Human Impact Project

A Mexican woman, known in the Stockton music scene as DJ Reina Azteca, was detained at Otay Mesa Detention Center starting December 18, 2025, for nearly four months. She first came to the U.S. as a child, self-deported to Mexico in 2020, and re-entered in August 2021; she was later detained during an immigration check-in while enrolled in the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program and had a pending U-Visa and open asylum case. She says she requested deportation but was told she had to remain in detention, and alleges she was forced to take a pregnancy test after initially refusing, was held in a cold holding cell without adequate clothing, and faced other harsh conditions; CoreCivic disputes some of her claims, including about phone access. She lost her DJ music library when her account was deactivated and is now borrowing music from friends to resume gigs, but cannot fully rebuild her library or open a bank account until the federal government returns her confiscated identification documents.

An unnamed detained immigrant who began a hunger strike between October and December 2025 was subjected to forcible medical treatment in ICE custody, including force feeding, forced hydration, forced urinary catheterization, and involuntary blood draws, according to an ICE Health Service Corps document reviewed by the Guardian. The document confirms the Trump administration's use of forced medical treatment on hunger strikers since Trump began his second term. Healthcare associations and international human rights groups have described such practices as torture. An ICE Health Service Corps budget forecast noted at least seven detained people were on hunger strike in February 2026.

Marvin Alexander Mejía Alvarado, a Honduran national with family in Memphis, died on July 27, 2026, weeks after being released from ICE detention. A federal judge in Colorado ordered his release on bond at the end of June after determining the government had not presented clear and convincing evidence to justify continued detention. After his release in early July, Mejía wrote to his aunt thanking God for allowing him to leave the detention facility and acknowledging the prayers that gave him strength to endure mistreatment by detention staff. His family reported that following his release, he experienced severe health complications they attribute to his treatment during detention, including lack of access to medications needed for a preexisting medical condition.

Tangieth Paola Carrasquero Lopez, 23, a Venezuelan asylum seeker with polycystic ovary syndrome, hepatic steatosis, and obesity, has been held at Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia since her July 27, 2026 detention during a scheduled immigration check-in. She says she has received only ibuprofen for abdominal pain and numbness, and that detention food is heavy in carbohydrates her doctor warned she cannot tolerate. A DHS spokesperson said she initially denied needing urgent care at intake but has since tested positive for PCOS and been placed on a chronic care list; her gastroenterologist, Dr. Arnaldo Jimenez, continues to request access to her prescribed Tirzepatide and ongoing monitoring. Her partner, Andres, said she remains unable to continue her necessary medical treatment.

Erika and Edgard, a married couple and parents of two with a granddaughter, were removed from their car by ICE officers without explanation. Erika was injured during the arrest, sustaining bruises to her hands and arms. The couple have lived in the country as taxpayers with no legal problems and have worked to build a better life for their family. Their daughter Valeria is seeking legal representation funds to help them fight detention and reunite the family.

Elmer Omar Guevara-Martinez, 28, from Honduras, was pursued by ICE agents on July 26, 2026, during an enforcement operation in Kansas City, Kansas, and was pinned against a plate glass window, crashing through it and severely lacerating his lower right leg to the bone. Witnesses said agents chased and tackled him near 8th Street and Minnesota Avenue after he ran out of fear. His family says the injuries affected his feet, the area below his knee, and his tendons, requiring surgery, and that he remains hospitalized and unable to walk. Guevara-Martinez came to the U.S. from Honduras seven years ago, works as a painter, had no criminal record, was not under a removal order, and was pursuing legal status; his wife, Gracy Venegas, and friend Ronnie Padilla said he was in significant pain after the incident.

ICE officers placed a Nigerian man and other detainees in full-body WRAP restraint devices during a September deportation flight to Ghana, despite the detainees being shackled and asking to speak with attorneys. The AP documented at least 12 cases in the past decade where local law enforcement's use of the WRAP contributed to deaths, and identified ICE's use of the device in multiple deportations since 2020. A 2023 DHS civil rights report raised internal concerns about the device's use, citing reports of deaths, yet ICE continues deploying it despite the manufacturer's guidance for lower-threshold situations.

Prisciliano Trejo Ricano, a 29-year-old Mexican national who had lived in Durham, North Carolina since age 3, died July 24 from an aggressive form of leukemia while effectively in ICE custody. He was arrested June 19 and transferred to Stewart Detention Center in Georgia, where he began feeling ill on July 6, reporting coughing up blood, severe pain, and a bruise that would not heal. Advocates say ICE failed to provide treatment for over a week despite his requests for care; he was hospitalized July 13 and fell into a coma by July 15, at which point ICE formally released him before he died. His father and cousin described him as previously healthy, with his father saying he could not understand how his condition deteriorated so quickly. His name does not appear on ICE's official list of in-custody deaths, and the agency will not investigate due to a policy change eliminating reporting requirements for deaths within 30 days of release. Advocacy groups including Detention Watch Network, Project South, Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, El Refugio, and Carolina Migrant Network called for investigations into medical neglect at Stewart Detention Center, while the ACLU reports at least 57 deaths in immigration detention since the start of the second Trump administration, more than double the prior four years combined.

Jesus Acevedo Sanchez, a 39-year-old father of two U.S. citizen daughters from Mexico, was arrested by ICE agents on June 11 outside Commodore John Rodgers Elementary/Middle School in East Baltimore while dropping off his children. Unmarked ICE vehicles cut off his SUV at Dundalk Avenue and O'Donnell Street; armed agents in plain clothes with guns drawn broke his driver's side window. Believing he was being carjacked and fearing for his children's safety, Acevedo Sanchez drove to the school seeking protection. He sustained injuries including bleeding from his leg and face during the extraction. His partner, Adriana Gavilan Sanchez, 37, a mother of two U.S. citizen daughters from Mexico, was also detained by ICE that same day outside the school. She reported feeling terrified and experiencing nightmares following her detention. U.S. District Judge Julie Rubin ruled that ICE lacked probable cause and violated due process in Acevedo Sanchez's arrest, calling it a "stomach churner" and stating his detention was not justified. Judge Rubin ordered his release from Farmville Detention Facility. His attorney Rachel Girod said the judge reached the right result, noting that any other outcome would have been "rubber-stamping lawlessness." U.S. District Judge Matthew Maddox ordered Gavilan Sanchez's release from immigration detention, and she was freed on July 15 from Caroline Detention Facility in Virginia.

Oriana Korol, 38, a clarinet player with the Unpresidented Brass Band and a child and family therapist, was pepper-sprayed twice in the face and tackled by federal officers moments after her band finished playing the "Ghostbusters" theme during a protest outside Portland's ICE facility on October 12, 2025. Video shows her dragged to the ground, her glasses and clarinet broken, as she pleaded that she has asthma and was struggling to breathe. She was transported across state lines to Clark County Jail in Vancouver, Washington, where she was held for roughly three nights before her husband learned of the transfer; she was reunited with her partner and 3-year-old child upon release. Prosecutors initially charged her with felony assault, alleging she kicked and bit an officer, which carried up to eight years in prison, while she maintained she acted defensively after being shoved and pepper-sprayed. Band founder Miles Thompson called the felony charge "absurd" and said he saw nothing warranting her arrest. After a trial in which she testified she never kicked or bit the officer, Korol later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for trying to kick an officer and faces sentencing with a maximum of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

Sarafinah Bukirwa, 31, a Louisville woman with valid work authorization and a pending asylum claim from Uganda, was detained by ICE at Muhammad Ali International Airport on July 22, 2026, while heading to a sickle cell anemia conference, and transferred to Grayson County Detention Center. Bukirwa, who founded the nonprofit Sarafinah Sickle Cell Society, had been hospitalized for a sickle cell crisis the day before her detention; her brother, Isaac Kabunga, says she has still not consistently received her prescribed medication, with some doses allegedly diluted in water. U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey says her attorney is filing a habeas corpus motion challenging her detention, and notes she has never been charged with any crime. The Grayson County Jailer maintains she is receiving all prescribed medications, while advocates continue to raise concerns about medical care in immigration detention.

Garnet Smith, a 44-year-old U.S. Army veteran originally from Jamaica, was released from the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma on July 21, 2026, after spending over nine months in ICE detention. During his detention, Smith reported experiencing sexual assault by a GEO Group guard during a pat-down search, as well as inadequate medical care for a broken hand and poor detention conditions including inedible food and foul drinking water. A federal judge granted Smith's habeas corpus petition on July 20, finding that his earlier bond hearing violated his due process rights and that his prolonged detention was unlawful. Smith continues to fight a deportation order to Jamaica while advocates call for an investigation into the alleged sexual assault.

F.S., a 32-year-old asylum seeker from Guatemala, was arrested by ICE after beginning the vetting process to gain custody of her 13-year-old son, who has been in a federal shelter for over eight months as of July 2026. F.S. fled Guatemala in 2023 due to violence and had been living in the U.S. while her asylum case was pending, making four-hour drives to visit her son weekly at the shelter. When she came forward to sponsor him, ICE arrested her as part of the Trump administration's operation targeting undocumented sponsors. Her son's mental health has severely deteriorated during his prolonged shelter stay; he has been prescribed anxiety medications and was recently admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Both mother and son have agreed to accept deportation to reunite sooner. F.S. fears retaliation for speaking publicly about her case.

Marco Antonio Roblero Pérez, a 25-year-old Guatemalan immigrant, was arrested by ICE agents at a gas station in Chamblee, Georgia on July 19, 2026, while stopping to buy drinks on his way to work. According to his family and eyewitness accounts, agents subjected him to physical strikes, a chokehold, and electric shocks with a taser during the arrest. He was hospitalized in Atlanta with a broken nose, broken teeth, severe facial trauma, and spinal injuries requiring a cervical neck brace. An ICE agent remained stationed at his hospital bed during his recovery. His family has questioned the medical care he received, while ICE agents stated they used a stun gun during the operation.

José Gregorio González, a 43-year-old Venezuelan immigrant, traveled to the United States to donate a kidney to his brother José Alfredo Pacheco, who has end-stage renal disease. González was arrested in March 2025 after accompanying his brother to a dialysis appointment, despite having no criminal record and a deportation order on file. ICE temporarily released him in April 2025 to proceed with the kidney donation. The transplant occurred in August 2025. González's one-year humanitarian parole expired in March 2026, and his attorney was seeking an extension to allow him to remain in the country through March 2027 for post-transplant medical monitoring. On July 21, 2026, González was detained by ICE during a routine immigration check-in while the parole extension was being pursued. Pacheco has experienced complications since the transplant and relies on González for care.

Emma Landis, a 22-year-old activist and artist, was shot in the right foot by Brandon Booth, a 42-year-old off-duty employee of GEO Group, which operates the Aurora ICE Processing Center in Colorado, during a protest outside the facility on July 17, 2026. The shooting occurred after a verbal confrontation when facility employees began mocking and threatening protesters on the sidewalk. Landis called 911 herself after Booth and his colleagues fled the scene and was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. She requires six to eight weeks of bed rest, which has prevented her from working and engaging in her hobbies. Despite her injury, Landis returned to protest at the facility on Sunday and told supporters she will continue to advocate for closing immigration detention in Colorado. Booth was arrested and charged with attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, attempted first-degree assault, felony menacing, and unlawful carrying of a concealed weapon.

Willy Wender Aceituno, a 46-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen from Honduras who said he voted for Trump twice, was stopped twice within minutes by Border Patrol agents in a Charlotte, NC restaurant parking lot on November 15, 2025, during 'Operation Charlotte's Web.' After the first group of agents confirmed his citizenship and no criminal record, a second group smashed his truck's window, dragged him over broken glass, threw him to the pavement, and handcuffed him before driving him around the city and releasing him over two miles from his vehicle without his keys or medical help. Aceituno said the incident echoed childhood trauma in Honduras, where agents took his father, who was never seen again. 'ICE isn't looking for criminals,' he said. 'They're looking for Latinos.' He sought treatment at Atrium Hospital and, with the ACLU of North Carolina, filed a $1.25 million federal claim against DHS, ICE, and CBP, also joining a related class action over warrantless arrests. His U.S.-born daughter now carries her passport at college because of her appearance.

Yajaira, a 37-year-old Honduran mother of two with a valid work permit, was pulled over and arrested by federal immigration officers while driving through the Florida Keys on July 20. She was held for five days in an overcrowded concrete holding cell at the ICE field office in Miramar, Florida, jammed in with roughly 50 other people, given little food, no room to sleep, and limited phone access. She suffered an anxiety attack and passed out, was taken to a hospital by ambulance, and was returned to the facility still carrying an IV in her arm, according to her sister Marlene. Yajaira was later transferred to a detention center in El Paso, Texas, and is now held at an ICE facility in Spokane, Washington, while her family has hired an attorney to file a habeas corpus petition on her behalf.

Alevtina Soboleva, a 59-year-old Russian asylum seeker from Sunnyvale, California, was detained by ICE agents at Buffalo Niagara International Airport on July 20 while returning from a vacation to Niagara Falls with her adult daughter, Daria. Soboleva had entered the U.S. legally on a visitor visa in 2021 and applied for asylum before it expired, citing fears of persecution in Russia over her opposition to the war in Ukraine. Her attorney said she held valid asylum documentation and work authorization. Daria said her mother, who has a progressive neurological disorder and gum disease requiring special hygiene care, was restrained with handcuffs and chains that caused her pain, developed an untreated fever, and was held in a cage without adequate water or bathroom access. She was transferred through multiple facilities, including Mahoning County Jail in Ohio and a South Louisiana ICE processing center. A federal judge later set her bond at $10,000, and she was released after nearly a month in custody and reunited with her daughter in the Bay Area.

Camila, a 5-year-old girl from Atlixco, Mexico, crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in summer 2025 and was detained in federal immigration custody for 118 days, separated from her mother who lived only a few miles away in New Haven, Connecticut. Unable to be taken by her parents due to their immigration status, the government classified her as "unaccompanied." During detention, Camila was held first in a CBP detention center, then in a Connecticut shelter where she was the youngest child present, and finally in an office building converted for federal use. She saw her mother, who has a pending legal residency application, for only one hour per week. A child psychiatrist's evaluation documented that Camila experienced nightmares, anxiety about family separation, and fear expressed through play. Her mother applied for custody but waited more than 90 days without receiving a decision, as the federal government repeatedly added requirements before deeming her application complete. Camila was released three days after her attorneys filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of her detention. She is now home with her mother and newborn brother, though she continues to experience separation anxiety and sleeps with her mother at night. During the same period, more than two dozen unaccompanied immigrant children were in federal custody in Connecticut on any given day, with some held for as long as 505 days.