Human Impact Project

Leonela Liliana Gomez Hernandez, a 27-year-old in her eighth month of pregnancy, was detained by ICE on a Wednesday while traveling to a prenatal appointment at a clinic in South Central Los Angeles and was deported to Nicaragua on Friday morning. She called a friend around 1 p.m. on the day of her detention to report her apprehension by federal immigration agents. Her husband said he could not locate her in ICE's database and only learned of her situation when she called him while already traveling to Central America. She told him that federal immigration agents had pressured her to sign her own deportation papers.

Under President Trump's administration, the Trump administration has detained and transferred asylum-seekers to out-of-state detention centers before they receive final removal orders. This represents a change from previous administrations' practice of allowing asylum-seekers to remain in the U.S. during court proceedings.

A 26-year-old El Salvadoran who entered the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor in 2016 was arrested by ICE without a warrant on January 7, 2026, immediately after being released from local custody on a misdemeanor methamphetamine possession charge. He had been living in the community for nine years after being released by ORR, had approved Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, and a pending adjustment of status application. The court ordered his release within three days, finding his detention without a pre-deprivation hearing violated his Fifth Amendment due process rights.

According to an Instagram post, two individuals (described as a father and son) were detained by ICE agents who arrived in unmarked cars without a warrant. The post alleges the agents blocked in the vehicle, broke a window, and used force during the detention, including choking one individual with a jacket.

A 17-year-old girl was detained by ICE agents along with her mother after agents entered their apartment complex. The family was transported to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, where the girl remained detained as of the article's publication.

A fifth-grade girl from Valley View Elementary was detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, along with her mother and stepfather. The school district lost contact with the family on January 9, 2026, and did not know where they were. Her detention was discovered when two schoolmates, who had been detained and then released, recognized her in the detention facility cafeteria. As of the article's publication, the girl remained detained at Dilley.

Rebecca Pinyerd, a 70-year-old Filipina lawful permanent resident who has lived in the United States for over 40 years, was scheduled for deportation to the Philippines but the flight was cancelled after airline officials determined she was medically unfit to fly due to advanced kidney disease, thyroid complications, and uncontrolled hypertension. She remains in immigration detention at Clay County Jail in Indiana with no new deportation date announced. Her family has expressed concerns about her access to medical care while in custody and has called for an independent medical evaluation.

A 5-year-old girl who is a U.S. citizen was taken into ICE custody along with her mother in the Oak Hill area of Austin after police responded to a disturbance call. Officers identified that the mother had an outstanding ICE administrative warrant and notified federal authorities, who then took both mother and daughter into custody. The family says no effort was made to contact relatives or involve Child Protective Services before the child was transferred into ICE custody. Relatives have since been unable to locate the child in government databases and are seeking custody arrangements so she can stay with family while her mother remains detained.

Roberto Hernandez, a 62-year-old undocumented immigrant with no criminal record, was detained by ICE during a traffic stop in Minnesota on January 5, 2026, while driving to work as a cook. He has been held in a New Mexico detention facility for nearly four months and now faces deportation despite having lived in the United States for nearly 30 years and being in the process of applying for permanent residency sponsored by his son, a Minneapolis police detective. Hernandez was arrested during Operation Metro Surge without a warrant or removal order. His case reflects a broader pattern in which the majority of ICE detainees have not been convicted of crimes.

Dinah Marie Chollet, a South Carolina restaurant co-owner, was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor after joining a private group chat with Summerville High School students planning a walkout against ICE. Chollet stated she joined to express support for the students' activism, shared safety information, and then left the chat. She was arrested on February 12 and released on $1,000 bond, with an initial court appearance scheduled for April 14.

Gabriel Espinoza Diaz, a 22-year-old undocumented community college student who had lived in the U.S. since age 4, was detained by ICE after a confrontation with security at the Strat Hotel in Las Vegas in January 2026 following a disputed threatening text message. Although charges were dropped and a judge granted voluntary departure, ICE kept him in custody and deported him to Mexico. He was transferred to an Arizona facility in a pre-dawn transfer without family notification and left at the border in Nogales, Sonora. Now living in Tijuana, Espinoza has abandoned his dream of becoming a teacher in the United States.

Rev. James Eliud Ngahu Mwangi, a Kenyan-born Episcopal priest serving as assistant rector in the Episcopal Diocese of Texas and employed as a correctional officer with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, was detained by ICE on October 24-25, 2025, while returning home from work in Huntsville, Texas. ICE alleged he had overstayed his B1 visa, despite Mwangi holding a valid work permit verified through E-Verify and lawful employment status. His family was unable to locate him for several days before learning he was being held at a detention facility in Conroe, Texas. The Episcopal Diocese of Texas publicly disputed ICE's claims, called for due process and humane treatment, and coordinated legal counsel to document his employment and immigration records. Despite his pending asylum application, Mwangi was denied bond and spent months in detention he described as punitive and emotionally draining before voluntarily departing to Kenya in early January 2026, a decision his attorney said was meant to preserve his eligibility to legally re-enter the United States in the future.

Pedro Gutierrez, 43, a Durango resident for 22 years, was arrested by ICE agents on New Year's Eve while driving home from the gym. He was pulled over blocks from his home near Needham Elementary School by agents who called him by name and forcibly removed him from his vehicle in front of his 16-year-old daughter Jazmin. He was taken into custody at the Denver Contract Detention Facility in Aurora. Gutierrez has no criminal record and has worked in Durango as a dishwasher, baker, and painter; he is married with two adult children and serves as music director at a local church.

A Houston man who is a third-generation U.S. citizen says he was stopped by ICE agents on January 1 while driving to work near Veterans Memorial Drive and Beltway 8. The man, David Flores, believes he was racially profiled based on his work truck and was surrounded by eight ICE agents in multiple vehicles. After showing his passport and refusing to provide his Social Security number, the agents left abruptly when Flores began recording the encounter.

Isabel, a 41-year-old single mother of two from Honduras with a pending asylum case and valid five-year work permit, was arrested at her monthly immigration check-in in Bloomington. She was detained for four days across three facilities before a federal judge ordered her release with her belongings. However, ICE returned only her wallet and checks; her work permit, state ID, daughter's U.S. passport, and over $700 in checks were withheld. Despite the judge's order, ICE has not returned the documents, leaving her unable to work or travel without fear of arrest.

Two dogs were left confined in an Oklahoma apartment without food or water for approximately a week after ICE agents detained their owners during an enforcement operation in January 2026. A neighbor alerted the property manager after noticing the distressed animals, and animal welfare officers found the dogs frightened, in a damaged apartment, and without sustenance. The responding officer stated that ICE did not notify local animal control of the pets' presence, despite what he said is standard protocol to inform animal control when animals are left behind during arrests.

Alexander Perez, a 15-year-old from the Dominican Republic, was detained with his mother and 14-year-old brother when immigration agents stopped their bus traveling from Los Angeles to Houston and checked everyone's immigration status. He had been detained for four months at Dilley by the time of interviews. He reported inadequate school instruction with mixed-age classes limited to 12 students for one hour, lessons below his level, and an uncomfortable interrogation about immigration policy during a social studies class. His mother Teresa was appealing a denied asylum petition.

Ariana Velasquez, a 14-year-old from Honduras who moved to the U.S. with her mother, Stephanie Valladares, at age 7, has been held at the Dilley immigration detention center for about 45 days. Valladares had applied for asylum and later married a neighbor from Honduras already living in the U.S., with whom she had two more children, Gianna ("Gigi") and Jacob, whom Ariana cared for after school. Ariana, a freshman at Hicksville High School, has fallen behind in her classes and misses her siblings and her favorite sign language teacher; her mother installed a kitchen security camera so she could check on the younger children from work, and Jacob has been talking to the camera hoping to reach his mother. Ariana has reported severe depression, sadness, and inadequate medical care with long wait times for medication.

Jacob, a 9-year-old boy with a pending asylum case, was separated from his mother when she was detained at an ICE check-in appointment in January while Jacob and his father waited in the office. His mother had no criminal record and was detained for approximately five months at Adelanto ICE Processing Center before being released on a habeas corpus petition in May. Jacob experienced severe trauma including sleep disturbances, inability to eat or attend school, and emotional dysregulation following the detention.

Jacob's mother, a Colombian national with a pending asylum application and no criminal record, was detained at an ICE check-in appointment while her son Jacob and husband waited in the room. She was held for almost five months at Adelanto ICE Processing Center before being released on a habeas corpus petition in May. Jacob, who had already experienced trauma fleeing paramilitary threats and witnessing violence during migration, developed severe separation anxiety, depression, insomnia, and behavioral problems following his mother's detention.