Human Impact Project

Associate pastor Ruzana Nehonde, 49, was detained by ICE during a routine check-in at the Burlington field office in November 2025 and transferred to a detention facility in Louisiana facing deportation to Zimbabwe. Despite having no criminal record, an adult son with U.S. citizenship, a pending green card application, and nearly three decades of residence in Massachusetts with a history of ICE compliance, she was taken into custody. Her church community in Stow has rallied to support her and is collecting donations to help cover household expenses.

A Ukrainian immigrant who has been on supervised release since 2001 was re-detained by ICE on December 2, 2025, during a routine check-in. He had been living in Santa Monica with his sister for 25 years without violations after Ukraine refused to accept him as a citizen. The court ordered his immediate release, finding no significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future.

A Mexican citizen who entered the U.S. in 2015 and was released on parole under the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) was re-detained by immigration officials on December 2, 2025, after missing mandatory check-ins. She had voluntarily presented herself at an ISAP appointment when she was taken back into custody. The court ordered her immediate release, finding the re-detention violated due process because she was not provided notice or a hearing before being detained.

Dulce, a Guatemalan mother without legal status in Virginia, had her 8-year-old son placed in federal shelter after he was detained during a traffic stop while visiting family in another state in summer 2024. Although she had previously passed sponsorship requirements and reunited with him within weeks of his initial border crossing, resettlement officials required her to repeat the entire application process. After eight months, she recovered her son in February 2025 following a lawsuit filed by his attorneys. Dulce feared attending an ICE office for an identification interview and avoided her home for days due to fear of deportation.

Elias Perez-Zuazo, a Panamanian national, was detained by ICE in December 2025 during a scheduled check-in appointment at a Chantilly, Virginia office that he had previously attended without incident. Perez-Zuazo entered the U.S. in November 2021, was processed at the southern border, and married his U.S. citizen husband Jonathan Blanco Gallegos in February 2024. They had begun applying for a green card when Perez-Zuazo was taken into custody without warning. A federal judge in the Eastern District of Virginia has issued an order barring ICE from removing him from the judicial district while the court reviews the legality of his detention, which his attorney is challenging via habeas corpus petition.

Elías Pérez-Zuazo, a Panamanian national, was detained by ICE on December 10, 2024, during a scheduled appointment at an ICE office in Chantilly, Virginia, where he had checked in without incident in prior years. He and his husband, U.S. citizen Jonathan Blanco Gallegos, met in 2023 and married in Washington, D.C., on February 27, 2024; the couple had an approved I-130 family petition pending for his green card. ICE claimed a prior deportation order existed from November 2021, but his attorney contested this, questioning the legality of the detention. Pérez-Zuazo was held at Farmville Detention Center in Virginia, and a federal judge in the Eastern District of Virginia barred ICE from removing him from the judicial district while reviewing a habeas corpus petition; Blanco Gallegos has described the toll of the detention, saying his life has been paused and that he has a broken heart.

Noemi, a Guatemalan asylum seeker, witnessed ICE agents smash a window of her family's car and forcibly remove her Mexican national partner from the vehicle while she and their three children (ages 1, 7, and 9) were inside an ICE office for a check-in appointment in December. Her partner was sent to Adelanto ICE Processing Center. The three children subsequently experienced significant emotional and behavioral regression, including depression, sleep disturbances, developmental regression (the 1-year-old returned to crawling), and academic decline.

Noemi, a Guatemalan asylum seeker, was at an ICE check-in appointment when immigration agents smashed the car window and forcibly removed her Mexican national partner, who had lived in the U.S. for nearly 20 years. Officers attempted to separate Noemi from her three young children (ages 1, 7, and 9) but the children's screams prevented separation. Her partner was sent to Adelanto ICE Processing Center. Since the detention, the couple's children have experienced depression, eating disorders, sleep disturbances, regression (including a 1-year-old reverting to crawling), and cognitive decline.

Kevin Isaac Montoya Palacios, a citizen of El Salvador with withholding of removal protection granted in September 2023, was arrested by ICE agents in December 2025 during a routine check-in appointment after meeting with ICE officials for over two years. He filed a habeas petition challenging the legality of his detention, which was granted by U.S. District Judge George Russell. However, the judge denied his request for attorneys' fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act, citing the 4th Circuit's position that habeas claims related to immigration detention are not civil actions. The case has been appealed to the Supreme Court.

Diana Sanchez Ledezma, a Stockton-area DJ known as DJ Reina Azteca with pending asylum and U-visa applications, was detained by ICE officers at a check-in appointment on December 18, 2025, despite being enrolled in the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program and requesting deportation herself. During processing at Otay Mesa Detention Center, she initially refused a medical screening and pregnancy test out of fear, having heard accounts of forced abortions and hysterectomies in detention, and was held unclothed in a cold cell before relenting. Over nearly four months in custody, she witnessed medical emergencies including strokes and fainting, reported inadequate care and poor food, and faced retaliation from guards after filing grievances; she also lost her deactivated DJ account and entire music library. A federal judge ruled in her favor in April 2026, finding ICE lacked authority to detain her, and she was released, though she has struggled to rebuild her music career while awaiting the return of her identification documents.

Carlos, a Venezuelan man with temporary protected status, was detained by ICE at a New Mexico immigration office in December 2025 after being called for what he believed was a reunification meeting with his 14-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter. Federal officials had previously vetted Carlos and told him his custody case was complete. When he arrived at the ICE office, officers attempted to force him to sign documents he did not understand. After refusing to sign, officers stripped his clothes, seized his belongings, and chained him by the neck, waist, and legs. Carlos said he felt "tricked" and that ICE "used my children to grab me." His two children had been in a federal shelter in Texas for nearly a year after crossing the border to reunite with him. According to reporting, the Trump administration's Office of Refugee Resettlement has begun coordinating with ICE to arrest parents and caregivers seeking custody of unaccompanied migrant children, reversing Obama-era restrictions on data sharing between the resettlement office and immigration enforcement.

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.

Alma Bowman, a 59-year-old Macon resident, was detained by ICE on March 26, 2025, during a routine check-in and held at Stewart Detention Center for 243 days until her release in late November 2025. Bowman claims U.S. citizenship as the daughter of an American Navy serviceman and was born in the Philippines. ICE asserted she was in the country illegally. This was her second detention; she had previously been held for three years (2017-2020) at Irwin County Detention Center following criminal convictions deemed deportable offenses. During her detention, Bowman reported inadequate medical care and overcrowded conditions. Her attorney argued the prolonged detainment violated her constitutional rights, and her citizenship status remained legally disputed throughout her custody.

Allan Marrero, originally from the Cayman Islands, has been detained by ICE for 113 days following a marriage-based green card interview at Federal Plaza in New York City on November 24, 2025. His husband Matthew Marrero and advocates including clergy and legal counsel have been working to secure his release.

Matthew Marrero and his husband Allan Dabrio Marrero attended a green card interview at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan on November 24, 2025. Allan was detained by ICE after it was discovered he had missed an immigration court hearing in December 2022 and had a deportation order against him, which neither he nor Matthew knew about. Matthew says they were told Allan could leave the facility but were then handed over to ICE agents, and he had only 30 seconds to say goodbye before they were separated. Allan has since been transferred to Delaney Hall ICE Detention Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Bryan Cuautle Romero, 29, a long-term U.S. resident married to a U.S. citizen with two U.S. citizen children, was detained at West Tennessee Detention Facility in Mason on November 21, 2025, after checking in at an ICE office. ICE invoked a mandatory detention policy for individuals without admission or inspection. Despite a subsequent Sixth Circuit Court ruling against the mandatory detention policy in May 2026, Bryan had already accepted voluntary deportation to Mexico with a final removal date of June 6, 2026. His wife Lauren plans to pursue an I-130 petition to bring him back to the United States.

A British woman was arrested by ICE while holding her 5-month-old baby at her green card interview in San Diego on November 20, 2025. She spent five days in custody before being released with her green card approved on November 25. Multiple immigration attorneys noted that federal law provides exceptions for direct relatives of U.S. citizens undergoing adjustment of status.

Gladys Tentes-Pitiur, an Indigenous Shuar woman from Ecuador, was detained by ICE for 135 days at Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana after being arrested outside a courthouse in New Haven on July 7, 2025. She had fled Ecuador due to persecution and traveled through seven countries with her two young sons, surviving cartel kidnapping in Mexico before arriving in New Haven in November 2023. After an immigration judge granted her asylum on October 17, 2025, citing violence she had fled since age 15, she was released on November 19 and reunited with her sons, ages 6 and 7, outside their Fair Haven school the day before Thanksgiving. Her lawyer, Brenda Wylie, said the case was the only successful asylum grant her office achieved in 2025, and Tentes-Pitiur recalled her younger son initially refusing to believe she would not be taken away again.

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.

A native of India who entered the U.S. without inspection in 2004 was re-detained by ICE at a New York office during a scheduled check-in on November 18, 2025. He had been previously detained, placed in removal proceedings, and released, with an asylum application pending since 2024. The court ordered respondents to provide him with a bond hearing within seven days or release him.