Human Impact Project

A 31-year-old Cuban man, identified as Ricardo H., reported being beaten by approximately 15 guards at Camp East Montana detention center at Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, Texas, after spending more than 20 hours without food and banging on a metal door to request meals. According to his account documented in a Human Rights Watch and ACLU report, six agents held him down face-first, stomped on his neck, and caused injuries to his ear and collarbone. The 84-page report, based on interviews with 80 people detained at the facility between October 2025 and June 2026, documents a pattern of alleged abuses including raids by masked agents without visible identification, unsanitary conditions, and cases of people detained despite documentation of legal status. The report also documents the death of another Cuban detainee, Gerardo Lunas Campos, 55, on January 3, 2026, whose autopsy determined the cause of death was asphyxiation due to compression of the neck and torso, classified as homicide.

Neysis Mairena, a Nicaraguan immigrant six months pregnant with twins, was hospitalized while in ICE detention at the Basile, Louisiana processing center after experiencing contractions. She was shackled to a hospital bed during her hospitalization. Mairena had been arrested on allegations of child endangerment related to an incident in which her 7-year-old daughter was present during an altercation with her partner; her attorney states she was acting in self-defense. She was released from detention on November 26, 2025, following a news outlet's inquiry into her case.

Izzy Aly, a 40-year-old Egyptian national, has been detained by ICE at Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania since December 2025. A DHS medical exam in January found stage 3 kidney disease, but Aly was not informed until March. Advocates allege ICE has denied his requests for treatment, and he recently reported seeing blood in his urine. Immigrant rights groups are calling for his release to receive proper medical care.

U.S. citizens were detained by federal agents at an Aurora school hospital. Protesters confronted the agents at the scene. The detained individuals have since spoken out about their experience.

On Friday, October 2, 2025, federal immigration agents handcuffed Alderman Jessie Fuentes of the 26th Ward at Humboldt Park Hospital while she was confronting them about an arrest. Fuentes asked agents if they had a signed warrant before being handcuffed and led outside the hospital. Agents were at the hospital pursuing a person who had been injured and brought for medical care. The incident occurred during broader immigration enforcement operations across Chicago that included tear gas deployment and multiple arrests, including at least one U.S. citizen. Mayor Brandon Johnson stated that elected officials have a First Amendment right to document ICE actions and inform constituents of their rights. Governor Pritzker called for an investigation into treatment of children during a separate federal raid in South Shore.

Chicago Alderperson Jessie Fuentes was handcuffed and threatened with arrest by federal immigration agents at Humboldt Park Health on Friday after she asked whether they had a signed judicial warrant to detain a patient. Fuentes said the agents shoved her twice before restraining her, an exchange partly captured on video showing an agent demanding she leave and threatening arrest before forcibly turning her around and cuffing her. She said she was asserting the patient's constitutional rights and had not touched the agents or trespassed, and noted that federal agents have brought multiple injured people to local hospitals following arrests.

On October 3, 2025, 26th Ward Alderperson Jessie Fuentes was shoved and handcuffed by masked ICE agents at Humboldt Park Health Hospital while advocating for a detained constituent during Operation Midway Blitz. Fuentes filed a federal tort claims lawsuit in October 2025, and formally sued the federal government in May 2026 after the Department of Homeland Security failed to respond within the required timeframe. The lawsuit alleges battery, assault, false arrest, false imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, claiming Fuentes suffered shoulder pain, anxiety, nightmares, and emotional distress from the encounter.

Grace Calero Cabanilla, 39, and her 19-year-old daughter Giulianna Carriel Calero were taken into custody at HCA Florida Poinciana Hospital after being treated for injuries from an Aug. 20 two-vehicle crash in Poinciana. The Polk County Sheriff's Office says deputies were at the hospital investigating the crash and determined Calero Cabanilla, then her daughter, had overstayed their authorized stays; deputies contacted ICE, which confirmed civil immigration warrants and lodged detainers, and the women were taken to Polk County Jail after discharge. ICE says Calero Cabanilla entered the U.S. legally in March 2023 and Carriel Calero in February 2025, both overstaying their authorized periods; arrest affidavits note neither woman has a criminal history. A relative's GoFundMe states Calero Cabanilla has a pending asylum case and valid work permit and Carriel Calero holds a visa valid until 2030. Cellphone video showed the women, one still attached to an IV, being separated and detained by deputies; the women elected to voluntarily depart and arrived in Quito, Ecuador, while community groups protested outside the hospital.

A visibly pregnant U.S. citizen and her undocumented mother were arrested by federal agents outside a health clinic in Los Angeles.

After a Guatemalan woman gave birth at Tucson Medical Center in Arizona while in Border Patrol custody, she was told she faced immediate deportation and would have to decide whether to take her U.S.-citizen newborn daughter with her. Agents stationed at the hospital refused to let her attorney access her so that she could sign a G-28 form. After public pressure and intervention from local officials and counsel, the mother and baby were released into the care of a nonprofit in Phoenix.

A Mexican national who has lived in Tucson for nearly 15 years was detained by immigration agents outside St. Joseph's Hospital while leaving with a cousin who had sought emergency care there. His wife said hospital staff had repeatedly questioned the cousin about his Social Security number and legal status before agents arrived in an unmarked vehicle. The man is being held at the Florence Correctional Center with a hearing scheduled for May 15. His wife and two stepdaughters, ages 11 and 16, said they are devastated by his arrest and fear he could be deported to Mexico.