Human Impact Project

A pregnant mother and her 2-year-old U.S. citizen daughter were deported to Honduras after the mother was given less than two minutes on the phone with her husband to decide the child's fate. Attorneys say ICE denied the family contact with lawyers and each other throughout the process. ICE produced a one-page note in Spanish claiming consent, but her attorney states she was forced to write it and did not willingly consent to the deportation.

Alfredo Linares, an undocumented immigrant, and his American wife Raegan Kline relocated to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico after 20 years in the United States. Linares had worked as a cook at a Michelin-star restaurant and operated a catering business with his wife. The couple left the United States due to concerns about ICE detention and deportation under President Trump's immigration enforcement policies.

Multiple U.S. citizen children have been deported to Honduras alongside their undocumented mothers during immigration enforcement actions, according to PBS NewsHour reporting. In one case, a 2-year-old girl identified only by the initials VML in court filings was deported with her mother. In another case reported by correspondent Laura Barrón-López, a Texas family's two U.S. citizen siblings, ages 4 and 7, were deported with their mother within 24 hours of being detained; the younger child has late-stage cancer and was sent without his medication. The mother in the Texas case had a removal order dating back years, issued after she failed to appear at a hearing following her arrival in the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor, and said she was unaware of the order. Attorneys say these cases are part of a broader pattern of U.S.-citizen children being removed alongside their parents during enforcement actions.

Philippe Kame, a Cameroonian national and former University of Michigan Taubman College graduate student and architectural designer, was detained by ICE for a second time on April 1, 2026, while on an approved leave of absence from the university. He had previously been held for about a month in 2025 after losing his F-1 visa status following the university's termination of his graduate student instructor position, a dispute he pursued through a grievance with support from the Graduate Employees' Organization and more than 1,300 community members. In the latest case, Kame was held at the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, Michigan, and was granted release on an $8,000 bond on April 27, 2026. The university said the detention occurred off campus and declined to share further details, citing federal law and privacy policy.

ICE deported an immigrant mother of an infant and three U.S. citizen children, according to lawyers. The woman had four children who are U.S. citizens at the time of her deportation.

ICE deported at least two families including three U.S. citizen children aged 2, 4, and 7 from New Orleans in early morning operations on April 25, 2025. The families were held without legal access. One child with metastatic cancer was deported without medication and a pregnant mother was deported without prenatal care arrangements. The deportations occurred after ICE reversed course and expedited the process before courts reopened. A habeas corpus petition had been filed.

A 4-year-old U.S. citizen child with Stage 4 cancer and his 7-year-old sister were deported to Honduras with their mother on Friday morning. ICE was aware of the child's active cancer treatment in the United States but deported him without his medication. Attorneys say the mother did not sign or write any consent, did not speak with lawyers or family before deportation, and wanted to make alternative arrangements for her U.S. citizen children.

A 2-year-old U.S. citizen was apparently removed to Honduras on Friday with her mother, who had been ordered deported, according to a federal judge in Louisiana. The child's mother, a Honduran national, was seized by ICE on Tuesday morning in New Orleans while attending a scheduled check-in appointment with an Intensive Supervision Appearance Program office. During approximately three days in ICE custody, the mother and her two daughters were separated from family and legal counsel. U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty wrote that the child was sent to Honduras "with no meaningful due process" and expressed "strong suspicion that the Government just deported a U.S. citizen." The mother's attorney stated that ICE mischaracterized the removal as the mother's voluntary choice and that she was pregnant and prevented from contacting lawyers or family to make arrangements.

The Argentine wife of an active-duty Coast Guardsman assigned to the cutter Mohawk was arrested by Homeland Security Investigations at Naval Air Station Key West. The couple had married in early 2025 and were seeking access to on-base family housing when a routine security screening flagged her immigration status. Officials said her work visa had expired around 2017 and she had been marked for removal several years earlier. Naval Criminal Investigative Service personnel contacted HSI, and agents entered the base housing to take her into custody. Her current detention status remains unclear, though officials believe she is still being held.

Amilcar Lisser-Posadas, a 29-year-old Honduran national and former DACA recipient with two U.S. citizen daughters, was apprehended in Shelby County, Tennessee in March 2025 for driving with an expired license and transferred to ICE custody. He was moved between multiple detention facilities over four weeks and filed a legal request citing fear of persecution in Honduras, which received no response. At Alexandria Staging Facility, he was detained for approximately 12 days in overcrowded conditions with inadequate sanitation, food, and medical care—arriving sick with chest congestion, fever, and ear infection but receiving no medication until the final two days. On April 23, 2025, he was deported to Honduras on GlobalX charter flights despite his pending legal request. He was later apprehended again at the southern border in May 2025 attempting to reunite with his family and is now facing deportation again from a federal prison.

Rosmery Alvarado, 42, a Kansas resident born in Guatemala, was arrested by ICE agents immediately after completing a spousal green card interview at the USCIS office in Kansas City on April 23, 2025. She is now facing deportation to Guatemala and is being held in detention, despite her family believing her petition had been approved. The arrest occurred after ICE agents waited for her husband to step out of the interview room before detaining and handcuffing her.

Unaccompanied migrant children, including a 4-year-old girl, are appearing in immigration court proceedings without legal representation after the Trump administration terminated a $200 million federal contract funding legal services for minors. Data shows nearly all children without attorneys are deported, compared to 23% of those with representation.

Brandon Gonzalez has lived in Arizona since infancy. His family came to the United States from Mexico in 1999. On July 14, Gonzalez was detained by immigration enforcement.

Armando Reyes Rodriguez, a 42-year-old Honduran national seeking asylum, was detained by ICE on Monday, April 16, 2025, after being called to an ICE office in Blue Ash, Ohio for what he was told would be a routine appointment to have his ankle monitor removed. Rodriguez arrived at the office accompanied by his church's assistant pastor. Instead of the removal, he was detained by ICE officers and transferred to Butler County Jail, which holds ICE detainees. Rodriguez was in full compliance with ICE requirements and is married with two young children (ages 8 and 3) who remain in Ohio. His family's asylum application from Honduras is pending. West Charleston Church of the Brethren, where Rodriguez is a member, organized multiple protests against his detention and called for his release, urging elected officials and Butler County commissioners to intervene.

Erasmo Zavala Almanza, a 50-year-old undocumented Mexican immigrant, was arrested by ICE agents in April 2025 after cooperating with Berks County police in investigating the fatal shooting of his 20-year-old daughter and wounding of his granddaughter. Despite applying for a U visa with support from the District Attorney's Office and receiving a favorable bona fide determination from USCIS along with deferred action and work authorization, ICE detained him at Moshannon Valley Processing Center and initiated deportation proceedings. A federal judge intervened, and after 45 days in detention, Zavala was released and returned to his Berks County apartment, where he was reunited with his wife Maria, daughter, granddaughter Selene, and other family members. His case remains part of a broader legal dispute over ICE's policy of detaining crime victims and witnesses who have applied for humanitarian visas.

Department of Homeland Security agents attempted to speak with students at two Los Angeles elementary schools (Russell Elementary and Lillian Street Elementary) stating they were conducting welfare checks on unaccompanied minors. School principals denied the agents access. House Democrats have requested a briefing regarding the agents' claim of having parental permission and regarding four of the targeted students who were not unaccompanied minors.

Jessica Flores Marin, 44, a mother of three who has lived in the United States for 22 years, was detained by ICE on April 13 near her family's home in Georgia. She was taken into custody while an ongoing T visa application was being processed. Her detention came after an immigration judge denied her motion to reopen a decades-old deportation order from 2004.

Hugo, a father of five and husband of a U.S. citizen veteran who had lived in the U.S. since age 16, was detained by ICE at a courthouse during what should have been a final hearing for permanent residency. Despite being in an active legal process and authorized to be in the U.S., officials ordered him to continue his case from Mexico and deported him. ICE later admitted the detention was a mistake, but Hugo has been separated from his family.

Adolfo Gutiérrez, an undocumented volunteer pastor who led the Spanish-speaking Casa Firme church in south Texas and ran a home remodeling business, was detained by ICE agents on March 18, 2025 while driving his daughters to school. His daughter Alondra said agents slammed him against his car door and took him away in a van without explanation. Gutiérrez, who had lived in Texas more than 15 years and was a father of three, was held at the El Valle Detention Facility near the border. His wife started a GoFundMe to cover attorney fees, and his church held a fundraiser for his legal expenses as family, church members, and business clients rallied support. His family said he 'pays taxes and works hard.' He was later deported, and his case was identified in a Newsweek analysis of at least 65 faith leaders detained by U.S. immigration authorities since January 2025.

Solangel Manzanilla, a 68-year-old Venezuelan woman, was detained by Border Patrol on April 2 after leaving work at an LA Fitness gym in Fort Lauderdale where she worked in childcare. She had been in the U.S. for 12 years with a pending asylum claim, valid work authorization, and a current driver's license. An officer noted she had a good profile but stated she had to be detained due to her immigration status. Her family reports she has medical conditions requiring attention and has launched a fundraising campaign to cover legal expenses.