiancée. Both Lacruz and Gámez-Cuéllar were detained during the Trump administration's deportation operations.

At least two confirmed cases of measles have been reported at the Dilley family detention center in Texas, which houses children and parents in immigration detention. A broader measles outbreak is occurring across the U.S. Democratic congressman Joaquin Castro called for the facility to be shut down immediately, citing detention centers as potential vectors for disease transmission.

Amir, a 1-year-old whose Russian parents Alsu and Azat fled Russia fearing persecution for opposing the war in Ukraine, was detained at Dilley Immigration Processing Center for approximately four months after the family presented themselves at a legal port of entry. During detention, Amir developed speech delays and began hitting himself in the face. Staff allegedly forced his weaning from formula despite his age, leaving parents struggling to provide adequate nutrition; they resorted to hiding cereal in their clothing to prevent him from going hungry. The facility lacked age-appropriate toys and Russian-language books. Amir's speech development slowed to just two words—'mom' and 'dad.' After release in January 2026, now 2 years old, Amir is laughing more, speaking more, and has stopped hitting himself, though his parents report he seems to be recovering from the experience.

Nikita and Oksana, a Russian couple who fled Russia and requested asylum at the Otay Mesa port of entry in October 2025, were detained with their three children, ages 4, 12 and 13, at Dilley Immigration Processing Center for over four months, despite a federal court limit of 20 days for detaining minors. An asylum officer found the family had credible fear of persecution based on Nikita's activism against the Russian government. During detention, the children faced worms and mold in their food, inadequate medical care, and lights that never fully dimmed; 12-year-old Kamilla developed partial hearing loss after a poorly treated infection, 13-year-old Kirill developed anxiety and panic attacks and became suicidal after staff wrongly told the family they could leave and they spent $1,500 on plane tickets before being told they could not depart, and 4-year-old Konstantin became frightened of guards. They were released a day later with new tickets, but remained in detention until February 2026, when they were freed about a week after their attorney sought their release on medical grounds and five days after NBC News reported on their conditions; DHS had said it was legally required to hold the family pending their asylum claims but did not explain its reversal. Upon release, Kirill said he wanted a Subway sandwich, Kamilla wanted sushi, and Konstantin hoped to be reunited with a stuffed animal confiscated during detention, while their parents said they most wanted to feel safe at home.

An Angolan woman with an active immigration case pending in court was arrested while taking her 6-year-old daughter to school and detained at Dilley Immigration Processing Center. Upon release in mid-February 2026, she was given a court summons to appear near her original arrest location but was transported to Laredo, Texas—over 2,200 miles away from her home in Maine. The family faced difficulties accessing transportation to return home.

An ICE enforcement action resulted in the detention of a father in Hopkins, Minnesota, in front of his three children at their apartment building. The incident disrupted the family, with his wife Estefany Escobar going to work at a Minnesota hospital an hour after the arrest.

Nearly 50 Democratic members of Congress are demanding answers from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over allegations that the federal government is placing all pregnant unaccompanied migrant girls at a single San Benito, Texas shelter operated by Urban Strategies, where they lack adequate reproductive health care. The placement contradicts agency guidance requiring pregnant minors be placed in states where they can access full reproductive healthcare options, and has drawn objections from health and child welfare officials citing inadequate specialized care for high-risk pregnancies.

A three-year-old girl named Lily was separated from her family at the border and detained in an immigrant children's shelter in South Texas for over five months. Her father, a legal permanent resident, attempted to reunify with her during her detention. After her attorney at ProBAR filed a habeas petition in federal district court on February 18, she was released two days later and reunified with her father on February 21.

Olga Perez, a 47-year-old translator of a rare Mayan dialect who arrived in the U.S. in 1997 after Guatemala's civil war, self-deported in July 2026 after her asylum case was dismissed and efforts to stay were rejected by immigration courts. She had been detained since November 2025 at the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona following a traffic stop, and her husband had been taken into ICE custody two months earlier while working a landscaping job. Perez said goodbye to her children—Eliza, 21, Jessica, 18, Romeo, 15, and Cynthia, 13—at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, with the eldest daughter continuing to run the family's landscaping business to support her siblings. Perez had no criminal record and had worked with police departments, courts and nonprofits across Florida, including helping clear a Guatemalan immigrant of criminal charges in a 2024 case.

Liam Ramos, a five-year-old pictured in a bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack, was detained by ICE along with his father at the Dilley family detention center in South Texas. A federal judge issued a favorable ruling that led to their release from the facility.

ICE detained a husband in Tacoma and coerced him to sign self-deportation papers while threatening to apprehend his wife and children within four days. In response to the threats, the entire family voluntarily returned to Venezuela.