Human Impact Project

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement concluded Operation Safe Community-Atlanta on August 7, 2026, with 1,226 arrests across Georgia in one of the largest single-state immigration enforcement operations in recent memory. According to ICE, 720 of those arrested had been charged with or convicted of crimes in the United States, including sex crimes, crimes against children, assault, drug violations, burglary, weapons offenses, and impaired driving. All 1,226 people arrested violated U.S. immigration law. The operation was conducted across multiple Georgia jurisdictions with participation from federal, state, and local law enforcement partners, including five arrests at a local trucking company. The operation occurred during a period of increased ICE enforcement, as the agency set a new monthly record high for detentions in July with more than 46,000 arrests nationwide.

Five individuals working on a construction crew were arrested by ICE agents during a targeted enforcement operation at a traffic stop in Londonderry on the morning of August 7, 2026, while traveling to a job site. The detainees were allegedly of Ecuadorian descent. Video footage captured by a local resident showed unmarked vehicles and multiple individuals being held against a vehicle near Route 11. The arrests occurred amid months of heightened immigration enforcement activity in Vermont that has drawn protests, lawsuits, and official reviews, including scrutiny of a March 11 raid in South Burlington that detained three people who were later released. The incident sparked community concern, prompting state representatives and local leaders to convene to discuss support and protection measures.

Eduardo Aguirre Esparza, a 53-year-old Mexican national and small business owner who has lived in the United States for over 20 years, was arrested by ICE on July 23, 2026, while working on a home remodeling project in West Seattle. Approximately 20 ICE agents in unmarked vehicles surrounded him, allegedly physically pushing him and threatening him when he refused to sign a voluntary departure form; he requested his lawyer instead. Without appearing before a judge or having contact with his attorney, Aguirre Esparza was transferred between multiple ICE facilities over three days and flown to El Paso, Texas, where he is detained at ERO El Paso Camp East Montana. His wife, Stacey Fitzpatrick, a U.S. citizen attorney, disputes ICE's claim that he has a 2005 DUI arrest from Kansas, noting he has never lived in Kansas and background checks show only a resolved 2015 traffic citation. Aguirre Esparza has a pending green card application and is married to a U.S. citizen with deep community ties. Community members organized rallies and fundraisers in West Seattle to raise awareness and support for his family, and Senator Patty Murray called the arrest "fundamentally wrong and un-American."

Four construction workers were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Thursday, August 6, 2026, following a traffic stop conducted by Texas Department of Public Safety troopers outside Austin City Hall. DPS troopers, who are federally certified Designated Immigration Officers under the 287(g) program, pulled over a vehicle at Guadalupe Street and César Chávez Street after observing it driving the wrong way on a one-way street just before 9:30 a.m. The driver did not have a valid driver's license. After determining that all four occupants were not lawfully present in the United States, troopers contacted ICE agents, who arrived within three to four minutes and took the individuals into custody, confiscating their phones. The detention occurred while the Austin City Council was holding a budget meeting, and community members expressed outrage during public comment. By Thursday evening, family members did not know where the detainees had been taken. City Council members, including Mike Siegel, condemned the operation, with Siegel characterizing it as "state-sponsored kidnapping" and criticizing the collaboration between DPS and ICE.

ICE and the San Saba County Sheriff's Office arrested Emiliano Martinez Perez, a 54-year-old Cuban man, on August 5, 2026, under a 287(g) partnership. He has had a final order of removal since 2000 and is currently facing local criminal charges. ICE has lodged an immigration detainer to take him into custody once his criminal case concludes.

Erick Lopez, a 29-year-old Honduran citizen with no criminal record, was stopped by Houston police for a traffic violation on June 17, 2026. According to his lawsuit, officers detained him for more than two hours after the traffic stop, prolonging it until ICE agents arrived to take him into custody. Lopez, who worked in tile and flooring and was supporting a girlfriend and her two children, was deported to Honduras on June 27. He has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against the City of Houston alleging that police violated his constitutional rights by unlawfully extending the traffic stop solely to facilitate his arrest by federal immigration agents, and seeking damages and an injunction against the practice.

Selvin Alfredo Ramos Perez, a 35-year-old Guatemalan national working in the kitchen at a Roanoke restaurant, was arrested by Roanoke County Police on August 4, 2026, for public intoxication. ICE lodged a detainer with the county jail the same day, and Ramos Perez was transferred into ICE custody pending removal proceedings. According to DHS, he first entered the United States without authorization near Sasabe, Arizona, in 2011 and was granted voluntary departure, reentered in 2012, received a final removal order from an immigration judge in 2015, was removed by ICE in 2017, and later reentered the country multiple times without authorization. DHS also reported a criminal record including traffic offenses, public order crimes, fraud, impersonation, DUI, and hit and run.

Ana Castro, a long-time Wyoming resident and immigrant advocate who arrived as a child, is leaving the state amid fears for her safety as red state leaders increasingly cooperate with ICE and pursue hard-line immigration policies. Castro, who worked for a nonprofit and founded the Wyoming chapter of Juntos, an immigrant advocacy group, had spent decades contributing to her rural community despite lacking legal status. Immigrants comprise nearly 30% of rural Wyoming's recent population growth and fill critical gaps in service and construction jobs, but mounting deportation concerns are causing an exodus that threatens rural economies. State leaders acknowledge immigrants' economic importance while supporting stricter enforcement policies.

Dozens of Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, home to about 15,000 Haitian residents, received letters starting July 22, 2026, directing them to bring immigration documents to ICE appointments. On July 31 and August 2, roughly 50 were summoned to the Cincinnati ICE field office and offered a choice between accepting $2,600 to self-deport or wearing electronic ankle monitors; all declined the payment and were fitted with monitors, having no criminal record and previously holding legal status. Advocates say the tactic, which creates a 75-mile radius limiting travel for court appearances 188 miles away in Cleveland, has not been seen in other large Haitian communities like Boston, Chicago or Miami. The move follows the Supreme Court's June 2026 ruling allowing the administration to end TPS for up to 350,000 Haitians, with the case now before a Washington, D.C. district court examining whether the decision was motivated by racial animus.

Avishay Alon, a transgender former intelligence specialist with Israel's Unit 81 who later worked as a computer engineer at Amazon and Microsoft, was transferred from New Hampshire state custody into ICE custody on Aug. 20, a day after signing a parole certificate, and is now held at an ICE facility in Folkston, Georgia. Alon, who uses the name Allison, had been serving a two-to-six-year sentence imposed July 7, 2025, following a 2024 kidnapping conviction. A federal judge had previously noted that immigration detainers are capped at 48 hours and ordered the state to show cause. Alon separately filed a federal lawsuit in December 2025 against the New Hampshire Department of Corrections over housing in a men's facility and access to gender-transition care, with some claims still pending.

ICE Miami, working with the Miami-Dade County Sheriff's Office, arrested Roberto Gonzalez-Fonseca, a 57-year-old lawful permanent resident from Cuba, on July 31. Gonzalez-Fonseca had been ordered removed by an immigration judge in 2010 following a prior conviction. He is currently in ICE custody pending removal from the United States.

Jacob Zapeta-Castro, a Guatemalan national and owner of El Quetzal Bakery in Lake Worth Beach, was detained by ICE agents on July 9, 2026. According to his family and advocates, Zapeta-Castro locked himself and his coworkers inside the business to protect undocumented employees from detention. ICE characterized his actions as fleeing agents. At the time of arrest, Zapeta-Castro held a valid work permit, Social Security number, and driver's license, and had filed for asylum in June 2024 and a withholding of removal petition. Multi-agency law enforcement—including ICE, Florida Highway Patrol, and Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office—surrounded the business with approximately 50 officers while roughly 50 community members protested outside. The standoff lasted hours in extreme heat. He was charged with re-entering the country after deportation and held in ICE detention in Stuart, with his arraignment scheduled for July 29 in federal court in West Palm Beach. His arrest occurred during a four-day ICE operation in Palm Beach County that resulted in 309 total arrests.

Jose Manuel Rivera-Rivera, 52, was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection during an operation near Thunder Mountain Middle School and held at Lemon Creek Correctional Center from Wednesday through Friday before being transferred to Anchorage Correctional Complex on a federal hold. Juneau Police Chief Derek Bos said his department was not involved in the CBP operation itself but assisted afterward, with an officer transporting Rivera-Rivera away from the area to help de-escalate the situation before returning him to Border Patrol custody. A friend, Kathleen Pollard, who has known him for more than a decade, said he has a family, goes to work, pays taxes, attends church weekly, and was seeking to become a legal citizen. He is the sixth person held in Juneau under a federal immigration custody hold since October, following the detentions of Ernesto Alanzo Haro, Alfredo Gomez-Guzman, Carlos Jara Medina, Peter Verkin, and Darwin Mendez-Cando.

ICE agents, working with the U.S. Forest Service and Caldwell County Sheriff's Office, set up a checkpoint on the only road into Wilson Creek, a popular swimming spot in Pisgah National Forest, on July 26, 2026, detaining 13 people. Among them was Argenis Eduardo Torres Rosales, a 32-year-old Venezuelan asylum seeker with a work permit and no criminal record, according to his aunt Wuendy Rosales; he is now held at a detention facility in Folkston, Georgia, 433 miles from his wife and stepson. ICE said many of those detained had criminal histories including DUI and illegal reentry charges. Witnesses described the operation as "terrifying," with families separated during the stops, including one whose wife and children were left stranded roadside without cell signal. Sandra Salazar, co-founder of Hands of Hope y Adventurous Latinos, said her cousin's partner was among those detained and that families with pending asylum cases were caught up in the action. Sheriff Kevin Bean denied reports that children were separated from families, while advocates said the raid, following North Carolina's new law mandating state-ICE cooperation, has discouraged Latino families from visiting the forest.

A 32-year-old Hickory resident and legal resident, described by family as an honest, hard-working man, was detained by ICE along with Caldwell County Sheriff's Office personnel and the U.S. Forest Service during a July 26 raid at Wilson Creek, one of 13 people arrested. His aunt, Wendy Rosales, said he followed all legal processes and did not deserve to be treated this way, speaking at an Aug. 2 vigil and car caravan organized by Siembra N.C. and Methodist clergy at Hudson United Methodist Church. He is currently being held at the Folkston ICE Processing Center in Georgia, though his name did not initially appear in ICE's online detainee locator. His cousin continues raising funds for his legal defense.

José Arturo Vilchez, a Venezuelan national, was detained by police during a traffic stop in Austin, Texas and transferred to ICE. According to his sister, Vilchez was stopped while driving his daughter to a heart specialist appointment; the child was born with a heart condition. His sister stated that Vilchez has no prior legal problems, has never been a public charge, and even paid for his sister-in-law's delivery expenses. She characterized the stop as racially motivated and said the family is now without their primary source of support.

Luiz, a husband and father of four, was arrested by local police on July 24, 2026, while attending court to pay a traffic ticket. He was immediately reported to ICE and is now in ICE custody awaiting an immigration hearing scheduled for October 1, 2026. His wife Simone is left alone caring for their four children, including Lucas (16, autistic), Guilherme (13), Sarah (6, U.S. citizen), and Monica (22 months, U.S. citizen). With no family support in the U.S. and very limited income, Simone faces overwhelming financial and emotional pressure while friends work with an immigration lawyer to secure Luiz's release.

Eight people were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents Thursday morning in Henderson. At least three of those arrested are members of Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church, described by the pastor as prominent and longstanding members of the Spanish-speaking Catholic community. Henderson County sheriff's deputies assisted federal agents in the operation, which lasted from approximately 5:30 a.m. to noon.

More than 50 employees at Premier Packing, a seafood processing plant in Lynden, Washington, have been detained by ICE since March 2026 through a series of coordinated arrests designed to bypass a new state law requiring employers receive five business days' notice before I-9 inspections. The detentions have occurred through multiple methods: roadside stops and checkpoints on county roads using unmarked vehicles with flashing lights, arrests during employees' commutes, and on July 22-23, ICE agents posed as members of a religious organization handing out free water bottles across the street from the business to lure workers off the property before arresting at least two to four employees. Local volunteers documented an uptick in ICE detentions in Whatcom County, increasing from two to four individuals per week to approximately two arrests per day, with advocates estimating about a dozen of the detained workers have since been deported. The business owner acknowledged that while some detainees may have committed crimes, "a lot of people that haven't done anything wrong are getting picked up too," and said there is "a better way." Immigration advocates characterize the operation as a pattern of intimidation tactics designed to circumvent legal workplace raid procedures.

Luis Andrade-Garcia, 20, a Texas Christian University student from El Salvador who arrived in the U.S. at age 3, was arrested on June 28 in Arlington after police spotted his parked vehicle near Meadowbrook Park and he drove away. He was charged with disorderly conduct and fleeing from a police officer, later pleaded down to a class C misdemeanor, and paid approximately $200 in fines. An immigration hold was placed on him while in custody at Tarrant County Jail. ICE took him into custody on July 10 and deported him to El Salvador on July 22. Andrade-Garcia was a double major in accounting and business information systems at TCU, graduated as valedictorian from Sam Houston High School in 2024, ran cross country, received multiple scholarships, and mentored young Latino students in the community. Members of his fraternity, Lambda Theta Phi, described him as 'genuine, hardworking, selfless, honest, dependable and humble.' According to ICE, Andrade-Garcia had entered the U.S. in 2009 and was ordered removed by an immigration judge in March 2010 but remained in the country. His fraternity chapter launched a 'Lambda Week of Action' and created a GoFundMe that raised over $11,000 to assist him and his family.