Human Impact Project

A father of two disabled children was deported to Mexico after being pulled over by ICE while driving to his drywall installation job. The deportation occurred despite his family obligations and care responsibilities for his disabled children.

Juan Chavez Velasco, a 35-year-old DACA recipient who arrived in the U.S. from Colombia at age 8, was detained by ICE agents on February 18, 2026, while driving to deliver breast milk to his premature daughter in a hospital NICU in Weslaco, Texas. Chavez Velasco holds two bachelor's degrees and works as a medical laboratory scientist with no criminal history. He is married to Stephanie Villarreal, a U.S. citizen, and has three U.S. citizen children. His DACA renewal application, submitted in November 2025, remained unanswered and his status expired on March 10, 2026, while he was in custody. DHS cited a 2005 removal order issued before his DACA approval in 2012, arguing that DACA does not confer legal status. He is detained at Webb County Detention Center in Laredo, Texas.

Ever Alvarenga-Rios, a 32-year-old Honduran immigrant who has lived in the Baltimore area and run his own flooring business, was injured during an ICE enforcement action on April 2, 2026 while driving to work. Accounts of the incident differ: ICE said Alvarenga drove recklessly, causing a multi-car pileup before fleeing on foot, while his attorney and family said an ICE vehicle rear-ended his van. He suffered a concussion, an arm injury requiring a cast, and injuries to his head, chest, back, and hands, and was hospitalized at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center; two ICE officers were also injured and hospitalized. His wife, Lurbin Vasquez, said he has no criminal record and had not been able to speak with him since the incident. His attorney, Adam Crandell, who has represented Alvarenga for eight years in his bid for citizenship, said he was repeatedly denied access to his client while hospitalized and in custody. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and Senator Chris Van Hollen both publicly criticized the incident, which came days after a separate ICE-involved crash in Annapolis.

A Russian citizen arrived in the United States on April 6, 2023, at San Luis, Arizona, without inspection. He was released into the interior and served with a Notice to Appear charging him as inadmissible. He filed for asylum with the Immigration Court, and his application remains pending. On April 4, 2026, he was detained by police for driving with a suspended driver's license. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers assumed custody and transferred him to the West Tennessee Detention Facility. He filed a habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 challenging his detention without an individualized bond hearing and sought a temporary restraining order to stay his removal from the United States. The federal court denied both the petition and the motion, finding that he remains an "applicant for admission" subject to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2), that he failed to exhaust administrative remedies, and that neither statute nor the Constitution provides him a right to a bond hearing.

A Cuban citizen who entered the United States from Mexico on March 24, 2022, was issued a Notice to Appear for removability under immigration law. She was released on her own recognizance and complied with all conditions of her release. She filed applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture; an immigration judge denied her asylum application, and her appeal remains pending. On April 3, 2026, local police in Odessa, Texas arrested her for an alleged local ordinance violation, and ICE took her into custody on April 6, 2026, transferring her to the Otero County Processing Center. The petitioner, who is approximately ten weeks pregnant and has been diagnosed with diabetes during detention, filed a habeas corpus petition challenging her continued detention without a bond hearing. The U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico granted her petition, finding that 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) governs her detention and that continued detention without a bond hearing violates her Fifth Amendment due process rights. The court ordered her immediate release and prohibited re-detention without a pre-deprivation bond hearing before a neutral Immigration Judge.

Two more immigrant truck drivers detained by Iowa State Patrol and ICE along Interstate 80 have filed federal lawsuits, joining earlier cases from the same enforcement effort known as 'Operation ICE Wall.' One driver, from Pakistan, was stopped in Dallas County in March 2026 after a coworker failed to stop at a weigh station; he was not driving but was detained anyway and transferred to the Polk County Jail despite having work authorization and a pending asylum case, with an immigration court hearing set for April 9. The other driver, from India, was stopped near Mitchellville in February 2026 after allegedly bypassing a weigh station; he had previously been released on a $25,000 bond, obtained work authorization, and also has a pending asylum application. Both men's attorneys argue federal officials violated their due process rights by detaining them without notice, a hearing, or individualized justification.

Omar Salazar, an SMU graduate and Dallas community leader, was detained by ICE for seven months after a traffic stop in Lubbock in August 2025, where he presented a Mexican ID and lacked a valid U.S. driver's license. Salazar was brought to the U.S. as a minor at age 11, did not qualify for asylum, and missed DACA eligibility by a few months. He was held at ICE's Bluebonnet Detention Facility while his case proceeded, and ultimately lost his immigration case, resulting in a deportation order with 60 days to voluntarily depart to Mexico. His legal team said an appeal could extend his detention another 8-12 months, and he would likely face a 3-6 year wait before reentry despite being married to a U.S. citizen.

A Venezuelan national with Temporary Protected Status was detained by ICE on April 2, 2026, after being stopped for speeding. She had been granted humanitarian parole in October 2022 and subsequently received TPS status. The court granted her habeas corpus petition and ordered her immediate release, finding her detention violated due process rights.

A transgender activist and community organizer from Michoacán, Mexico, who has lived in North Carolina for more than 30 years, was detained by ICE following a traffic stop in Franklinton and transferred to Stewart Detention Center in Georgia. She is recognized for founding and directing Fuerza y Unión Múltiple (FUM), an organization supporting transgender people in rural areas, and for her long history of organizing at the North Carolina General Assembly on behalf of immigrant and LGBTQ communities. A fundraising campaign was launched to support her legal defense and detention-related expenses, with Raleigh Immigration Law Firm providing legal representation.

Enrique, brought to the U.S. at age three and raised there for 24 years, was stopped by a state trooper for a license plate light issue and taken into custody based on his Mexican passport despite lacking a driver's license. He spent three months in ICE processing with multiple court appearances before being granted voluntary departure. He is now in Mexico documenting his experience and attempting to maintain his business remotely while seeking residency.

Ramon Mendez-Tum (a pseudonym used in the report), a 24-year-old with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, was detained by ICE at a traffic stop while a passenger in a car on his way to a chemotherapy appointment, and held at the Florence Detention Center from October 2025 through April 2026. Before receiving specialty care he developed an infection at his PICC line. While receiving chemotherapy he was constantly chained by the leg or handcuffed and watched 24/7 by guards; on multiple occasions he was hospitalized for 3-4 weeks at a time, shackled to his bed, and barred from any contact with family or legal counsel, and even hospital social workers were denied private conversations with him. Back at the facility he was held alone in medical isolation. His lawyers at the Florence Project could not speak with him for over three months, about 10 of his court hearings had to be rescheduled, and ICE denied multiple release requests despite a measles outbreak in the facility. An immigration judge finally released him after six months.

Dr. Ezequiel Veliz, a Venezuelan physician working as a resident at UT Health Rio Grande Valley/Knapp Medical Center in Texas, was detained by Border Patrol at the Sarita checkpoint in April 2025 after his Temporary Protected Status (TPS) was revoked in October 2024. Veliz is married to a U.S. citizen, had a pending green card application, and was carrying required immigration documents at the time of detention. Following outcry from the medical community and intervention by U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a judge granted him bond during his immigration hearing, allowing his release from custody. Another Venezuelan colleague was also detained within the same week.

Emmanuel Landila, a Cumberland County corrections recruit hired in February 2025 with work authorization valid until 2029, was arrested by federal agents during ICE's 'Operation Catch of the Day' after they stopped his car in Portland's Bayside neighborhood. Cellphone video showed agents pulling him from the vehicle as he shouted, 'I am a corrections officer! I work in Cumberland County!' Agents left his car unlocked on the roadside with the lights on and windows down, prompting Sheriff Kevin Joyce to call it 'bush league policing' and note Landila had been vetted through a rigorous hiring process. His family raised nearly $20,000 through a GoFundMe campaign for legal fees. After a month in a Massachusetts jail, an immigration judge released him on bond, and he returned to Maine to resume training at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy.

On August 27, 2025, Vasquez (49) and Ramirez (40), a married couple from Mexico, were arrested by ICE during a traffic stop in Tulsa despite having pending U visa applications and federal deportation protections as crime victims who assisted law enforcement in prosecuting a serial rapist. Ramirez was held for four months at Bluebonnet Detention Facility in Texas, where she was denied access to seizure medication for her epilepsy. Vasquez was detained for over seven months at a CoreCivic facility in Cushing, Oklahoma, and attended 13 immigration court hearings before winning a habeas corpus lawsuit granting him a bond hearing. The prolonged separation and detention resulted in job loss, eviction from their home in Broken Arrow, and approximately $12,000 in accumulated legal debt. Vasquez was released in April 2026 on deferral of removal grounds, followed by Ramirez's release. Both remain without legal status and are working to recover financially while awaiting U visa hearings.

ICE agent Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr. was charged by Hennepin County prosecutors with felony first- and second-degree assault after allegedly pointing a gun at people in another vehicle on Highway 62 in Minneapolis in February 2026 during Operation Metro Surge. Morgan turned himself in, posted bond, and made his first court appearance on May 24, 2026. His attorney argued Morgan feared for his safety when the other vehicle swerved near him.

Genaro Gonzalez-Uribe, a 72-year-old undocumented man, was detained by ICE on March 30, 2026, while driving to work in Lodi, California. He was pulled over by unmarked vehicles and transferred to a detention facility in Kern County. His family reports he has no criminal history, prior deportations, or removal orders. They also expressed concerns about his health and access to medication while in custody and are seeking legal assistance as he faces removal proceedings.

On March 31, 2026, a traffic stop on Interstate 20 near Leeds, Alabama resulted in the arrest of four individuals. The driver presented a Mexican identification card instead of an Alabama driver license, prompting an Alabama State Police trooper to contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. When the driver and two passengers fled on foot into nearby woods, law enforcement apprehended all three near a Bass Pro Shops location without incident. All four individuals were arrested by the Leeds Police Department, which also thanked surrounding agencies for assisting in the search. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and ICE are investigating the incident.

Utah Highway Patrol stopped a car speeding at 90 mph on I-15 near 5600 South in Weber County after occupants could not produce standard identification; a federal detainer was found for two of the three people inside. When ICE agents and a sheriff's deputy arrived, a passenger fled on foot and was pursued, while the driver refused to exit and barricaded himself inside, leading an ICE agent to break the car window to make the arrest. Both the driver and the man who fled had active ICE detainers, and the person filming the encounter was arrested for interfering. An 18-year-old passenger had called his mother during the incident, telling her an agent was pointing a gun at them.

A Mexican citizen who entered the U.S. without inspection in 2009 and lived there for over 17 years was stopped while driving in Florida for allegedly having over-tinted windows and subsequently taken into ICE custody. He was transferred to several detention facilities and is now held at Golden State Annex in California. The court granted his habeas corpus petition and ordered a bond hearing within seven days.

On March 30, 2026, a Utah Highway Patrol trooper conducted a traffic stop on I-15 in Weber County for speeding. The driver refused to cooperate and could not provide valid identification despite claiming to be a U.S. citizen. With assistance from Weber County Sheriff's Office and ICE agents, the driver was forcibly removed from the vehicle due to noncompliance. Both the driver and a passenger were found to have active ICE detainers and were arrested and booked into Weber County Jail on charges including speeding, resisting arrest, and driving without a license.