Human Impact Project

Emanuel Rodrigues, a Brazilian man with a rare life-threatening condition restricting his mobility, was held in solitary confinement for five months at Delaney Hall immigration detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. During his detention, Rodrigues became seriously ill and unable to walk after a fall that he says occurred when a guard prevented him from using crutches. His wife was unable to visit the facility. He was released on June 4, 2026, following advocacy from Rep. Rob Menendez's office, with assistance from a journalist.

Luis, a roofer with no criminal record, was arrested during an ICE raid in Arkansas while working. He was transferred through multiple facilities—a local jail, a Texas prison, and ultimately the Torrance County Detention Facility in New Mexico—where he has been held for over a year without criminal charges and with limited legal assistance or clarity on his status.

Connor Michael Read, 29, a British national who came to the U.S. at age 9 and was a DACA recipient, was detained by ICE on June 3, 2026, during a green card interview in Tampa, Florida. Read, who runs a pressure-washing business called Refresh Florida and has lived in the country for over 20 years, was separated from his American wife Jaelin and their three-year-old twin sons Ryder and Ozzie during what agents described as a private interview. Read reported that agents bound his hands and tied his ankles during transport to a local jail, then to the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center. He described detention conditions as "horrible" and "dirty," and reported becoming ill with headaches, chills, and fever. His wife discovered their I-130 petition for permanent residency had been approved the same day he was detained. His wife told media they are considering relocating the family to the United Kingdom if he is deported. An ICE spokesperson cited a 2011 removal order and stated Read violated the terms of his F-2 dependent visa after his parent's F-1 student status ended.

A Salvadoran man who has lived in the United States since around July 2005 was arrested and detained on or around June 2, 2026, after ICE agents and a local police officer determined he was unlawfully present in the country. He is currently held at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center. He filed a habeas corpus petition and a motion for a temporary restraining order, arguing he is subject to discretionary detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) rather than mandatory detention under § 1225(b)(2), entitling him to a bond hearing. He also alleged he had not received adequate medical care for serious medical conditions while detained, though the government stated he had attended at least seven medical appointments and had a general surgery appointment scheduled. The court agreed that his detention is governed by § 1226(a) and ordered that he receive an individualized bond hearing before an immigration judge within 30 days. The court denied his request for a temporary restraining order without prejudice, finding he had not shown irreparable harm was more likely than not absent emergency relief. The case was closed on the docket without prejudice, with the court retaining jurisdiction over further proceedings.

A man living with HIV was held for about two weeks at the Florence Staging Facility and went without his HIV medication for the first two days even though ICE knew of his condition. Soon after arrival he developed a high fever and chest pain and was told by guards to submit a written request for care. He says he requested care every day for almost two weeks, reporting chest pain and trouble breathing, and medical was very slow to respond; when he was finally seen he was given only aspirin and water.

A man with Type 1 Diabetes was held for about eight days at the Florence Staging Facility, a unit meant for processing people for no more than 72 hours. He received one medical intake from a nurse and was never given his Metformin. He sent at least four requests for medical care and medication and got no response. When he was examined at another facility, his blood sugar was dangerously high at 499, compared with a normal non-fasting level around 140 mg/dl.

The Andre family—Carine, an activist from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and her three children Estafania, Olivia, and Joel—fled persecution and were initially vetted and released in 2022 to await asylum hearings. After deportation and denied entry to Canada, they were returned to the U.S. and detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley beginning in November 2025, violating the Flores Settlement requiring prompt release of children. Carine and Joel (17) were released in March 2026 after nearly four months in detention; Olivia (19) was released in June 2026 after over five months. Detainees reported inadequate conditions including contaminated food and water, mold, and sleep disruption.

Wendy Baca Sánchez, a Honduran national five months pregnant, has been hospitalized multiple times since her detention in late June near San Miguel, Arizona by border agents. She is currently in ICE custody at Eloy Detention Center. The nature and reasons for her multiple hospitalizations are described in reports of ICE's continued detention of pregnant women in Arizona.

Roberto López Falcón, a Cuban-born fifth-grade ESL teacher at Hart Elementary School in Austin, was detained by ICE on September 3, 2025, during a routine check-in appointment in San Antonio. He had entered the United States from Cuba in March 2022 seeking asylum after clashing with Cuban government officials over his refusal to promote Communist Party ideology while teaching civics. Employed full-time by Austin ISD and recognized as a Campus Teacher of Promise, López Falcón's sudden disappearance devastated his students and families, with at least one student diagnosed with depression. His asylum case was denied in October 2025 with rejection rates between 80-93%, and he remained in detention at Karnes County Immigration Processing Center for 297 days while appealing. A federal judge ordered his release in late June 2026 after ruling his detention illegal, despite an immigration judge's earlier denial of bail. During confinement, López Falcón read 37 books and worked in the detention center library, maintaining his focus on returning to teaching.

Legal organizations filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of four people detained at Camp East Montana, a massive immigration detention tent camp at Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, alleging severe rights violations including medical neglect, violent uses of force by officers, excessive solitary confinement, inadequate food, and dangerous living conditions. The lawsuit seeks class certification to represent all people detained at the facility and alleges violations of Fifth Amendment due process rights and the Administrative Procedure Act.

Nuvia Martinez was detained after attending a routine ICE check-in appointment at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan and held in severely overcrowded conditions for days. Martinez, who has diabetes, was denied access to her required medication despite medical need. She described the facility—designed to hold people for only 12 hours—as holding dozens of detainees in small rooms with no beds or full-time medical staff. In sworn testimony, Martinez reported that women who were menstruating were bleeding through their clothes, almost no food was provided, there were no showers available, and detainees had no access to basic hygiene. She stated: "I was just a body that they crammed into a room, almost as if to be forgotten." The detention occurred as ICE arrests surged.

Carlitos Ricardo Parias, a 44-year-old Mexican immigrant from Puebla living in South Los Angeles, built a TikTok following of over 340,000 documenting ICE enforcement activity and received a Los Angeles City Council certificate of recognition for his community reporting. On October 21, 2025, federal agents attempting an immigration arrest boxed in his car near Santee High School; agents said he rammed their vehicles, and video showed 11 shots fired, striking Parias in the elbow and wounding a deputy U.S. marshal by ricochet. Councilmember Curren Price called him 'a pillar of our community, a fearless citizen journalist,' and his attorney described him as a hardworking, pacifist father of two U.S.-citizen children with no criminal record. He was charged with assault on a federal officer and property damage, then detained at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center; a federal judge later dismissed the indictment with prejudice, citing denial of counsel and missed evidence deadlines, but ICE returned him to custody afterward. After more than 300 days in detention, Parias' injured arm reportedly became discolored and atrophied without adequate treatment, with his congresswoman warning he may need amputation, and his attorney said he remains in pain.

The ACLU, civil rights organizations, and individual detainees filed a federal lawsuit against ICE and DHS challenging conditions at Camp East Montana, the largest immigration detention center in the U.S., located at Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, Texas. The complaint alleges physical abuse by guards, inadequate medical care, solitary confinement, disease exposure including a measles outbreak, and nearly 50 violations of detention standards. At least three detainees have died since the facility opened nine months prior, including a Cuban immigrant ruled to have died from asphyxia due to neck and torso compression. Named plaintiffs Navdeep, a former mail handler, and ZOR, a father detained over eight months, detailed specific conditions including contaminated water, inadequate drinking water access, breathing problems from desert dust, lack of medical care, and family separation.

ZOR (pseudonym used for privacy) has been detained at Camp East Montana for over eight months. He is a parent separated from his young children. He is a named plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit challenging detention conditions including inhumane treatment, medical neglect, disease outbreaks, and family separation. He states the facility operates in a lawless manner despite guards being charged with upholding the law.

Miguel was arrested by masked, unidentified ICE agents in front of his home after a grocery store trip. He has been detained over 1,000 miles away from his family and has not been seen since. His wife Beatriz is caring for their four children (ages 7 months, 8, 9, and 15) while fighting for his release and managing steep legal costs. Miguel is experiencing emotional trauma, fear of deportation, and respiratory illness from detention conditions.

ZOR, detained for eight months at Camp East Montana, had three teeth broken after being beaten by another detainee while guards watched, and says a guard threw his crucifix in the trash and that he has not had enough food, causing recurrent respiratory and skin problems. Four days after arrival, officers shackled and drove him to the Mexican border, falsely claiming he had been granted asylum, without showing papers or allowing attorney contact, and officers have since attempted to deport him about six times despite a court order barring removal to his country of birth. ZOR and three other detainees, including Gerald Akari Angye and a man identified as Navdeep, have filed a class action lawsuit with ACLU representation against ICE and DHS in federal court in El Paso, alleging abuse, including beatings and isolation, at the detention center.

Navdeep, a detainee with preexisting injuries that prevent him from putting his hands behind his back, was locked in solitary confinement for appearing to refuse guard orders to do so. He described feeling like a political pawn taken from his job and family and forced into unsafe tent conditions. He is one of four named plaintiffs in the ACLU lawsuit against ICE over Camp East Montana conditions.

Navdeep was taken from his job and detained at Camp East Montana tent camp on the Fort Bliss military base. He is a named plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit seeking accountability for inhumane conditions including medical neglect, disease outbreaks, violent treatment by guards, inadequate food, and dangerous living conditions. He expresses concern about the lack of oversight and potential cover-ups of deaths and abuses.

Gerald Akari Angye, a 35-year-old former high school teacher from Cameroon who fled after experiencing kidnapping and torture, crossed into the U.S. in December 2024 and sought asylum. After his asylum claim was denied, he was detained at Camp East Montana ICE detention center at Fort Bliss military base in El Paso for over a month. While detained, Angye was severely beaten by guards after requesting to speak with an attorney before signing documents, suffering injuries to his hands and wrists that required a brace and hospitalization. He was subsequently placed in solitary confinement for 15 days. The ACLU of Texas and partner civil rights organizations filed a federal class-action lawsuit against ICE on behalf of Angye and three other named plaintiffs, challenging severe conditions at the facility including violent use of force, medical neglect, disease outbreaks, excessive solitary confinement, and inhumane living conditions.

Erik Ivan Rodriguez was detained at Camp East Montana, a tent detention facility at Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, Texas. While detained, he experienced physical violence by officers who attempted to coerce him to sign deportation papers. Rodriguez and three other detainees filed a class-action lawsuit through the ACLU of Texas and partner civil rights organizations in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, challenging inhumane detention conditions including medical neglect, disease outbreaks, inadequate food, unsanitary living conditions, excessive solitary confinement, and violent use of force.