Human Impact Project

On June 27, 2025, a Border Patrol agent initiated a vehicle stop on a white Chevy Tahoe near the Rio Grande. The driver failed to yield and drove the vehicle into the Rio Grande River. The driver was observed struggling in the water but subsequently lost sight. A body was recovered from the river approximately seven miles downstream later that morning and identified as the vehicle driver.

Fernando Eduardo Artese, 63, a dual Italian-Argentinian citizen working as a security camera technician, was stopped during a routine traffic stop on June 25, 2025, while driving with his family in a camper van. Officers discovered an outstanding warrant for failure to appear in court for a driving violation. Artese had been living legally in the US since 2018 under the Visa Waiver Program and was planning to self-deport and relocate to Argentina with his family. He was detained and transferred to the ICE facility known as "Alligator Alcatraz" in the Florida Everglades, where his family reports he has been denied information about his case and access to legal representation.

Katherin Guillen-Acosta was arrested in Durham County on June 24, 2025, for failing to appear in court on two 2022 traffic misdemeanors, and a magistrate set her bond at $1,000 while also beginning a process to refer her to ICE, even though her charges did not require referral under North Carolina's new law. After her bond was posted, ICE took her into custody, and she has described poor conditions at the detention center, including inadequate food and mistreatment. Speaking from the Stewart Detention Center in Georgia, she said, "The criminals are outside, and the innocent are inside." An investigation found Durham County magistrates and judges have repeatedly referred people facing low-level charges to ICE this year when not required to, with at least four such cases resulting in detention. Her brother, Wildin Guillen-Acosta, was previously detained by ICE a decade earlier while a high school student and held at the same facility.

Caroline Dias Goncalves, a 19-year-old University of Utah nursing student from Brazil, was detained by ICE on June 5, 2025, following a traffic stop by a Mesa County Sheriff's deputy on Interstate 70 near Fruita, Colorado. The deputy shared information about her in a group chat used for drug interdiction efforts, which ICE agents then used to target her for immigration enforcement. Goncalves, who immigrated to the U.S. at age 7 and has a pending asylum application, was held at an ICE facility in Aurora, Colorado for 15 days, where she reported receiving poor quality food and confusing schedules, and observed differential treatment based on English proficiency. She was released on bond on June 20, 2025, and became a named plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against ICE leadership.

Ana Cañedo Luna, co-owner of Don Chingonas food truck and Club Elite nightclub in Rock Springs, Wyoming, was detained by ICE on January 9, 2025, following a traffic stop over a license plate registration error, despite holding valid work authorization. She was held four days at the Sweetwater County Detention Center before being transferred to the ICE Denver Contract Detention Facility in Aurora, Colorado, where her case was later moved to the Board of Immigration Appeals in Virginia. Cañedo, who came to the United States at age 10, discovered her previous attorney had requested a voluntary departure without her knowledge or consent, prompting her to switch to local attorneys and file a writ of habeas corpus. After five months and ten days in custody, she was released on June 19 and reunited with her wife, Gloria Guerra. Cañedo said she has continuously pursued U.S. citizenship and described the detention as 'psychological torture' and a 'never-ending nightmare,' adding that she remains fearful of future arrest while continuing to fight her immigration case.

Christian Damian Cerno-Camacho, a 27-year-old identified by family as a U.S. citizen, was violently arrested by federal agents in Boyle Heights after they rammed his white Mercedes sedan with multiple vehicles near Whittier Boulevard and Calzona Street, close to a school. His partner, a toddler, and an infant were inside the car at the time; the baby was seated near where one vehicle struck the car but was not injured. Agents emerged with weapons drawn, fired what appeared to be chemical or tear gas rounds at the vehicle, and forcibly extracted Cerno-Camacho, leaving the woman and children inside the car. The woman and children later fled to a nearby grocery store and were reunited with family about three hours later. Family members said Cerno-Camacho was detained in connection with his participation in recent protests, while the Department of Homeland Security said he was wanted for an alleged assault against a CBP officer and had attempted to flee arrest. LAPD opened an investigation into the incident.

Christian Cerna, a 28-year-old US citizen and carpenter from Paramount, California, was arrested by ICE on June 11, 2025, after participating in an anti-ICE protest near a Home Depot on June 7. Officers used aggressive tactics including ramming his vehicle, detonating flash-bang grenades, and pointing assault rifles at his car while his partner and two young children were inside; court records show the arrest operation involved a drone, four vehicles, and a filming crew. Cerna, whose father was deported when he was 12, was charged with felony assault after border agent Eduardo Mejorado alleged Cerna struck him during the protest, though Cerna and his lawyers say he swung his hand without making contact; he was also struck in the face by pepper balls during the demonstration. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor simple assault in December 2025 and was sentenced in March 2026; a federal judge later criticized the case as a "vindictive effort" to impose extrajudicial punishment, and DHS filmed the arrest and posted footage on social media labeling Cerna a "violent rioter."

On June 11, 2025, ICE agents coordinated with Chatham County police to conduct traffic stops targeting immigrant workers near a mobile home park outside Savannah. Eight immigrant laborers were apprehended during two traffic stops. Body camera footage reveals ICE agents proposing ongoing collaboration with local police, with one agent offering to respond to future stops.

A 50-year-old El Salvador citizen who has lived in the U.S. for approximately 20 years was detained by ICE agents during a traffic stop in North Hills, California on June 3, 2025. ICE agents pulled over his vehicle, asked for documentation, and took him into custody after he could not establish lawful immigration status. The court granted a temporary restraining order requiring his immediate release from the Adelanto ICE Processing Center where he had been held for over 10 months.

Reyes's husband, an undocumented construction worker, was detained last June when Florida Highway Patrol stopped his car over a plastic cover obscuring his license plate. He was charged with unlawful alteration of vehicle registration and driving without a license, then transferred to ICE custody and held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego. Reyes, who had been a stay-at-home mother of two children (ages eight and twelve), began working as a babysitter and selling homemade food to support the family and pay for her husband's legal fees, which totaled approximately $13,000. The family nearly faced eviction before relatives contributed $5,000 in back rent. After about one year in detention, an immigration judge granted her husband bond of approximately $1,500 in July 2026. A non-profit group outside the detention center and El Pueblo Unido provided additional funds for his plane ticket home. He arrived in Sarasota in the middle of the night, and for the first time in a year, reunited with his children. The family continues to fight his deportation case amid mixed emotions of relief and uncertainty.

Alberto Perdomo was detained on June 1, 2025, by immigration agents in Riverside while on his way to work. He is currently held at Adelanto Detention Center. Perdomo, the sole provider for his wife and four young children, was taken into custody following a traffic stop. Multiple plaintiffs, including named detainees and immigrant advocacy organizations, filed a class-action lawsuit against DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and other federal officials challenging the detention and recent enforcement sweeps.

During an ICE checkpoint in Bon Secour, Alabama staffed by ICE agents, Alabama State Troopers, and Baldwin County Sheriffs, a young person's arm was broken during an attempted detention into an unmarked vehicle. According to witnesses, an officer told him to "pop it back in." The person was released without charges but required hospitalization for the arm injury. A trooper's badge number was recorded at the scene.

Rodrigo Sandoval-Baltazar, 23, was pulled over for an improper lane change in New Town, North Dakota on May 14, 2025, and referred to CBP after providing a Mexican passport. He was taken into federal custody based on two prior removals from Texas in 2024, making him subject to federal reentry charges. A magistrate judge ordered his release on May 23, but prosecutors sought a stay, and a district judge granted the government's motion on June 6, ordering him detained pending trial. His case is among 42 criminal immigration cases filed in the District of North Dakota in the first half of 2025, exceeding the total for any full year in the previous five years.

ICE agents surrounded a family's vehicle on Mother's Day, smashed the passenger window, and detained Daniel Flores-Martinez in front of his wife and three children as they drove to church. The agents used unmarked vehicles, some wore vests labeled "police" while others were unmarked, and did not provide a warrant or explain why Flores-Martinez was being arrested. The family filed a complaint seeking $1 million in damages, alleging violations of Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights and that the agents deliberately chose to arrest Flores-Martinez while he was with his family. ICE agents conducted a vehicle stop in Chelsea on Friday morning to detain Jose Ramírez-Perez, who was in the country illegally and facing felony charges. During the stop, agents forcefully detained multiple family members including Hilda Ramírez, a legal permanent resident and mother of a 13-year-old U.S. citizen with autism. Video footage shows agents pressing and dragging Ramírez to the ground, breaking car windows, and temporarily detaining her son, resulting in hospitalization for both mother and child.

A Border Patrol "targeted operation" traced to an April 15 noise complaint at a West Fargo apartment led agents to a van carrying seven people, six of them Mexican nationals ranging in age from 21 to 60, who were arrested for being in the country without authorization; the seventh occupant was a U.S. citizen. The six were turned over to ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations. One of those detained, Ruben Lopez-Rodriguez, has been federally charged with illegal reentry after previous deportation, having been removed from the U.S. at least three times and previously convicted in Texas of illegal entry offenses.

Rodolfo Hernandez-Yanez, 56, was arrested by ICE agents on May 6, 2025, in a rideshare parking lot along Highway 50 near Carson City while driving his children, aged 17 and 18, to school. He had attempted unauthorized entry in 2005, was turned away, and later entered illegally. He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2014 and received a deportation order in 2019; his appeals were denied in March 2023 and his petition for review was dismissed in May 2024. He was processed for deportation to Mexico as part of a broader ICE enforcement operation that arrested 33 people across northern Nevada in two days.

Bryan José Rojas Galofre, a Venezuelan immigrant married to a U.S. citizen, was detained by ICE on January 27, 2025, following a security checkpoint stop at Trump National Doral hotel during a honeymoon trip. Agents discovered an airsoft gun and marijuana grinder in his vehicle, leading to local drug paraphernalia charges and questioning about gang ties based on his tattoos. Despite an immigration judge granting him bond in April 2025, Rojas remained in federal detention until his release on May 6, 2025. His nearly three-month detention resulted in job loss, expiration of his work permit, loss of his home and vehicle, depletion of retirement savings, over $80,000 in debt, and significant family financial hardship. His immigration case remains pending with a hearing scheduled for 2028.

Ximena Arias-Cristobal, a 19-year-old Dalton State Community College student, was arrested on May 5 after a traffic stop for an improper turn on red and driving without a license. Police dashcam footage later revealed the officer had stopped the wrong vehicle—a black pickup truck committed the violation, not Arias-Cristobal's dark gray truck. Though local charges were dropped, she remains in ICE custody at Stewart Detention Center facing deportation proceedings.

José de Jesús Jiménez Delgado, a 51-year-old Venezuelan, was detained by ICE on May 4 while driving to his job in the morning. He arrived in the U.S. in 2018 with a clean record, had a pending asylum case, had previously held TPS, and had valid work authorization and a driver's license. His family said he suffers from a herniated disc, anxiety, and chronic headaches, and his wife, who is currently unemployed, described him as 'a man with values and principles.' His family launched a fundraising campaign to support him.

Kapil Raghu was arrested by Benton police on May 3, 2025, after officers mistook a perfume bottle for an illegal substance during a traffic stop. While in jail awaiting charges, it was discovered his temporary visa had expired, leading to his transfer to an ICE detention facility in Louisiana. After being released after 30 days, Raghu is now in immigration limbo with his work authorization suspended and previous citizenship efforts halted.