Human Impact Project

Iemad Saifo, a 65-year-old Syrian-born chef who owns Zena's American Mediterranean Cuisine and Catering in Collingswood, New Jersey, was detained by ICE on July 31 at their Mt. Laurel office during what he believed was a routine check-in, despite having a pending immigration case with a December court date. Saifo came to the U.S. with his family on a B1/B2 visa from Syria in 2002, is the primary caregiver for his son with autism, and suffers from several chronic health conditions including a rare neurological condition and kidney disease. His wife and four children are U.S. citizens, and a residency petition filed by his U.S. citizen son had cleared its first approval stage. He was held at Delaney Hall, a privately run detention facility in Newark that has been the site of protests over detainee treatment, prompting his daughter Zena, for whom the restaurant is named, to voice concern over reports of detainee deaths there. His attorneys filed an emergency habeas petition, after which a federal judge barred ICE from transferring him out of state. A petition supporting him gathered more than 12,500 signatures, with support from the Council on American-Islamic Relations and over 150 notarized letters from community members. An immigration judge later granted bond and he was released, with his daughter saying, 'We are so relieved to have him safely back home as the immigration process continues.'

Jesus Verde Hernandez, a Worden man who has lived in Montana for 10 years with his partner of 14 years and their three children, ages 9, 6 and 4, was arrested on July 30 by Customs and Border Patrol without a warrant or probable cause while agents searched for another man they said resembled him. He is also stepfather to his partner's two adult children, and his partner and all five children are U.S. citizens. During his 30-hour transport between Lewistown, Jordan, Malta, Havre and Great Falls, he was given only crackers and water, denied medication for chronic pain, and pressured by federal authorities to self-deport. Chief District Judge Brian Morris ordered his release, ruling the detention violated his constitutional rights and that the government lacked statutory authority to hold him, and his attorneys at Upper Seven Law are pursuing class certification for roughly 17 people similarly detained at the Cascade County Detention Center, with a court order barring authorities from moving any of them out of Montana before an Aug. 18 hearing in Missoula.

Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego, 51, a Mexican citizen who has lived in the U.S. since 1998, was riding as a passenger in a van driven by his boss, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, when an ICE officer fatally shot Salgado Araujo during a traffic stop in Houston's Magnolia Park neighborhood on July 7, 2026. Rojas Pliego has no criminal record and is in a common-law marriage with a U.S. citizen, with whom he has several children and stepchildren. He was detained without an individualized bond hearing at the Montgomery ICE Processing Center in Conroe, and in a sworn statement disputed ICE's account of the shooting, calling it "a lie." U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison ruled that his continued detention violated his due process rights and ordered his release, which occurred on July 29, 2026. Rojas Pliego has a pending U visa application as a crime victim and now wears an ankle monitor while his removal case proceeds.

Alexander Jarquin-Jarquin, a Nicaraguan asylum seeker with a valid work permit and driver's license, was arrested on July 26, 2026, while on his way to work with no stated reason. He entered the U.S. in 2021 through the southern border, was released by ICE under parole, and has since obtained legal work authorization and worked 12-hour days supporting his elderly father in Nicaragua and his wife in the U.S. He has no criminal history. He is now in immigration custody with his case before an immigration judge, and his family is raising funds for legal fees and bond to secure his release and demonstrate community ties.

Yasmin Suarez Reyes, a 45-year-old Venezuelan citizen with dual Spanish citizenship, was arrested by ICE agents at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport on July 24, 2026, while preparing to travel with her fiancé, Texas businessman John Gannon. Suarez Reyes entered the U.S. legally in October 2023 under the Visa Waiver Program and filed for asylum in January 2024 before her initial 90-day stay expired. While her asylum case remained pending, she obtained a work permit and Texas driver's license and had no criminal record. According to Gannon, ICE officers "swarmed" Suarez Reyes without explanation and "wrestled her off into a car." DHS said she was detained for illegal overstay after her lawful admission expired on January 19, 2024, noting that pending asylum applications do not confer legal status. Suarez Reyes was being held at Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, Texas for deportation processing. Gannon told media he regretted voting for Trump, saying agents are "picking up law-abiding citizens" and "destroying families."

An Indian national who arrived on a student visa, married to a U.S. citizen for 6 years, was arrested by ICE and detained at a facility in Tennessee. He was offered the choice to fight deportation in a Louisiana state prison for 6 months with no guarantee of legal status approval, or to self-deport. He chose self-deportation. His wife, a U.S. citizen, suffers from a debilitating medical condition and their child has special needs. With the father's self-deportation, the family decided the mother and child would relocate to India to reunite with him, leaving behind their life in Tennessee. The mother, who has no family support locally and whose husband's family lives overseas, faces the challenge of traveling internationally for the first time with her child to a country where neither speaks the language, while managing her medical condition and her child's special needs.

Eduard Safaryan, an Armenian national who entered the U.S. on a tourist visa in 1999 and overstayed, married his wife in Los Angeles in 2000 and had three U.S. citizen children; his wife later became a U.S. citizen. He has faced a final removal order since 2020, when the 9th Circuit upheld his removability based on a single conviction for a road rage incident on the 101-405 interchange in Sherman Oaks, for which he served five days of a 270-day sentence. On July 8, 2026, he was released from ICE custody on supervision under a prior court order, but when he reported to ICE on July 10, 2026, he was re-detained after the agency obtained travel documents from Armenia and scheduled his removal for July 26, 2026. Safaryan sued federal officials, including Todd Blanche, seeking emergency release, but a federal court denied his request, finding he had not shown a likelihood of success on the merits of his three legal grounds challenging the revocation of his supervision.

An immigrant who is married to a U.S. citizen was detained by ICE agents in New Jersey on July 10, 2026. The person's U.S. citizen spouse contacted immigration attorneys for assistance with the case. The detention occurred shortly after the law firm had warned that spouses of U.S. citizens are being targeted by ICE.

Maisa Lopes Eliaser, a 32-year-old Brazilian national with no criminal record, was detained by ICE on July 8, 2026, during a scheduled green card adjustment-of-status interview in Montgomery, Alabama. She is married to Staff Sergeant Alexis Jaramillo, an active-duty Army soldier of 11 years. Lopes Eliaser legally entered the U.S. on June 18, 2019, with authorization to remain until December 2019, but overstayed her visa. She had previously applied for asylum and later sought permanent residency through marriage; her green card petition had been approved before her detention. Immigration officials indicated she missed a biometrics appointment related to her asylum case, resulting in a removal order from an immigration judge on April 15, 2026. She is currently held at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana. Jaramillo stated he feels "betrayed" by the detention, believing the family was completing the legal process for her permanent residency. The detention has caused panic attacks for Jaramillo and emotional distress for their young stepson. Her case is now before the Board of Immigration Appeals.

Ulises Peña López, a 30-year-old Mexican carpenter and father living in Sunnyvale, California, with pre-existing conditions including a mini-stroke, blood clot, heart condition, and spinal and knee injuries, was surrounded by armed ICE agents outside his home in late February 2025. Agents smashed his truck window, pulled him out at gunpoint, and beat him unconscious in an alleyway while his wife Aby and young daughter watched, according to a federal lawsuit filed by his family with Disability Law United and Pangea Legal Services. He was hospitalized in Mountain View and allegedly shackled to his bed, with nurses passing him written notes to avoid ICE surveillance; his wife said he lost feeling in half his face and parts of his right side. During months in detention at Golden State Annex, California City Detention Facility, and other GEO Group and CoreCivic-run facilities, staff allegedly denied him a cane, hearing aids, medication, and other disability accommodations, and mocked him when he filed grievances. He was deported to Mexico in October 2025, where he says he is living in hiding, while his wife has been diagnosed with PTSD and their daughter has shown developmental regression. The family's lawsuit against DHS, ICE, GEO Group, and CoreCivic alleges civil rights, due process, and disability rights violations.

A Mexican citizen and father who has lived continuously in the United States for approximately thirty years, since his entry around 1996, is married to a U.S. citizen spouse, and together they have a 14-year-old U.S. citizen son who has learning disabilities. He has no criminal history and no final order of removal. On July 1, 2026, he was arrested and detained by ICE and was held without a bond hearing at the Pike County Correctional Facility in Pennsylvania. He filed a habeas corpus petition arguing that his detention under the mandatory detention provision of 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b) was unlawful because that provision applies only to noncitizens actively seeking admission, not longtime residents, who are instead subject to the discretionary detention provision, 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), which entitles them to a bond hearing. On July 30, 2026, Judge Robert D. Mariani of the Middle District of Pennsylvania granted the petition, ordered the government to immediately release him, and permanently enjoined the government from detaining him under § 1225(b) absent a compelling change in circumstances, while requiring notice and a timely individualized bond hearing for any future detention under § 1226(a).

JeanCarlos Fiallos Manzanares, a 31-year-old DACA recipient from Miami, was detained by ICE agents following a traffic stop near his mother's house despite holding valid deferred action status. He was transferred to Otero County Processing Center in New Mexico, approximately 2,000 miles from his family. While detained, USCIS approved his deferred action renewal in January, but ICE did not release him. An immigration judge subsequently ordered his deportation to Honduras, and USCIS rescinded his approved deferred action protections. Fiallos Manzanares filed a lawsuit challenging his detention after a federal judge found merit to his petition, but he was deported after more than a year in custody, separated from his U.S. citizen wife and two young sons.

Jhon Perez Romero, 39, a former Venezuelan intelligence officer who fled after refusing an order during a 2019 crackdown on the opposition, was arrested by ICE in Philadelphia on June 30 when he appeared for what he expected to be a routine check-in. He entered the U.S. seeking asylum in late 2023, settled in York, Pa., worked as a Spark Driver for Walmart, and married U.S. citizen Sandra Quinones, a high school teacher, in 2025. He is now held at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Philipsburg, Pa., and fears he could be tortured or killed if deported to Venezuela, where he has been branded a traitor. His wife said she believed the U.S. was a place where people fleeing persecution could find safety.

Luis Juarez-Trevizo, a Mexican national who has lived in the United States for more than 30 years and is married to a U.S. citizen with four U.S. citizen children, was arrested by ICE at a McDonald's in Fontana, California on June 20, 2026. He had previously been removed to Mexico in 2001 and later reentered without authorization; ICE reinstated his 2001 removal order and provided written notice on Form I-871 the day of his arrest. Juarez-Trevizo filed an emergency application for a temporary restraining order to stop his removal, arguing his arrest was warrantless and his detention violated due process, but a federal court denied the request, finding he had not shown likelihood of success on those claims. On June 26, 2026, he filed a habeas corpus petition against ICE official Todd M. Lyons in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, challenging his continued detention; the case was assigned to Judge Michael Walter Fitzgerald.

A 47-year-old Somali man married to a U.S. citizen was detained at Otay Mesa Detention Center and missed a scheduled hip surgery because of his detention. The case was documented in habeas corpus petitions filed as part of court challenges to detention amid immigration enforcement operations.

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.

Hanne Engan, a 24-year-old Norwegian citizen applying for a green card through her U.S. citizen husband, was arrested by ICE agents on November 17, 2025, during a green card interview at a San Diego facility and held at Otay Mesa Detention Center for eight to nine days. Despite her Type 1 diabetes diagnosis, ICE confiscated her insulin and continuous glucose monitor, misclassified her condition in detention records, and denied her mealtime insulin despite repeated requests, resulting in dangerously elevated blood sugar levels (508 mg/dL), weight loss, infections, and suicidal ideation. She was placed in solitary confinement for five days. A federal judge found no flight risk, ordered her release on a $1,500 bond after nine days, and later terminated her deportation case after ruling ICE lacked jurisdiction to detain her.

Manuel de Jesus Montes-Lazo, an undocumented Honduran immigrant who had lived in Indiana for more than 15 years, was arrested by ICE in April 2026 while heading to wake an employee for the roofing business he owned with his wife, Joanna Garzes Lopez, a U.S. citizen. Despite being married to a U.S. citizen and in the final stages of a marriage-based green card petition, Manuel was detained at Clay County Justice Center and later transferred to a federal facility in South Texas. A 2025 Board of Immigration Appeals decision rendered him ineligible for bond release because he had crossed the border unlawfully. An immigration judge denied his cancellation of removal application—reportedly concluding that Joanna was well educated and could support the children without him—and facing months or years of appeals he could not afford, Manuel waived his appeal and was deported. With Manuel detained, Joanna said she struggled to keep the household and business running simultaneously, warning that the family risked losing their home, cars and business, which also threatened the livelihoods of their employees. Rather than remain in the United States as a single parent, Joanna, a devout Christian who values family unity, made the difficult decision to self-deport to Honduras with their two sons, Macario (6) and Jacob (4). On June 12, 2026, the family flew to Honduras with minimal belongings to reunite with Manuel and live with his family in Yorito. The move required Joanna to close their roofing business, sell their home in the Brookstone neighborhood of Indianapolis and their two cars, and uproot her children from school and friends after over a decade of building their life in the United States. Jacob has experienced bedwetting and nightmares since his father's arrest; Macario has taken on emotional weight beyond his years, feeling responsible for protecting his mother.

Ricky, a longtime U.S. resident who arrived as a young child in 2000 and lost his DACA status, was detained by ICE. He is married to an American citizen, Katya, and they have two young children in East Tennessee. His family is seeking legal assistance for a T Visa application, waiver, work permit, and other relief options to prevent his deportation to Mexico, where they say he faces safety risks.

Miguel Angel Tercero Raudes, a Salvadoran national who had been living and working legally in the United States for over a decade with a 2023 Withholding of Removal court order, was detained at a routine ICE check-in on May 29, 2026. He is married to a U.S. citizen and is the father of two U.S. citizen daughters. The government has indicated plans to remove him to a third country where he has no family or legal status, in apparent violation of his court-ordered withholding of removal protection.