Human Impact Project

Salah Sarsour, 53, president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee and a lawful permanent resident for over 32 years, was detained by ICE on March 30, 2026, after armed plainclothes agents pulled him over in unmarked vehicles near Milwaukee. He is married to a U.S. citizen, has six U.S. citizen children, and has no U.S. criminal record. DHS alleged he lied on his 1998 green card application by omitting convictions from an Israeli military court when he was a minor, which Sarsour says were coerced under torture, and also alleged he was suspected of funding terror organizations. He was held 80 days at Clay County Jail in Indiana, where his unmonitored diabetes worsened, he faced religious liberty restrictions and inadequate medical care, and lost over 30 pounds. His attorneys, including the Muslim Legal Fund of America, argued he was targeted for his Palestinian background and advocacy, noting authorities had known of his prior convictions for 25 years. On June 18, 2026, U.S. District Judge James Patrick Hanlon ordered his release, finding ICE likely detained him in retaliation for his Palestinian rights advocacy. Despite this, an immigration judge later ruled in September that Sarsour can be deported under a cold-war era law, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio citing his activism as grounds for removal; his attorneys plan to continue fighting the case.

Deng Dhieu Kuach Deng, a 19-year-old freshman basketball player at Southern Connecticut State University from Aweil, South Sudan, was detained by ICE agents on September 4, 2026 while attempting to board a domestic flight at Tweed New Haven Airport to visit his girlfriend in North Carolina. A witness described the arresting officers as 'very aggressive.' Deng had a pending asylum application with a valid Employment Authorization Document and no criminal history; attorneys Glenn Formica and Steven Strom filed a habeas corpus petition alleging an officer falsely claimed he had violated Temporary Protected Status he never held, and that his Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights were violated. He was held at the Wyatt Detention Facility in Rhode Island, which Formica described as involving 'hyper stress' conditions including sleeping on cement floors with foil blankets and broken toilets. Following advocacy from attorneys, university community members, and New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker, Deng was released on September 16. Sen. Richard Blumenthal called the detention unnecessary and illegal and sought an investigation into the regional ICE field office; SCSU said it remained in contact with him and was assisting where appropriate.

Carol Williams Black was detained by ICE for roughly seven months as part of a legal dispute over bond hearings for noncitizens with criminal records fighting deportation. His case became moot after he received a final order of removal and permanently left the United States, prompting the Supreme Court to focus its review on a different detainee's case.

D.C., a 62-year-old Dominican citizen who entered the U.S. without authorization, has been held by ICE since September 2025 after completing a state prison sentence tied to a 1998 drug conviction, along with earlier convictions for possessing a forged instrument, a domestic assault, and criminal contempt. A district court ordered that he receive a bond hearing under Second Circuit precedent requiring hearings when mandatory detention becomes 'unreasonably prolonged,' but denied his request for immediate release. The Supreme Court has now agreed to hear the Trump administration's appeal in the case, Genalo v. D.C., to decide whether the government must prove by clear and convincing evidence that he poses a flight risk or danger to remain in custody; the case is part of a broader dispute over a July 2025 policy mandating detention for immigrants in deportation proceedings.

Antonio Frometa Ascón, a 63-year-old Cuban immigrant who came to the U.S. in 1994 after being paroled through Guantánamo, has been in ICE custody since Aug. 14, 2025, when Florida Highway Patrol stopped him on his way to work under the state's Operation Tidal Wave crackdown. He was first held at the South Florida Detention Facility, where he alleges a guard's blow left him partially deaf, then transferred to Camp East Montana in El Paso, where he witnessed a detainee's death, and later moved to the ICE El Paso Service Processing Center. Cuba has refused to accept his deportation, and he has refused removal to Mexico as a third country, citing fears of cartel violence and extortion. His first granddaughter was born while he has been detained, and he says he has not been able to meet or hold her. He has filed pro se and attorney-assisted habeas corpus petitions arguing his prolonged detention violates the Supreme Court's Zadvydas v. Davis limits on indefinite confinement, and a federal judge has yet to rule as his health and mental state decline and his family says he has grown depressed awaiting word from his lawyer.

Nathan 'Nate' Samudzi, a delivery driver from Yankton, South Dakota originally from Zimbabwe, was detained by ICE for a second time this year after reporting to the agency's Sioux Falls sub-field office. He was quickly transferred to a detention center and then to Minneapolis for a deportation flight, but a federal judge granted an emergency Temporary Restraining Order about 30 minutes before the flight was scheduled to depart. Samudzi holds a valid work permit, had begun the citizenship process, and had been under strict GPS monitoring since a prior detention in February; his wife, a local schoolteacher, said he complied with every condition. ICE told reporters Samudzi had a conviction for drug possession and distribution, but his attorney said this is false, explaining he has only a misdemeanor marijuana ingestion conviction from age 20 and a separate charge that was dismissed a year later. Judge Jerry Blackwell has ordered ICE cannot remove or transfer Samudzi from the District of Minnesota while his legal team pursues an emergency habeas corpus petition citing fear of persecution if returned to Zimbabwe, a country he has not lived in since age four. He remains held at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Fort Snelling, Minnesota, as family, friends, and South Dakota's congressional delegation seek updates on his case.

Jessica Trevino (also spelled Treviño), a DACA recipient in her mid-30s who arrived in the U.S. from Mexico as a young child and lived in Texas her entire life, was arrested by ICE agents on December 28, 2025, as she left church with her family in the Rio Grande Valley. Unmarked vehicles rammed the family's car in a Home Depot parking lot, agents struck her husband Juan with a baton, and shoved their 14-year-old daughter against the vehicle hard enough to bruise her. Trevino worked in an elementary school cafeteria and had no criminal record; her DACA status remained valid at the time. After nearly three months in ICE custody, she was deported to Matamoros, Mexico on March 25, 2026, despite disputing that she consented to a 'voluntary departure' order. Her three U.S. citizen children, ages 16, 14, and 13, remained in Texas with relatives. USCIS later moved to terminate her DACA status, citing unauthorized travel. Her family filed a federal lawsuit seeking her return and restoration of her status, though a federal judge has since recommended dismissal on jurisdictional grounds.

Alejandro, 33, from Mexico, works in Minnesota to support his family back home and has a pending asylum appeal after his initial claim was denied. He had been held in custody since May — first by local law enforcement, then ICE — until a judge ruled on Sept. 22 that his arrest was unlawful and ordered his immediate release. On Sept. 25, after being given back his belongings at the Whipple Federal Building, Alejandro made it just outside the front doors before plainclothes immigration agents handcuffed him again, with one agent telling him through translation that "just like they could release me, they could arrest me again."

Bryan Omar Sánchez, a Honduran man who had lived in Colorado for about a decade working as a gardener, truck driver, and pressure-washing business owner, was detained by ICE at his home on May 13 and moved through detention centers in Texas and Arizona. Despite a 2020 Convention Against Torture protection barring his return to Honduras and a pending asylum claim, he was placed on a nearly 22-hour flight to the Central African Republic on July 29 without his consent; one officer reportedly mocked him, asking 'Hey, Honduras, why are you going to Africa?' while Sánchez protested, 'Africa? I can't go to Africa.' Once in Bangui, he described being held in a shelter with restricted movement, facing language barriers and limited access to services, prompting Honduras' National Human Rights Commissioner (Conadeh) to demand urgent consular assistance and verification of his well-being. While detained, Sánchez represented himself in filings with Colorado's federal court, arguing he should not have been removed to a country he had never visited. U.S. District Judge Regina M. Rodríguez ruled that ICE violated his due process rights by giving him no notice or opportunity to challenge the removal, and ordered the government to return him to Colorado and release him without conditions such as GPS monitoring.

A Peruvian man identified in court filings as "John Doe," who has judicial protections against deportation to Peru, has been held in ICE custody in Massachusetts since July. After a federal appeals court struck down the Trump administration's third-country removal policy, a Department of Justice attorney argued the ruling wasn't yet in effect and sought to transfer Doe to another facility to put him on a flight to the Central African Republic. Doe's attorneys, including Mary Holper, obtained an emergency clarification from the appeals court reaffirming the policy was dissolved immediately, and a judge declined to lift the stay barring his removal, though he remains in detention. DHS General Counsel James Percival publicly maintained the policy remained in effect, and the Justice Department has since appealed the underlying ruling to the Supreme Court, while flight data showed ICE charter planes continued flying to African countries used for third-country removals after the court's order.

Pastor Molis Augustave, 33, a faith leader in York, Pennsylvania and former organizer with We Are CASA, was detained after West Manchester Township police stopped him over a reportedly broken headlight while he was driving for DoorDash and turned him over to ICE under the township's 287(g) agreement. He had an approved I-130 petition, a pending I-485 green card application, a pending motion to reopen before the Board of Immigration Appeals, and a federal habeas corpus petition, but was deported to Haiti after 19 days in detention alongside 38 other Haitians. An advocacy campaign led by his U.S.-citizen wife, Omara Boniface Nunez, briefly got him pulled from an initial deportation flight, but USCIS denied his green card application days later. While detained, he led a Bible study group and counseled a fellow detainee who was contemplating suicide. His wife and their two U.S.-born children, Isaac and Sofia, remain in York, where he pastored a congregation, and his Motion to Reopen remains pending.

A 21-year-old Brazilian man was arrested by ICE at 7:30 a.m. on Sept. 23, 2026, while commuting to his job at a garage in Somerset. According to his habeas petition, he cooperated and provided his license, but when told he would be detained for overstaying his visa, an agent reached into the car, unbuckled his seatbelt and dragged him to the ground while other officers shouted "Taze him!" He entered the U.S. on a tourist visa at age 11 in 2016 and graduated from Diman Regional Technical High School in Fall River. He married his U.S. citizen wife in June 2024, and she was among dozens who submitted letters urging his release, writing that he "consistently tries to do good, support others, and be a positive presence." He remains in custody at Plymouth County Correctional Facility.

Florencio de León Olmos, an undocumented man from Guatemala who had received a final removal order in August 2025, was among those detained in ICE's sweep of New Bedford. Court records reviewed by The New Bedford Light did not show why he received the removal order or any criminal record. He could not be located through the ICE Detainee Locator, and he voluntarily withdrew his federal habeas corpus petition on Sept. 23, 2026.

A Colombian asylum seeker who fled to the United States in 2022 was detained without warning while attending a routine ICE check-in in San Francisco. He had previously been released from custody after DHS determined he posed no danger or flight risk, and he attended every scheduled check-in since then. He held employment authorization and a Social Security number, worked assembling ventilation and refrigeration equipment, filed federal tax returns for two years, resided in Fremont, California, had a partner of one year, and regularly attended a Mormon temple. In June 2026, he was arrested for an alleged DUI after being found sleeping in his parked car outside his home. He was not shown a warrant at his re-arrest and was subsequently transferred to the Central Valley Annex detention facility in McFarland, California. He filed a habeas petition and motion for a temporary restraining order, arguing his detention violated due process because he was not given a pre-detention bond hearing. The court granted the TRO, ordering his immediate release and barring re-detention pending further briefing and a hearing scheduled for October 8, 2026.

Malena Chacón Santos, a 24-year-old Cuban woman who entered the U.S. legally in November 2024 through the CBP One app and applied for asylum, was detained by ICE in November 2025 after voluntarily attending a routine immigration supervision appointment in Dallas. She was transferred to the Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson, Texas, more than 175 miles from home, where she has remained for nearly 10 months. In February 2025, she married Juan Carlos Alvarez, a U.S. Army veteran who lives with disabilities including depression, anxiety and arthritis, and became stepmother to his three children. Alvarez drives three hours every Sunday to visit her, and the couple speaks by phone daily. Her attorney filed a federal habeas corpus petition in May 2026, which a judge denied with prejudice on August 4. Chacón Santos says she has no criminal convictions and is still awaiting a decision on her case.

Miguel Ixcuna-Ixcuna, a 30-year-old Guatemalan immigrant who had lived in the New Bedford, Massachusetts area for about 12 years and worked as a fruit and vegetable packer in Plymouth, was pulled from his car by ICE agents while driving home with his partner, Antonia Lucas, and their two daughters, ages 3 and 9. Agents blocked the vehicle front and back, took his identification, and removed him from the driver's seat with little explanation as his young daughters watched, frightened. He had no criminal record and is now held at the Burlington ICE Processing Center; his partner said he is worried about his daughters and family. His arrest came amid a multi-day ICE operation that detained at least eight people in the area, including fish house and seafood processing workers Israel Sam Cajuil, Arnaldo Lux, Kenshino Pierre and Oscar Abel Gutierrez; advocates said several had valid work authorization, and Mayor Jon Mitchell said most had no records beyond minor motor-vehicle violations. During the operation, agents tased a man who fled a stop, smashed a truck window to remove another person, and arrested a father near an elementary school. Attorneys have filed habeas corpus petitions in federal court in Boston, including one seeking to prevent Ixcuna's transfer out of state, while local restaurant owners reported sales fell roughly 50% following the sweep.

Aleks Latsabidze, 46, a native and citizen of the country of Georgia with a pending asylum case and a prior bid for employment-based permanent residence, worked as a commercial truck driver based out of New York. On August 15, 2026, he was involved in a collision between two semi-trucks on Interstate 80 near North Platte, Nebraska, after a truck merged onto the highway below the minimum speed limit and was struck from behind; the other driver, Jose Espinosa Salazar, 40, of Florida, was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators initially told Latsabidze they would not charge him and planned to release him, but after learning he was not a U.S. citizen, they contacted ICE, which requested he be held; he was booked into the Lincoln County Jail/Detention Center on an immigration hold the day after the crash. On August 24, Nebraska State Patrol announced he had also been arrested on suspicion of motor vehicle homicide following further investigation. Latsabidze filed a federal habeas corpus petition on August 19, arguing no immigration warrant was presented and that he never received a Notice to Appear. On September 21, a federal judge in Nebraska granted his petition in part, ordering the government to provide him a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) within seven days or release him immediately.

Marlon Cervelo, a 51-year-old Cuban national, was reunited with his wife Judith Castellanos in Houston after a federal judge granted his habeas corpus petition and ordered his immediate release from ICE custody following eight months in detention. The release came three days before a scheduled September 21 hearing. Cervelo had been detained during a routine check-in appointment with ICE and was transferred among facilities, including Krome and the Federal Detention Center in Miami, where Castellanos had complained in July about high temperatures from air conditioning failures, with other detainees' families also reporting water pressure issues and roaches; the Federal Bureau of Prisons acknowledged the problems and said they were resolved. Castellanos said tracking her husband's location during his transfers was one of the hardest parts of his detention, and Cervelo described the experience as traumatic. He was released with an ankle monitor and remains under immigration supervision as his underlying removal order still stands.

A Venezuelan asylum seeker in her mid-20s, who entered the United States legally around 2022-2023 and had lived and worked in the country for several years without a criminal record, was detained by ICE agents during an enforcement operation on August 25, 2026. She held a pending asylum application and a valid work permit. She was held at the GSA Guaynabo Immigration Center in Puerto Rico without receiving a bond hearing, despite her detention falling under a discretionary framework that entitles detainees to one. After learning she was scheduled to be transferred out of Puerto Rico, she filed a habeas corpus petition and an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order, arguing the detention violated the Immigration and Nationality Act and her due process rights. A federal court granted the temporary restraining order, barring her transfer outside Puerto Rico's jurisdiction and ordering that she receive a bond hearing before an Immigration Judge, while holding her habeas petition in abeyance pending further briefing and a government status report.

Sergio Ivan Chaparro Ayala, a longtime shift supervisor at Oceanview Diner in Berkeley who lives in Richmond and supports two children, was detained by federal immigration agents at Oakland International Airport on August 28, 2026, while preparing to board a flight to Las Vegas for an anniversary trip with his partner, Estefani Montes. Chaparro, who entered the U.S. on a tourist visa that expired in 2020, has no criminal record and suffers from severe sleep apnea requiring a CPAP machine; he was moved between several detention facilities in California and Washington state, and Montes struggled to get him access to his medical equipment. Restaurant co-owner Will Bishop described him as friendly and well-liked by customers and coworkers. Attorneys from Centro Legal de la Raza filed a habeas corpus petition arguing his detention violated due process, and a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order ordering his immediate release and barring ICE from re-detaining him without a hearing before a neutral decisionmaker. Coworkers and community members raised more than $25,000 through a GoFundMe to cover his legal costs, and a preliminary injunction hearing was scheduled for September 15, 2026.