Human Impact Project

A Colombian citizen who entered the U.S. in June 2022 to seek asylum was redetained by ICE on December 14, 2025 at a gas station after being convicted of DUI and petty theft. She had been previously released on supervision with GPS monitoring and weekly check-ins while her asylum case was pending. The court ordered that she be provided with a bond hearing within seven days but denied her request for immediate release.

David Cardenas, 54, a Raleigh resident who fled Nicaragua and sought asylum in 2022, was detained by ICE during a routine yearly check-in appointment with USCIS in Charlotte. He suffered a medical emergency shortly after detention and was hospitalized at Atrium Health in Pineville, where ICE and the hospital initially blocked visits from his wife and children for a week. Following advocacy efforts and a press conference by immigrant rights groups and local leaders, ICE announced it would release Cardenas due to his severe health condition, potentially using alternative detention such as an ankle monitor.

A Guatemalan asylum seeker who fled to the U.S. in April 2024 was arrested on December 11, 2025, while attending a scheduled ICE check-in at 630 Sansome Street in San Francisco. She had been released on her own recognizance, complied with all supervision conditions, and had no criminal history. The court granted a temporary restraining order requiring her immediate release, finding her detention likely violated her constitutional due process rights.

Santiago Zamora Perez, a 17-year-old Detroit student at Western International High School, was arrested by ICE on Sunday after Fraser police pulled him over for driving under the speed limit and called federal agents. Zamora and his mother were detained; he is a Venezuelan asylum seeker who entered the U.S. last year. At least four Detroit teens are currently held in ICE detention facilities.

Victor Peralta Perez, a Venezuelan electrician with a pending asylum case and no criminal record, was detained by ICE on December 4, 2025, during a mandatory annual immigration check-in in Dallas. He was held for more than 100 days, transferred among facilities including Bluebonnet, Eden, Fort Bliss, and Florence, where he reported mold, contaminated food and water, and inadequate medical care. His wife, Madison Crider, said neither of them was ever given a clear explanation for his detention, and the couple's U.S.-citizen twin infants have not seen their father in the six months since. He was granted voluntary departure by an immigration judge on February 12, 2026, and left the United States on February 28, 2026 (according to DHS) or March 3, 2026 (according to his wife), citing the detention conditions and uncertain timeline.

An asylum seeker from Ecuador who fled extortion and death threats was detained by ICE on December 3, 2025 during a routine check-in at 630 Sansome Street in San Francisco. Despite having no criminal record and consistently appearing for immigration hearings, ICE alleged she missed a July 23, 2025 check-in that was not visible on her application. The court granted a temporary restraining order requiring her immediate release and prohibiting re-detention without a pre-deprivation hearing.

A Mexican citizen who entered the U.S. in 2015 and was released on parole under the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) was re-detained by immigration officials on December 2, 2025, after missing mandatory check-ins. She had voluntarily presented herself at an ISAP appointment when she was taken back into custody. The court ordered her immediate release, finding the re-detention violated due process because she was not provided notice or a hearing before being detained.

Guan Heng, a 38-year-old Chinese asylum seeker, secretly filmed internment facilities in Xinjiang in 2020 before fleeing China and arriving in the U.S. in 2021, where he applied for asylum, obtained a work permit, and worked as an Uber driver and delivery worker in Queens. In August 2025, ICE agents arrested him at his home near Albany, New York, during an operation targeting his housemates, and he has since been held at Broome County Correctional Facility. DHS initially sought to deport him to Uganda, but dropped that plan in December after his case drew attention from Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi and public advocacy groups. Guan is now appealing to remain in the United States, saying he fears prosecution, imprisonment, or torture if returned to China.

Juan Barilla, 35, a peasant farmer from San Miguelito in Nicaragua's Río San Juan department, spent 29 months imprisoned after being kidnapped by paramilitaries in 2020, and was among 222 political prisoners the Ortega-Murillo government expelled to the United States in February 2023, stripping him of his nationality. He resettled in Louisiana with humanitarian parole and a work permit, but was arrested by local police on April 5, 2025 for driving under the influence; even after a judge ordered his release following his 112-day sentence, he was held because of an ICE appointment, and ICE took him into custody in July 2025. Representing himself without a lawyer through several immigration court hearings on his pending asylum case, he said he was never allowed to present notarized evidence of his imprisonment and torture in Nicaragua. In October 2025, prosecutors sought protection for him under the Convention Against Torture with removal to Honduras rather than asylum, and he was deported there on November 29, 2025, describing being shackled at the hands, feet and waist 'like a criminal.' He is now under temporary UNHCR protection in Honduras and says he fears transnational retaliation from the Nicaraguan regime.

Noemi, a Guatemalan asylum seeker, witnessed ICE agents smash a window of her family's car and forcibly remove her Mexican national partner from the vehicle while she and their three children (ages 1, 7, and 9) were inside an ICE office for a check-in appointment in December. Her partner was sent to Adelanto ICE Processing Center. The three children subsequently experienced significant emotional and behavioral regression, including depression, sleep disturbances, developmental regression (the 1-year-old returned to crawling), and academic decline.

Noemi, a Guatemalan asylum seeker, was at an ICE check-in appointment when immigration agents smashed the car window and forcibly removed her Mexican national partner, who had lived in the U.S. for nearly 20 years. Officers attempted to separate Noemi from her three young children (ages 1, 7, and 9) but the children's screams prevented separation. Her partner was sent to Adelanto ICE Processing Center. Since the detention, the couple's children have experienced depression, eating disorders, sleep disturbances, regression (including a 1-year-old reverting to crawling), and cognitive decline.

Angel, a Nicaraguan political activist and LGBTQ community member who fled Nicaragua in 2019 after nearly being killed by the government, was detained by ICE in late December 2025 while driving to work. He holds official work authorization from USCIS. He is being held in ICE custody and facing removal proceedings while seeking funds for legal representation in a habeas petition to challenge his detention.

Diana Sanchez Ledezma, a Stockton-area DJ known as DJ Reina Azteca with pending asylum and U-visa applications, was detained by ICE officers at a check-in appointment on December 18, 2025, despite being enrolled in the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program and requesting deportation herself. During processing at Otay Mesa Detention Center, she initially refused a medical screening and pregnancy test out of fear, having heard accounts of forced abortions and hysterectomies in detention, and was held unclothed in a cold cell before relenting. Over nearly four months in custody, she witnessed medical emergencies including strokes and fainting, reported inadequate care and poor food, and faced retaliation from guards after filing grievances; she also lost her deactivated DJ account and entire music library. A federal judge ruled in her favor in April 2026, finding ICE lacked authority to detain her, and she was released, though she has struggled to rebuild her music career while awaiting the return of her identification documents.

Carlos, a Venezuelan man with temporary protected status, was detained by ICE at a New Mexico immigration office in December 2025 after being called for what he believed was a reunification meeting with his 14-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter. Federal officials had previously vetted Carlos and told him his custody case was complete. When he arrived at the ICE office, officers attempted to force him to sign documents he did not understand. After refusing to sign, officers stripped his clothes, seized his belongings, and chained him by the neck, waist, and legs. Carlos said he felt "tricked" and that ICE "used my children to grab me." His two children had been in a federal shelter in Texas for nearly a year after crossing the border to reunite with him. According to reporting, the Trump administration's Office of Refugee Resettlement has begun coordinating with ICE to arrest parents and caregivers seeking custody of unaccompanied migrant children, reversing Obama-era restrictions on data sharing between the resettlement office and immigration enforcement.

Joel Andre, a 16-year-old Deering High School student from Congo and a well-known member of Portland's Kennedy Park pickup soccer community, was detained with his family by Customs and Border Protection on November 12, 2025, at the Champlain Port of Entry after they attempted to seek asylum in Canada. The family had entered the U.S. without authorization in 2022, received a deportation order in February 2025, and had their appeal dismissed in October before being transferred to a family detention facility in Dilley, Texas. Attorney Todd Pomerleau secured the release of Joel and two family members after a federal appeals court paused their deportation while the asylum case continues, though his sister remains in detention. Joel returned to Portland and resumed playing in the Kennedy Park soccer league, where friends and teammates had raised money for his family's legal fees, and his school district and congregation mobilized support during his detention.

A 26-year-old St. Paul man is federally charged with assaulting an ICE agent after allegedly ramming his car into the agent's vehicle on Nov. 25 while fleeing an immigration arrest at a St. Paul home. According to a federal affidavit, agents had come to arrest another man living there when he fled in his car, struck the agent's vehicle, then returned to the home and ran inside. He has since pleaded not guilty and was released from jail. The raid drew demonstrators who threw rocks and bricks, and St. Paul police responded with chemical irritants and projectiles, injuring several photojournalists.

Two 16-year-old Venezuelan cousins were detained by ICE agents during a raid on their Detroit home in late November 2025. The teens arrived in the U.S. in 2023 and were formally seeking asylum with valid work permits. Both were students at Western International High School, where a teacher described one cousin as an excellent student eager to learn English. One cousin worked at Chili's. During the raid, agents also detained two of the teens' parents while searching for a different individual. All four family members were transferred to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Texas, hundreds of miles from their support network. Both teens had pending asylum cases scheduled for immigration court. Community members, students, and advocates held a rally at Clark Park calling for their immediate release.

Thi Dua Vang and her family found asylum in the U.S. in 2023 and she applied for her green card, which is awaiting final approval. ICE agents showed up at her doorstep, which Vang believed to be a mistake given her pending legal status.

Mor Ba, a 19-year-old asylum seeker from Senegal, was detained by ICE on the morning before Thanksgiving while entering his car to go to work. Ba, who had no criminal record and was months away from his asylum hearing, was taken to the North Lake Processing Center in northwest Michigan. His aunt, Seydi Sarr, a Detroit-based immigrant rights advocate, learned of his detention when he called her from the ICE office and eventually posted a $10,000 bond for his release in January.

Alejandro Orrego Agudelo, a 27-year-old Colombian asylum seeker, was arrested by Boston police on November 21 after a dispute over a parking space on Falcon Street in East Boston. He was charged with assault and battery on a police officer and released by a judge that same day at East Boston District Court. However, ICE agents arrested him in the courthouse lockup and detained him for four months at Plymouth County jail under the Laken Riley Act. After legal challenges including a habeas corpus petition and dismissal of criminal charges, an immigration judge granted him bond, and he was released.