Human Impact Project

Johan, a 1-year-old boy from Honduras, was separated from his father after arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border and placed in immigration court deportation proceedings in Phoenix. The immigration judge expressed discomfort questioning the toddler about his understanding of the case. Johan's father was deported to Honduras after being told he would be reunited with his son if he signed a removal order—a promise that was not kept. Johan was granted a voluntary departure order and the government arranged to fly him to Honduras, where both his parents are located.

Harpinder Singh Chauhan, a 56-year-old British entrepreneur and father of two on an E-2 investor visa who had lived in the United States since 2016, was detained by ICE on February 11 despite lawful presence and serious medical conditions including diabetes, pancreatitis, asthma, and heart issues. He was shackled and transported seven hours to Krome North, where he spent nearly four days in overcrowded, freezing processing cells with no beds, showers, or privacy. ICE officers confiscated his insulin and asthma inhaler, which his family had delivered to the facility, and denied him prescribed medications and his dietary regimen. He contracted a respiratory illness amid an uncontained tuberculosis outbreak. At FDC, officers locked him in a cell without a functioning toilet or air conditioning and threatened him when he requested to move. On April 20, after nearly a week without insulin, Chauhan collapsed while standing in a dinner line at BTC and was hospitalized with signs of cardiac distress. His son Aaron could not obtain information from facility staff and discovered his father had been admitted under an alias name, "Hank Campbell." Officers transferred Chauhan back to BTC after three days in the hospital. Throughout detention, when he repeatedly asked about his personal possessions including his passport, staff responded with hostile all-caps messages. An officer mocked his name during roll call; the officer was briefly suspended with pay but returned to duty. In mid-May, facility staff informed Chauhan that his passport had been lost, further delaying his deportation. He was deported to the United Kingdom in June.

The Trump administration has flown approximately 100 immigrant detainees to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base since February 4, 2025, claiming they are dangerous criminals including gang members. ProPublica and The Texas Tribune identified nearly a dozen Venezuelan immigrants transferred there, and records show at least three had no criminal history except unauthorized entry, or minor charges incurred while detained. The government has refused to release detainees' names or crime details and denied families and attorneys access to the detainees, prompting an ACLU lawsuit over constitutional rights to legal representation. The Department of Homeland Security and Defense Department are now rushing to build multiple tent facilities at Guantanamo to house thousands of migrants, with internal confusion over which agency is in charge and what will happen once people arrive.

Franco Jose Caraballo Tiapa, a 26-year-old barber from Venezuela, migrated to the United States in 2023 with his wife seeking asylum due to political persecution and had no criminal history. He presented himself to ICE for a routine check-in in early February 2025 and was detained without being informed of the reason, though he reported being questioned about his tattoos. Without notifying his attorneys or family, he was deported to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison under a Trump executive order allowing ICE to send noncitizens to third countries willing to accept them. His family learned of his deportation only after seeing videos of his arrival on social media, having expected him to be sent to Venezuela instead. His attorneys provided documentation proving his clean background and pending asylum claim.

Andrea, a 31-year-old woman from Argentina with a Green Card who has lived in the United States since age three, was arrested in February 2025 after calling police during a domestic dispute with her partner. A judge approved her release on $1,000 signature bond, which her family paid, but ICE issued a detainer and transferred her to Krome North. She was shackled on a multi-stop bus journey and spent a night on the bus in shackles when Krome was closed. At Krome, a male-only facility, she was confined in a small visitation room with up to 30 women with no beds, showers, or privacy for the toilet. She was denied medical care and later transferred across the country to Houston Processing Center for two months, where officers repeatedly failed to inform her of court dates and cut off contact with lawyers and family for 48 hours. Andrea was postpartum, having given birth three months before detention and breastfeeding until arrest; her mother relocated to Florida to care for her children. She was released in late April after authorities retrieved documentation of an expunged cannabis conviction.

Bayartulga Avirmed, a deaf Mongolian who fled to the U.S. after surviving a disability-related assault that left him with a traumatic brain injury, was detained at Otay Mesa Detention Center since February and denied a qualified Mongolian Sign Language interpreter, with ICE at times relying on Google Translate. U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw issued a preliminary injunction in July requiring an MSL interpreter, redone evaluations, a rescheduled competency hearing, and his sister's presence at proceedings. Avirmed was released from custody shortly after the ruling and is now living with his sister, a U.S. citizen, in Virginia, though his immigration case remains open.

Lázaro Romero León, a 59-year-old Cuban who lived in the United States for over 30 years, was deported to Mexico by ICE in February 2025 despite a federal judge's order prohibiting his removal. As of May 2026, he remains stranded in Tapachula, Chiapas, homeless and without resources after multiple failed attempts to return him. A federal judge has threatened sanctions against the government, while a diplomatic gap between the U.S. and Mexico regarding wrongful deportations continues to complicate his case.

Flora, a Venezuelan trafficking survivor with an active asylum claim and pending T visa application, was detained by ICE on January 30, 2025, at a routine check-in appointment after reporting her alleged trafficker to federal authorities. She was transported 1,200 miles to a detention center in Louisiana and separated from her 4-year-old son and 18-month-old daughter for two months. Flora had fled her alleged abuser in early 2025 with help from a local nonprofit and was in the process of obtaining a T visa for trafficking survivors when ICE detained her. She was released on April 2, 2025, hours before a court hearing on her habeas corpus petition, but the detention caused significant retraumatization to her and her children.

ICE agents raided Ocean Seafood Depot at Adams and Delancey streets in Newark, New Jersey, on January 23, 2025, detaining both undocumented workers and U.S. citizens. The business owner said about a dozen agents entered without a warrant or court order around 11 a.m., demanded employee identification, and took three people into custody. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said one detainee was a U.S. military veteran whose military documentation was questioned by agents, and he denounced the raid as a violation of Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure. Rep. LaMonica McIver called for answers from the Department of Homeland Security about how the agency detained citizens and a veteran without a warrant. ICE confirmed the operation occurred and acknowledged U.S. citizens may have been detained during the enforcement action.

Luis Fernando Chulca Chiluisa, Maria Velasco Hurtado, and their two children were detained by ICE agents on January 22, 2025. Velasco was detained on her way to work; Chiluisa and the children were detained at their home afterward. All four had active asylum applications and no known criminal records. A habeas petition was filed the same morning, and a judge ordered the government to show cause for detention by January 26. Despite a court order keeping the family in Minnesota, they were initially sent to Texas. Following a contempt motion filed by their attorneys, the family was returned to Minnesota.

Marlon Parris, 45, an Iraq War veteran who came to the U.S. from Trinidad and Tobago in 1997 as a child brought by his father, a naturalized U.S. citizen, has been held at Florence Correctional Center since his January 22 ICE detention, two days after President Trump's inauguration. He had held a green card for nearly 30 years, renewed in 2007 and 2017, and received a no-interest letter from ICE in 2016 stating he would not be deported after serving time for a drug-related conviction; in 2023, U.S. Customs revoked his green card upon his return from a vacation abroad with his wife, Tanisha Hartwell-Parris. On May 9, Judge Frank Travieso of Florence Immigration Court said he was sympathetic to Parris's case but ruled the government had presented sufficient evidence to proceed with deportation; his attorney, Douglas Kouffie, has filed motions challenging that evidence and raised an equitable estoppel argument.

Doris Flores, a Honduran immigrant who entered the U.S. in 2023 and applied for asylum after being threatened in Honduras, was arrested by Polk County Sheriff's deputies in late January 2025 after they responded to a school threat report involving her 8-year-old daughter Briana. During the investigation, deputies discovered Flores and her fiancé had deportation orders and contacted ICE. Flores was detained, and her 4-month-old baby Briany was placed in the care of her pastor and his wife to avoid foster care. Flores had a deportation order issued in May 2025 for a missed asylum hearing that she said was due to computer issues.

U.S. Border Patrol agents conducted raids around Bakersfield in Kern County in January 2025, stopping and arresting 78 people, predominantly Latinos and farmworkers, often without reasonable suspicion. Video circulated showing agents slashing the tires of a U.S. citizen gardener on his way to work during the operation. In April 2025, U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston issued an 88-page order finding the agents likely violated constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure, and ordered them to halt such stops and warrantless arrests in California's Eastern District, but Border Patrol continued operations in Los Angeles and Sacramento despite the court order.

A 36-year-old father, Adrián Espinoza De La Cruz, and his 9-year-old daughter were detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Aug. 11 after leaving a United Way of Yellowstone County backpack giveaway in Billings, Montana, and were driven 250 miles to a detention facility in Havre. CBP said agents pulled over a driver at 10:15 a.m. near Overland Avenue; a federal judge later ordered the pair released, finding agents lacked probable cause or a warrant. United Way CEO Andrew Konkel said agents appeared to be staying at a nearby hotel and may have targeted families leaving the event, raising concerns about whether the event was being monitored for enforcement purposes. A second family was detained the next day after attending the same event and was later found to have legal status and released. Following the detentions, United Way warned more than 100 area nonprofits and began developing training on responding to immigration enforcement near community events.