Human Impact Project

A San Diego law firm filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court seeking to stop ICE from arresting asylum seekers at immigration court hearings. The lawsuit argues that courthouse arrests violate constitutional rights and due process and impact the immigration court system. The suit was filed on behalf of two asylum seekers arrested at San Diego's immigration court, both of whom had no criminal records and regularly attended their hearings.

Richard Antonio Goitia, a 37-year-old Venezuelan insurance agent and father of two young daughters, was detained by ICE following a traffic stop on September 9 in the Kissimmee area near Orlando, Florida. According to family members, police contacted immigration agents after asking for his documents, and ICE agents arrived within minutes and arrested him. Goitia has lived in the U.S. for about 11 years, has a pending asylum case, holds a valid work permit, and has no criminal record. His family started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for his legal defense.

Maria, 39, who came to El Paso from Ciudad Juárez on a visitor visa fleeing violence targeting her husband, a Mexican doctor now a naturalized U.S. citizen, was detained on Sept. 9, 2025, immediately after an immigration judge ordered her deportation at a hearing. About seven plainclothes, masked agents handcuffed her outside the courtroom and took her to the El Paso Processing Service Center, where she remained detained through Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. She was released Jan. 20, 2026, with an ankle monitor, and said she and her four U.S.-born children underwent family therapy after the ordeal.

Margarita Avila, a 50-year-old Houston mother, has been held in immigrant detention since March 2025 as the Trump administration seeks to deport her to Belize, a country she fled two decades ago due to threats against her family. She requested asylum more than a decade ago, and her case has remained pending since then. Her husband, José Avila, and their young sons, including 12-year-old Isaac and 10-year-old Jeremiah, have struggled with her absence, including during a Mother's Day church service where the boys had no mother to greet. José said, "It's really hard to see everything my wife is going through. It hurts not being able to be with my wife — and seeing my kids sad — because their mother is always around." Margarita is among tens of thousands of immigrants targeted for deportation under the Trump administration's stated goal of deporting 1 million immigrants annually.

Hilda Gloria Yanez-Zavala, who came to the U.S. from El Salvador three years ago and was granted asylum, was detained during an immigration raid at a factory in Cato where she worked legally. She was separated from her two sons and held in detention for a month before deciding to self-deport. Her two sons remained in America.

M., who prefers to use only her first initial, was forcibly separated from her two-year-old U.S.-citizen child during a raid at the Nutrition Bar Confectioners factory. Despite showing agents her work permit, Social Security documentation, and evidence of a pending asylum appeal, she was sent to a detention facility in Texas and then deported to Guatemala. She is now a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the ICE and CBP agents involved in the raid.

Y.A. fled Somalia after being subjected to female genital mutilation and narrowly escaping forced marriage and attempted rape. After entering the U.S. in October 2024, she applied for asylum. On September 4, 2025, an immigration judge pretermitted her applications and ordered her removed to Honduras or Uganda under Asylum Cooperative Agreements. She remains detained with her appeal pending, fearing severe harm in both countries as a Black, Muslim woman.

Maribel Lopez, a Guatemalan mother of three who fled years of abuse in her home country, was detained in early September 2025 when federal agents raided the nutrition-bar factory where she worked in Central New York. Although her pending asylum appeal should have protected her from removal, she was deported to Guatemala within four days of the raid. Her 2-year-old son, Jorge, remained in the U.S. in the care of his two older siblings, who are barely adults themselves. Her case was profiled by The New York Times as part of a growing pattern of rapid deportations that bypass pending legal claims.

A 19-year-old man identified only as ELA was deported to El Salvador this week while detained at a Louisiana immigration facility awaiting a psychological evaluation for his asylum case, according to his attorneys. It was the second time this year he was removed from the U.S. in violation of court orders protecting a class of young asylum seekers who sued in 2019 for the right to have their claims heard while remaining in the country. He had previously been deported earlier this year but was returned to the Louisiana detention center after attorneys confirmed his class membership. A federal judge ordered the government to explain the removal and how it plans to rectify the error, and the Justice Department said it only learned of his removal after being alerted by class attorneys.

Farzana, a 32-year-old Afghan asylum seeker, was deported by ICE to the Central African Republic on August 28 after years in immigration detention, including time held in Louisiana, with ICE forcing her onto a flight alongside roughly 40-50 men. She and her fiancé had entered the U.S. through the southern border in May 2024 seeking asylum via the CBP One app; her fiancé had applied for a Special Immigrant Visa tied to his assistance to the U.S. mission in Afghanistan. Before her removal, her lawyers had filed a habeas corpus petition challenging her detention, which was unsuccessful, followed by an emergency motion for a restraining order the same day she was deported; the government denied that motion three days later. Farzana described being mistreated in detention, saying officers 'kept us like animal[s],' and says she received only three months of resettlement support from the UN and the host government; she has since been diagnosed with plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest form of malaria, and says she feels 'safe only inside my room' while living alone in Bangui without identity papers, work, or family ties.

Daniela Rincon and her parents, Clara Avellaneda and Henry Rincon, were detained by ICE agents at Sky Harbor International Airport upon arriving from Salt Lake City on Aug. 28 following a family trip. The family, originally from Colombia and living in Herriman, Utah, held work permits and were in the process of normalizing their immigration status — Henry Rincon's son had petitioned for his parents' residency, and Daniela was pursuing an asylum claim based on conditions in Colombia. All three are being held at the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona; a judge denied bond for Henry and Daniela but allowed Clara's release, though the family has not raised the $12,500 needed for her bond. Julian Rincon, a naturalized U.S. citizen and the son/brother of the detainees, said none of them has faced criminal charges and described them as hardworking people caught up in enforcement quotas.

Henry Rincón, his wife Clara Avellaneda, and daughter Daniela Rincón, a Colombian family living in Herriman, Utah, were detained by immigration authorities on Aug. 26 after arriving at Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport on a flight from Salt Lake City. The three, who held work permits and were in the process of normalizing their immigration status, are being held at the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona; the Department of Homeland Security says they overstayed their visas. Their son, Julian Rincón, a naturalized U.S. citizen, has been publicly advocating for the family and raising funds through GoFundMe. An immigration judge has denied bond for Henry and Daniela Rincón but approved release for Clara Avellaneda.

Robert Sidhe, a 43-year-old Kenyan physician working as a patient care technician at UW Medical Center, was detained by ICE agents while driving home from the gym in Lynnwood, Washington. While in custody, he suffered a medical crisis with dangerously high blood pressure and stroke-like symptoms and was hospitalized, though imaging showed no stroke had occurred. Sidhe entered the U.S. legally on multiple visas and has a pending asylum application filed in 2023. A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order for his release, citing the risk of a future stroke and noting he serves as the primary caretaker for his fiancée, a disabled U.S. citizen who uses a wheelchair. Colleagues described him as a respected leader in his union, church, and community.

Luis Fernando Hong, a 20-year-old Venezuelan man from Coro, Falcón, was detained by ICE on August 20 in Hallandale Beach, Florida. He arrived in the U.S. in 2016 at age 10 as part of his family's asylum application, which was filed three months after their arrival, and has a pending asylum case along with a valid work permit and no criminal record. Hong works at Wells Fargo as a personal banker, and was intercepted by immigration agents outside a Walmart after going to the gym following his work shift. He is currently held at the Miramar processing center. A family member described him as 'a good young man' who has lived in the country for more than 10 years while following the law and maintaining good behavior.

Marlon Gerardo Sáenz Cruz, 65, known as 'Chino Enoc,' was detained by ICE agents in Los Angeles on August 17, 2025, when he arrived for what he believed was a second interview related to his pending asylum application. He was among 222 political prisoners stripped of their Nicaraguan citizenship and exiled to the United States in February 2023 after breaking with the Ortega-Murillo government, having previously served in the Sandinista guerrilla and State Security before admitting to participating as a paramilitary during the 2018 crackdown. He says he was imprisoned and tortured in Nicaragua for opposing the government. Sáenz suffers from a leg ulcer, glaucoma, and worsening complications from childhood polio that now require him to use a wheelchair, and he is being held at the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center. His attorneys are seeking asylum or protection under the Convention Against Torture, though advocates warn he could still be removed to a third country where he has no ties.

ICE officers arrested a Mayan-language speaking woman from Guatemala in San Francisco immigration court on August 15, 2025. The DHS attorney did not move to dismiss her case and agreed to reschedule her hearing for October. The woman, who spoke only Mam and had difficulty communicating through interpreters, was arrested in the courthouse hallway immediately after her hearing concluded.

Michel Tshimankinda, a pastor at Restoration Church of Maine in South Portland, was released on bond after spending 16 days in ICE custody following his August 13 detention. Tshimankinda, who arrived in 2016 on a tourist visa from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, says he applied for asylum while his visa was still active and has been awaiting a decision. He has returned to lead his church while his asylum case is pending. ICE states he overstayed his visa by nine years, while Tshimankinda maintains his asylum application was filed before the visa expired.

Gagne Diagne, a Senegalese immigrant and DoorDash delivery worker, was arrested by masked federal agents outside his Bronx home on August 14 while his wife and infant were upstairs. He was detained for six days and nearly deported to Senegal before a judge granted his habeas petition and reopened his asylum case, leading to his release. The Amadou Ly Foundation, which supports West African immigrants, helped secure his release through legal advocacy.

Antonia Aguilar Maldonado, a mother of two U.S. citizen children, was released from ICE custody on August 13 following a federal judge's order. She had been detained on July 17 while on her way to work despite having no criminal record and an active asylum application. Aguilar Maldonado came to the U.S. in 2016 as a 17-year-old unaccompanied minor without legal status.

Armelle Bondonga Bradshaw, who came to the United States from the Democratic Republic of Congo at age 9, was detained by ICE during her final green card interview on Aug. 12. She had married U.S. citizen Terrance Bradshaw, whom she met online in 2022, after her family's asylum case was denied, and her marriage-based petition had been approved by USCIS. The couple had held a traditional Congolese engagement ceremony blessed by both families in May 2025 and attended premarital counseling through their church. Officers separated her from her husband and 19-month-old son in the interview lobby, placed her in handcuffs, and she has no criminal history, leaving Terrance to care for their child while Armelle remains detained in an Indiana jail.