Human Impact Project

Boanerges Flores and his wife, Alba Matamoro, came to Missouri from Nicaragua three years ago to seek asylum, saying it was unsafe to return because Flores had worked for the Nicaraguan government. The couple attended every scheduled check-in with ICE. During a routine appointment last week, agents detained Flores and placed Matamoro on an ankle monitor. Flores is now in deportation proceedings. The couple works in the Maplewood-Richmond Heights school district, where staff described them as model employees. Their 8-year-old daughter attends school in the same district. Matamoro said their daughter has struggled with the separation, and that explaining the family's potential move has been difficult. Court records show no criminal history for either of them.

Luis, a 25-year-old tile installer from Ecuador, was arrested by ICE agents in the parking lot of Tanger Outlets in Deer Park while sitting in his car. ICE agents ran his out-of-state license plates without his knowledge, identified him as an Ecuadorian citizen, obtained a warrant, and arrested him within 20 minutes without giving him an opportunity to explain that he had a valid work permit and federal status protecting him from deportation. A judge later freed him from custody. Luis's arrest occurred as part of a broader enforcement pattern: Newsday's investigation found ICE has arrested over 2,000 people on Long Island since Trump's second term began, primarily through parking lot surveillance and traffic stops rather than coordinated raids. At least 84 of 400 reviewed cases involved immigrants arrested while using vehicles, despite New York state law barring ICE from accessing DMV records.

Celestin Dima, a gay asylum seeker from Burkina Faso, fled kidnapping, military persecution and police torture after being outed before crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in 2024. An Arizona immigration judge granted him withholding of removal, finding he would likely face persecution if deported home, but ICE held him at the Eloy Detention Center for nearly two years while searching for a third country willing to accept him, considering Ghana, Cameroon and Uganda—all countries where homosexuality is criminalized. While detained, he grew depressed, stopped eating, and was placed in solitary confinement for two weeks. A federal judge ordered his release in June 2026 after granting a joint habeas petition, but ICE redetained him on July 17 during a mandatory check-in at a field office in Lower Manhattan. He was then transferred through detention facilities in New Jersey and near Dallas, fitted with a GPS ankle monitor, and scheduled for deportation without being told in advance where he would be sent.

Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder and Columbia University graduate student of Syrian-Palestinian descent, was arrested by ICE without a warrant at his apartment building on March 8, 2025, following his pro-Palestinian activism and organizing campus protests. The Trump administration pursued deportation based on allegations he concealed prior employment with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees and the British Embassy on his visa application. Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked a rarely used immigration provision claiming his activism threatens U.S. foreign policy. Khalil was held for 104 days at LaSalle Detention Center in Louisiana before a federal judge released him on bail in June 2025. In July 2026, he filed a lawsuit against Trump administration officials and pro-Israel groups, alleging they conspired to target him and others for supporting Palestinian rights, claiming the administration coordinated with surveillance groups Betar and Canary Mission using a document called "Project Esther" as a blueprint.

A Venezuelan national who presented at the El Paso port of entry on March 19, 2024, was released on her own recognizance and enrolled in an Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP). She complied fully with all terms including GPS monitoring and court appearances. On June 29, 2026, she was arrested without warning during a routine ICE check-in appointment and remained detained. The court granted her habeas corpus petition and ordered ICE to provide a bond hearing by July 31, 2026, requiring the government to prove by clear and convincing evidence that detention was justified.

Diana Socha Torres and her 8-year-old son were taken from their home in Wisconsin Dells in late June during the ICE surge. Socha Torres had an active asylum case, was wearing an ICE-issued ankle monitor, and had no criminal charges or convictions in Wisconsin. She and her son were transported to an ICE office in downtown Milwaukee and then transferred to the South Texas Residential Detention Center in Dilley, Texas. The arrest separated the child from their home and disrupted an active legal case.

ICE agents detained 42-year-old Diana Socha Torres and her 8-year-old son at their home in Wisconsin Dells on June 23, 2026. Socha Torres was wearing an ankle monitor as part of her ongoing asylum case when agents arrived, claiming to conduct a monitoring system change but instead taking both into custody. A deportation order had been entered in April 2026 after Socha Torres missed an asylum hearing; she stated she never received notice of the hearing. An attorney had filed an appeal, but ICE reported having no record of it. Mother and son were taken to ICE offices in Milwaukee and subsequently transferred to Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas.

Dame Ka, an Upstate Medical University worker from Senegal who arrived in the U.S. in 2023, was detained by ICE at Syracuse Airport while traveling to Atlanta to watch World Cup games. Ka said plainclothes immigration officers approached him after he picked up his boarding pass, placed him in handcuffs (concealing them with a cloth), and took him to an office. He was released the same day with an ankle monitor. This is the fourth Upstate Medical University worker detained by ICE in the last year, according to union officials.

Friedrich Castillo-Ormeno self-deported to Peru in March 2026 after receiving a final deportation order and was approved for CBP Home incentive payments ($2,600) in April verifying his departure. In June 2026, ICE mistakenly identified him as a suspect in a violent incident in Stafford Township, New Jersey, where an officer was struck by a vehicle during an enforcement operation on Route 72. Federal prosecutors later charged a different man, Eduardo Cruz Garcia, with the assault. Castillo-Ormeno expressed concern that the misidentification could harm his reputation and affect his ability to legally return to the United States, as well as his U.S.-born daughter's documentation.

Dulce Consuelo Diaz Morales, a 22-year-old mother born in Laurel, Maryland, was detained by ICE near her Baltimore home on December 14, 2025, stemming from a 2023 CBP encounter in Arizona where she was recorded claiming Mexican citizenship. Despite her family and attorneys presenting a Maryland birth certificate, hospital birth records, and fingerprints, DHS maintained she was not a citizen and pursued removal proceedings against her. A federal judge blocked her deportation days after her arrest, but she remained in custody for 25 days, transferred five times through facilities in Louisiana, Texas, and New Jersey, spending Christmas away from her young son. She was released on January 7, 2026, with an ankle monitor and reunited with her 5-year-old son. Her attorneys maintained the documentation clearly established her citizenship. On June 17, 2026, DHS dismissed her deportation case after confirming her birth in Maryland, and she obtained a U.S. passport.

Two former Logan City Municipal Justice Court clerks, Jennifer Joma and Lauren Kelsey Morrow, were charged with federal felonies after an April 9, 2026 incident in which they allegedly used their access to court databases to identify noncitizens on the docket, including an ICE enforcement target. Upon learning an ICE officer was present to make an arrest, the women helped multiple people exit the courthouse through a back or maintenance door without being detected. Joma allegedly drove at least three of the individuals away in her personal vehicle. Both faced charges including conspiracy to transport and harbor noncitizens, harboring noncitizens, and obstruction of federal proceedings. In June 2026, they pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Nikolas De Bremaeker, a 38-year-old immigration attorney at Centro Legal de la Raza in Oakland, was pulled aside for enhanced screening by TSA at San Francisco International Airport on June 10, 2026. During a 45-minute search, agents examined his belongings, phones, and laptops. When De Bremaeker asked why, a TSA agent stated it was "not random" and that he was on a "watch list" but provided no further details. De Bremaeker was ultimately allowed to board his flight to Boston. The incident prompted him to cancel a planned trip to Belgium and raised questions about federal surveillance of immigration attorneys.

ICE and South Carolina law enforcement agencies raided Burnstein Von Seelen Precision Casting in Abbeville County on June 3-4, 2026, detaining 48 workers, most from Mexico and Guatemala, on suspected immigration violations. The operation, called Operation Ghost Story, stemmed from a two-year investigation that began in October 2024. Company managers Christopher Douglas Ramey and Sandy Lynn Willis were arrested and indicted for failing to verify employee identities and facilitating employment of undocumented workers using forged documents. Four additional defendants, including Xavier Martinez Adorno of Horry County, were indicted on state charges for manufacturing and selling counterfeit driver's licenses, Social Security cards, and green cards, some using real U.S. citizens' identities. None of the 48 detained workers faced criminal charges, though officials said some had prior ICE interactions or deportation orders. One detainee, eight months pregnant, was released under an ankle monitor and now faces deportation proceedings, while others remained in custody. Officials said further arrests are expected.

M, an uncle and construction worker living in the Atlanta area for nearly twenty years, was detained by ICE in late June after being pulled over in Gainesville for an expired vehicle tag. He was held at Stewart Detention Center and was released on bond a few days before his brother's arrest, but is required to wear an ankle monitor.

Randy Cordova Flores, a 36-year-old Peruvian landscaper and father of two children enrolled in the Allegheny Valley School District, was pulled over by Springdale Borough police for a traffic violation on February 10, 2026, and turned over to ICE agents. He had entered the U.S. without documentation in 2023 and was pursuing an asylum case with valid work authorization; ICE claimed he had missed an immigration hearing, but his family and legal representatives said he had been complying with check-in requirements. He was held at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Clearfield County and later transferred to Northern Regional Correctional Facility in West Virginia, where he was confined to a small cell 23 hours a day. After his family launched a legal challenge, he won release through a habeas corpus petition in June 2026, four months after his detention began, and was freed on bond with an ankle monitor while his case continues.

A Venezuelan maintenance worker at Grandview Resort in Lake Placid was arrested by ICE agents on May 28 when he arrived for work. He has lived in Lake Placid for over two years, holds valid work authorization through a five-year work permit tied to temporary protected status, has never missed an immigration check-in, and has no criminal history. He was one of 14 workers detained during the operation at the resort and was transported 12 hours to Batania Detention Center near Buffalo, where agents restrained detainees and he was held with only water for the journey. Unable to contact his family for three days, he was released on bail after approximately two weeks in detention and now wears an ankle monitor. His wife collapsed upon learning of his arrest. He is pursuing a pending political asylum case and reported experiencing daily fear and trauma, avoiding locations where he was detained.

A Guatemalan mother and her three children were detained by ICE on May 28, 2026, at a Ferndale facility during what they believed was part of the CBP Home self-deportation process, and were deported to Guatemala on May 30. The family had visited a government office in Tukwila on May 27 as part of the voluntary departure process with a scheduled June 19 departure date. According to her attorney, the mother was told through the CBP Home app that she needed to retrieve her passport and have an exit interview at the Ferndale appointment, but ICE staff later indicated the appointment was specifically intended for detention and removal. The family's 14-year-old son, who entered separately with his father, was left behind.

A Mexican man was arrested by Border Patrol agents outside his apartment in Winooski after agents tracked him near his home for months during the summer. The case illustrates Border Patrol's expanded interior enforcement operations in Vermont, going beyond traditional border patrol duties.

Two Guatemalan women were arrested and deported after an ICE agent positioned an unmarked cruiser outside a large apartment building in Colchester where the agency had previously located undocumented seasonal workers. The agent ran checks on out-of-state license plates in the parking lot, eventually leading to their identification and deportation.

A 45-year-old farm worker identified as MJMA was detained along with six others when ICE agents stopped a van without a warrant on October 30, 2025. Officers smashed the van window, used facial recognition technology to attempt identification, and detained MJMA despite her assertion of her right to remain silent and request for legal representation. She had an ongoing asylum case at the time. Federal Judge Mustafa Kasubhai ruled in February 2026 that the arrests were unlawful, citing officer misconduct, inaccurate statements in reports, and improper use of facial recognition technology. The judge noted that MJMA had entered the U.S. with a valid temporary visa, contrary to officers' claims.