Human Impact Project

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested four people at the Douglas County Courthouse in Omaha on Monday, January 27, 2026, while they were attending scheduled court appearances. Three of those detained faced DUI charges, and one faced charges related to hit-and-run and driving under a suspended license. One detainee had worked out a plea deal and was arrested seven minutes before his hearing was set to start. The judge denied a request to postpone the hearing, issued a warrant for failure to appear, and at least three of the four were transferred to the federal detention center in McCook.

Diana Elizabeth Cartagena Hueso, a 29-year-old Salvadoran asylum seeker detained in New Jersey on January 27, 2026, was transferred five times despite a federal court order blocking transfers. A federal judge ruled her detention illegal and found the government had violated at least 72 court orders since December in similar cases, warning he would require prosecutors to testify under oath if violations continued. The judge noted the government's conduct was intentional misconduct and that Hueso's case was emblematic of the administration's illegal approach to immigration enforcement in the state.

Jose Cruz Santos was unlawfully detained by ICE despite having no prior encounters with immigration authorities. A federal court ordered his release under the same conditions that existed prior to detention (no conditions), but ICE released him with monitoring and reporting requirements. The court voided the ICE order and prohibited any conditions on his release, criticizing the agency for knowingly disregarding the judicial order. Jose Cruz Castro, a worker at Don Patron Mexican Restaurant, was detained by ICE. A U.S. District Court judge ruled that his case will be transferred to the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Elvis Tipan-Echeverria, an Ecuadorian citizen, and his 2-year-old daughter were detained by ICE agents in south Minneapolis on January 23, 2026, after agents pursued their vehicle in a targeted enforcement operation. Agents entered the family's driveway without a warrant and broke the vehicle window while the child was inside before transporting both father and daughter to a federal facility. A federal judge issued an order at 8:11 p.m. requiring the child's release by 9:30 p.m., but ICE placed them on a commercial flight to Texas by 8:30 p.m. The child was returned to Minnesota and reunited with her mother on January 24, while her father remains in custody. A federal court order has barred ICE from removing him from Minnesota during ongoing proceedings.

Elvis Tipan-Echeverria, an Ecuadorian citizen, and his 2-year-old daughter were taken into ICE custody on January 23, 2026, during a vehicle encounter at their home in Minneapolis. Despite a federal court order issued that evening requiring the child's immediate release, both were flown to Texas the same night. The toddler, who has lived in Minneapolis since arriving as a newborn and has a pending asylum application, was returned to her mother on January 24. Her father remains in ICE custody. The detention was part of a broader ICE operation in Minnesota that resulted in at least nine children being detained in January 2026, including a 5-year-old detained on his way home from preschool and several other minors ranging from elementary school age to teenagers. Federal judges ordered the return of several other children and parents to Minnesota after they were transferred to a detention center in Texas.

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.

An Ecuadoran woman seeking asylum was detained at Cumberland County Jail in Portland for five months. In January, ICE transferred her to Massachusetts without court authorization and then to Louisiana via air transport, removing her epilepsy medication despite knowing of her condition. During transfer she was shackled without food or bathroom access, and suffered multiple seizures in Louisiana while receiving no medication for days. U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin found ICE made false and misleading statements to the court, unlawfully detained her without a bond hearing, and deliberately disregarded her medical needs. The judge ordered her released, barred re-arrest, and ordered the government to pay her legal fees of approximately $15,000.

A man was arrested by a masked, armed federal ICE agent inside the Connecticut Superior Court building at 121 Elm Street in New Haven on the morning of January 20, 2026, just before 8:55 a.m., after he fled into the courthouse following a nearby car crash. The Judicial Branch was not notified of the arrest in advance, as required by Connecticut state law, and the arrest also violated court rules established in September 2025 requiring a signed judicial warrant or documentation of non-protected status before detaining someone on courthouse grounds. Connecticut Chief Justice Raheem L. Mullins said in a statement Thursday that the incident violated the court's policy but did not appear to be an intentional violation, describing it as a rapidly evolving situation involving multiple individuals breaching court security due to activity outside the building.

Tomas Orellana, a Great Neck resident, was detained by ICE in early January while attending a mandatory probation hearing at a courthouse for a DWI conviction. His wife Claudia says he was detained inside the courthouse without being shown a warrant, in potential violation of New York's Protect Our Courts Act. Community groups, churches, and residents have rallied to support the family of eight children, raising approximately $28,000 on GoFundMe to help cover legal fees.

ICE removed Jose Serrano-Maldonado, a Maryland father with no criminal record, to El Salvador on January 20, 2026, despite two court orders prohibiting his removal and a clear "do not remove" banner in his file. Federal authorities admitted the mistake during an emergency hearing but did not provide explanation for why the deportation occurred. The judge ordered daily status updates and the government is working to return him to the United States.

ICE agents detained Brayan Morales Bermudez, 26, outside the Clark County Courthouse in Vancouver on Monday during a lunch break in his criminal trial. Morales Bermudez came to the U.S. seeking asylum in 2024 after receiving death threats in Guatemala and was being held at a Tacoma detention facility. His girlfriend stated the detention may have violated Washington state law, which typically prohibits civil arrests by ICE within a mile of courthouses without a judicial warrant.

A 26-year-old woman from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, identified in court records as Glenne Marceline Ouessi Tchissambou, entered the United States on February 15, 2025 and was placed in removal proceedings. She had fled Congo after being raped by police during armed conflict, after being mistaken for a Rwandan national. An immigration judge denied her asylum application but granted her withholding of removal to both Congo and Senegal on December 4, 2025. Despite this protection order, she remained in ICE detention with no apparent effort to remove her to a third country, prompting a habeas corpus petition seeking her release. In mid-January 2026, after about a year in detention, she was deported to Cameroon, a country with no connection to her case.

A stateless man from Angola who had lived in the United States for 30 years was deported to Cameroon in mid-January 2026 despite holding legal asylum protections, removed without notice or due process. His removal was part of a secret December 2025 agreement between the Trump administration and Cameroon's government to accept deportees with no ties to the country. Between January and May 2026, four flights carried 36 people from Angola and nine other countries to Cameroon, most of whom had been granted protection from removal by U.S. immigration courts due to risk of persecution or torture. Two days before the first flight, the U.S. State Department announced a $30 million payment to the UN refugee program in Cameroon.

A nurse from Zimbabwe who had lived in the United States for 15 years and held legal asylum protections was deported to Cameroon in mid-January 2026 without notice. She was held in detention in Yaoundé under poor conditions with inadequate food and no legal documentation.

A 20-year-old student from Ghana with legal asylum protections was deported to Cameroon in mid-January 2026 as part of a secret third-country removal program. She was transferred in handcuffs and shackles and held in detention in Yaoundé without documentation or due process. Her removal was part of an undisclosed U.S.-Cameroon agreement under which 36 people from at least ten countries, many holding U.S. court protections against return to their home countries, were flown to Cameroon on four flights between January and May 2026. The arrangement coincided with a $30 million U.S. payment to the UN refugee program in Cameroon, announced two days before the first flight.

Farah, a 21-year-old gay Moroccan woman granted protection from removal by a U.S. immigration judge in August 2025, was deported by U.S. authorities to Cameroon in January 2026 without due process, then sent to Morocco after refusing to stay there. She had fled Morocco with her partner after her family discovered their relationship and allegedly attempted to kill her, traveling through six countries before reaching the U.S. border to seek asylum. Before her deportation, she spent nearly a year in ICE detention in Arizona and Louisiana, describing harsh conditions including extreme cold, thin blankets and inadequate medical care; her partner, denied both asylum and a protection order, was deported separately. She is now living in hiding in Morocco, fearing her family will track her down again.

Estefany, a Colombian woman with a clean record and a pending immigration court case, was arrested while walking her youngest child to the school bus stop and transferred to El Paso. She had a bacterial infection and required hospitalization before her transfer. A federal judge ordered her release on January 15, 2026, but officers did not free her until two days later. The case exemplified the Justice Department's failure to follow judicial orders during Operation Metro Surge.

A Honduran national was arrested for larceny on January 14, 2026, in West Palm Beach, Florida. ICE issued a detention order the same day. After criminal charges were dismissed on March 12, 2026, he was taken into ICE custody despite being scheduled for release. He has been detained at Golden State Annex in California since March 20, 2026, with a pending asylum case. The court granted his habeas petition, finding he was wrongfully denied a bond hearing and ordered ICE to provide one within 14 days or release him immediately.

A New York City Council employee was detained by ICE during a routine immigration court appointment in Bethpage, Long Island on Monday. DHS identified the employee as Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez from Venezuela, alleging he entered the U.S. on a tourist visa in 2017 that expired and has a criminal history. City officials and Democratic leaders called the detention egregious government overreach, noting the employee had work authorization and passed background checks for his position as a data analyst.

A Salvadoran man who entered the U.S. at age 12 in 2007 and has lived here continuously since was arrested by ICE agents at Long Beach Airport in January 2026 after clearing security and while waiting to board a flight. He is the father of three U.S. citizen children, ages 10, 5, and 3, whom he saw daily and helped care for after school before his detention; most of his extended family, including his mother, brother, and other relatives, live in the United States. He had previously held DACA status, which expired after his renewal applications were denied without explanation, and an in absentia removal order had been entered against him in 2008 when he was 13 and never received notice of the hearing. After his detention, an immigration judge reopened his removal case and rescinded the 2008 order, and he applied for cancellation of removal, which remains pending with a hearing scheduled for September 2026. He has been held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center since his arrest, including a period when he was transferred to Arizona in violation of a court order. After two bond hearings denied him release—one where the burden was misapplied and another where he was found not dangerous but still a flight risk—he filed this habeas petition seeking release rather than a new hearing, and the court granted the petition, ordering his immediate release and further briefing on whether he is entitled to protection from re-detention given his DACA history and prior liberty interest.