Human Impact Project

21-year-old Judas Rivera, who immigrated to Arizona as a child, was detained by ICE agents on October 21, 2025, while traveling to work at Chick-fil-A. ICE initially and erroneously recorded his country of origin as Afghanistan instead of Mexico, a discrepancy only corrected after media inquiry. Rivera is currently held at the Eloy Detention Center awaiting a court hearing scheduled for November 7, 2025, that will determine his deportation status, as his family works to stop his deportation.

A Mexican immigrant father of five, who has lived and worked in the U.S. for two decades without a criminal record, was detained during an Oct. 19 ICE raid on a horse track near Wilder, Idaho, that swept up more than 100 people. He has since been held in Wyoming's Uinta and Sweetwater county jails, and his attorney is petitioning a federal judge for his release or a bond hearing while his immigration case proceeds. His daughter, a U.S. citizen who witnessed the raid while caring for her baby, said her father 'works his butt off' for the family and that her younger siblings, ages 15 and 11, were handcuffed with zip ties for hours and traumatized by the operation. A federal judge has since ordered the government to provide the man a bond hearing within seven days or release him.

A 57-year-old Mexican father of four was detained at Broadview Processing Center for four days in severely overcrowded conditions before signing a voluntary departure form, unaware his attorney had secured an emergency hearing that could have allowed him to stay. He was deported to Mexico the following day after waiving his right to appeal. The case illustrates concerns among immigration attorneys that voluntary departures may not be truly voluntary, with immigrants reporting coercion due to language barriers and lack of legal knowledge.

Alexander Villeda, 30, an El Salvadoran national, was arrested during Operation Midway Blitz at the Swap-O-Rama market in October 2025, eight days after marrying Alexa Ramírez. He is being held at an immigration detention center in Battle Creek, Michigan, fighting his immigration case and hoping to secure release on bond. Villeda arrived in the U.S. on a tourist visa in 2015 and has no criminal record. His wife was deported to Mexico, and he faces pressure to self-deport to El Salvador, which would prevent them from reuniting.

Alexa Ramírez, 38, a Mexican national who had been living and working in Chicago, was arrested during Operation Midway Blitz at the Swap-O-Rama market in October 2025, just eight days after marrying her husband Alexander Villeda. She was held for four days at the Broadview federal immigration processing center, where she signed a form agreeing to self-deport. She was deported to Mexico two days later and is now living on her parents' farm in Oaxaca, unable to reunite with her husband who remains detained in Michigan.

Ihsanullah Garay, a 38-year-old Afghan national and doctoral student with stage II brain cancer, was detained by ICE on September 14 in Methuen after being stopped while delivering food. At the time of his detention, Garay was undergoing radiation therapy at Boston Medical Center in Boston for his cancer treatment. Though his student visa expired in 2021, he has legal work authorization through 2029, maintains no criminal record, and has applied for political asylum citing Taliban threats. His lawyer stated he has an exceptionally strong asylum claim and has done everything correctly. ICE subsequently transferred Garay to a detention facility in Georgia, hundreds of miles from his medical care team, preventing him from attending critical appointments. His bond hearing scheduled for October 16 in Chelmsford immigration court was canceled. According to his lawyer, Garay's health has deteriorated significantly in custody—he now requires a wheelchair and experiences daily seizures.

Maricruz Andres, 24, and her 3-month-old baby were inside a Gresham apartment when ICE agents repeatedly shouted a name from outside for over an hour. When the family did not come out, armed officers forced their way in, drew rifles as they entered the bedroom where Andres and others had taken refuge, and arrested two men. Andres said the agents displayed no warrant. The incident occurred as ICE enforcement in Oregon has intensified, with reports of agents pulling Latino high school students from a car at gunpoint twice in one day in Hillsboro, arresting construction workers at job sites, and conducting operations in public spaces and businesses.

Chong Leng Vue, 45, a Hmong man who has lived in the United States for 44 years since arriving as an infant, was detained by ICE on October 16 at an immigration office in Atlanta after appearing for a routine appointment in response to a mailed notice. Vue was born stateless in a Thai refugee camp after his family fled persecution in Laos during the Secret War; he has no ties outside the U.S. and is the sole provider for his family of seven, all U.S. citizens. DHS cited his 2004 removal order related to prior assault and firearm convictions. Vue is currently held at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, where his wife reports cold conditions, limited access to showers and hygiene supplies, and difficulty communicating with family and attorneys. His wife said the detention has forced the family to withdraw their children from extracurricular activities and left them struggling financially.

Juan Barbosa Gomez, a 60-year-old Mexican national with a valid work visa and clean criminal record, was arrested by ICE officers on October 15 in Portland, Oregon. His family claims the arrest was wrongful and says he has lived and worked legally in the U.S. for over 30 years. Since his arrest, Barbosa has been transferred between multiple detention facilities across three states and does not appear on ICE's online detainee locator, leaving his family unable to locate him or mount a legal defense.

Evelyn, an 18-year-old U.S. citizen, was pulled from a car and detained by ICE agents on October 10, 2025, in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Video showed an ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officer throw her to the ground and kneel on her neck and upper back as she screamed that she was a citizen and not resisting. According to her aunt, Evelyn and two friends had been following and honking at agents' vehicles to warn neighbors of ICE activity before being chased and detained. She and her friends were held for hours in the Hoffman Estates Police Department parking lot without explanation before being released without charges; Evelyn was later taken away in an ambulance. Her parents, Jazmin and Gerardo, said officers ignored their daughter's pleas of citizenship, with Gerardo saying 'I couldn't protect my child.' Evelyn told the Chicago Tribune, 'I don't like the way they're treating everybody... it's not about race or ethnicity — we're all humans.' A DHS spokesperson falsely claimed the video showed a year-old, unrelated Chicago burglary arrest, a claim PolitiFact rated False after confirming the footage depicted the October 10 incident. The family is considering legal action.

A 15-year-old U.S. citizen was detained by Customs and Border Patrol agents on Chicago's East Side after federal agents deployed tear gas at a crash scene. According to his attorneys, the teen was slammed to the ground, zip-tied, and held in a garage for five hours without being booked, read his rights, or allowed to contact his mother. DHS stated the teen was arrested for allegedly throwing an egg at an agent, taken to an FBI field office where he admitted to the action, and released without charges. A 16-year-old U.S. citizen born and raised in Chicago was arrested and body-slammed by federal immigration agents during the East Side operation. His mother, Juanita Garnica, reported receiving a call that her son had been beaten, body-slammed, and taken into custody, but was not informed of his whereabouts or status. He was among multiple people arrested during the federal operation and subsequent protest.

ICE stopped and arrested 3 individuals who were traveling to work at a Family Dollar store on Robinson Avenue in Springdale, Arkansas. Officers broke the car windows during the stop. ICE was reported to have been spotted in other areas of the city that same morning.

Maria Greeley, a 44-year-old U.S. citizen and Chicago resident born at Illinois Masonic Hospital, was detained by three masked federal agents outside the Beach Bar on Ohio Street after finishing a double shift in early October 2025. The agents restrained her with zip ties and questioned her for approximately one hour, challenging the authenticity of her passport and telling her she "doesn't look like" her last name Greeley, despite her carrying documentation proving her citizenship. After about an hour, the agents released her. Following the incident, Greeley reported experiencing psychological distress and said she felt compelled to "lay low."

Fidel Rivera, an undocumented immigrant who worked in construction in North Carolina for over 20 years, self-deported to Mexico on October 13, 2025, to avoid potential immigration detention. His family, including his U.S. citizen wife and two daughters, are spending the holidays separated as Rivera must remain in Mexico for at least 10 years before he can reapply for legal status.

A 15-year-old boy with autism and special needs, Emmanuel González Garcia, went missing on October 4, 2025, after wandering away from his mother Maria García's fruit stand in Houston. Houston Police Department located him the next day but did not connect him with the existing missing person report due to a name discrepancy (Manuel vs. Emmanuel). HPD contacted ICE and transferred the boy to federal immigration custody. García was without knowledge of her son's whereabouts for nearly a week until an immigration attorney intervened. The teen is now in Office of Refugee Resettlement custody and is facing emergency appendix surgery. An investigation into the Houston Police Department's procedures was initiated following the incident.

Guilherme Lemes Cardoso E Silva, a 35-year-old Brazilian visual artist and former attorney based in Sausalito, was detained by ICE agents on July 11, 2025, while driving on San Juan Island, Washington, to pick up his 4-year-old daughter. His wife, Rachel Leidig, who is an American makeup artist 7 months pregnant with their first child due in October, says ICE agents surrounded Silva's car with approximately six unmarked vehicles, refused to show a warrant, confiscated his phone while he was recording, and used physical force during the arrest, pushing him against the car and handcuffing him. Silva, who entered the U.S. on a valid six-month visa eight years ago and overstayed his status, had no criminal record and was in the final stages of applying for a green card through an I-130 petition filed by his wife after they married in April 2025. ICE agents claimed to have found illicit images on Silva's phone and charged him with possessing depictions of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Silva was held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, where according to Leidig he was subjected to invasive searches, made to sleep on the floor with 35 other detainees, and shackled during transport. On July 29, a judge ordered Silva's release on bond, which Leidig paid in full, but ICE transferred him to Whatcom County without explanation, complicating his legal representation. On September 12, after 63 days in custody, Silva was released on personal recognizance. On October 6, a judge dismissed the criminal charges against him without prejudice, four days before the birth of his newborn son, Isidore. The Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney indicated charges could be refiled pending investigation completion. Leidig speculated that the detention may have been related to a custody battle Silva was involved in.

A veteran and U.S. citizen was detained by ICE. During detention, the individual was placed on suicide watch in a cell wearing a hospital dress on a concrete bed with a thin mattress. The cell had a light on continuously and officers were stationed outside with a glass door. A psychiatric nurse conducted one check per day. The individual was held in these conditions from Friday morning to Sunday afternoon when released.

ICE detained numerous asylum-seekers and migrants at the San Diego federal courthouse basement between October 9-21, 2025, after summoning them for routine check-ins. Detainees reported being held in crowded cells for up to four days in conditions they described as inadequate, including limited bedding (yoga mat-like mattresses), no privacy for bathroom use, cold temperatures, fluorescent lights kept on all night, inedible food, and lack of medical attention. Families were denied proper goodbyes, and detainees were not searchable in ICE's locator system. Some were subsequently deported or transferred to other detention facilities without proper legal proceedings.

Sunny Naqvi, a 28-year-old U.S. citizen from Skokie, was detained at O'Hare Airport after returning from a work trip to Turkey and held for nearly 30 hours at ICE facilities in Illinois and Wisconsin before being released. Federal agencies provided conflicting accounts of her detention, with CBP claiming she was released within 90 minutes while her family and elected officials reported she was transferred to multiple detention centers. Her case is part of a broader pattern, with ProPublica documenting over 170 U.S. citizens detained by immigration agents in recent years and advocacy groups reporting increased airport encounters in 2026.

Noor Nafea Salman, a 28-year-old lawful permanent resident and medical student at the University of Virginia, was detained by ICE on October 9, 2025, during what she believed would be a routine immigration check-in appointment. Salman, who arrived in the U.S. as a refugee from Iraq at age 17 and graduated from James Madison University, has been complying with ICE check-ins for six years prior to her detention. She is married to Khaled, a Palestinian-American U.S. citizen, and her mother and five siblings are all U.S. citizens. Since her detention at Diamondback Detention Center in Oklahoma and other facilities in Texas, Salman's health has deteriorated significantly over approximately ten months. She has been hospitalized multiple times for asthma complications, suffered a fall she believes caused a concussion, and has become extremely weak. Her husband visits weekly from 250 miles away, and her family continues to advocate for her release and access to proper medical care.