Human Impact Project

Eight migrants from Kenya, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Ethiopia, Angola, and Zimbabwe were deported to Cameroon on February 16, 2026, as part of a secret third-country removal program. They were held in detention in Yaoundé without documentation, due process, or contact with attorneys, and faced conditions including inadequate food and coercion to 'voluntarily' return to their home countries.

Jairo Garcia-Hernandez, a 27-year-old from Guatemala, died on February 16 at Larkin Community Hospital in Miami while in ICE custody. He collapsed unexpectedly and became unresponsive despite life-saving efforts. According to ICE officials, Garcia-Hernandez had a long history of severe medical complications and was in poor health when taken into custody in January 2025 following a 2024 weapons conviction. The exact cause of death remains under investigation.

Ruben Torres Maldonado, a home painter who has lived in the U.S. since 2003, was arrested by ICE agents on October 18, 2025, outside a Home Depot in the Chicago area and detained at the Broadview ICE facility before being transferred to Clay County, Indiana. His arrest occurred shortly after his 16-year-old daughter Ofelia returned home from the hospital, where she was undergoing chemotherapy and radiation for stage 4 Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare and aggressive cancer. Her cancer treatments were put on hold during his detention. A federal judge ruled that Torres Maldonado's detention violated his due process rights. An immigration judge set his bond at $2,000, which his family paid, and ruled him conditionally entitled to cancellation of removal based on family hardship, noting he poses no danger to the public and has strong family and community ties. He was released on Thursday, October 30, reuniting him with his family. On February 15, 2026, Ofelia died after her cancer battle. An immigration judge's ruling on her death came three days before, granting Torres Maldonado a pathway to lawful permanent residence.

Greggy Sorio, a 37-year-old man from the Philippines held at Tacoma's Northwest ICE Processing Center, was released following a federal court order that deemed his detention unconstitutionally punitive. While in ICE custody, Sorio developed a serious bone infection that resulted in the amputation of one of his toes and part of his foot, along with other serious health conditions including ulcerative colitis and acute blood loss anemia. U.S. District Judge Tana Lin found that the detention center staff engaged in unreasonable treatment and failed to provide adequate medical care. Sorio still faces a deportation order despite his release from detention.

A man was arrested by ICE at his family home in San Jose on February 14, 2026, following an Immigration Judge's decision ordering his detention without bond. The IJ found by clear and convincing evidence that he was a danger to the community based on recent incidents involving law enforcement in 2025. He challenged his detention claiming violations of his procedural and substantive due process rights, but the court denied his habeas petition.

A teenage girl who entered the United States as a refugee was arrested and detained overnight by ICE agents in a hotel room in Minneapolis. According to her allegations, immigration authorities separated her from her family and forced her to share a room with federal agents during the detention. The incident prompted protests outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, with demonstrators opposing the enforcement action.

Three U.S. citizens—George Retes from California, Aliya Rahman from Minnesota, and Gina Christ from Minnesota—report being detained by ICE and CBP agents during immigration enforcement operations. The incidents involved physical force, pepper spray, flashbangs, and prolonged detention without proper legal procedures, with charges ultimately not filed against any of them.

At least 20 undocumented immigrants arrested in Minnesota during immigration sweeps since December 2025 were transferred to Nebraska county jails, including 19 at Lincoln County Detention Center and at least one at Sarpy County. Additional detainees were held at a federal immigration detention center in McCook. Legal representatives argue that transferring detainees across state lines complicates legal representation, as Minnesota-licensed lawyers cannot practice in Nebraska, and some fear federal immigration officials are forum-shopping for more sympathetic judges. The transfers are part of Operation Metro Surge, which has arrested more than 4,000 people since December.

Djeniffer Ribeiro-Semedo, a 22-year-old from Cape Verde who came to the U.S. in 2015 under her mother's lawful permanent resident status, was detained by ICE agents on February 11 after appearing at Brockton District Court. While roughly 24 weeks pregnant, she was held at the Burlington ICE field office—a facility not designed for long-term detention—where her condition "deteriorated rapidly," and she was hospitalized at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, with a treating doctor determining her detention put her at higher risk of dangerous pregnancy complications. She was released from ICE custody last week after her attorney, Carl Hurvich, filed a habeas petition challenging the legality of her detention.

Yebio Kifle, a 48-year-old intellectually disabled man with congestive heart failure, was detained at California City Detention Facility in Kern County in November 2025 after arrest in Sacramento. His sister reported severe medical neglect, including jaundiced eyes, swollen legs, inability to urinate, and vomiting blood. Medical experts stated he required immediate hospitalization and risked death without urgent care. In February 2026, U.S. District Judge Maxine M. Chesney issued a ruling in response to a class-action lawsuit filed by detainees, ordering ICE to provide constitutionally adequate healthcare, legal representation access, temperature-appropriate clothing, and daily outdoor recreation at the facility. The judge appointed an external monitor to oversee compliance through medical record reviews and on-site inspections.

U.S. District Judge Susan Bazis ordered ICE to provide Carlos Roldan Chang a bond hearing within seven days or release him immediately. Chang, 44, has lived in the U.S. since 2005 and was detained at the McCook facility under ICE's mandatory detention policy. The ACLU of Nebraska filed the civil lawsuit on his behalf after he was denied a bond hearing.

Individuals held at the Whipple Federal Building immigration detention facility reported experiencing poor conditions and lack of basic humanitarian treatment. Detainees described their firsthand experiences of the conditions at the facility. Activists called for the closure of the detention site and demanded ICE's departure from the location.

Staff at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley raided dormitories in February to confiscate and destroy letters and drawings from detained children describing conditions inside the facility, after a ProPublica article detailed the children's accounts. A journalist's outlet, MSW Media, filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the seized materials and later sued ICE in federal court when the agency did not respond. In August, ICE released nine pages of the children's letters and drawings, citing privacy and law enforcement exemptions to withhold the remainder of the records it reviewed. At the time of the raids, many detained children had exceeded the 20-day maximum stay set by the Flores Settlement Agreement.

Children detained at the Dilley family detention center in South Texas have continued to face poor conditions, including inadequate medical care, contaminated food, overcrowded spaces, and limited legal access. The facility, reopened for family detentions under the Trump administration, has held more than 3,500 people, including over 1,700 children, with about 300 held beyond the legal 20-day limit; documented cases include 5-year-old twins held for eight months and a young girl who attempted suicide after a bond denial. In July 2026, pediatrician Dr. Anita Patel, visiting with a congressional delegation led by Rep. Joaquin Castro, said at least seven children have died in ICE custody or shortly after release and described conditions as child abuse and human rights violations, citing cases such as 5-year-old Alexander, found with a cord around his neck, and 9-year-old Kinec, whose autism worsened under confinement. As of the visit, 539 people were held at Dilley, including 84 families, 112 children and four pregnant women, up from 96 children in May.

Amalia, an 18-month-old girl, was detained with her parents, Kheilin Valero Marcano and Stiven Arrieta Prieto, Venezuelans who fled persecution for opposing President Nicolás Maduro, after being arrested in El Paso and transferred to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center. Her parents repeatedly sought help at the facility's clinic as she grew feverish and lethargic, receiving only Tylenol, until she lost consciousness and was hospitalized at a children's hospital in San Antonio for over a week with respiratory failure, COVID-19, an ear infection, pneumonia, bronchitis, and RSV. After her January 28 discharge, she was returned to Dilley, where her parents say she was denied access to prescribed medication despite medical warnings that she remained vulnerable to reinfection. Following a federal lawsuit and emergency habeas corpus petition, the family was released from detention on February 7, 2026, after roughly two months in custody.

Amalia, an 18-month-old Venezuelan girl, arrived in the United States with her parents Kheilin Valero Marcano and Stiven Arrieta Prieto through the CBP One appointment system and was living in El Paso while awaiting asylum processing. On December 11, 2024, the family was arrested during a routine ICE check-in despite complying with all immigration requirements and checking in regularly. They were detained at Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas. In early January 2026, Amalia developed a high fever, vomiting, and breathing difficulties. Despite her parents' repeated requests for medical care at the facility's clinic, staff provided only Tylenol. On January 18, her oxygen levels dropped critically to the 50s, and she was rushed to Methodist Children's Hospital in San Antonio, where she was hospitalized for 10 days and diagnosed with pneumonia, COVID-19, RSV, and viral bronchitis. After discharge on January 28, doctors prescribed nebulized breathing treatments and nutritional supplements. ICE returned Amalia to Dilley detention instead of her prior community, where staff confiscated her nebulizer, albuterol, and nutritional supplements. Her parents were forced to wait daily in an outdoor 'pill line' and were frequently turned away without her prescribed medications. After her attorneys filed an emergency federal habeas corpus petition, the family was released in February 2026. Upon release, they were transported to a shelter in Laredo without her medications, birth certificate, vaccination records, or money for travel. Amalia developed behavioral changes after detention, crying when separated from her mother. Her case is one of more than 500 infants and toddlers under age three detained by ICE since January 2025, according to documentation by MS NOW and The Marshall Project.

Seven emergency habeas corpus petitions were filed in North Dakota federal courts over three months, coinciding with a 75% national increase in ICE detentions over the past year. The petitions challenge a new policy denying bond hearings to many individuals arrested in the interior of the U.S. Two cases resulted in the release of petitioners.

Children detained at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas are experiencing contaminated food, minimal education, inadequate medical care, and severe psychological distress. Since April 2026, approximately 1,800 children have been detained at the facility, with some families remaining for over six months. Court filings and accounts from detained families document children suffering from illness, malnutrition, behavioral regression, nightmares, and trauma, with parents reporting food contamination, denial of medical care for serious conditions, limited schooling, and prison-like conditions including constant surveillance and crowded sleeping quarters.

According to an immigration coalition post, ICE denied asthma inhalers to a 12-year-old child for 9 days while claiming it was pending medical review. The child experienced an asthma attack during lights-out and was found unresponsive on the floor by guards at 6 AM.

Elizabeth Zuna Caisaguano, a 10-year-old fourth-grader at Columbia Heights Public School District near Minneapolis, was detained by ICE agents on January 6, 2026, along with her mother Rosa Elena Caisaguano Cajilema while being driven to her school bus stop. Agents told Elizabeth they would take her to school but instead transported the pair 1,200 miles to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. The family had fled Ecuador and sought asylum in 2020; their application was denied in September 2025, but an appeal remained pending. During their month in detention, Elizabeth developed flu-like symptoms and her mother developed hives, with limited medical care provided, and at least six other children from the same school district were later sent to the same facility as part of a broader operation. After a habeas corpus petition was filed, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery ruled on February 2 that they could not be deported while their case proceeds. Elizabeth and her mother were released on February 3 and returned to Minnesota to reunite with Elizabeth's father, following calls for their release from school officials and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.