Human Impact Project

Juan Tablante, a Venezuelan asylum seeker since 2016 and father of Atlanta United FC midfielder Moisés Tablante, was detained by ICE agents during a traffic stop while driving from Orlando, Florida to Atlanta, Georgia. He holds a valid work permit and driver's license and has no criminal record, but remains in immigration detention despite his pending asylum status. His son launched a fundraiser to cover legal fees, bail, and business expenses as the family fights the case.

A young dairy worker was detained by ICE agents at a Hispanic-owned convenience store in King Ferry on Friday morning, marking the third immigrant detained in the area in approximately six weeks. The detentions have affected dairy farm workers in Cayuga County, prompting community members to organize a rally and march on Saturday to protest the increased enforcement actions.

Kevin González, an 18-year-old U.S. citizen with stage 4 colon cancer, pleaded with immigration authorities to release his parents so he could see them before his death. His parents, Mexican nationals Isidoro González Avilés and Norma Anabel Ramírez Amaya, were arrested near Douglas, Arizona on April 14, 2026, after attempting to reenter the U.S. following denied humanitarian and B1/B2 visa requests. They had been previously deported in 2011 and 2024, and were reported chained during court appearances while detained for weeks. A federal judge in Tucson ordered their release on May 8, 2026. They were deported to Mexico that day and traveled to Durango, where they reunited with Kevin on May 8. Kevin died on May 9, 2026, one day after the reunion.

Olivia Andre, a 19-year-old nursing student and asylum seeker from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was apprehended with her family in November 2025 while attempting to seek asylum. While her mother and two younger siblings were released in March 2026 following a court order, Andre remained detained at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas for approximately six months because she is technically an adult without guardianship of her siblings. During her detention, she experienced severe physical and mental health deterioration including weight loss of nearly 20 pounds, depression, insomnia, nightmares, suicidal ideation, headaches, and received no mental health care despite documented PTSD and depression. On May 9, 2026, a federal district court judge in San Antonio ruled that Andre's detention was unlawful because the government failed to establish she posed a danger or flight risk and that continued detention violated her constitutional right to due process. She was released and reunited with her family in Portland, Maine.

Oscar, a 32-year-old Honduran environmental activist who had fled death threats, was arrested at an ICE check-in appointment and moved to a Texas detention facility before being deported to Honduras. His wife Ana and their 7- and 9-year-old children were granted asylum and remained in Maryland. Oscar's lawyer filed a petition for him to rejoin his family, but processing faces dramatic delays. Oscar remains in hiding in Honduras, staying alone in an apartment and avoiding going outside. When he calls his children, he tells them he didn't leave them by choice.

Herminia was held in immigration detention for eight months, separated from her 9-year-old and 16-year-old children. During her absence, the children's mental health deteriorated. Her young daughter had trouble sleeping through the night, and her teenage son considered dropping out of school to work and support his sister.

KO, a 41-year-old Guatemalan mother of three, was arrested at an ICE check-in appointment. When she told the officer that she had a 19-month-old child waiting for her at home, the officer responded that her child and she 'could die for all he cared.'

Marco, 61, had lived in the U.S. for nearly 40 years and owned a contracting business in Maryland before being arrested by ICE at a Home Depot just before Christmas 2025. After three months in detention, an immigration judge denied his request for humanitarian relief and he was deported to El Salvador in March 2026. His 17-year-old son Mark, a U.S. citizen, struggled with depression and falling grades while taking on extra responsibilities to help support his mother, who works at Burger King. Mark graduated high school in Maryland in May 2026, with Marco watching the ceremony via livestream from roughly 2,000 miles away, recalling how his father would have insisted on fixing his tie. The case was cited in a broader investigation finding that about 27,000 children, including 12,000 U.S. citizens, were separated from parents through immigration enforcement during the first seven months of the Trump administration.

Zong Yang, a South St. Paul resident who immigrated to the U.S. legally as a child, was detained by ICE in February 2026 during a scheduled check-in tied to Operation Metro Surge, citing a 1999 felony burglary conviction in Wisconsin. ICE agents blocked his wife's car as she drove to work on Feb. 4, telling her they would arrest him the next morning; she negotiated an extra day so the family could say goodbye. He was deported to Laos in early May, a country he had never lived in and whose language he does not speak, and is now permanently barred from returning to the U.S. Yang is living in Vientiane among other deportees, working low-wage jobs to support himself, while his wife raises their five sons, ages 3 to 17, alone in South St. Paul. The family has relocated and relied on extended relatives to cope with the financial hardship caused by his removal.

Ana Delgado, a Venezuelan woman living in San Antonio with her husband and two young children, was detained by ICE on April 29, 2026 after an agent allegedly impersonated a case manager to lure her outside her home. Agents surrounded her while she held her 4-year-old son Isaiah; her husband arrived carrying their 1-year-old daughter Hannah, who was still breastfeeding and has since refused formula. Delgado had Temporary Protected Status and was pursuing adjustment of status through her U.S. citizen husband's sponsorship after an earlier asylum claim was denied; she had no criminal record and had attended immigration check-ins without issue for years. She was held at Karnes detention center in Texas before being transferred to Eloy detention center in Arizona, where she developed mastitis after being denied breastfeeding access and a breast pump. Delgado was deported to Venezuela, separating her from her children, who her mother-in-law said keep asking about her.

Maria Trinidad Loya Medina, a Mexican national who had lived in Albany, Oregon for over 20 years, was detained by ICE agents on January 10, 2026, while shopping at a sporting goods store during Operation Black Rose. She was the primary caregiver for her husband, who had suffered a stroke, and her children, and had no criminal history. Held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington, she was denied bond on February 4 by an immigration judge despite evidence of strong community ties. One of her children was later diagnosed with depression following her detention. On May 7, Federal Judge Grady J. Leupold ordered her immediate release, ruling that the immigration judge had abused discretion and violated her due process rights by failing to consider relevant factors, citing the documented harm to her family. ICE delayed her release until May 8.

Lourdes Minerva Coronado, a North Texas resident who had lived in the United States for more than 30 years, was arrested after a Flower Mound traffic stop for driving with a suspended license and no registration, and was subsequently detained by ICE. Her daughter, Karen Gonzalez, said Coronado had just been approved for a work permit and had no criminal history when she was detained. An immigration judge denied her bond request in July, classifying her as a flight risk, and on September 8 ordered her removed to Mexico; she has until October 2 to appeal while her family works to find and pay for an attorney. ICE said Coronado entered the country without legal status, and that it does not carry out removals while a timely appeal is pending; her arrest also came months after Denton County expanded its cooperation agreement with ICE to allow trained deputies to detain people suspected of immigration violations.

Brulan, a Haitian man who has lived in Marathon for 22 years and held valid Temporary Protected Status, was detained during a routine traffic stop on April 12, 2026, and spent nearly a month in ICE custody, including at the state-run "Alligator Alcatraz" facility in the Everglades, before being deported to Haiti on May 7 despite a federal judge's order keeping TPS protections in place. Working three jobs as a bus driver, hotel worker, and restaurant employee, Brulan sent money home every two weeks to support as many as 50 family members in Haiti. In Haiti, he encountered armed gangs controlling highways and the capital, feared for his life, and remained confined to his brother's house. His lawyer filed a wrongful detention lawsuit, and Brulan was allowed to return to South Florida two weeks after deportation; public records show only traffic citations in his background and an outstanding 2004 deportation order before he later obtained TPS, and his restaurant employer described him as a "very good soul." His case follows a similar deportation of a Tampa man with Venezuelan TPS, as the Supreme Court weighs the future of Haiti's protections, which a federal judge has kept in place through at least July 1.

A three-year-old girl was separated from her mother at the U.S.-Mexico border on September 16, 2025, and placed in federal immigration custody under the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). She was held in an ORR-funded foster home in Harlingen, Texas, where she was sexually abused by an older child in the home in November 2025. Her father, a legal permanent resident living in Chicago, filed a federal habeas corpus petition in February 2026 after ORR delayed reunification for five months despite his sponsor application being approved. ORR officials did not initially disclose the sexual abuse to the father. The girl was forensically examined and the allegations were reported to law enforcement. She was released to her father two days after the petition was filed.

On October 19, 2025, ICE and FBI agents conducted a coordinated raid at La Catedral Arena horse track in Wilder, Idaho, as part of an FBI investigation into illegal gambling operations. Approximately 200 federal and local agents took part, detaining 105 undocumented people, including at least three individuals lawfully present in the U.S. Witnesses described chaotic scenes, with children separated from parents, minors restrained, and rubber bullets used against crowds. Attorneys said at least two detained immigrants who had overstayed visas were threatened with decades of imprisonment and denied contact with family or lawyers until they agreed to deportation. Five people, including the track's owner, were charged with felony gambling offenses, while four others faced related gambling charges. Those detained have filed habeas corpus petitions challenging their detention.

A Cuban man who entered the United States without inspection on March 18, 2022, and has since accrued no criminal history. He was detained by ICE shortly after entry, then released on his own recognizance in March 2022, during which time he established a life in the US with his spouse, who filed an Alien Relative Petition on his behalf in February 2025. On May 6, 2026, he was re-detained by ICE at a scheduled check-in without explanation, notice of changed circumstances, or a hearing. He was transferred to the Otero County Processing Center in Chaparral, New Mexico. On May 14, 2026, he filed a habeas corpus petition arguing his re-detention violated the Due Process Clause and the Immigration and Nationality Act. On May 27, 2026, the federal court granted his petition, finding that he possessed a protected liberty interest in his release, that a pre-deprivation hearing was required before re-detention, and that the Mathews factors weighed in his favor. The court ordered his immediate release within 24 hours and prohibited further re-detention unless ICE demonstrated by clear and convincing evidence that he is a danger to the community or a flight risk.

Milana Swope, a trafficking survivor who arrived in the U.S. on a fiancée visa in 2001, was detained by ICE in September 2025 during a routine check-in she had maintained for over 20 years. She received a removal order in 2003 after leaving an abusive first marriage but remained under ICE supervision while raising her child in the U.S. After nearly eight months in detention at ICE's Alexandria Staging Facility in Louisiana, Swope faces deportation to Russia, where she has not lived since the early 2000s and where ongoing conflict presents safety concerns. Her attorney states ICE has not previously sought her removal despite the standing order, and questions why the agency is not recognizing her status as a trafficking victim.

Meenu Batra, a certified court interpreter fluent in Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu who has lived in the U.S. since fleeing India about 35 years ago after her parents were killed in religious violence connected to their Sikh faith, was detained by ICE agents on March 17, 2026, at Valley International Airport in Harlingen, Texas while traveling for a court assignment in Milwaukee. An immigration judge had granted her withholding of removal status in 2000, and she has held valid work authorization for years, working in immigration courts for over two decades. Batra is a single mother of four U.S. citizen children, including her youngest son Jasper, who joined the U.S. Army shortly before her arrest. She was held for 45 days at El Valle Detention Center in Raymondville, where she alleged she was denied food, water, and medication. On April 30, 2026, federal judge Rolando Olvera issued a temporary restraining order for her release, finding the government lacked proper justification and had violated due process protections. Her attorney noted she has had only one speeding ticket in 30 years. Since her release, Batra has described feeling dehumanized by her detention and fears being re-arrested.

A man who entered the U.S. as a 10-year-old unaccompanied minor in 2018 and was paroled into the country was arrested in February 2026 during a Border Patrol roving patrol stop while driving. He has been detained ever since and has no criminal history. The court granted his habeas petition and ordered his immediate release, finding his detention without pre-deprivation process violated his constitutional due process rights. A woman who entered the United States without inspection in 2023 with a valid I-94 and California driver's license was served with a Notice to Appear in April 2023 for removal proceedings. She was taken into custody by immigration officials on December 13, 2026, and detained at the Karnes County Immigration Processing Center. The court granted her habeas petition and ordered her immediate release, finding her detention violated due process rights.

Diana Marquez Ruiz initially planned to self-deport with her two children on May 4, 2026, after her husband was removed from Aurora detention center. However, on the drive to the ICE field office, she became emotional and decided to turn back, unable to abandon her family dog in the United States. She and Cecilia had lived together and supported each other after their husbands' arrests.