Human Impact Project

Jose Cruz Santos was unlawfully detained by ICE despite having no prior encounters with immigration authorities. A federal court ordered his release under the same conditions that existed prior to detention (no conditions), but ICE released him with monitoring and reporting requirements. The court voided the ICE order and prohibited any conditions on his release, criticizing the agency for knowingly disregarding the judicial order. Jose Cruz Castro, a worker at Don Patron Mexican Restaurant, was detained by ICE. A U.S. District Court judge ruled that his case will be transferred to the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Elvis Tipan-Echeverria, an Ecuadorian citizen, and his 2-year-old daughter were detained by ICE agents in south Minneapolis on January 23, 2026, after agents pursued their vehicle in a targeted enforcement operation. Agents entered the family's driveway without a warrant and broke the vehicle window while the child was inside before transporting both father and daughter to a federal facility. A federal judge issued an order at 8:11 p.m. requiring the child's release by 9:30 p.m., but ICE placed them on a commercial flight to Texas by 8:30 p.m. The child was returned to Minnesota and reunited with her mother on January 24, while her father remains in custody. A federal court order has barred ICE from removing him from Minnesota during ongoing proceedings.

Elvis Tipan-Echeverria, an Ecuadorian citizen, and his 2-year-old daughter were taken into ICE custody on January 23, 2026, during a vehicle encounter at their home in Minneapolis. Despite a federal court order issued that evening requiring the child's immediate release, both were flown to Texas the same night. The toddler, who has lived in Minneapolis since arriving as a newborn and has a pending asylum application, was returned to her mother on January 24. Her father remains in ICE custody. The detention was part of a broader ICE operation in Minnesota that resulted in at least nine children being detained in January 2026, including a 5-year-old detained on his way home from preschool and several other minors ranging from elementary school age to teenagers. Federal judges ordered the return of several other children and parents to Minnesota after they were transferred to a detention center in Texas.

A Chinese citizen who entered the U.S. without inspection in July 2023 was re-detained by ICE on January 23, 2026, when he appeared for a routine check-in. He had been living freely in Los Angeles under an Order of Release on Recognizance since 2023 and filed an asylum application based on fear of political persecution in China. The court ordered his immediate release, finding his re-detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated his due process rights.

Arnoldo Tiul Caal, a Guatemalan asylum-seeker who had lived in Spokane since 2019, and his 10-year-old daughter Karla, a fourth-grader at Logan Elementary School, were detained by federal agents after a school drop-off on January 9-10, 2026. Border Patrol alleged the father had missed multiple required immigration check-ins while his asylum case was pending, though he held a valid work permit and had no criminal history. The pair were transferred to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, prompting condemnation from Washington state leaders who cited the family's community ties and a scheduled 2027 asylum court hearing. A federal judge ordered their release on January 23, 2026.

Osvaldo Damian Diaz Hernandez, a noncitizen who had been previously released on bond or conditional parole, was re-detained by immigration authorities on January 22, 2026 without being provided a pre-deprivation bond hearing. He filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his ongoing immigration detention. The federal court ruled that the Due Process Clause requires the government to provide a pre-deprivation bond hearing before a neutral arbiter before re-detaining someone who was previously released, and ordered his immediate release with the same conditions he had prior to detention.

A noncitizen who had been previously released on bond or conditional parole was re-detained by immigration authorities on January 22, 2026. He filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his ongoing immigration detention, arguing that the government violated his due process rights by re-detaining him without providing a pre-deprivation bond hearing before a neutral arbiter. The federal court granted his petition and ordered his immediate release with the same conditions he was subject to prior to his January 22 detention.

Zharick Daniela Buitrago Ortiz, a 21-year-old Colombian woman who was eight months pregnant, was deported from Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport despite being in medical distress. She had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in November 2025 seeking asylum and was placed in expedited removal proceedings, during which her attorney said she was denied adequate medical care. A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order enjoining ICE from deporting her, but the order came approximately three hours after her flight had already departed.

An Ecuadoran woman seeking asylum was detained at Cumberland County Jail in Portland for five months. In January, ICE transferred her to Massachusetts without court authorization and then to Louisiana via air transport, removing her epilepsy medication despite knowing of her condition. During transfer she was shackled without food or bathroom access, and suffered multiple seizures in Louisiana while receiving no medication for days. U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin found ICE made false and misleading statements to the court, unlawfully detained her without a bond hearing, and deliberately disregarded her medical needs. The judge ordered her released, barred re-arrest, and ordered the government to pay her legal fees of approximately $15,000.

During an ICE operation in January 2026, federal agents detained dozens of Mainers, including asylum-seeker Evaristo Kalonji, a church organist from Angola with no criminal record. His pastor discovered his abandoned car and learned Kalonji had been transferred to detention centers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island while his asylum case awaits a May 2028 court date. Federal judges subsequently ordered the release of approximately 35 detainees. Many detainees spent weeks in custody, lost employment, and paid thousands in bonds before being freed.

An immigrant previously released on bond or parole was detained on January 21, 2026. The court found that the government violated his due process rights by re-detaining him without providing a pre-deprivation bond hearing before a neutral arbiter. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California ordered his immediate release with the same conditions he had prior to detention.

A federal court judge ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to explain why it detained Yanick Joao Carneiro, an Angolan man, during a routine immigration check-in at an office in Scarborough. Carneiro is undocumented but filed for asylum within his first year in the U.S. His lawyer stated he has no criminal record. He was granted a temporary 72-hour order preventing his removal while the court determines why he was detained.

A man who has lived in the United States for eighteen years was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on January 20, 2026. ICE charged him with entering the United States without inspection. He is currently detained at the Denver Contract Detention Facility in Aurora, Colorado. On April 2, 2026, he filed a Verified Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, requesting a bond hearing. The central dispute was whether his detention should be governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) (which provides for bond hearings) or § 1225(b)(2)(A) (which permits mandatory detention). On April 17, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado granted his habeas petition, finding that § 1226 applies to his case based on precedent from multiple similar cases. The court ordered respondents to provide him with a bond hearing under § 1226(a) within seven days, with the government bearing the burden of proving that his continued detention is justified.

Jelili Qudus, a Nigerian described in court filings as a Muslim faith leader who conducts weekly prayers, visits the sick, and distributes food to people in need, was re-detained when he appeared for his annual ICE check-in in Chicago after approximately 17 years of complying with an Order of Supervision. He was subsequently held at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas. A federal judge later granted his habeas petition and ordered his immediate release under supervision, finding that immigration authorities violated his due process rights by re-detaining him without providing required notice or an opportunity to respond.

ICE removed Jose Serrano-Maldonado, a Maryland father with no criminal record, to El Salvador on January 20, 2026, despite two court orders prohibiting his removal and a clear "do not remove" banner in his file. Federal authorities admitted the mistake during an emergency hearing but did not provide explanation for why the deportation occurred. The judge ordered daily status updates and the government is working to return him to the United States.

A 48-year-old Mexican citizen who has lived in Pomona, California for over 17 years with his spouse and four U.S. citizen children was arrested during an interior immigration enforcement operation on January 19, 2026. He has been detained at the Adelanto Detention Facility since his arrest, with an Immigration Judge denying his bond request. The federal court granted a temporary restraining order requiring his immediate release, finding his bond hearing violated due process.

An immigrant who has lived in the United States for over thirty years was arrested and detained by ICE on January 19, 2026, pursuant to immigration proceedings. He is the father of three U.S. citizen children, the youngest of whom is entirely dependent upon him. He has no criminal history and maintains community ties. After requesting a custody redetermination hearing under 8 C.F.R. § 1236, an Immigration Judge denied jurisdiction over his bond request on May 19, 2026. He filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court contending he is entitled to a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) and that the statute and regulations require custody determinations and bond hearings, prohibiting indefinite detention without a hearing. The court granted his habeas petition in part, ordering that respondents must either hold a bond hearing before a neutral decisionmaker within seven days or cease detention. The court found the case mirrored numerous analogous cases previously decided by the Eastern District of California.

An 18-month-old girl named Amalia was held with her parents at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas. In January, she became critically ill with pneumonia, Covid-19, and RSV and was hospitalized with respiratory failure. After discharge, she was returned to detention and denied prescribed medication by doctors, remaining confined for nine additional days before being released following an emergency habeas corpus petition.

Garrison Gibson, a 37-year-old Liberian national living in north Minneapolis, was arrested on January 11, 2026, when immigration agents used a battering ram to break into his home. Gibson had been living legally under an order of supervision and had regularly checked in with immigration authorities, including days before his arrest. According to his account, agents took trophy photos during the raid and held him in an overcrowded cell afterward. The agents acted on an administrative warrant rather than a judicial search warrant. Four days later, a federal judge ordered Gibson's release, ruling that agents violated his Fourth Amendment rights by entering his home without consent or a judicial warrant.

A 25-year-old Guatemalan woman of indigenous Mam ethnicity was detained on January 16, 2026, at an ICE check-in appointment in Eugene due to a pending felony criminal mistreatment case in Marion County. She claims persecution in Guatemala based on her indigenous heritage and reports her daughter is at risk of violence because her former partner is a gang member. Court records show she was released pending the outcome of her habeas petition after attorneys argued she posed neither a flight risk nor danger to the community.