Human Impact Project

A woman in her 50s, adopted from Iran as a toddler by a U.S. Air Force veteran, is facing deportation proceedings after discovering she was never formally naturalized as a U.S. citizen. She entered the country on a tourist visa and was excluded from the 2000 Child Citizenship Act, despite growing up in the Midwest and having no criminal record. She fears deportation to Iran given her father's military service, her Christian faith, and her lack of family or language connections to the country.

Diana Butnarciuc, a Moldovan immigrant who arrived in the U.S. legally in 2008, was arrested by ICE agents on February 13, 2026, during a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services interview for a permanent resident card in Las Vegas. Butnarciuc, who is married to Marine veteran Patrick Baja and has two children, has no criminal record, works, and pays taxes. Although she faced a 2018 deportation order after her asylum claim was denied, her marriage to Baja made her eligible for a green card. Her attorney stated that Butnarciuc entered the U.S. legally and should be entitled to permanent resident status. She is being held at Henderson Detention Center, and her husband is seeking her release.

On August 13, 2025, DHS agents deployed tear gas and fired less-lethal bullets from the roof of an ICE facility at 4310 S Macadam Ave in Portland, targeting civilians peacefully demonstrating on the public sidewalk. A U.S. military veteran was violently attacked from behind, assaulted, and pinned to the ground while being exposed to tear gas for approximately two minutes by three DHS agents. On January 31, 2026, federal agents deployed tear gas on a densely packed crowd of peaceful anti-ICE protesters during a labor union-led rally and march near the ICE facility. The crowd included children, elderly people, and pets who marched from Elizabeth Caruthers Park before being trapped in lingering tear gas plumes. Agents used tear gas again on February 3. The ACLU of Oregon filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of five plaintiffs: Jack Dickinson (known as "the Portland chicken"), Laurie Eckman (84), Richard Eckman, Mason Lake, and Hugo Rios. Laurie Eckman was shot in the head with a crowd control munition without warning; her husband was tear-gassed and had a munition fired at his walker. Dickinson was repeatedly assaulted and bombarded with chemical munitions. Independent journalists Lake and Rios were shot with pepper balls, tear-gassed, had lights pointed at them to interfere with recording, and Lake was sprayed with bear mace. U.S. District Judge Michael Simon issued a temporary restraining order on February 3 pausing tear gas or crowd control munitions use on non-violent protesters and journalists unless targeting a specific imminent threat. Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield filed an amicus brief supporting the lawsuit.

Steven Saari, a Marine Corps veteran, was detained by federal immigration agents at the scene of Alex Pretti's killing in Minneapolis on February 3, 2026. During his six-hour detention at a federal building, agents collected his biometric data, forced a DNA sample, and copied his cell phone without a warrant or authorization. Saari was denied access to an attorney despite repeated requests and was released without charges.

U.S. Army Captain Josie Guilbeau, a 17-year veteran and decorated Intelligence Officer, was arrested for peacefully protesting ICE outside Greg Bovino's hotel. The arrest occurred while she was protesting alongside community members using non-violent methods such as banging pots, blowing whistles, and honking horns.

Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Minneapolis, was shot and killed by a U.S. border patrol officer during an immigration enforcement operation on January 23, 2026. A U.S. citizen with no criminal history, Pretti had legally owned a handgun and concealed carry permit; bystander videos show him holding a phone with no visible firearm. DHS stated Pretti approached officers with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun, though officials did not specify if it was brandished. His family said he was distressed by immigration enforcement actions and had participated in protests.

William Vermie, a 39-year-old Army combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient, was tackled and detained by ICE agents while standing on a public sidewalk in Minneapolis observing agents detain two young men during an operation the government called Operation Metro Surge. He was taken to the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building and held for eight hours without being allowed to contact an attorney or his family, despite repeatedly requesting legal representation and his wife having already secured a lawyer on his behalf. DHS said Vermie was arrested for allegedly assaulting a law enforcement officer. Four attorneys told ABC News they were denied access to clients held at the same facility, with multiple attorneys reporting similar complaints from others arrested in recent Minneapolis ICE operations and alleging violations of Fifth and Sixth Amendment due process and right-to-counsel protections.

Tear gas was deployed into a home during an ICE arrest operation Friday night in the Berclair area of Memphis involving a family, ICE agents, and the Memphis Safe Task Force. Children were exposed to tear gas during the operation, though they were sheltered in a closet.

Mar Navarro, a DJ and founder of the Minneapolis club night Gothess, was detained by ICE agents on January 8, 2026, while visiting an immigrant-owned bakery in Northeast Minneapolis. Navarro was cuffed so tightly during the arrest that their wrists ached and required a splint for weeks afterward. They were transported to the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building but ultimately released. The detention occurred during "Operation Metro Surge," a surge of 3,000 ICE agents deployed to Minnesota in early January 2026.

Anna Brauch, a local artist, was detained by ICE agents on January 8, 2026, in Northeast Minneapolis while standing near her car, which bore the message "trans rights are human rights." She was seized and beaten during the arrest, sustaining tendon injuries from rough handling. Brauch was transported to the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building but was ultimately released. The detention occurred during "Operation Metro Surge," a surge of 3,000 ICE agents deployed to Minnesota in early January 2026.

ICE agents detained Jose Martinez, a U.S. citizen and Coast Guard veteran, while he was sleeping in his cruise ship cabin during a Carnival cruise in the Caribbean. Agents tackled his wife Tamara Verhas and confiscated her phone to prevent recording. The couple was eventually released but forced to delete all photos and video documentation of the incident.

Joey Martinez, a U.S. Coast Guard veteran and U.S. citizen, was mistakenly detained by CBP officers aboard a Carnival Cruise Lines ship in Miami after being identified by name match with someone else who had outstanding warrants. Despite only his name matching and his other identifying information not aligning with the warrant, Martinez was forcefully removed from his stateroom, handcuffed, and held in an immigration cell until he could verify his identity with official documents. He was eventually released without charges, compensation, or an apology, and Carnival Cruise Lines did not inform him of the name issue before the ship's arrival despite allegedly being aware of it.

A Houston man who is a third-generation U.S. citizen says he was stopped by ICE agents on January 1 while driving to work near Veterans Memorial Drive and Beltway 8. The man, David Flores, believes he was racially profiled based on his work truck and was surrounded by eight ICE agents in multiple vehicles. After showing his passport and refusing to provide his Social Security number, the agents left abruptly when Flores began recording the encounter.

U.S. Army veteran Zahid Chaudhry, a green card holder and disabled veteran who has lived in the U.S. for 25 years, was released from ICE detention at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma after more than three months. A federal judge ordered his release following a habeas hearing on December 22, 2025, calling his detention "flat out wrong." Chaudhry had been detained since August 2025 after being taken into custody at a citizenship interview, during which time he was separated from his wife and two young children and lost vision due to untreated thyroid eye disease. The government acknowledged it had cited an incorrect statute but maintains the detention was lawful, and the case continues before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Humberto Martinez was deported by ICE to Mexico while his daughter Jessica Martinez, a U.S. Navy sailor, was deployed to the Middle East. Jessica learned of her father's deportation while already overseas. The family was separated by the two simultaneous government actions, leaving Jessica's sister to manage the household while their father remained in Mexico awaiting return to the United States.

Fredy Arcenio Zavala-Baires, 25, a Salvadoran national who entered the U.S. as a child, was detained at an ICE appointment in November 2025 and deported to El Salvador on November 27, 2025, despite being married to Sgt. Nataly Castro, a seven-year Army National Guard veteran. An immigration judge issued a removal order against him in 2017, which was affirmed by the Board of Immigration Appeals in 2018. As of June 2026, Castro had spent over $3,000 in legal fees attempting to bring her husband back, while ICE officials maintained that Zavala-Baires received full due process and that clear legal pathways exist for military spouses seeking immigration benefits.

An Australian woman and wife of a Navy veteran was arrested by ICE agents during her green card interview on November 18, 2025, in the same enforcement operation as other military spouses. She was detained for eight days before an immigration judge ordered her release on bond on November 26, 2025. She has no criminal history and remains eligible to pursue her green card through her U.S. citizen spouse. Her attorney noted this was the first arrest of this type at green card interviews in over 12 years of practice.

José Barco, a 39-40-year-old decorated Iraq War veteran who received a Purple Heart after suffering traumatic brain injury in combat, was deported in November 2025 despite serving in the U.S. Army since age 4. After his release from prison in January 2025—following 15 years served for a 2008 shooting conviction—ICE detained him immediately. His 2006 citizenship application while stationed at Fort Carson was lost in the system. Venezuela initially ordered him deported there but refused to accept him at the Honduras border, citing documentation concerns. He was eventually deported to Mexico in November 2025, a country he had never visited, where he is now seeking asylum.

George Retes, a disabled American combat veteran, was detained for three days without access to a lawyer or ability to contact family during a July 2025 immigration raid on a Camarillo, California cannabis farm where he worked as a security guard. Agents broke his car window, pepper sprayed him, and tackled him, leaving him with a cut leg and pepper-spray burns; he was released without charges and missed his daughter's third birthday. In February 2026, represented by the Institute for Justice, Retes filed a lawsuit against the federal government over his detention, and he has since testified before Congress about the incident. The same raid resulted in more than 300 arrests, the removal of 14 children, and the death of farmworker Jaime Alanis Garcia, whose family has filed a $47 million wrongful death claim against ICE.

A veteran and U.S. citizen was detained by ICE. During detention, the individual was placed on suicide watch in a cell wearing a hospital dress on a concrete bed with a thin mattress. The cell had a light on continuously and officers were stationed outside with a glass door. A psychiatric nurse conducted one check per day. The individual was held in these conditions from Friday morning to Sunday afternoon when released.