Human Impact Project

Tania Romero Naranjo, a 24-year-old Cuban from the Isle of Youth, was detained by ICE on June 26 while attending a routine supervision appointment in Portland, Texas. She entered the United States four years ago with an I-220A form, which allows release under conditions while immigration proceedings continue. She is the mother of a three-year-old U.S. citizen child who has been in his father's care since her detention, and had no criminal record, working in a high-risk job applying fireproofing materials at oil refineries. Her family is urging that she not be deported to Cuba; reporting notes that between 400,000 and 500,000 Cubans nationwide face similar legal limbo under I-220A status, and that ICE detentions of Cubans have risen sharply since early 2025.

Eight children from three South Florida families, including a one-year-old, departed Miami International Airport for Guatemala City to reunite with relatives after their parents were deported or chose to leave the country. Three of the children are U.S. citizens. The Guatemalan-Maya Center, which has aided families for over 30 years, coordinated travel logistics, provided chaperones and packed backpacks with toys and snacks for the children's first flight without their parents. The center said it has now flown 45 children to Latin America since the immigration crackdown began, after first stepping in following a February 2025 raid in Palm Beach County.

Arturo, a Guatemalan man who fled extortion and violence, was detained by ICE while returning home from a work shift. He was scheduled for hernia surgery and has Type II diabetes, but is receiving no medical attention in out-of-state detention. His family—wife Maricel and three children—faces financial hardship due to loss of his income.

On May 28, 2026, ICE agents detained more than a dozen employees at Don Patron Mexican Restaurant locations in Weston and Bridgeport, West Virginia, including Erick Cumes and Jose Cruz Castro, with families reporting poor detention conditions. On June 25-26, a federal judge ruled that Cumes's case could remain in West Virginia court, but on July 7 an immigration judge denied his asylum claim and ordered him deported. A subsequent habeas corpus ruling granted him a bond hearing, but bond was denied due to his pending deportation order and flight risk. Cumes, held at Moshannon Valley Detention Center in Pennsylvania since his arrest, waived his right to appeal, and his wife said she plans to join him in Guatemala after deportation.

Antonia Escobar's father was detained by ICE on June 25, 2026, while returning home from work. According to his daughter, he came to the country through legal means and has no criminal record. He was initially held at an ICE detention center in Broward County, Florida, before being transferred to the Otero County Processing Center in New Mexico. His bond request was denied, and the family is appealing the decision. His daughter, who is turning 18, is fundraising to cover legal fees and other costs associated with his case, as her mother stopped working to manage family affairs and the legal proceedings.

Gavilan Sanchez, a Mexican national without legal immigration status and mother of U.S. citizen children, was arrested by ICE agents during the same June 11 operation that led to the detention of her husband, Jesus Acevedo Sanchez, outside a Baltimore school. Her attorney said agents threatened to do to her "what we did to your husband or worse," and ICE initially accused her of punching officers, though a later affidavit described only "minimal physical resistance." A federal judge ordered her release in early July, and since then her daughters have been staying with relatives. On July 23, a separate judge ordered ICE to release Acevedo Sanchez as well, calling the case a "stomach churner" and finding that ICE lacked probable cause and failed to follow due process procedures during the arrest.

Anderson Daniel Salcedo, 22, a construction worker who had lived in the U.S. for three years, was deported to Venezuela on June 24, 2026 via Flight 164. Upon arrival, he was taken to Hotel Santuario La Llanada in La Guaira for processing. Twin earthquakes struck hours later, collapsing the hotel. Salcedo was trapped in the rubble for 40 hours without access to his phone or documents—which had been withheld by authorities—leaving his family unable to locate or contact him during the crisis. He was rescued and admitted to Caracas's university hospital, where both of his legs were amputated due to his injuries.

Julio Irungaray Sr., who lived in Utah for more than 35 years and worked two jobs at a Mexican restaurant and movie theater while supporting his household, was deported to Guadalajara within days of his June 24 detention by ICE. He has since relocated to Durango, where he grew up, reconnected with relatives, joined a local soccer league, and begun searching for work. Supporters raised more than $22,000 through a GoFundMe campaign to help his family, who are now exploring legal options that could allow his return to the United States.

A father and asylum seeker was detained by ICE at MetLife Stadium while attending a FIFA Club World Cup final with his children on July 13, 2025. Local police questioned him about flying a small drone in the parking lot—a civil violation typically resulting in a fine—and asked about his immigration status, leading to his transfer to ICE agents. He spent three months in immigration detention before his asylum claim was denied. He was subsequently deported to his country of origin, which he said he had fled in 2022 due to threats from armed groups. He has since warned immigrant World Cup fans about the risks of attending such events in the United States.

Leonardo Santiago "Santi" Soto Uribe, a 13-year-old 9th grader, was arrested by ICE agents in June along with his father, Benjamin Lerma-Huipio, just outside San Antonio. The boy is being held in a child welfare center in San Antonio while his father is detained at T. Don Hutto Detention Facility in Taylor. Rep. Joaquin Castro reports that ICE initially told the boy he could go home but then reversed the decision, and that the child has not showered and has only been given cookies and juice.

Jose de Jesús Ortiz Ibañez was detained by ICE. He had entered the United States legally on a work visa and had spent years working and building a life in the country. His family is raising funds to cover legal representation costs.

Miguel, 22, was taken into ICE custody while working in Houston. He came to the United States seeking better opportunities and supports himself and his mother. His partner Xiomarah is raising funds for legal representation to fight his detention.

Joseluis (Luis) Ramirez, who moved to the U.S. from Mexico as a teenager and has lived in the country for about two decades, was detained by ICE on Aug. 31 while driving to work in Wapato, Washington, after vehicles blocked him at a stop sign. He has no criminal record and had worked at the same Yakima Valley fruit company for 15 years, serving as the sole provider for his wife, Vanessa Jimenez, and her five children—all U.S. citizens—including a stepson who calls him 'dad.' Days earlier, Jimenez had confronted and filmed ICE agents outside the Yakima County jail and at Yakima Municipal Court, and she believes agents used footage or license plate data to track him down. Agents reportedly urged Ramirez to sign self-deportation papers, which he refused, and his bond request was later denied. The family has filed a habeas corpus petition and started a GoFundMe to cover legal fees and household expenses while caring for two children with developmental delays, including a nonverbal three-year-old and a three-month-old infant, amid financial hardship from lost income.

Angely and Alexka Jerez Medina, 18-year-old twins and Venezuelan asylum seekers, were detained by ICE on June 24 in Buffalo, New York, while working with other Detroit students at an Amazon subcontractor warehouse. The twins are now held in separate detention facilities in Texas and New Mexico. Their teacher at Western International High School, Kristen Schoettle, described them as "great students" who are "very active in their church" and noted that "their family wants to be here, they love this country." Elected officials including U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield have called for their release. Four other Detroit students arrested with them were released; a fifth remains in federal custody.

Abelardo Rincón, 23, spent six years in Georgia, where he worked at a car dealership, married, and was expecting the birth of his daughter before being detained in a U.S. immigration crackdown and deported to Venezuela on Flight 164 on June 24, 2026, with more than 140 other Venezuelans. He called his family in Atlanta from Hotel Santuario La Llanada in La Guaira, a coastal area later heavily damaged by twin earthquakes that killed at least 2,200 people, injured over 10,000, and left a reported 50,000 missing, according to the U.N. Rincón and other passengers from his flight remain unaccounted for, and his family continues searching for information. The Department of Homeland Security said the flight landed safely and that its responsibility ends once a person leaves ICE custody.

Eduardo Jose Alves, an Angolan asylum seeker living in Lewiston, Maine, who entered the U.S. on a valid tourist visa and filed an affirmative asylum application, was detained by ICE agents at his home on June 20, 2026. That same day, a court issued an emergency order staying his transfer out of Maine for 72 hours, but ICE moved him to Plymouth County Correctional Center in Massachusetts within two hours of the order. Attorneys raised questions about whether agents had a valid warrant and whether they improperly pressured his 15-year-old daughter to allow entry into the home. U.S. District Judge Stacey Neumann later found the detention violated the existing court order and that his out-of-state transfer impaired his right to counsel ahead of an imminent bond hearing, and ordered his immediate release from ICE custody. The dispute became a flashpoint between immigration authorities and attorneys challenging the administration's enforcement tactics.

Iker, a 5-year-old child, has been detained by ICE at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas for over 65 days. His mother is also detained at the same facility. According to advocacy posts by Each Step Home, Iker is not eating while in detention. The posts call for complaints to CoreCivic, the private company operating the facility, donations to commissary accounts for detained children, and calls to congressional representatives to support legislation ending ICE detention of children.

Following the September 11 attacks, over 1,000 South Asian and Arab men were arrested in sweeps across New York City and nationwide, primarily for visa overstays. Most were held in detention for months with limited contact with families and faced physical and verbal abuse, particularly at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. A Justice Department Inspector General review found the "hold until cleared" policy meant detainees stayed for months despite no evidence of terrorist connections, with officials questioning the legality of prolonged detentions.

A federal judge ordered the immediate release of seven immigrants who were separated from family members during the Trump administration's 2018 border enforcement crackdown and were later detained again by immigration officials. Two of the seven had already been released without explanation; the remaining five were ordered freed by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw after the ACLU argued their detention violated a 2023 court settlement.

ICE agents conducted enforcement operations in Page County, Virginia on June 12, 2026, detaining 16 people in coordination with local law enforcement. Among those arrested was a 48-year-old woman who had lived in the U.S. for 18 years, was married to a U.S. citizen, and was in the process of obtaining her paperwork. She was detained at her home shortly after attending a church service at the REC Center, with her son present during the arrest. Pastor Audre King witnessed multiple ICE operations throughout Luray that evening and subsequently organized community efforts to educate immigrants about their legal rights.