Human Impact Project

Gisèle, who fled fighting between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, was deported by US authorities to Cameroon under a third-country removal agreement. Suffering from a thyroid condition, she was never able to obtain her medication at the Yaoundé migrant shelter despite repeated requests, and after five months there she abandoned plans to seek asylum in Cameroon and agreed to be sent back to the DR Congo out of concern her health would worsen.

José Serrano Salgado, Ecuador's former interior minister under President Rafael Correa, fled to Miami in 2021 and later applied for asylum. ICE arrested him outside his Miami home in mid-2025, and he spent nearly a year detained at Krome North Service Processing Center, where a source said he lost about 25 pounds and his prediabetes worsened into diabetes. In May 2026, an immigration judge denied his asylum claim but granted deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture after he showed he faced torture if returned to Ecuador. Three Trump-appointed appeals judges reversed that protection within a day of reviewing the case, and Serrano was deported to Ecuador within hours, sent on a private jet in late August 2026. He now faces murder charges over the 2023 assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio and is held in a maximum-security prison, where a source said he has been abused, including having his fingernails smashed, being denied food, and being told footage of him stripped naked would be shared with Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, a political rival of his former boss.

Roberto Mosquera del Peral, a 59-year-old Cuban immigrant who arrived in the U.S. as a child during the 1980 Mariel boatlift and worked as a plumber while raising four daughters, was detained by ICE at a routine immigration appointment and held at the Krome detention center in Florida. He was later flown from Texas and deported without his consent to Eswatini in southern Africa under the Trump administration's third-country deportation program, since Cuba has refused to accept his return for nearly three decades. He has been held in a maximum-security cell at Matsapha Correctional Complex without being charged with any offense or given access to legal counsel. His lawyer said he staged a 30-day hunger strike, at one point raising serious health concerns, to win small concessions such as wearing his own clothes and having a cellphone to speak with family. Civic groups in Eswatini have filed court cases challenging the legality of detaining him and other deportees without charge.

Leonardo Sánchez, a Cuban migrant with a large abdominal hernia and a pending operation, was deported to Equatorial Guinea and is being held at the Hotel Bamy in Malabo. His mother, Caridad, said from Miami that she has not heard from him in a week because authorities took away detainees' phones to prevent them from speaking with the press. "What they're doing is criminal; the treatment is unfair," she said.

Demonstrators have repeatedly clashed with federal agents outside the ICE detention facility in Broadview, Illinois, over several consecutive weeks, protesting detention conditions and showing support for detainees. On September 19, 2025, protesters blocking the facility's driveway were pepper-sprayed, including directly in the face, and an ICE vehicle struck at least one protester who sustained minor injuries; a witnessing attorney described agents as pushing protesters in an 'aggressive and violent manner.' On September 26, agents used pepper balls, tear gas, and baton rounds against more than 100 protesters, taking 11 into custody, with five later facing federal charges. On October 4, agents again deployed tear gas, pepper balls, and other chemical munitions against protesters, journalists, and legal observers, with chemical agents also affecting nearby residents; congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh and Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss were arrested. Broadview's mayor sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security citing dangers to residents from chemical agents and blocked emergency access, while lawsuits were filed alleging excessive force and First Amendment violations.

Raúl Suárez Herrero, a 59-year-old Cuban man who moved to the U.S. at age 12 and lived there for nearly five decades, was detained by ICE during a routine annual check-in in July 2025. He was held at the 'Alligator Alcatraz' detention facility in the Florida Everglades, where he says guards locked him in a metal cage roughly the size of a phone booth for more than 15 hours after he prayed aloud for a fellow detainee having a seizure. Suárez said he was kicked hard enough to bruise his leg, denied food and medical care, and left unable to lie down while fearing snakes and mosquitoes entering the cage, an experience he described as leaving him psychologically 'shattered.' A former truck driver who built a business with his brother, a U.S. citizen who died of COVID in 2021, Suárez was deported to Mexico in February 2026 after a federal judge's deadline for his release or removal passed. A DHS inspector general report later confirmed the facility used such small cages, calling the practice 'highly unconventional,' though DHS disputes claims that conditions were inhumane.

Jefferson, a Venezuelan asylum seeker and father of two, has spent months detained at the Don Hutto detention center in Texas, separated from his wife and children. Speaking with his wife by video call, he described the facility's living conditions and lack of access to healthcare. A local pastor who meets weekly with families of detainees said roughly one in four families in her congregation has had a loved one arrested and deported.

An Iraqi man showing early signs of dementia was arrested by ICE agents in his front yard after living in the United States for more than 30 years. An immigration judge had ruled he would likely face torture if returned to Iraq, but he was nonetheless held in an Arizona detention facility while officials searched for another country willing to accept him. He was among more than 120 immigrants identified in Arizona who remained detained despite winning protection from removal to their home countries.

Juan Gerardo Alatorre Martinez, 46, a Mexican national who has lived in the U.S. for more than 25 years, was detained by ICE agents as he arrived for his shift at a gas station in Conway, Washington. Neighbors and coworkers described him as a beloved figure in town, sometimes calling him the 'unofficial mayor,' noting he paid taxes, kept his immigration paperwork in order, and had spent years helping others in the community. Martinez had been pursuing lawful permanent residency through a petition filed decades ago by his U.S. citizen brother and says he does not want to self-deport. His attorney said the original ICE report indicated agents were searching for someone connected to a car Martinez was driving, though DHS said the arrest was part of targeted enforcement citing civil violations including driving without a license. While held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Martinez has described unsanitary conditions, medical neglect, and witnessing another detainee injure himself, as community members have raised over $20,000 for his legal defense.

Iryna Gorb, a 38-year-old Ukrainian photographer and barista who worked at Better Half Cafe in San Francisco's Polk Gulch neighborhood for over 15 years, was arrested by plainclothes ICE agents at San Francisco International Airport on July 22, 2026, as she returned from Portland. Video recorded by Richmond City Councilmember Doria Robinson showed agents pinning Gorb to the ground while she screamed for help; witnesses said the agents did not display clear identification. She was transferred to California City Detention Facility in the Mojave Desert, where DHS said she had overstayed a visa from 2010 and alleged she resisted arrest, though she has no criminal record. Her family home in Kharkiv was destroyed in Russian attacks, and friend Andy Eblin described her as 'fiercely loyal, always willing to help friends.' State Sen. Scott Wiener condemned the arrest, noting deportation would send her to a war zone. After seven weeks in detention, Gorb was released and still awaits an immigration court hearing; she thanked fellow detainees and said she plans to share proceeds from her GoFundMe, which raised over $47,000, with other detained women lacking similar resources.

Mamady Camara, 21, fled Guinea after police allegedly beat him during a crackdown on anti-government protesters, leaving him with a lasting scar. He crossed the southern border in 2023, was released to pursue an asylum claim, and built a life in Ypsilanti, Michigan, earning a high school diploma, attending community college, and working as a caregiver for Hal Rothbart, a disabled Navy veteran. In January, ICE agents arrested him when he arrived for a scheduled appointment in Detroit, and he has remained in detention at North Lake Processing Center for nearly nine months despite having no criminal record. An immigration judge denied his release as a flight risk, his asylum claim was later denied, and he is now appealing to the Board of Immigration Appeals while the Rothbart family raises funds for his legal defense.

A man from Pakistan in his early 40s was arrested and initially processed and detained in Baltimore in April 2025 before being transferred to a long-term detention facility in central Pennsylvania, where he stayed nearly three months. Over the following year he was moved 17 more times, three of them back to the same Pennsylvania facility, traveling a total of 11,347 miles before he was conditionally released this summer.

Cece Mokua, a 29-year-old pregnant Kenyan asylum applicant living in Spokane with her husband, Humphrey Oyoo, and their 1-year-old son, was detained by ICE agents while attending what she believed was a scheduled asylum interview with USCIS in Tukwila, WA, after the couple traveled five hours from Spokane. While Oyoo was delayed at a ground-floor metal detector with their child's stroller, Mokua was called upstairs, led into a separate room by an unidentified officer who did not show documents, and taken out a back door; Oyoo waited for hours unaware she had already been transferred to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma. She said she experienced contractions and a migraine in custody, was given only a doctor's note for a bottom bunk, and was released after roughly 36 hours without explanation for either her detention or release. She remains in deportation proceedings with an ankle monitor and a scheduled ICE check-in in Spokane; ICE has since pointed to a 2023 traffic stop in which she was charged with driving under the influence as a basis for the arrest. Mokua came to the U.S. legally as a teenager fleeing female genital mutilation but later fell out of legal status. Supporters, including the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and Defend Migrants Alliance, said ICE has used USCIS appointments as a basis for similar arrests in other cases.

Sergio Ivan Chaparro Ayala, a longtime shift supervisor at Oceanview Diner in Berkeley who lives in Richmond and supports two children, was detained by federal immigration agents at Oakland International Airport on August 28, 2026, while preparing to board a flight to Las Vegas for an anniversary trip with his partner, Estefani Montes. Chaparro, who entered the U.S. on a tourist visa that expired in 2020, has no criminal record and suffers from severe sleep apnea requiring a CPAP machine; he was moved between several detention facilities in California and Washington state, and Montes struggled to get him access to his medical equipment. Restaurant co-owner Will Bishop described him as friendly and well-liked by customers and coworkers. Attorneys from Centro Legal de la Raza filed a habeas corpus petition arguing his detention violated due process, and a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order ordering his immediate release and barring ICE from re-detaining him without a hearing before a neutral decisionmaker. Coworkers and community members raised more than $25,000 through a GoFundMe to cover his legal costs, and a preliminary injunction hearing was scheduled for September 15, 2026.

Laura Rojas Ortiz, a 21-year-old mother, has been detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley for more than 40 days while pregnant with a high-risk pregnancy. She was detained during a mandated ICE check-in in Dallas while applying for a U visa after she and her young son were struck by a stray bullet in their neighborhood, despite regularly attending check-ins while wearing an ankle monitor. Two days before her detention, she had gone to the ER with miscarriage symptoms and was diagnosed with a high-risk obstetric condition; a physician at Dilley later determined she needed to see a specialist, but the facility has not scheduled the consultation. Now approaching her third trimester, she reports persistent abdominal pain and bleeding and says she has not received an ultrasound, blood tests, or an OB-GYN visit. Her mother, Paola, said facility staff moved her to a medical room during a congressional visit and removed her afterward, and that her toddler son, who is lactose intolerant, was given whole milk at the facility. The advocacy group Each Step Home has provided commissary support so she can buy food for her children.

Rodrigo, a lawful permanent resident living with advanced throat cancer and other serious medical conditions, endured what his attorneys describe as substantial medical neglect during nearly a year in ICE custody at the California City Detention Facility. He suffered two strokes while detained, and his throat tumor grew to the size of a lemon without proper treatment. Senior Staff Attorney Victoria Petty filed a habeas petition on his behalf and secured his release, after which Rodrigo began speaking publicly about the medical neglect and dangerous conditions he experienced in ICE custody.

Angie, 26, learned she was pregnant a few weeks after being booked into the Mesa Verde detention center in California. A few weeks later she woke up passing large amounts of fluid, and medical staff at the facility told her she had miscarried and that it was not her fault. She is among at least 18 women ICE recorded as having miscarried in custody during the first nine months of the Trump administration, though the agency says it has no data on miscarriages after October 2025.

Paola Ferreira Dos Santos, a 21-year-old Brazilian woman who crossed into the U.S. in 2021 and worked cleaning construction sites in Massachusetts, was detained by ICE in 2025 after the car she was riding in to work was pursued by agents. Over 15 months she was moved through detention facilities in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Texas and Louisiana before being placed on a 16-hour restrained flight without being told her destination, arriving in Monrovia and being told, 'Welcome to Liberia. You're in Africa.' She was the only woman among a group of Latin American deportees sent under a U.S. agreement allowing Liberia to accept up to 1,200 deportees, and attorneys have told her it is now effectively impossible for her to return to the U.S. Dos Santos described detention conditions as psychological torture, saying detainees, including pregnant women, were denied medical care, and recounted a woman being bound at the hands and ankles after asking about her separated son, saying 'they tied her like she was cattle.' She also described being held for days without beds in a frigid room detainees called 'the freezer.'

Maureen Wanjiru Ngure, a 38-year-old public health nurse from Concord, California, was detained by ICE on August 14 during a routine check-in at the federal immigration office in San Francisco. Ngure came to the U.S. from Kenya in 2006 on a visitor's visa, became a nurse, married, had two children, and volunteered with Contra Costa County's COVID-19 response team, never missing a check-in in nearly two decades. She and her husband, Peter Mang'ara Muchendu, both U.S. citizens raising their children in the Bay Area, had been planning to relocate the family to Canada after she was offered a healthcare job there. Following her detention, she was transferred through facilities in California, Arizona, and Louisiana, at times sleeping on floors and losing her ID, phone, and wallet. She was served a third-country deportation order and ultimately deported to Kenya. "I felt depressed, I felt confused, I was asking the question: why," Ngure said.

Gabriel Johnson III, a 55-year-old pastor from Cary, North Carolina who has lived in the U.S. since he was 15 or 16 and held legal status including a 2004 withholding of removal barring his deportation to Liberia, was detained by ICE at his home on July 15 over a reportedly missed immigration appointment. His daughter Gabri said that during transfers between facilities in North Carolina, Georgia, Atlanta, and Texas, he was repeatedly denied food, water, and his prescribed stroke and blood pressure medications, and was pressured to sign deportation papers before his scheduled hearing. On July 30 he suffered a stroke that paralyzed the left side of his body; he was hospitalized in the Dallas area and shackled to his bed despite nurses' warnings that this increased stroke risk, and his family said they were initially denied contact or updates on his condition. Johnson, a N.C. Central University graduate who has pastored for 20 years and shares four children with his wife of 30 years, had an emergency stay of removal filed on his behalf, and his family filed a complaint with the DHS Office of Inspector General. ICE and CoreCivic denied mistreatment allegations, stating he was monitored and treated after showing stroke-like symptoms; he has since been released from ICE custody and is moving to a 24-hour rehabilitation hospital.