Human Impact Project

JeanCarlos Fiallos Manzanares, a 31-year-old DACA recipient from Miami, was detained by ICE agents following a traffic stop near his mother's house despite holding valid deferred action status. He was transferred to Otero County Processing Center in New Mexico, approximately 2,000 miles from his family. While detained, USCIS approved his deferred action renewal in January, but ICE did not release him. An immigration judge subsequently ordered his deportation to Honduras, and USCIS rescinded his approved deferred action protections. Fiallos Manzanares filed a lawsuit challenging his detention after a federal judge found merit to his petition, but he was deported after more than a year in custody, separated from his U.S. citizen wife and two young sons.

A Peruvian asylum seeker and father of two US citizen toddlers, a citizen of Peru, entered the United States on June 9, 2023, and has lived and worked in the country since then, employed in the A/C mechanics and warehouse industry while paying taxes and contributing to his community. He has two toddlers who are United States citizens. After presenting himself at a port of entry and expressing fear of returning to Peru, he passed a credible fear interview and was paroled into the country to pursue asylum, with his asylum application still pending in ongoing removal proceedings. On July 1, 2026, DHS detained him after he left his local DMV office, and he argued his parole and liberty had been unlawfully revoked without notice or justification. He was held at the Denver Contract Detention Facility and filed a habeas petition seeking immediate release or, alternatively, a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a). The court found he was improperly subject to mandatory detention under § 1225(b)(2), citing prior rulings and a Tenth Circuit decision limiting that provision's application to noncitizens detained at the border. The court granted the habeas petition, ordered his immediate release without conditions such as GPS monitoring, enjoined his re-arrest absent a clear-and-convincing-evidence bond hearing, and denied his TRO/preliminary injunction motion as moot.

Fatima Eminzada, a 24-year-old citizen of Azerbaijan, was detained by ICE on April 4, 2026, and transferred to the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana. She is pregnant in her first trimester with medical complications including hypothyroidism, possible UTI, and mild anemia. After bond was denied at a redetermination hearing on May 14, 2026, and an immigration judge denied her renewed motion for bond on June 12, 2026, she filed a federal habeas corpus petition on June 25, 2026, represented by attorneys Logan Joseph Duplessis and Giedre Stasiunaite. On July 1, 2026, the court issued a temporary restraining order and ordered ICE respondents to file a medical-status report addressing her current medical conditions, treatment, and access to medical care, with the deadline extended to July 13, 2026.

On July 1, 2026, Bozeman resident Brandi Straub was driving near Camp Equinox summer theater camp, about 10 minutes after dropping off her daughter, when ICE agents conducting an enforcement operation pursued two men who had jumped from a moving pickup truck after it sideswiped a post. An agent ran past her vehicle and pointed a gun through her passenger window before continuing the pursuit. Straub's 12-year-old daughter and a neighbor's 11-year-old were at the camp, three blocks away with about 120 children present; she called the camp director, who had not been notified of the operation but was already keeping children inside due to a storm. When Straub called 911, dispatch told her local police could not intervene in ICE operations.

Margarita Melgar, a mother from Honduras who had lived in the U.S. for 12 years, was given a choice by immigration agents: be detained indefinitely or self-deport. She chose to self-deport and left for Honduras on Sunday, taking her 10-year-old daughter Katherin, a U.S. citizen who has never been to Honduras. Her two older daughters, ages 17 and 20, remained in the United States. Margarita had fled Honduras after facing extreme violence. The family said goodbye at Logan Airport, with her eldest daughter Damary, a college student, remaining in Boston.

Laura, a mother of four children including a 2-week-old newborn, is in immigration detention facing deportation proceedings. She has lived in the United States since age 9 and has no criminal record. Her children are being cared for by their grandmother while Laura's case moves through the legal system. The family is seeking financial support for food, childcare, rent, legal expenses, and other necessities while Laura is detained.

An 18-year-old from El Salvador was detained by ICE on June 29, 2026, and transferred to Golden State Annex Detention Facility in McFarland, California. He entered the United States in May 2019 and was released on his own recognizance. He obtained Special Immigrant Juvenile status in September 2023 and had his removal proceedings administratively closed in October 2023, with no criminal history and no final removal order. The court granted his habeas corpus petition, finding his detention violated the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause, and ordered his immediate release with restrictions on future detention requiring advance notice and bond hearings.

Diana Socha Torres and her 8-year-old son were taken from their home in Wisconsin Dells in late June during the ICE surge. Socha Torres had an active asylum case, was wearing an ICE-issued ankle monitor, and had no criminal charges or convictions in Wisconsin. She and her son were transported to an ICE office in downtown Milwaukee and then transferred to the South Texas Residential Detention Center in Dilley, Texas. The arrest separated the child from their home and disrupted an active legal case.

Eight children from three South Florida families, including a one-year-old, departed Miami International Airport for Guatemala City to reunite with relatives after their parents were deported or chose to leave the country. Three of the children are U.S. citizens. The Guatemalan-Maya Center, which has aided families for over 30 years, coordinated travel logistics, provided chaperones and packed backpacks with toys and snacks for the children's first flight without their parents. The center said it has now flown 45 children to Latin America since the immigration crackdown began, after first stepping in following a February 2025 raid in Palm Beach County.

Leonardo Santiago "Santi" Soto Uribe, a 13-year-old 9th grader, was arrested by ICE agents in June along with his father, Benjamin Lerma-Huipio, just outside San Antonio. The boy is being held in a child welfare center in San Antonio while his father is detained at T. Don Hutto Detention Facility in Taylor. Rep. Joaquin Castro reports that ICE initially told the boy he could go home but then reversed the decision, and that the child has not showered and has only been given cookies and juice.

Geremy Arteaga Cruz, a 19-year-old Lamar High School junior, was detained by ICE in January 2026 after the Trump administration reversed his asylum application approval, which had been granted by USCIS in June 2025. Arteaga Cruz arrived in the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor in 2023 with his twin sister. He was arrested at a convenience store on a misdemeanor public intoxication charge, pleaded guilty, and paid fines, but was transferred to ICE custody while in Harris County jail instead of being released. Before his detention, he was a student at Lamar High School, volunteered at an English literacy program at the University of St. Thomas, and worked as a barber. He has also been identified as a victim of human trafficking and has a pending T visa application. As of June 2026, Arteaga Cruz has been held at Polk Adult Detention Facility for four months. His attorneys contend that had USCIS issued a timely notice of its asylum decision, he would not have been detained. His asylum case is scheduled to be heard by an immigration judge on June 23, 2026.

Iker, a 5-year-old child, has been detained by ICE at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas for over 65 days. His mother is also detained at the same facility. According to advocacy posts by Each Step Home, Iker is not eating while in detention. The posts call for complaints to CoreCivic, the private company operating the facility, donations to commissary accounts for detained children, and calls to congressional representatives to support legislation ending ICE detention of children.

ICE agents detained 42-year-old Diana Socha Torres and her 8-year-old son at their home in Wisconsin Dells on June 23, 2026. Socha Torres was wearing an ankle monitor as part of her ongoing asylum case when agents arrived, claiming to conduct a monitoring system change but instead taking both into custody. A deportation order had been entered in April 2026 after Socha Torres missed an asylum hearing; she stated she never received notice of the hearing. An attorney had filed an appeal, but ICE reported having no record of it. Mother and son were taken to ICE offices in Milwaukee and subsequently transferred to Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas.

A Guatemalan citizen who entered the United States 22 years ago on a temporary visa was arrested by ICE on June 22, 2026, while on his way to work in Baltimore. He is married with a child who has special needs and requires frequent medical care. He is the sole financial provider for his family. He was arrested without a warrant and has not been presented with one. He filed a habeas corpus petition and application for temporary restraining order challenging the lawfulness of his warrantless arrest under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) and § 1357(a)(2). On August 7, 2026, the federal court granted his petition, finding that his warrantless arrest was unlawful because no statutory exception applied. The court ordered his immediate release and converted his temporary restraining order application into a preliminary injunction, also waiving bond requirements.

A 13-year-old child was restrained by Menomonee Falls Police Department officers in an encounter documented by body camera footage. The child's lawyer characterized the officers' use of force as excessive and has threatened to sue the department, calling for the officers' dismissal. The police department stated that officers used only the level of force necessary to detain the minor.

Saray Yuliandris Gonzalez-Gonzalez, a Venezuelan mother, and her child were detained by ICE agents at Cook County's Bridgeview Courthouse while appearing for court proceedings related to a retail theft charge. According to DHS, Gonzalez-Gonzalez was released by the Biden administration in September 2023 and received a final order of removal in May 2024. Both she and her child remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

A 10-year-old girl, Nayeli Gomez, protested outside Delaney Hall ICE detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, where her diabetic father has been detained for nearly a year. During her birthday visit, she was denied family visitation by ICE agents. The girl fainted and sustained injuries outside the facility during a confrontation in which a female guard cursed at and insulted her. Her visit occurred amid ongoing labor and hunger strikes by detainees protesting inhumane conditions, including rotten food, lack of medical care, and poor sanitation. Activists expressed concern that a large influx of federal immigration officers entering the facility may signal transfers of detainees to disrupt organizing efforts.

A Mexican national who fled Mexico in 2024 due to extortion threats and entered the U.S. without inspection was detained by ICE on June 18, 2026, pursuant to a warrant issued June 8, 2026. He had arranged for his young son to join him in the U.S., and the son was detained by immigration authorities upon entry in January 2026 before being released to his father's care as ORR sponsor. During the June 18 detention, approximately five vehicles surrounded the father and his son as they left their home; agents pointed guns and arrested him while his son remained in the vehicle. The court granted his emergency motion for temporary restraining order, ordering his immediate release and prohibiting re-detention without notice and a pre-deprivation hearing before a neutral decisionmaker.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported 72 Haitian asylum seekers, including 21 children and a 2-month-old baby, to Port-au-Prince on Monday, three days after President Biden suspended deportation flights to Haiti. The deportations occurred despite Biden's 100-day moratorium on deportations, which was limited to convicted criminals and suspected terrorists. The action followed a January 26 federal court injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton that blocked Biden's moratorium, which ICE used to resume deportation operations.

Dulce Consuelo Diaz Morales, a 22-year-old mother born in Laurel, Maryland, was detained by ICE near her Baltimore home on December 14, 2025, stemming from a 2023 CBP encounter in Arizona where she was recorded claiming Mexican citizenship. Despite her family and attorneys presenting a Maryland birth certificate, hospital birth records, and fingerprints, DHS maintained she was not a citizen and pursued removal proceedings against her. A federal judge blocked her deportation days after her arrest, but she remained in custody for 25 days, transferred five times through facilities in Louisiana, Texas, and New Jersey, spending Christmas away from her young son. She was released on January 7, 2026, with an ankle monitor and reunited with her 5-year-old son. Her attorneys maintained the documentation clearly established her citizenship. On June 17, 2026, DHS dismissed her deportation case after confirming her birth in Maryland, and she obtained a U.S. passport.