Human Impact Project

A Human Rights Watch report released on July 21, 2025, documents severe conditions at three Florida immigration detention facilities—Krome North Service Processing Center, Broward Transitional Center, and Federal Detention Center Miami—between January and June 2025. The report profiles 11 detained immigrants and includes interviews with family members and lawyers. Detainees experienced overcrowding (Krome reached 249% capacity by March), denial of critical medications including insulin and inhalers, forced sleep on cold concrete floors, degrading treatment including forced eating without hands, and excessive force including stun grenade deployment during protests. Substandard medical care is alleged to have been linked to two deaths. The detention population surge followed Trump administration executive orders establishing prolonged detention policies, with overall U.S. immigration detention reaching 56,000 people daily by June 2025, the highest level in U.S. history.

An 82-year-old man from Pennsylvania was deported to Guatemala after being apprehended during a visit to an ICE office to replace his lost green card. He had lived in the U.S. for nearly 40 years and was granted political asylum in 1987. His family initially could not locate him and later learned he was in a hospital in Guatemala. Guatemala has an agreement with the Trump administration to receive deported immigrants of other nationalities.

More than 230 Venezuelan men held in U.S. immigration custody were expelled to El Salvador in March 2025 under the Trump administration's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act and detained for months in the CECOT maximum-security prison, where they allege torture. A proposed class-action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, led by plaintiffs Andry Omar Blanco Bonilla, Wild Yahare Chirinos Romero and Jerce Egbunik Reyes Barrios, accuses aviation companies CSI Aviation and GlobalX of civil rights violations, false imprisonment and negligence for carrying out the flights despite a federal judge's order to halt or return them. The complaint alleges passengers were told they were being returned to Venezuela but instead were taken to El Salvador and held incommunicado for months while subjected to severe abuse. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who also presided over earlier litigation involving the same deportation flights.

A 23-year-old woman who grew up in Cottonwood, Arizona since she was 4 months old, speaks English fluently, and graduated from Mingus Union High School was undocumented and ineligible for DACA after President Trump attempted to end the program during his first term; she worked two jobs to support herself and her family. On July 15, 2025, ICE raided Colt Grill restaurant where she worked, part of a broader raid on four Colt Grill locations in Yavapai County; federal prosecutors have indicted owners Robert and Brenda Clouston and two undocumented employees, accusing them of smuggling workers from Mexico and running a fake cleaning-company scheme to exploit them. During the raid, ICE officers used pepper spray to force workers out of hiding; she was questioned, arrested, and detained for months at multiple facilities including the Florence ICE processing center and Eloy Detention Center, where she reported harsh conditions including overcrowding, extreme cold, and an untreated rash. She was ultimately deported to Mexico, separated from her three U.S. citizen brothers and her family in the United States.

Rami Othmane, a 36-year-old Tunisian man married to Dr. Wafaa Alrashid, chief medical officer at Pasadena's Huntington Hospital, was arrested by ICE agents on July 13 while driving to a grocery store in Pasadena. Alrashid witnessed the arrest over FaceTime and followed his location by car. He was held for 13 days at the downtown L.A. ICE facility despite a settlement requiring detainees be held no more than 12 hours, describing conditions including an open toilet, concrete floor sleeping, no toothbrush, minimal food, and extreme cold while suffering from a brain tumor. Othmane has lived in the U.S. since 2015; his prior deportation order was dismissed in 2020, and he and Alrashid married in March 2025 and filed for a green card. After his transfer to an Arizona detention center and 13 additional days there, he was released on bail with an ankle monitor.

Federal ICE agents raided Glass House Farms facilities in Camarillo and Carpinteria, California on July 10-11, detaining 361 adults and 14 minors. Hundreds of community members and family members of farmworkers gathered to protest, throwing rocks at enforcement vehicles while agents deployed tear gas, smoke bombs and pepper bullets, injuring protesters including at least one city council member. Workers inside the facility, fearing separation from their families, hid in underground water tanks and on rooftops during the raid. A 56-year-old farmworker died after falling 30 feet from a greenhouse roof, and the FBI opened a search for a man reported to have fired a gun at the scene. Judith Ramos, a 22-year-old certified nurse assistant, was sprayed with tear gas when she arrived to support her father, a detained farmworker. Rep. Salud Carbajal was denied entry while attempting congressional oversight, and National Guard troops in military vehicles also responded. Three men—farm worker Santiago, security guard and Iraq veteran George Retes, and professor John Caravello—were arrested during the operation.

NBC6 reviewed dozens of 911 calls made from April through June 2025 from family members and employees at Krome Detention Center requesting medical assistance for detainees. The calls document cases of unresponsive detainees, chest pains, blood coughing, and other serious health conditions where facility staff allegedly did not provide adequate medical response. A recent report found detainees were held beyond the 12-hour limit and some did not receive required medical and mental health screenings upon arrival.

Nicolle Orozco Forero, her husband Juan Sebastian Moreno Acosta, and their two sons were detained at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas in June 2025 after arriving for a routine ICE check-in appointment. The family, who had been living in Seattle for two years, were separated by gender during their three-week detention. Their son Juan David, who had a serious kidney condition requiring medical treatment including a recommended biopsy, was denied adequate medical care by ICE officials. Despite legal efforts and community mobilization including support from U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro, the family was eventually deported.

Immigrants detained at ICE holding rooms at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan have complained of inhumane conditions including cramped quarters, inadequate food, inability to bathe or change clothes, and sleeping on concrete floors. Some detainees reported stays lasting up to 10 days in what were previously temporary processing areas, with allegations of insufficient medical care and limited communication with family and lawyers.

N.M.Z., a 6-year-old Honduran boy with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, was arrested by ICE agents along with his mother and 9-year-old sister outside a Los Angeles immigration courtroom on May 29, 2025, following an asylum hearing. He missed a scheduled medical appointment for worsening leukemia symptoms and was transported with his family to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas, where he developed easy bruising, bone pain, and loss of appetite during roughly a month in custody. Attorneys from Columbia Law School and the Texas Civil Rights Project filed a lawsuit arguing the arrests violated the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. ICE released the family without a court order, transferring them to a South Texas shelter before flying them to Los Angeles on July 2, 2025, where they reunited with relatives. The Department of Homeland Security said the boy had been examined multiple times in custody and denied medical neglect, while attorneys said public pressure contributed to the release; after returning home, the child showed severe trauma symptoms, including hiding from strangers and fear of anyone in uniform.

A 36-year-old Salvadoran mother was detained by ICE agents on July 3 outside her home in Sherman Oaks and hospitalized at Glendale Memorial Hospital after a medical emergency during her arrest. Her family said ICE did not identify themselves or present a warrant, and she said officers twisted her arms, threw her to the ground and mocked her as she vomited. Detention officers have since maintained a presence in the hospital's lobby, prompting a July 7 community press conference attended by elected officials, hospital workers and advocates who called the presence intimidating. State Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, who met with the family and the hospital's CEO, announced she is co-authoring Senate Bill 81, which would require a judicial warrant before immigration officials can access nonpublic areas of medical facilities.

ICE conducted raids on cannabis farms near the California coast in summer 2025, arresting 361 workers and detaining 14 teen minors; more than a dozen US citizen children were left without parents. In one case, a 15-year-old was left alone with his two younger brothers, ages 8 and 9, after their mother was deported to Mexico three days after the raid, while a 10-month-old was left with family friends when her mother was arrested. During the raids, federal agents used riot gear, flash bang grenades, and smoke bombs, and a worker fleeing the facility fell 30 feet from a greenhouse roof and died. Months later, nonprofits report roughly half of those arrested have been deported, many remain in federal custody with only a few released on bond, and federal officials have denied requests for information about the detainees' whereabouts.

Matilde Garduño, who has sold tamales from the same Los Angeles street corner for 13 years, says she was grabbed and restrained by immigration agents while packing up her cart after being warned that federal vehicles were nearby. She says agents held her by the arms and torso as she struggled to breathe, eventually collapsing and losing consciousness on the ground. Garduño, who has diabetes and high blood pressure, was taken to a hospital where she received oxygen and underwent heart surgery the next day to clear blocked arteries. She said the experience left her with lasting emotional trauma, including nightmares and an inability to leave her home in the days that followed.

Johnny Noviello, a 49-year-old Canadian lawful permanent resident who had lived in Florida for nearly four decades, died on June 23, 2025, while in ICE custody at the Federal Detention Center Miami. He was arrested by ICE on May 15 in Daytona Beach following a 2023 drug trafficking conviction and was transferred to the Miami facility on May 19 to await removal proceedings. During his roughly five-week detention, Noviello—who had epilepsy, hypertension, and mental health concerns—reported symptoms including dizziness, convulsions, and abnormal vital signs but did not receive adequate medical monitoring or treatment. He was found unresponsive and pronounced dead after emergency response efforts failed. An autopsy determined he died from acute kidney failure caused by calcium oxalate crystal deposits, which six kidney specialists concluded was preventable and treatable through dialysis had symptoms been addressed. A complaint alleges Bureau of Prisons medical staff failed to properly evaluate, document, or create a treatment plan for him. The FBI is investigating his death.

Juan Carlos Ramirez, a U.S. citizen, was pepper-sprayed, slammed onto vehicle hoods, punched and kneed by armed immigration agents who raided his father's auto body shop in Oxnard on June 16, 2025. Ventura-based attorney Vanessa Valdez, who had publicly criticized Ramirez's arrest, says she was later shot six times with rubber bullets and hit with tear gas while identifying herself as a legal observer during a raid at Glass House Farms, leaving her unable to see and needing to crawl away; she has since incurred hospital costs, lost wages, and ongoing therapy. Ramirez, Valdez and dozens of other U.S. citizens and immigrants are seeking financial compensation through tort claims against the federal government for injuries, trauma, and deaths sustained during recent immigration enforcement operations, with claimants seeking at least $260 million collectively. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said immigration officers receive regular training and are held to a high professional standard, acting to protect themselves and the public when facing danger.

A man was arrested by ICE on June 15, 2025, in Anaheim, California, while entering a store. He has been detained for over 7 months despite being in the process of obtaining residency through USCIS and having no criminal record. He has suffered serious health complications including hospitalization for oxygen deprivation, legal injustices including attorney abandonment, and needs funds for legal representation before his final asylum hearing in June.

Douglas Menjivar, a 50-year-old Salvadoran immigrant and activist who exposed sexual assault in immigration detention, was arrested by ICE in June 2025 during a routine check-in despite being married to a U.S. citizen and having a reopened legal case. After being detained at Montgomery County ICE facility and struggling with mental health issues, Menjivar and his wife decided he would voluntarily depart to Spain rather than face deportation, leaving behind his wife who had lived in the U.S. her entire life.

Cary López Alvarado, a 28-year-old U.S. citizen nine months pregnant, was detained by immigration agents in Hawthorne, California on Sunday. López Alvarado said agents shoved her during the arrest, causing her to lose her balance as she tried to protect her stomach. After her release, she experienced sharp stomach pains and was hospitalized for one day for monitoring. López Alvarado and her cousin Alberto Sandoval, also a U.S. citizen, were doing maintenance work when agents in Border Patrol uniforms arrived in marked CBP vehicles following a white pickup truck carrying two undocumented workers, including her partner Brian Nájera.

Freelance photojournalist Ted Soqui was shot in the back with three rubber bullets in rapid succession by federal officers while covering anti-deportation protests at LA's Federal Building on June 9, 2025. Soqui, who had covered protests throughout his decades-long career, took precautions after being struck with crowd-control munitions the previous day, wearing personal protective equipment and positioning himself 50 to 100 feet from officers and protesters while using a long lens to photograph from afar. The federal officers who shot him were identified as ICE or DHS agents based on department patches visible on their uniforms. The Los Angeles Press Club filed a lawsuit against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem characterizing the shooting as a "misuse of militarized weapons" that could cause significant and serious harm.

Laura, a 32-year-old Colombian woman who entered the U.S. undocumented in February 2022 with her husband Luis and their 13-year-old son Angel, was diagnosed with metastatic gastric cancer after months of avoiding medical care due to fear of ICE detention. Her husband Luis was arrested at their North Miami home and transferred to Pine Prairie ICE Processing Center in Louisiana on June 8. Laura delayed seeking medical treatment out of fear she would be detained without her son, but eventually sought care at an urgent facility near Aventura and was diagnosed with terminal cancer that had spread to her ovaries, lungs, and back. She was hospitalized for a combined 14 days without insurance and has a final deportation order; she plans to return to Colombia with her son.