Human Impact Project

A 77-year-old Iranian man with a rare, life-threatening liver disease was detained at Otay Mesa Detention Center and placed in solitary confinement despite doctors recommending his release. He had lived in the U.S. under supervised release for over two decades and had multiple health conditions including sleep apnea, severe diabetes, and hearing loss. While detained for six weeks, he lost 10 pounds, experienced high blood sugar readings, and was denied essential CPAP equipment after staff reported losing parts of the machine. Two doctors and a nurse practitioner wrote letters urging his release. A federal judge ordered his release in January after finding ICE officers violated his due process rights.

Eduardo Jose Alves, an Angolan asylum seeker living in Lewiston, Maine, who entered the U.S. on a valid tourist visa and filed an affirmative asylum application, was detained by ICE agents at his home on June 20, 2026. That same day, a court issued an emergency order staying his transfer out of Maine for 72 hours, but ICE moved him to Plymouth County Correctional Center in Massachusetts within two hours of the order. Attorneys raised questions about whether agents had a valid warrant and whether they improperly pressured his 15-year-old daughter to allow entry into the home. U.S. District Judge Stacey Neumann later found the detention violated the existing court order and that his out-of-state transfer impaired his right to counsel ahead of an imminent bond hearing, and ordered his immediate release from ICE custody. The dispute became a flashpoint between immigration authorities and attorneys challenging the administration's enforcement tactics.

Carmen Aracely Pablo Sequen, a Guatemalan asylum-seeker, was arrested by ICE immediately after leaving a routine hearing at San Francisco Immigration Court. She filed a class-action lawsuit, Pablo Sequen v. Albarran, challenging Trump administration policies that allowed ICE to arrest immigrants at immigration court hearings, alleging at least 89 people were arrested at the San Francisco court over a six-month period in 2025. Plaintiffs in the case included asylum applicants from Peru, Guatemala, and Colombia who were detained right after their court appearances. A federal judge in San Francisco later ruled that the policies authorizing widespread civil immigration arrests at courthouses, and allowing migrants to be held in short-term detention cells for up to three days, violated the Administrative Procedure Act. The ruling vacated the policies on a nationwide basis.

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.

Loreto Javar, a 76-year-old lawful permanent resident from the Philippines who has lived in the U.S. for over three decades, was released from the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma after more than two months in detention. The retired hotel worker from Fife, who has Stage 4 prostate cancer, was detained by ICE during his U.S. citizenship interview in Tukwila after officials said he failed to disclose a decades-old criminal conviction from the Philippines on his original visa application. During detention he was fed only foods advocates say were not nutritious enough for someone with cancer, and his daughter said he now suffers from PTSD and is afraid to leave his house. He was released on recognizance with an ankle monitor and still faces deportation proceedings, with a check-in and a master hearing scheduled for later in September.

A noncitizen is detained at the Denver Contract Detention Facility in Aurora, Colorado. He filed a verified petition for writ of habeas corpus seeking immediate release or a bond hearing where the government must justify continued detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a). The court ordered respondents to respond within seven days and issued an order preventing removal from Colorado or the United States pending resolution of the case.

A man facing removal to Armenia filed an emergency ex parte application for a temporary restraining order in federal court to prevent his transfer or removal from the United States pending adjudication of his habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. The Central District of California granted the application on July 17, 2026, enjoining respondents from transferring him outside the Central District of California or removing him from the United States. The court ordered respondents to show cause by July 20, 2026 why a preliminary injunction should not issue, requiring them to specifically address the facts and circumstances detailed by petitioner's counsel regarding how he will be removed to Armenia. Petitioner's reply is due by July 22, 2026, unless the parties stipulate to a different briefing schedule.

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.

Activists from People Over Papers shared video footage claiming ICE agents detained a documented U.S. Army veteran in Marydel, Maryland on June 23, 2026. The man's brother, who filmed the encounter, said officers restrained the veteran in retaliation for observing them, shouting that he was "fully legal" before officers allegedly threatened to tase him for filming. ICE had not publicly commented on the allegations, and it remained unclear why the man was detained or whether charges had been filed.

An immigration detainee was held at Crow Wing County Jail under immigration enforcement authority. He filed a habeas corpus petition challenging the lawfulness and duration of his detention. The federal court granted a preliminary injunction preventing his removal from Minnesota pending resolution of claims regarding detention authority and custody legality.

A woman is currently detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the El Valle Detention Center in Willacy County, Texas. She is subject to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A). In her habeas corpus petition, she contests the government's ability to detain her without a bond hearing, arguing that the application of the mandatory detention statute violates her constitutional rights under the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The court reviewed her petition and indicated it is inclined to deny her request for relief, citing analogous cases. However, the court noted that the Fifth Circuit is currently considering a similar due process challenge in Sosnava Rodriguez v. Ortega and decided to await that decision before ruling on her claims. The court denied her request for a preliminary injunction or other immediate injunctive relief.

A Haitian asylum seeker in her 40s, who had lived in Brazil before entering the U.S. in June 2024 on humanitarian parole, was detained for over six months at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility after ICE arrested her following a domestic disturbance in Massachusetts. She had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and severe anxiety during a prior psychiatric hospitalization, and a hearing revealed conflicting assessments of her mental health among the facility's mental health providers, a corrections officer, and outside clinicians, a dispute the judge did not resolve. U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Lanthier ruled that her prolonged detention without an individualized hearing violated her Fifth Amendment due process rights and ordered her release, giving her legal team time to arrange her return to Massachusetts, though the judge did not rule on claims of deliberate indifference to her mental health needs.

On June 23, 2026, ICE agents and Greene County Sheriff's deputies conducted a large-scale immigration enforcement operation in Ruckersville, Virginia, near Routes 29 and 33. ICE agents rode in sheriff's vehicles and conducted numerous traffic stops targeting work trucks, resulting in dozens of arrests. Many vehicles were abandoned or towed during the operation. Detainees were processed in sheds behind the sheriff's office. An attorney attempting to observe and offer legal representation was stopped at gunpoint by ICE agents and cited for multiple violations. The operation occurred eight days before new Virginia state laws prohibiting local law enforcement from assisting federal immigration authorities were set to take effect.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted an operation at a Sheetz gas station on Freedom Road in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania on Tuesday morning, June 23, 2026. ICE officers, assisted by Butler County Sheriff's deputies, detained at least one person from a white van. Witnesses reported that ICE agents broke the vehicle's window to remove the individual within minutes. Video from the scene showed masked agents placing the person in handcuffs and loading them into a white van. Sheriff Slupe confirmed the person was wanted by ICE but did not provide details about the reason or the individual's immigration status.

Following the September 11 attacks, over 1,000 South Asian and Arab men were arrested in sweeps across New York City and nationwide, primarily for visa overstays. Most were held in detention for months with limited contact with families and faced physical and verbal abuse, particularly at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. A Justice Department Inspector General review found the "hold until cleared" policy meant detainees stayed for months despite no evidence of terrorist connections, with officials questioning the legality of prolonged detentions.

Aliaksei Shcharbachenia, a 35-year-old asylum-seeker from Belarus, has spent nearly a year at Farmville Detention Center in Virginia, where he says he is experiencing medical neglect as a tumor grows on his arm. He claims the U.S. government attempted to illegally deport him back to Belarus in a botched operation, and that despite requesting specialist care in December, he has not received a diagnosis or seen a specialist for the growth.

A federal judge ordered the immediate release of seven immigrants who were separated from family members during the Trump administration's 2018 border enforcement crackdown and were later detained again by immigration officials. Two of the seven had already been released without explanation; the remaining five were ordered freed by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw after the ACLU argued their detention violated a 2023 court settlement.

ICE agents conducted enforcement operations in Page County, Virginia on June 12, 2026, detaining 16 people in coordination with local law enforcement. Among those arrested was a 48-year-old woman who had lived in the U.S. for 18 years, was married to a U.S. citizen, and was in the process of obtaining her paperwork. She was detained at her home shortly after attending a church service at the REC Center, with her son present during the arrest. Pastor Audre King witnessed multiple ICE operations throughout Luray that evening and subsequently organized community efforts to educate immigrants about their legal rights.

Fatou Traore, a University of Iowa custodian, was detained by ICE agents outside her sister's home in Iowa City as she arrived to pick her up for work. Plainclothes agents in unmarked vehicles blocked her car, pulled her out, handcuffed her, and took her phone and wallet; her keys were later returned. She has since been transferred through detention centers in Cedar Rapids, Hardin County, and Omaha before being moved to ICE's Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana. Her husband and four sons, ranging from a toddler to a 19-year-old, are managing without her, with funds being raised to support the children and help her resettle in Mexico.

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.