Human Impact Project

An asylum applicant who had been granted humanitarian parole in 2015 was arrested by ICE near her home on June 9, 2026, and detained at California City Detention Center. The court found that respondents failed to provide constitutionally required notice and opportunity to be heard before revoking her parole. The court granted her habeas corpus petition and ordered her immediate release, permanently enjoining respondents from re-detaining her without pre-deprivation constitutional protections including notice, a timely hearing, and legal representation.

Sami Hamdi, a 35-year-old British political journalist and commentator, was detained by ICE at San Francisco International Airport on October 27, 2025, after his visitor visa was revoked on October 24 without prior notice. U.S. officials cited comments he made about the Middle East, Gaza, and Israel during a speaking tour—including an address at a CAIR gala in Sacramento on October 26—as the reason for the visa revocation and detention. Held in an ICE facility with approximately 90 other detainees, Hamdi received minimal contact with his family and was initially denied medical care when he became ill. After approximately two weeks in custody, federal judges found serious breaches of freedom of speech and ordered his release without charge. His wife subsequently warned British citizens, particularly those planning to attend the 2026 World Cup in the U.S., about the risks of traveling to the country under expanded ICE enforcement operations.

A Guatemalan national with familial ties to the United States was taken into ICE custody on June 7, 2026, based on a reinstated 2014 removal order. Despite expressing fear of returning to Guatemala due to widespread violence, ICE failed to provide the mandatory reasonable fear interview required under 8 C.F.R. § 241.8(e) during his one month of detention. The court granted a preliminary injunction ordering ICE to immediately refer him to an asylum officer for a reasonable fear determination within three days and to file a compliance status report.

A Guatemalan citizen was arrested and detained on June 6, 2026, at Moshannon Valley Processing Center after entering the United States without inspection around 2012. ICE agents and local police determined he was unlawfully present and detained him under what they claimed was mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A). The court ruled that he, as a noncitizen already present in the country rather than an applicant for admission, is subject to discretionary detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) and granted his petition for a bond hearing before a neutral immigration judge within 10 days.

A Salvadoran man who has lived in the United States since around July 2005 was arrested and detained on or around June 2, 2026, after ICE agents and a local police officer determined he was unlawfully present in the country. He is currently held at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center. He filed a habeas corpus petition and a motion for a temporary restraining order, arguing he is subject to discretionary detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) rather than mandatory detention under § 1225(b)(2), entitling him to a bond hearing. He also alleged he had not received adequate medical care for serious medical conditions while detained, though the government stated he had attended at least seven medical appointments and had a general surgery appointment scheduled. The court agreed that his detention is governed by § 1226(a) and ordered that he receive an individualized bond hearing before an immigration judge within 30 days. The court denied his request for a temporary restraining order without prejudice, finding he had not shown irreparable harm was more likely than not absent emergency relief. The case was closed on the docket without prejudice, with the court retaining jurisdiction over further proceedings.

A noncitizen who entered the United States in December 2024 and resided here for over one year is at the center of this case. He was served with a Notice to Appear and paroled from custody into the United States. In June 2026, he was apprehended by immigration authorities and taken into ICE custody. An Immigration Judge ordered his removal, and he had until August 20, 2026 to appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals. He filed a pro se habeas corpus petition challenging his mandatory detention as violating his Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights. The court found that because he was previously paroled from custody and had established ties to the United States through his residency, the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment guaranteed him an individualized assessment of his flight risk and dangerousness before detention. The court granted his habeas corpus petition and ordered his immediate release from custody under reasonable conditions, with a requirement that respondents submit a status report by August 11, 2026, and return all identification documents and personal belongings.

An Indian citizen who entered the United States on May 4, 2023 seeking asylum from political persecution was placed in removal proceedings and released on his own recognizance. After over three years of compliance with release conditions, he was re-detained by ICE on May 28, 2026 following a scheduled immigration appointment without written notice or a finding of changed circumstances. The court granted his habeas petition, ordering his immediate release and requiring the government to provide seven days' notice and hold a pre-deprivation bond hearing with clear and convincing evidence of flight risk or danger to the community before any future detention.

A Venezuelan maintenance worker at Grandview Resort in Lake Placid was arrested by ICE agents on May 28 when he arrived for work. He has lived in Lake Placid for over two years, holds valid work authorization through a five-year work permit tied to temporary protected status, has never missed an immigration check-in, and has no criminal history. He was one of 14 workers detained during the operation at the resort and was transported 12 hours to Batania Detention Center near Buffalo, where agents restrained detainees and he was held with only water for the journey. Unable to contact his family for three days, he was released on bail after approximately two weeks in detention and now wears an ankle monitor. His wife collapsed upon learning of his arrest. He is pursuing a pending political asylum case and reported experiencing daily fear and trauma, avoiding locations where he was detained.

A man who entered the United States as an unaccompanied child in 2016 was initially placed in Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) custody. He was released after ORR determined he posed neither a flight risk nor danger to the community. On May 27, 2026, ICE re-detained him following multiple law enforcement encounters. The court granted his habeas corpus petition, finding that his prior release created a protected liberty interest requiring a pre-deprivation hearing before re-detention, and ordered his immediate release.

Alina Rosales Aguirreurreta, a physician and daughter of historic Cuban general Ulises Rosales del Toro, was detained by ICE in South Florida in May 2026. She had entered the United States in 2023 on a B1/B2 tourist visa issued at the U.S. Embassy in Havana and was living in South Florida while seeking to regularize her immigration status. ICE confirmed her detention but did not publicly disclose the specific reason for the detention or the facility location.

A Chinese national lawfully admitted on a B-2 visa in 2015 who overstayed and subsequently applied for adjustment of status was arrested by ICE officers without prior notice or warrant on May 26, 2026, during her USCIS adjustment of status interview. ICE alleged she was being arrested for visa overstay. After a bond hearing on June 17, 2026, where an immigration judge denied her release, she filed a habeas corpus petition. The federal court granted her petition on July 1, 2026, finding she had a liberty interest in remaining free from detention and ordered her immediate release, enjoining future detention without notice and a pre-detention hearing.

Anabella Gyasi, 38, a pregnant Ghanaian woman, and her 4-year-old son who has a physical abnormality affecting his hands arrived at Dulles International Airport on valid tourist visas to seek medical care for her son at Akron Children's Hospital in Ohio. At customs, she disclosed a fear of returning to Ghana because of persecution she faced for her son's disability. CBP officers took them into custody as asylum seekers after she stated under oath that she did not intend to return to Ghana, which led officials to nullify her tourist visa. Gyasi, who was about four months pregnant, was held in a windowless room at the airport with her son for more than a week without adequate food or medical care. She was twice transported to a hospital for treatment. DHS denied her care was inadequate. The ACLU of Virginia filed an emergency petition, and Judge Leonie Brinkema called the detention a "terrible situation," saying Gyasi should not spend another night at the airport. A Justice Department attorney said immigration authorities were prepared to deport Gyasi and her son back to Ghana that night. CBP had interviewed her and judged she did not have a "credible fear" of returning. The judge ordered the government to confirm her departure and ruled the petition moot. Gyasi and her son were deported to Ghana.

Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez, a 42-year-old DACA recipient who had lived in the United States for 27 years after arriving in 1998 at age 15, was arrested and deported to Mexico on February 18, 2025, during a green card interview at a USCIS office in Sacramento, California. Immigration agents cited a 1998 expedited removal order from her initial border crossing, despite her valid DACA status, lack of criminal history, and previous federal approvals to remain in the country. She was removed within 24 hours. Following a lawsuit by her attorneys, U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins issued a temporary restraining order on March 23, 2025, ruling the deportation a "flagrant violation" of her DACA protections and due process rights. Estrada Juarez was granted humanitarian parole and reentered the United States on March 30, 2025, at the San Ysidro border crossing, where she was reunited with her daughter.

Everlee Amelia Wihongi, a 37-year-old New Zealand citizen and lawful permanent resident who moved to the U.S. at age six, was detained by CBP at Los Angeles International Airport on April 10, 2026, upon returning from a family trip to New Zealand for an uncle's 80th birthday. DHS cited a 2014 felony conviction for THC possession in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, as grounds for detention, saying it rendered her inadmissible. During her transfer to the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona, she was forced to sleep on the floor while shackled for 14 hours, denied food and water, and not permitted to bathe. She was transferred between facilities in California, Texas, Montana, and Arizona without notice to her family or attorney, causing her to miss a scheduled legal meeting. Her brother Avaiiki said ICE was "largely unresponsive" and offered the family little more than instructions for his sister to "stay compliant." New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said consular officials were assisting but could not intervene in U.S. immigration decisions. DHS said Wihongi was placed in removal proceedings and will remain in custody.

Z.M.A.V. and K.S.R.A., two individuals identified by A-numbers 208-272-491 and 208-272-492, were detained by immigration authorities on May 20, 2026. They had previously been released on an Order of Supervision. The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California granted their habeas corpus petition and ordered their immediate release back to the same supervisory conditions that were in effect prior to their detention.

Yanquiel Lima came to the U.S. from Cuba in 2023 under a humanitarian visa program that Trump ended in 2024. He was arrested shortly after the program's termination and denied a bond hearing under ICE's mandatory detention policy. He spent 10 months at Pearsall detention facility in a room with 64 other detainees sharing two toilets and three showers. He reported being served spoiled food and hearing racist comments from guards. He was placed in solitary confinement for six days after complaining about conditions.

A Mexican national who entered the United States in 2003 at age 17 and lived in the country for approximately 23 years was arrested by ICE on May 18, 2026, and charged with inadmissibility under INA § 212(a)(6)(A)(i). He was detained without a bond hearing based on the government's interpretation of 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2). The federal court granted his habeas corpus petition and ordered his immediate release, finding that his detention should have been governed by § 1226(a), which provides for a discretionary detention process with bond hearing rights.

A Mexican citizen who entered the United States without inspection in November 1986 and lived in the country for nearly 40 years was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on May 11, 2026. The government initially claimed he was subject to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2), but the court found his detention governed by § 1226(a). The court granted in part the petition for habeas corpus, ordering respondents to provide him with an individualized bond hearing before an immigration judge within seven days, while denying his request for immediate release.

Roman Husar, 37, a Ukrainian artist who arrived in the U.S. in 2023 with his wife, son, and cat under a Biden administration Ukrainian sponsorship program, was arrested in Texas in September for marijuana possession while driving home from Burning Man. After ICE detained him, authorities attempted to deport him to Ukraine despite his conscientious objector status and risk of imprisonment or death if forced to return to the war zone. Husar was denied a bond hearing and assigned to an immigration judge with no immigration experience. Despite holding letters of support from U.S. citizen relatives and church pastors, and despite his attorney's assessment that he had a strong asylum case, Husar withdrew his asylum application and accepted voluntary departure to Turkey or Poland.

Juan Tablante, father of Atlanta United midfielder Moisés Tablante, was detained by ICE during a traffic stop while traveling from Orlando, Florida to Atlanta, Georgia. Tablante has been an asylum applicant since 2016, holds a valid work permit and driver's license, and has no criminal record. He remains in immigration detention despite his pending asylum status.