Human Impact Project

A 23-year-old South American woman was granted protection from deportation to her home country by an immigration judge in June 2025 after fleeing persecution based on her queer identity. Despite this ruling, ICE has held her in Richwood Correctional Center in Monroe, Louisiana for over a year while seeking to deport her to the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country where she has never been and where she would face serious risks.

José Yugar-Cruz, a 37-year-old Bolivian asylum-seeker, was granted temporary release from ICE custody on May 29, 2026, after an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo suspended deportations to that country. An immigration judge had ruled in January 2025 that Yugar-Cruz faced likely torture if returned to Bolivia and granted him withholding-of-removal relief under the Convention Against Torture, yet ICE detained him at an April 2026 check-in appointment and attempted to deport him to the DRC despite his court protection and lack of connection to that country. After being held for 17 months while ICE sought third countries willing to accept his deportation—including Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Mexico, and Canada—Yugar-Cruz challenged his indefinite detention in court in December 2025. The WHO declaration of an Ebola emergency in Congo on May 17, 2026, forced suspension of deportations to that destination, resulting in his temporary release following legal challenges and community advocacy.

Ricardo Navarrete (also reported as Hernandez-Navarrete), an 18-year-old senior at Mather High School in Chicago, and his mother Liliana were detained by ICE agents on March 16, 2026, outside Chicago Immigration Court during what they believed was a routine check-in for their pending asylum case. The family had fled Colombia in 2022; Ricardo held a valid work permit and REAL ID with no criminal record and had been accepted to play soccer at Truman College. After detention, the two were separated and Ricardo was transferred between facilities in Oklahoma, Louisiana, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, where he reported sleeping on floors without blankets and being held in solitary confinement. Attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition on his behalf; Liliana was released on May 19 after a federal judge ordered her release, and Ricardo was released on May 26, reuniting with her in Crown Point, Indiana. He is required to wear a wrist monitor and check in daily with immigration officials, and he attended his high school graduation ceremony on May 28, 2026, receiving his diploma.

Under a $7.5 million Trump administration agreement, Equatorial Guinea has detained at least 32 asylum seekers at the Bamy Hotel on Bioko Island since November 2025. All detainees had previously been granted some form of protection by U.S. judges. Twenty-five have been forcibly returned to their African countries of origin—Angola, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Mauritania—where they face persecution, while others remain detained and under pressure to leave. Detainees report psychological distress, inadequate medical care, threats from authorities, and monotonous conditions. Human rights advocates argue the deal exploits a loophole to circumvent U.S. court protections and international asylum norms.

Karliana Yosdeylin Perdomo-Gotopo, a 20-year-old women's soccer player and business major at Cleary University in Michigan, was detained by ICE on May 26, 2026, during a traffic stop in Lincoln Park. Perdomo entered the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor in September 2022 at age 15, fleeing political persecution in Venezuela, and graduated high school with honors in Detroit in 2023. She had a pending asylum application and her mother believed she held valid Temporary Protected Status documentation through October 2026, though the Trump administration had previously ended TPS protections for Venezuelan nationals. A witness reported the stop appeared targeted based on her Latina appearance. Perdomo was transferred to North Lake Correctional Facility in Baldwin, Michigan.

U.S. Representatives Wesley Bell and Nikki Budzinski visited Ste. Genevieve County jail on May 26-27, 2026, and found ICE detainees in overcrowded conditions, some sleeping on thin trays instead of beds, with insufficient access to clean water, medical care, and legal representation. The facility, which houses over 150 ICE detainees on contract, was found to have gaps between stated conditions and detainee experiences, with particular concerns raised about a pregnant detainee's lack of prenatal care and vitamins. Both representatives committed to following up with jail staff and detained constituents to ensure improved conditions and fulfillment of commitments made during the visit.

A Human Rights Watch report documents that the Trump administration deported over 4,300 Cuban nationals to Mexico between January 2025 and March 2026, many sent to high-violence border areas where they lack legal status, citizenship, or prior ties. Based on interviews with 41 deported Cubans and migrants from other countries, the report reveals that deportees experienced inhumane detention conditions in U.S. facilities, were pressured into going to Mexico under threat of prolonged detention or deportation, and now face severe conditions including homelessness, lack of access to food and healthcare, vulnerability to violence from organized crime, and inability to regularize their status or return to Cuba. The U.S. and Mexican governments maintain an undisclosed agreement to deport Cubans to Mexico despite Cuba's refusal to accept such deportations.

A pregnant constituent from Illinois' 13th Congressional District was detained by ICE at the Ste. Genevieve County Detention Center in Missouri and required two hospital visits for pregnancy-related emergencies while in custody. During a congressional tour on May 26, 2026, U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski and Rep. Wesley Bell observed conditions at the facility, where detainees reported serious access issues including insufficient drinking water (forcing some to drink from showers), inadequate medical care, and limited access to notaries and legal representation. The facility, which operates under a federal contract allowing ICE to hold up to 400 detainees, housed detainees in overcrowded cells with up to 48 people per room using inflatable mats or thin pads on trays for bedding. While facility operators claimed basic needs were being met, detainees—many from across Missouri and southern Illinois—reported being detained unexpectedly during their asylum process after initially being assured they would not be held.

Jose Pineda, a Salvadoran man with Temporary Protected Status working as a landscaper in East Boston, was stopped by ICE officers while on his way to work. Despite presenting valid Social Security and work authorization cards, agents refused to accept his documents and detained him for nearly two days in an overcrowded holding cell at the ICE Boston Field Office with approximately 50 other people where conditions were poor—he could not sit or sleep and received minimal food and water. His $600 in rent savings was not returned. The detention caused him frequent headaches, anxiety, memory loss, and worsened gastritis. His absence from work resulted in a demotion from lead foreman to assistant. He now experiences recurring nightmares and sleeps separately from his wife out of fear of harming her. He has filed a tort claim against the federal government.

Aliya Rahman, a Bangladeshi American U.S. citizen with autism and traumatic brain injury, was detained by ICE agents in Minneapolis on her way to a doctor's appointment during Operation Metro Surge. At the intersection of 34th Street and Park Avenue, agents smashed her passenger side window and violently pulled her from her car despite her calling out that she was disabled. Four agents carried her handcuffed in a hogtied position before placing her in an SUV and transporting her to the Whipple Federal Building. At the facility, her requests for medical care were denied for more than an hour until she lost consciousness and was transported to the emergency room. She was released without charge and never cited, and subsequently filed formal complaints alleging violations of her First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendment rights, as well as human rights breaches, and pursued a tort claim for damages from unlawful detention and detention conditions.

At least 20 detainees at Desert View Annex (Adelanto ICE Processing Center) in Adelanto, California, launched a hunger strike in mid-May 2026 to protest inadequate health care, food portions, unsafe conditions, and demand bond reform and accountability. The facility, operated by the GEO Group, experienced four deaths between September 2025 and March 2026. A lawyer with the National Day Labor Organization described the hunger strike as a last resort when other options have been exhausted. One detainee's wife spoke publicly about the inhumane treatment at the facility. The facility's population increased dramatically from 424 detainees in 2023 to 2,087 in 2025.

Dolores Bustamante Romero, a 54-year-old apple picker and farmworker advocate from Wayne County, New York, was detained by ICE on April 22, 2026, during a mandatory check-in appointment at the Buffalo office without notice that her supervised release was being revoked. A Mexican national who fled gender violence in 2003 and arrived in the U.S. seeking asylum, Bustamante has lived in upstate New York since 2012 and was a well-known advocate for migrant farmworkers and member of Alianza Agricola. She was instrumental in securing New York's Green Light Law and an executive order banning State Police from inquiring about immigration status. She had no criminal record and had attended four previous check-in appointments without incident while enrolled in an alternatives-to-detention program under the Biden administration. U.S. District Judge Meredith Vacca ordered ICE to return her to Western New York and held an evidentiary hearing on May 26, 2026, to review whether ICE violated her due process rights by detaining her without proper notice.

A leaked video from an ICE detention center in Louisiana shows detainees begging for food. Former detainee Victor Nery and Chris, originally from El Salvador, reported being subjected to hunger and poor conditions, with cells holding 90-110 detainees each.

Daniel Romero, 18, a Colombian national and recent graduate of Ooltewah High School in Tennessee, was taken into ICE custody on May 18, 2026, during what his family believed was a routine appointment related to an immigration program. ICE cited missed check-ins and failure to submit required weekly photos as reasons for detention. Romero's family disputed the allegations, claiming the check-in app malfunctioned for four weeks and provided documented evidence of the technical error, but officials did not allow Romero to present this proof before his arrest. Records provided by the family indicated compliance with program requirements. He was held at Etowah County Jail in Alabama before being transferred to a detention center in Louisiana, where no bond, video calls, or visitation were allowed.

Jessica Crystal Lira, a 22-year-old transgender woman and Nicaraguan citizen, was re-detained by ICE on May 22, 2026 during a scheduled check-in and transferred to the Northwest ICE Processing Center (NWIPC) in Tacoma, Washington. Despite identifying as a woman, she was housed in a male detention unit, where she experienced verbal harassment and feared for her safety. She filed suit, captioned Lira v. Mullin, seeking emergency relief. The court granted her motion for a temporary restraining order, enjoining officials from housing her in a male detention unit or solitary confinement, and ordered that she either be moved to appropriate housing or released within 24 hours.

Gabriel Leiva was detained at the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, Michigan. He fought with staff who removed him from his pod and requested to be killed while handcuffed and shackled. After being placed in solitary confinement, he covered his cell window, kicked the door, and displayed suicidal behavior. When police responded to a 911 call, he expressed confusion about being in solitary confinement.

Andry Hernández Romero, a gay makeup artist from Venezuela, legally entered the U.S. in August 2024 and passed a credible fear interview for asylum. In March 2025, the Trump administration deported him to CECOT, a maximum security prison in El Salvador, under the Alien Enemies Act as part of a broader deportation of 237 Venezuelan migrants. Authorities cited tattoos allegedly linking him to gang activity, which his family disputed as relating to a local cultural festival. Hernández Romero was detained in CECOT for over four months before being released in July 2025 as part of a prisoner swap. He was subsequently returned to Venezuela rather than allowed to remain in the U.S. His case became part of a class-action lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's use of the Alien Enemies Act for deportations. A Venezuelan makeup artist was deported to El Salvador and subsequently traveled to Spain to seek asylum. The person states they feel safe in Spain and is pursuing asylum protection there.

Everlee Amelia Wihongi, a 37-year-old New Zealand citizen and lawful permanent resident who moved to the U.S. at age six, was detained by CBP at Los Angeles International Airport on April 10, 2026, upon returning from a family trip to New Zealand for an uncle's 80th birthday. DHS cited a 2014 felony conviction for THC possession in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, as grounds for detention, saying it rendered her inadmissible. During her transfer to the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona, she was forced to sleep on the floor while shackled for 14 hours, denied food and water, and not permitted to bathe. She was transferred between facilities in California, Texas, Montana, and Arizona without notice to her family or attorney, causing her to miss a scheduled legal meeting. Her brother Avaiiki said ICE was "largely unresponsive" and offered the family little more than instructions for his sister to "stay compliant." New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said consular officials were assisting but could not intervene in U.S. immigration decisions. DHS said Wihongi was placed in removal proceedings and will remain in custody.

A noncitizen in removal proceedings was detained at Adelanto ICE Processing Center on May 21, 2026 without prior explanation or hearing after missing seven biometric check-ins over ten months in the ISAP program. He had been released on his own recognizance in 2024 and was complying with release conditions while his asylum and withholding of removal application was pending. An immigration judge denied his post-detention bond hearing, citing Matter of Q. Li. The federal court granted his habeas petition, finding his detention violated due process because he was not provided pre-deprivation process and ordered his immediate release on the original conditions of release.

Three undocumented immigrants—Ignacio Sosnava Rodriguez, Miguel Angel Gomez Alvarado, and Alejandro Villegas Angel—were detained by ICE after police stops in Taylor, Texas between November 2025 and February 2026. All three had lived in the U.S. for 14-22 years with no criminal records and were held without bond hearings. Federal judges ruled their detention violated due process rights and ordered their release. The Trump administration appealed, and their cases are now before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which will decide whether undocumented immigrants have constitutional rights to challenge their detention.