Human Impact Project

Efrem Yemane Berhe, a Cincinnati business owner and father of two from Eritrea, was detained by ICE agents outside his home on February 16, 2026, after living legally in the U.S. for 15 years. His detention stems from a civil immigration matter related to a prior marriage. A judge denied his bond request on March 5 citing flight risk concerns, and his family is appealing the decision while he awaits a green card hearing scheduled for April 30.

A man was arrested by ICE at his family home in San Jose on February 14, 2026, following an Immigration Judge's decision ordering his detention without bond. The IJ found by clear and convincing evidence that he was a danger to the community based on recent incidents involving law enforcement in 2025. He challenged his detention claiming violations of his procedural and substantive due process rights, but the court denied his habeas petition.

Jesus Flores, a Mexican mechanic and father of six children, was detained by ICE agents who faked car trouble outside his home in Columbia Heights, Minnesota on Thursday afternoon. Security camera footage shows two women pretending to have mechanical problems at the curb; when Flores came out to help, ICE agents in other vehicles surrounded the driveway and apprehended him. Two of Flores' children have autism and require special care. His family reports he was transferred to El Paso, Texas within 48 hours, allegedly in violation of a federal judge's order. Flores is undocumented and was previously deported approximately 16 years ago.

Adelso Bravo, a 39-year-old house painter from Guatemala, was arrested by ICE agents on February 10 near his Syracuse home. After 18 days in the Batavia immigration detention center, he had a court hearing. With support from his wife, community members, and lawyers, plus $18,000 raised by friends and supporters, he was released on bond after 21 days in detention. Bravo had been living in Syracuse for over 20 years and had started his own painting business with a work permit.

On February 9-10, 2026, ICE agents conducted an enforcement operation in Lower Providence Township/Trooper area of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, to apprehend Jose Manuel Cordova Lopez, a Mexican citizen who overstayed his H-2A visa. The operation involved over 20 unmarked vehicles and masked federal agents who pursued Cordova Lopez to a residential home, broke down doors, and detained him while two minors and other family members were present. Elected officials commented on reports that an ICE agent assaulted a family member, broken doors caused distress to children and families, and the operation disrupted the neighborhood and prevented school bus pickup.

Federal Border Patrol and Homeland Security agents took Jose Cordova-Lopez into custody after a hours-long operation at a home in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Cordova-Lopez, a Mexican national with no legal status, was wanted in connection with immigration proceedings and allegedly resisting an ICE officer's attempted traffic stop. Family members reported that agents broke down the door and used force, with claims that one family member was hit in the face. Children were present during the operation.

ICE agents entered a San Antonio home on Thursday morning while searching for a 34-year-old man with an arrest warrant for illegal reentry. Homeowner Maggie Guillen recorded video showing armed agents entering without presenting a judicial warrant, despite women and children being present. According to Guillen, all people in the home were either U.S. citizens or had legal status. Agents had earlier pulled over her roommate and roommate's boyfriend at an unmarked vehicle, then followed them back to the home. U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro called for an investigation into the incident.

Linet Vartanniavartanians, a naturalized U.S. citizen, and her husband Mehrzad Asadi Eidivand, an undocumented Iranian national, were arrested in June 2025 when HSI agents executed a warrant at their Tempe, Arizona home. Vartanniavartanians called 911 and threatened to shoot the agents if they entered; Eidivand possessed firearms as an undocumented immigrant. Both pleaded guilty and were released with time served and two years' probation in late November 2025. However, Eidivand was immediately re-detained by ICE and held at Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico for three months. His attorney reports ICE has pressured him to sign a deportation order to Iran without legal representation, despite him facing an execution order there due to his opposition to Iran's Islamist regime. The attorney believes ICE is retaliating against the family over his brother's hunger strike in immigration detention.

An Iranian couple seeking asylum was detained and interrogated by DHS agents less than a week after U.S.-Israeli military strikes against Iran in late February 2026. The husband, who arrived on a tourist visa in November 2024 and filed for asylum after his visa expired, was held for three weeks at an ICE detention facility in California City before an immigration judge granted his release on bond. His pregnant wife was questioned but not arrested. Immigration attorneys report the incident reflects a broader pattern of heightened scrutiny of Iranians following the strikes.

An Iranian man seeking asylum was detained by ICE agents at his apartment less than a week after U.S.-Israeli military strikes against Iran in late February 2026. The couple had entered the U.S. legally on tourist visas in November 2024, filed for asylum after receiving threats from the Iranian government, and held pending asylum applications with work permits. The husband spent three weeks at the ICE detention facility in California City before an immigration judge granted his release on bond. His pregnant wife was questioned for hours but not arrested due to her pregnancy.

An ICE enforcement action resulted in the detention of a father in Hopkins, Minnesota, in front of his three children at their apartment building. The incident disrupted the family, with his wife Estefany Escobar going to work at a Minnesota hospital an hour after the arrest.

Jose Flores, 47, was arrested during an ICE operation in Oakmont. The arrest occurred while Flores was preparing for work with his wife Harriett and their 8-year-old daughter Lily. The operation disrupted the family's morning routine.

A mother was detained by ICE after going outside to warm her car. She was able to contact someone to inform them that her children would be left alone as a result of her detention.

Francoise Makuiza, a 32-year-old asylum seeker, was arrested by ICE on Friday morning while leaving for work at an assisted living facility in Portland. According to her attorney, Makuiza has no criminal history in Maine, has lived there for over 12 years, is the mother of a U.S. citizen, and was previously granted refugee status by Colombia after fleeing genocide in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Her detention is part of an ICE enforcement surge that has resulted in more than 200 arrests in Maine, including asylum seekers complying with immigration officials and immigrants married to U.S. citizens.

Elvis Tipan-Echeverria, an Ecuadorian citizen, and his 2-year-old daughter were taken into ICE custody on January 23, 2026, during a vehicle encounter at their home in Minneapolis. Despite a federal court order issued that evening requiring the child's immediate release, both were flown to Texas the same night. The toddler, who has lived in Minneapolis since arriving as a newborn and has a pending asylum application, was returned to her mother on January 24. Her father remains in ICE custody. The detention was part of a broader ICE operation in Minnesota that resulted in at least nine children being detained in January 2026, including a 5-year-old detained on his way home from preschool and several other minors ranging from elementary school age to teenagers. Federal judges ordered the return of several other children and parents to Minnesota after they were transferred to a detention center in Texas.

Ricky Chandee, an engineering technician for Minneapolis, was detained by ICE agents at his home in Brooklyn Park on January 24 during a surge of federal enforcement in Minnesota. Chandee, a Laotian refugee who was convicted of a drive-by shooting decades ago and never naturalized as a U.S. citizen, was transported to El Paso, Texas, where he faces possible deportation to Laos. The article describes how Laotian refugees who arrived after the Vietnam War are being deported at unprecedented rates under the Trump administration's mass deportation agenda, despite having built lives in Minnesota for decades.

Elvis Tipan-Echeverria and his 2-year-old daughter, both Ecuadorian citizens, were detained by ICE agents on January 23, 2026, after agents pursued their vehicle in a targeted enforcement operation near their Minneapolis home. Agents entered the family's driveway without a warrant, broke the vehicle window while the child was inside, and transported both father and daughter to a federal facility. Despite a court order issued at 8:11 p.m. on January 23 requiring the child's immediate release, ICE placed them on a commercial flight to Texas by 8:30 p.m. The child was returned to her mother in Minnesota on January 24, but her father remains in custody. A federal court order has barred ICE from removing the father from Minnesota during ongoing proceedings.

ICE agents confronted Ecuadorian immigrant Cristian Vaca at his home in Maine, with an agent threatening on camera to 'come back for your whole family.' Vaca arrived from Ecuador in September 2023 and reported having a work permit and a scheduled immigration hearing. The incident occurred during ICE's 'Operation Catch of the Day' enforcement operation in Maine.

ICE agents detained five-year-old Liam Ramos and his father at their home in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, using the child as bait to gain entry despite the family having an active asylum case and no deportation order. Federal agents have detained children as young as four years old in ICE custody.

Micheline Ntumba, a Portland resident and mother of four from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was detained by ICE agents on January 21, 2026, after dropping off her child at Portland High School. According to her daughter, agents followed Ntumba home to her apartment parking lot near Deering Oaks Park, took her phone and wallet, and placed her in their vehicle without asking for identification or explanation. Ntumba has been in the United States for almost 10 years, has no criminal record, and has a pending asylum application.