Human Impact Project

Valeria Mendoza Santiago, a 25-year-old pregnant woman from Oaxaca, Mexico, was arrested by ICE agents at a bus stop in Anchorage on March 20, 2026, and transferred to Hiland Mountain Correctional Center before her lawyers won her release via a temporary restraining order citing ICE guidelines against detaining pregnant women. Her case is now proceeding in Alaska's federal court. Mendoza Santiago said she entered the U.S. near Tijuana in 2021 to join her husband, a flooring worker and member of the Triqui Indigenous group, and that she fears returning to Mexico due to threats of violence. She lives with her husband, their son, and her mother-in-law in Anchorage, where the family has enrolled their son in school and spent time together visiting parks.

S.M.H., a 16-year-old Los Angeles high school student and aspiring tennis player, was detained by ICE in April 2026 along with his parents, Maryam and Eissa Tahmasebi—both educators, with Maryam a professor at Los Angeles Pierce College—after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked the family's green cards. Lawyers say the family, all permanent residents, is being punished because Eissa's mother, at age 19, served as a spokesperson for the student group that held Americans hostage in Iran in 1979, calling it unprecedented "bloodline punishment" for actions preceding their births. S.M.H. and his mother have been held for more than 120 days at the Dilley family detention center—far exceeding the 20-day Flores settlement limit—while his father is detained separately, with the family limited to 10-minute biweekly phone calls. In a letter published in The Nation, Maryam described the ordeal as an "unendurable, unending nightmare," while immigration lawyer Hassan Ahmad said he has not seen foreign policy grounds used to detain people based solely on family relationship rather than individual conduct.

Everlee Wihongi, a New Zealand citizen and long-term U.S. resident with a green card, was detained by ICE in early April after returning from New Zealand. She was held for more than 70 days because of a 2016 cannabis conviction that was later thrown out by the courts in June. During her detention at facilities in California, Arizona, and Texas, Wihongi described dehumanizing conditions including being referred to by her bunk-bed number rather than her name, extremely early meal times (3:45 a.m. in Arizona), shackling during transit, and witnessing children and pregnant women being shackled and moved between facilities. She has since been released and returned to Wisconsin with her family.

Daniela, originally from Colombia, came to the United States on a work permit and is married to a U.S. citizen with a pending green card application. For months, she cooperated with a detective from the Florida Department of Financial Services, answering dozens of questions and providing documentation about insurance fraud committed by her former employer. When the detective asked her to meet in April to discuss the case, Daniela was instead detained, handcuffed, and arrested. "It's very cruel the way they arrested me," she said; neither the detective nor the department responded to requests for comment. She has no criminal record. She was taken to the Palm Beach County jail and then transferred in chains to ICE facilities in two different states before being released on bond in May. The 287(g) Task Force program now includes more than 1,300 law enforcement agencies across 32 states and two U.S. territories deputized to enforce federal immigration laws.

Dy, a Vietnamese refugee with an order of supervision, was arrested by ICE in November 2017 during a home visit and detained for five months and twenty-one days before being released following public attention and a habeas corpus petition. In fall 2025, during Trump's second term, Dy was arrested again after attending an ICE check-in appointment at the Atlanta field office, where he was sent on what he describes as a trap involving confusing directions between floors. He was transferred to Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, where he remained in detention as of April 2026. Dy is a former incarcerated person who turned his life around, became a Christian, married Tammy, and together they own a home and are raising three children with a fourth on the way. His wife and community have organized to support him, including celebrating a gender reveal party during his detention via video call with commissary materials.

An Armenian asylum seeker is a citizen and national of Armenia who entered the United States on July 17, 2021 and filed an asylum application that remains pending before immigration courts. He has complied with all immigration proceedings, appeared for hearings, maintained residence in California, operated a lawful business, and established substantial ties to the community. On April 1, 2026, ICE officers detained him at a courthouse in Burbank, California where he appeared for a criminal hearing, and he has remained in custody at Adelanto Detention Facility since that date. He sought a Temporary Restraining Order for his immediate release or a constitutionally adequate bond hearing, alleging his continued detention violates the Fifth Amendment and bears no reasonable relation to any legitimate civil immigration purpose. The respondents did not oppose the relief and acknowledged he is a member of the Bond Eligible Class in Bautista v. Santacruz, entitling him to an individualized bond hearing. The court granted the TRO and ordered that he must receive an individualized bond hearing within 3 days, or be released within 4 days, with the government bearing the burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence whether he poses a flight risk or danger to the public.

Ali and Adel, an Iranian gay couple in their late 30s and early 40s, fled Iran in 2021 after being arrested by Iran's morality police for their relationship. They entered the United States at the El Paso, Texas border in early 2025 seeking asylum, but their claims were denied. The men are now separated in ICE detention facilities—Ali in Arizona and Adel near El Paso—facing deportation under a Trump administration policy reversing decades of allowing Iranians fleeing persecution to remain in the country. Adel has suffered severe organ damage and medical deterioration in detention, including significant weight loss and fainting episodes. Court orders have so far prevented their deportation, though both men have been moved to deportation staging facilities multiple times, and the Trump administration has not clarified whether deportation flights to Iran will resume.

A Guatemalan national entered the United States on December 5, 2022. He was issued a Notice to Appear for removal proceedings and released on his own recognizance on March 2, 2023. On March 31, 2026, he was re-detained by ICE when he reported for an appointment at Mesa Verda Detention Center. He filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus challenging his detention, arguing that his prior release created a liberty interest in continued release and that his re-detention violated due process. On April 22, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California granted his habeas petition and ordered his immediate release on the same conditions as his prior release. The court also enjoined ICE from re-detaining him absent exigent circumstances without providing notice and a pre-detention hearing before an immigration judge, with the government bearing the burden of proving he is a danger or flight risk by clear and convincing evidence.

Maria, a 38-year-old thyroid cancer survivor from Brazil, was detained at Delaney Hall ICE detention center for roughly two weeks where medical staff did not provide her prescribed daily hormone supplements and also provided incorrect medication, leaving her unable to urinate for at least four days. Her attorney filed an emergency letter to a federal judge on March 31, 2026, raising concerns about the possibility of irreparable harm including organ failure or sepsis. The judge ordered her release the next day, in part due to these medical concerns. Her case is among over 70 lawsuits filed by Delaney Hall detainees alleging medical neglect.

A Honduran citizen who has lived in the United States for over twenty years. He is married and the father of United States citizen children, has maintained steady employment, filed federal income tax returns for many years, owns a home, and has no criminal history. He filed an application for asylum on July 14, 2023, which remains pending. On March 30, 2026, ICE arrested him at his residence in Fort Pierce, Florida, served him a Notice to Appear, and initiated removal proceedings; he has been detained ever since at the Aurora ICE Processing Center. He requested a custody redetermination hearing, which Immigration Judge Masters denied without addressing danger or flight risk. He filed a habeas corpus petition and a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction seeking immediate release or a new bond hearing before a different judge. The court found he was improperly detained under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2) because that provision applies only to noncitizens seeking admission at the border, not those residing in the interior. The court granted the habeas petition and ordered his immediate release on his own recognizance without onerous conditions, enjoined his re-detention absent a compliant bond hearing, and denied the TRO motion as moot.

Rudy Villeda Mejía, a 47-year-old Honduran roofing business owner who has lived in Washington state since 2010 after being kidnapped and held for ransom by Los Zetas cartel members, was arrested by ICE at Denver International Airport on March 30, 2025. He had attended routine immigration check-ins for years without incident and had a pending T visa application as a trafficking victim, which his attorney argued was his only lawful path to remain with his U.S. citizen wife, Mabel Shaffer, and her three children. During roughly four months in ICE custody in Aurora, Colorado, his health declined, including worsening Bell's palsy symptoms, back pain, and weight loss, while the family's roofing business lost contracts and his wife struggled to manage it alone. A federal judge initially denied his habeas petition, but later ordered his release under a court order barring detention of pending T visa applicants; ICE had already transferred him to Louisiana and released him there without his ID, passport, or work permit. His wife flew to Louisiana to drive him home, and his stepson said he immediately returned to work at the family business.

Edgar Gomez-Ramirez, 41, of Vineland, New Jersey, was detained by ICE officers on March 28, 2026, after leaving the Cumberland County Courthouse in Bridgeton. According to ICE, Gomez-Ramirez is a Mexican national who entered the United States without authorization three times and was previously offered voluntary return to Mexico on two occasions. Video recorded by his wife, Deborah, who was in the car, showed a masked agent breaking the car window with a baton. Gomez-Ramirez's wife said officers provided no explanation for the detention and did not show a warrant. ICE stated that agents identified themselves, gave multiple warnings that windows could be broken if occupants did not comply with orders to exit the vehicle, and used what the agency characterized as minimum force necessary to complete the arrest. Gomez-Ramirez is currently in ICE custody awaiting immigration court proceedings.

ICE agents detained Edgar Gomez in Bridgeton, New Jersey, after he left a court appearance where all charges against him had been dropped. Agents smashed the window of an immigration lawyer's vehicle and removed Gomez without producing a warrant despite requests from his attorney. Gomez was one step away from obtaining lawful permanent residency. The detention occurred one day after New Jersey passed a law requiring ICE agents to produce warrants.

Reza Zavvar, a 52-year-old Iranian green card holder who came to the U.S. as a student 40 years ago, was detained by ICE agents on June 28, 2025, while walking his dog near his Gaithersburg, Maryland home. Zavvar was granted withholding of removal to Iran in 2007 and has lived and worked legally in the U.S. for decades. He is currently held in a detention center in Texas and faces deportation. His family and attorney say they do not understand the legal basis for his detention. His case occurred as part of a surge in arrests of Iranian immigrants under the Trump administration's hardline immigration policies.

Johnny Rondón Rodríguez, a Venezuelan with a pending asylum case and brain tumor, was pulled over on Interstate 75 and detained despite having no criminal charges. He was held in Orange County jail for 25 days without receiving his medication to treat the tumor, violating ICE guidelines limiting such holds to three days. A federal judge granted his immediate release after a federal prosecutor declined to argue for continued detention.

Suraj Vasal, an Indian national seeking asylum and working as a commercial truck driver, was arrested by ICE on February 11, 2026, at a weigh station near Mitchellville, Iowa, as part of 'Operation ICE Wall,' a joint operation between the Iowa State Patrol and ICE targeting truckers near Interstate 80. He was held at Polk County Jail. U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher found that the government violated Vasal's due process rights, including by giving him only 30 minutes' notice of a bond hearing and denying him adequate time to secure legal representation, and determined the agencies acted in bad faith. The judge rejected government arguments to retroactively change longstanding bond hearing practices, noting Vasal is gainfully employed with no evidence of being a flight risk. Vasal secured a third court order for a bond hearing, with the government required to hold it by April 30, 2026, or release him. Vasal has sued the federal government over the alleged rights violations.

A Venezuelan asylum-seeker who fled political persecution and entered the United States in September 2023. On January 30, 2024, she applied for admission at the Nogales, Arizona port of entry, was charged with inadmissibility, and was paroled for two years. During her parole, she was authorized to work, support her family living in the United States, and filed an asylum application. On March 26, 2026, she was arrested by Utah law enforcement based on an outstanding warrant for a domestic violence matter that was ultimately resolved without charges or conviction. She was then transferred to Department of Homeland Security custody and transported to California City Detention Center. On May 19, 2026, she filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus challenging her re-detention without a bond hearing. The court granted her petition, finding she has a protected liberty interest in her release and is entitled to a pre-deprivation bond hearing before re-detention can be justified.

A woman who entered the United States on August 2, 2021 on a B-2 visitor visa filed an I-485 application for adjustment of status on February 27, 2026. On March 26, 2026, she attended a biometrics appointment scheduled in connection with her pending adjustment of status application when she was detained by ICE authorities at that appointment. Following her detention, she was provided a bond hearing where an immigration judge concluded she posed a flight risk and danger to the community based on a dismissed misdemeanor charge. She filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus and motion for temporary restraining order challenging her detention. On May 5, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California granted her habeas corpus petition, finding that ICE improperly used the adjustment of status process as a vehicle for "gotcha law enforcement" in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The court ordered her immediate release on the conditions she was subject to prior to her detention and enjoined respondents from re-detaining her through the adjustment of status process.

Jackson Kabut Gichema, a 48-year-old Kenyan national, was arrested by ICE on March 24, 2026, and ordered deported following a conviction in Baltimore County. Gichema entered the United States legally on a visitor's visa in 2003 but remained without legal status after his authorization expired. A 2011 Maryland Court of Special Appeals decision upheld his conviction, triggering mandatory deportation proceedings as the offense qualifies as an aggravated felony under U.S. immigration law.

A woman who has resided in the United States since 1996 was arrested by ICE in Las Vegas, Nevada on March 24, 2026. The government detained her under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2), but the court found this violated immigration law since she had no prior ICE encounters. The court ordered her immediate release and prohibited re-detention without proper legal authority.