Human Impact Project

An estimated 71 Nigerian, African, and other foreign nationals were expelled from the United States on a 26-hour ICE deportation flight on July 31, routing through Sierra Leone, the Central African Republic, and Ghana. Passengers, including Mohamed Barry, said GEO Group-contracted guards subjected them to verbal and physical abuse, bound at least two detainees in full-body straitjackets, and refused to let them use the lavatory. Barry said he witnessed an ICE agent instruct a foreign official to return detainees to their home countries despite protection orders barring such removal, a practice known as chain refoulement that violates U.S. and international law.

Ibrahim Mohammed, a 43-year-old Ethiopian national who legally entered the U.S. in 2014 and was granted asylum, was ordered deported following a child sexual abuse conviction, but ICE sought to send him to third countries rather than Ethiopia due to torture risk. U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles ordered Mohammed released from Angola's Camp 57 detention facility in February after finding ICE had no viable deportation plan, and ICE rearrested him twice more without properly serving deportation papers, most recently in Maryland in July. On August 20, deGravelles held an ICE field office director in contempt for repeatedly violating his orders, ordering officials to pay Mohammed's attorneys' fees and $180 in compensatory damages.

Brayan Omar Sánchez, a 26-year-old Honduran truck driver and owner of a pressure-washing and painting business who had lived in South Florida for nearly a decade after fleeing gang violence that killed his father and other family members, was detained by ICE agents on May 13 while heading to a job site. He was transferred through detention centers in Colorado, Arizona, California and Texas before being flown roughly 21 hours to Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, on July 30 along with five other men — Cuban nationals Omar Rodríguez, Arístides Fernández, Yasmany Moreno and Daniel Lázaro Fuente, and Ecuadorian Mauricio Alvarado. Sánchez said he never signed deportation paperwork, believed he had asylum protection and a court order preventing removal, and said an ICE officer threatened the group with violence the night before if they refused to board the plane. He described arriving with only $20, which was confiscated by customs, and said he and the others are being held at a hotel in Bangui fearing for their safety. Sánchez is asking the Honduran government and members of Congress to help secure his return to the United States.

Three women who fled LGBTQ+ persecution in Ghana and had been granted protection from deportation in the United States were sent to Cameroon in January 2026 as part of the Trump administration's secretive third-country deportation agreements, part of a group of 36 migrants. According to DW reporting, the women described being shackled during the process. They were held for about two months in a government compound in Yaounde and were released only after staging a hunger strike; they must still return to the compound each night and cannot work while their asylum claims are pending. Their lawyer has raised concerns about sending them to a country where they could face further persecution.

A citizen of Mali who has lived in the United States since January 2001 was granted withholding of removal to Mali by an immigration judge in March 2013. He was detained by immigration officials on August 3, 2026 during a routine check-in, at which point he was given a Notice of Imminent Removal indicating he would instead be removed to Cameroon. He alleges he expressed a fear of persecution in Cameroon and requested a third-country screening interview with his immigration counsel present. He is currently detained at the Alexandria Staging Facility, where officials told him removal was scheduled for August 19, 2026. He filed a habeas petition alleging due process violations for being denied an opportunity to challenge his removal to Cameroon, along with an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to halt his removal. The court denied the motion, finding it lacked jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(g) to stay the removal and that he failed to provide evidence, such as travel documents, substantiating that removal was truly imminent.

A Mexican national living in Maryland, whose testimony for the Justice Department against drug cartels led an immigration judge to bar his deportation to Mexico under the Convention Against Torture in July 2024, was released from custody that November but re-detained during a routine ICE check-in in January 2026 and held for six months in a Louisiana detention facility. In July 2026 he was deported three times in two weeks: first to Guatemala, which refused him and handed him to Mexican consular officials who also declined to take him; then directly to Mexico twice more after officials there initially refused him, and again after the administration terminated his CAT protection based on diplomatic assurances it said were provided by the Mexican government and deemed reliable by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and acting ICE Director David Venturella. He has been in hiding in Mexico since Aug. 1 fearing retaliation from the cartels he testified against, and U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher found the government likely violated his due process rights, ordering it to take immediate steps to facilitate his return within 200 miles of Baltimore.

A Mexican man in his late 40s, identified in court filings only as "John Doe" and a father of two, had cooperated with U.S. prosecutors in cases against Mexican drug cartel members and was granted deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture in July 2024. While living in Maryland, he was detained by ICE in January 2026 at a routine check-in and held for six months at a facility in Louisiana. Authorities attempted to deport him multiple times, first to Guatemala on July 10, which refused him and turned him over to Mexican officials, and then to Mexico, most recently on August 1 to a region with active cartel activity. He has since gone into hiding without money, belongings, or his phone, fearing the cartels he testified against will find and kill him. U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher in Baltimore ruled that the termination of his CAT protections likely violated due process and placed him in imminent danger, ordering the government to facilitate his return within 14 days and to hold him near Baltimore with attorney access if detained again.

Mohamed Barry, 52, a truck driver from Guinea who had lived in the U.S. for 25 years and held a withholding of removal order protecting him from deportation to his home country, was captured by Border Patrol outside his home in Brownsburg, Indiana on July 1 and later placed on a July 31 ICE charter flight to Africa carrying an estimated 71 detainees. Barry, who has five U.S. citizen children including a nine-year-old daughter, said ICE-contracted GEO Group guards drank alcohol, refused to let shackled passengers use the lavatory, and placed at least two people in restraint devices during the 26-hour flight to Sierra Leone, the Central African Republic, and Ghana. After being held under armed guard in a Ghana hotel for three days, Barry agreed to return to Guinea despite his protection order, then fled across a border into a neighboring country where he is now in hiding without identification and with a dwindling supply of heart medication. "I can't tell you how heartbroken I am leaving my younger girls," Barry said. "I'm the one who takes them to the bus stop."

Zena Gebrgzabher, a 39-year-old Eritrean truck driver who lived in Maryland, was deported by the Trump administration to the Central African Republic after being arrested during a routine ICE check-in appointment. He had won protection under the Convention Against Torture in 2017 barring his deportation to Eritrea, after fleeing forced military conscription and imprisonment there, but that protection did not prevent officials from sending him to a third country. His wife and 5-year-old son, both U.S. citizens, live in Maryland; his wife, Yrgalem Gehrehiwet, called the deportation "unfair and inhumane" and said their son has been deeply affected by his father's absence. CBS News found no criminal record for Gebrgzabher beyond traffic and immigration violations, and he is now stranded in Bangui without documents.

Arístides Fernández García, a 37-year-old Cuban trucking company owner who fled Cuba in 2021 after being kidnapped and robbed in Mexico, was living in South Florida under an I-220A release order when ICE arrested him following a Miami immigration court hearing on January 6, 2026. He spent about seven months in detention at facilities including Krome, 'Alligator Alcatraz,' and centers in Louisiana and Texas. On July 30, he was shackled and flown roughly 22 hours with about 80 other detainees, including Cubans, an Ecuadorian, and a Honduran, to Bangui, Central African Republic — a country under the U.S. State Department's highest 'Do Not Travel' advisory due to risks including unrest, crime, kidnapping and terrorism. He said he was not told the destination until mid-flight and was stripped of his identification, money, and phone upon arrival, now confined to a guarded building without legal status, a passport, or embassy support. "I paid taxes, I never got a traffic ticket. I did everything right," he said, and described feeling "kidnapped," saying "we are prisoners here, they won't let us leave or go anywhere... they have violated all the rights that exist in life, because we are human beings." He said he still wants to pursue his asylum claim, while immigration attorney Morella Aguado said there is no legal basis for sending migrants to a country not designated by an immigration judge.

Fadel Cherif, 56, a Philadelphia resident with 20 years of legal status in the United States under Withholding of Removal protection, was arrested by ICE and detained at Moshannon Valley Processing Center in central Pennsylvania. An immigration judge granted Cherif's petition for asylum on December 18, 2025, though the Department of Homeland Security has appealed that decision. On January 29, 2026, a federal judge granted Cherif's habeas corpus petition, ordering that he receive an individualized bond hearing before an immigration judge by February 9, 2026, or be released from custody. Cherif was represented by attorney Rafael Urena in his legal challenge to his detention. His eldest son Ahmad, 22, expressed concern about the impact on his younger brothers, ages 13 and 15, saying his father's presence is important to them.

Houman Rashidy, an Iranian citizen, was detained at Torrance County Detention Facility for approximately 13 months pending removal. On July 27, 2026, U.S. District Judge Kea W. Riggs granted Rashidy's petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, ordering his release. The court found no significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future, as removal to Iran is withheld and three countries (Canada, Brazil, Honduras) refused to accept him.

A Guinean woman is a national of Guinea currently detained by U.S. immigration authorities at the Port Isabel Service Processing Center in Cameron County, Texas. She has protection from removal to Guinea. Respondents intend to remove her imminently to Ghana, a third country, without providing her a reasonable fear interview regarding removal to that country. She filed a verified petition challenging her removal as violating her constitutional rights and seeking a temporary restraining order. The court found that her removal would cause immediate and irreparable injury, as she would be unable to seek habeas relief if removed. On August 5, 2026, the court issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting removal to a designated third country less than seven days after providing notice, requiring compliance with March 2025 Guidance procedures regardless of diplomatic assurances, and prohibiting transfer outside the Southern District of Texas except to a third country subject to the order's conditions. The court ordered her to file a response to the motion to dismiss by August 14, 2026, clarifying jurisdictional bases for her claims.

A national from Sierra Leone was placed under a final removal order but had her removal statutorily withheld after an immigration judge found her life and freedom would be threatened if removed. She was released from immigration detention on an Order of Supervision approximately one year ago. Three weeks ago, the government revoked her Order of Supervision and re-detained her. The government announced plans to remove her to Ghana, a country to which she has no connection. She filed a habeas corpus petition challenging her detention and a motion for a temporary restraining order to prevent removal. The court granted her motion, finding she demonstrated sufficient likelihood of success on the merits and that the balance of equities strongly favored her. The court expressed concerns about the government's actions, particularly the plan to remove her to a third country despite diplomatic assurances that Ghana might return her to Sierra Leone where her safety is threatened.

A Liberian national has lived in Philadelphia under an Order of Supervision (OSUP) since 2000 after receiving withholding of removal due to danger he would face in Liberia, a status reaffirmed in 2025. ICE recently revoked his OSUP, citing a significant likelihood of removal in the near future based on a new agreement between the United States and Ghana to accept deportees from West African nations. He was taken into custody and given a revocation notice citing only vague 'changed circumstances' and the securing of a travel document, with no mention that Ghana was the intended destination. An ICE informal interview conducted with him also failed to address Ghana or any third-country removal plan. He filed a habeas petition arguing due process violations, including mandatory detention without individualized review and lack of notice regarding his destination country, which would prevent him from raising claims about the safety of removal to Ghana. The court found that ICE's revocation procedures failed to comply with due process and its own regulations because he was never properly notified that Ghana was the target country, denying him a meaningful opportunity to contest that designation. The court noted unresolved concerns, including litigation before the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice alleging Ghana quickly repatriates deportees to their countries of origin despite persecution risks. The judge ruled that ICE's procedures did not comport with due process, rendering his removal unlawful at this time.

The petitioner, a native of Venezuela, was released under an order of supervision in the United States in August 2011 after applying for withholding of removal, though her exhibits do not confirm the withholding was actually granted. She was detained by ICE during a scheduled check-in appointment on July 17, 2026, and was told her order of supervision had been revoked. She is currently held at Richwood Correctional Center. She filed a habeas corpus petition arguing that revocation of her supervision order violated her due process rights and that authorities were unlikely to deport her to a third country within a reasonable timeframe. She later filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order after being informed she was scheduled for removal to either Venezuela or Mexico, seeking immediate release or an order blocking her removal pending review of her habeas claims. The court denied the TRO motion, finding no threat of imminent harm beyond her impending removal and ruling that federal courts lack jurisdiction over claims tied directly to execution of removal orders.

Celestin Dima, a gay asylum seeker from Burkina Faso, fled kidnapping, military persecution and police torture after being outed before crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in 2024. An Arizona immigration judge granted him withholding of removal, finding he would likely face persecution if deported home, but ICE held him at the Eloy Detention Center for nearly two years while searching for a third country willing to accept him, considering Ghana, Cameroon and Uganda—all countries where homosexuality is criminalized. While detained, he grew depressed, stopped eating, and was placed in solitary confinement for two weeks. A federal judge ordered his release in June 2026 after granting a joint habeas petition, but ICE redetained him on July 17 during a mandatory check-in at a field office in Lower Manhattan. He was then transferred through detention facilities in New Jersey and near Dallas, fitted with a GPS ankle monitor, and scheduled for deportation without being told in advance where he would be sent.

A federal judge ordered the immediate release of Nyamuoch Thomas Duoth, a lawful permanent resident born in a refugee camp in Ethiopia who arrived in the U.S. as a refugee in 1994, from a Pottawattamie County, Iowa jail where she was held by ICE. Duoth, a citizen of South Sudan, was first ordered removed in 2020 and released from custody in 2022 after authorities found no significant likelihood of deportation, but ICE detained her again in March 2025, and she remained jailed for more than six months after her removal order became final without progress toward removal. After months in custody, Duoth filed a federal lawsuit against ICE, the Department of Homeland Security and Pottawattamie County seeking her release. U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher said the government's argument for continued detention was 'hard to take seriously,' noting she had lived in the community without incident for years, and her attorneys are now seeking reimbursement of legal fees from the federal government.

A Mexican national and noncitizen is currently held in ICE custody at Diamondback Correctional Facility in Oklahoma. He has a final order of removal and is seeking to prevent his removal to Mexico or a third country. He claims membership in the Immigration Center for Women and Children (ICWC) class of ICE detainees with pending immigration benefit applications, including U Visa petitions, and states he has a pending Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)-based petition that bears on his removability and eligibility for relief. He filed a habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 and moved for a stay of removal pending resolution of his petition, or alternatively, for a temporary restraining order (TRO). The Magistrate Judge recommended denying his motion for stay/TRO, finding the Western District of Oklahoma lacks jurisdiction to enjoin removal proceedings under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(g), which bars district courts from hearing claims arising from DHS decisions to execute removal orders.

A Cuban national held at Florence Correctional Center in Arizona staged multiple hunger strikes to protest what he described as inhumane detention conditions and lack of transparency regarding his asylum claims. He alleges that ICE subjected him to solitary confinement and restrictive measures to isolate him from legal counsel and advocacy groups after his protests gained attention. He was subsequently deported to Ecuador, a third country, which terminated his ability to participate in U.S. legal proceedings.