Human Impact Project

An 11-year-old unaccompanied migrant named Diego appeared alone before an immigration judge in New York City without legal representation, struggling to complete an asylum application in English. The hearing occurred after a federal contract funding legal services for detained immigrant children expired on July 31, leaving thousands of minors to represent themselves. Judge Lisa Ling, a former ICE prosecutor, gave Diego two and a half weeks to file his asylum application or face deportation, despite his expressed fear of returning to Guatemala. Multiple other unaccompanied children, some as young as 11, appeared in court that day without lawyers or adult advocates.

Brayan Omar Sánchez, a 26-year-old Honduran truck driver and owner of a pressure-washing and painting business who had lived in South Florida for nearly a decade after fleeing gang violence that killed his father and other family members, was detained by ICE agents on May 13 while heading to a job site. He was transferred through detention centers in Colorado, Arizona, California and Texas before being flown roughly 21 hours to Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, on July 30 along with five other men — Cuban nationals Omar Rodríguez, Arístides Fernández, Yasmany Moreno and Daniel Lázaro Fuente, and Ecuadorian Mauricio Alvarado. Sánchez said he never signed deportation paperwork, believed he had asylum protection and a court order preventing removal, and said an ICE officer threatened the group with violence the night before if they refused to board the plane. He described arriving with only $20, which was confiscated by customs, and said he and the others are being held at a hotel in Bangui fearing for their safety. Sánchez is asking the Honduran government and members of Congress to help secure his return to the United States.

A citizen of India entered the United States without inspection near Yuma, Arizona in December 2022 and was briefly detained before being released on parole and enrolled in an Alternatives to Detention program. He was issued a Notice to Appear in February 2023 charging him as removable, and he timely filed an asylum application while obtaining employment, developing community ties, and maintaining a clean criminal record. On August 5, 2026, he was taken into ICE custody after reporting to ICE offices, following multiple alleged violations of his Alternatives to Detention conditions dating back to 2023. He is currently detained at the Golden State Annex Detention Facility in McFarland, California. He filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus and a motion for a temporary restraining order, arguing his detention without a prior hearing violated his due process rights and seeking immediate release or a bond hearing. The government argued he was subject to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A). The court found that § 1226(a) governs his detention instead, granted the habeas petition in part, denied the TRO as moot, and ordered an individualized bond hearing within 14 days where the government must prove by clear and convincing evidence that he is a flight risk or danger to the community.

A citizen of India who entered the U.S. in December 2022 and was released on parole under Alternatives to Detention has lived in the country for nearly four years, maintaining stable employment and strong ties to his Sikh community. He filed an asylum application in April 2023, which remains pending, and obtained work authorization valid through October 2028, complying with all ATD monitoring requirements and having no criminal history. On August 5, 2026, he was swept up when Deportation Officers assisting the FBI executed a search warrant at an apartment in Antelope, California—an address that was not his own residence, as his driver's license lists a Sacramento address. Although an I-213 noted he was 'identified as being part of an active shooting investigation,' the record contains no evidence connecting him to the shooting, and officers instead ran a biometrics check, determined he lacked lawful status, and arrested him on an administrative warrant. He was issued a Notice to Appear and detained at the Golden State Annex Detention Facility in McFarland, California, without a prior hearing. He filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus and a motion for a temporary restraining order, arguing his detention without notice or a hearing violated his Fifth Amendment due process rights. The court agreed, granted the habeas petition, ordered his immediate release, and enjoined the government from re-detaining him absent seven days' notice and a bond hearing demonstrating by clear and convincing evidence that he poses a flight risk or danger to the community.

The petitioner, a citizen of India who entered the United States in July 2025 at around age 20, had a pending asylum application filed with USCIS in October 2025 and had been granted employment authorization valid through December 2027. In March 2026, his guardian petitioned a California state court for guardianship, which was granted in May 2026 after the court found that reunification with his parents was not viable due to abandonment and that returning him to India was not in his best interest. Based on those findings, he submitted a special immigrant juvenile status petition to USCIS. On August 5, 2026, ICE detained him at a residence where federal law enforcement was executing a search warrant during an active shooting investigation, though he was not accused of any crime. He filed a habeas corpus petition and a motion for a temporary restraining order challenging his detention as a due process violation, arguing he had a protected liberty interest given his sanctioned presence in the country. The court agreed, finding his circumstances similar to a prior case where a detainee's employment authorization constituted government sanctioning of his continued presence, and ordered a bond hearing. The court required the government to prove by clear and convincing evidence that he is a flight risk or danger to the community, and denied the TRO motion as moot given the bond hearing order.

The petitioners, a mother and her adult daughter, entered the United States in March 2014 and later applied for asylum, which was denied; they were ordered removed in December 2015, and their appeal was dismissed in 2017. The mother married a U.S. citizen in May 2022, and her husband filed I-130 relative petitions for both her and her daughter in August 2023. Their I-130 interviews were scheduled for August 5, 2026 at the USCIS Field Office in Portland, Oregon. Fearing that ICE would detain and deport them at that interview based on broader administration enforcement policies rather than an individualized assessment, they filed a habeas corpus petition and sought a temporary restraining order. They argued detention and removal would violate their Fifth Amendment due process rights and would preempt a motion to reopen their removal proceedings. The court found a reasonable likelihood they would be detained and quickly transferred out of Oregon, which lacks an immigration detention facility, potentially undermining its jurisdiction. The court issued an order under the All Writs Act barring the government from arresting, detaining, or deporting the petitioners during the pendency of the case, and denied the TRO motion as moot given this relief.

Claudia Carolina Rodríguez Caglianone, a 28-year-old Venezuelan who entered the U.S. on a student visa in January 2017, was detained by ICE agents at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on July 17 after passing through TSA security while boarding a domestic flight. She had a pending asylum application and previously held Temporary Protected Status, and had earned bachelor's and master's degrees in business administration at St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens, where she also captained the women's soccer team. She was held for eight days at the Miramar processing facility, describing overcrowding, moldy food, and lack of access to showers, before being transferred to the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach for nine more days, during which she lost about 15 pounds. On August 3, an immigration judge set bond at $5,000 and she was released; Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz publicly supported her and conducted an inspection of the Pompano Beach facility.

An Egyptian asylum seeker is an Egyptian citizen who entered the United States without inspection on July 21, 2023, and sought asylum. He was subsequently released on his own recognizance and has lived in the United States continuously since his entry. On August 3, 2026, he was apprehended by immigration officers while attending an ICE check-in meeting that he was required to attend pursuant to his pending appeal of a removal order to the Board of Immigration Appeals. He remains in custody at the West Tennessee Detention Facility and has not received a bond hearing. He filed a habeas corpus petition challenging his detention without prior notice, a warrant, or a bond hearing, alleging violations of his statutory and due process rights. The court issued an order staying his transfer and requiring the respondent to respond, noting that under Lopez-Campos v. Raycraft (6th Cir. 2026), noncitizens who have spent significant time in the U.S. interior and have not committed disqualifying offenses cannot be detained without an individualized bond hearing.

Claudia Rodríguez, a 29-year-old Venezuelan immigrant who earned her master's degree in business administration from St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens, was detained by ICE at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in July while attempting to board a flight to North Carolina. Rodríguez arrived in the U.S. legally in 2017 on a tourist visa, applied for asylum within six months, and was granted Temporary Protected Status in 2023 while her asylum case remains pending. She was transferred between two South Florida detention facilities, spending eight days at the ICE office in Miramar in severely overcrowded conditions—sleeping on floors in a cell with 75 people, unable to shower or change clothes, and losing 15 pounds. Her cousin Gabriel Domínguez described her as an exemplary athlete with no criminal record. U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz visited the Miramar facility to advocate for her release, calling the detention "unacceptable." Rodríguez was released on Monday evening.

A Guardian investigation found that ICE officials attempted to subject at least 10 hunger strikers in immigrant detention to involuntary medical procedures, including force-feeding, between 2025 and 2026. At least three detainees were definitely force-fed and two more probably underwent the procedure, while five others ended their strikes before it began; one Kurdish asylum seeker at Port Isabel Service Processing Center in Texas was force-fed for eight months, and another detainee there for six months. In six of the cases reviewed, the detainees had no legal representation, and judges reportedly issued the required emergency court orders quickly, before immigrants could object. DHS disputes reports of abuse and maintains detainees receive adequate care, while Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin dismissed the hunger strikes as involving only a “handful” of detainees protesting over food preferences.

Diana Rodríguez Pardo and Jairo Alzate Elejalde, a Colombian couple with Spanish citizenship, were detained by ICE agents immediately after landing at Las Vegas International Airport, where they had traveled from California to celebrate a birthday. The couple had entered the U.S. legally about two years earlier under a visa waiver program and later filed for asylum before their 90-day authorization expired. They were separated and sent to different detention facilities—Jairo remained in Nevada while Diana was transferred first to Arizona and then to Denver, Colorado. Their two children, ages 8 and 16, are now being cared for by relatives, and the family is seeking an immigration attorney and raising funds to cover legal costs while pursuing a possible bail release.

Arístides Fernández García, a 37-year-old Cuban trucking company owner who fled Cuba in 2021 after being kidnapped and robbed in Mexico, was living in South Florida under an I-220A release order when ICE arrested him following a Miami immigration court hearing on January 6, 2026. He spent about seven months in detention at facilities including Krome, 'Alligator Alcatraz,' and centers in Louisiana and Texas. On July 30, he was shackled and flown roughly 22 hours with about 80 other detainees, including Cubans, an Ecuadorian, and a Honduran, to Bangui, Central African Republic — a country under the U.S. State Department's highest 'Do Not Travel' advisory due to risks including unrest, crime, kidnapping and terrorism. He said he was not told the destination until mid-flight and was stripped of his identification, money, and phone upon arrival, now confined to a guarded building without legal status, a passport, or embassy support. "I paid taxes, I never got a traffic ticket. I did everything right," he said, and described feeling "kidnapped," saying "we are prisoners here, they won't let us leave or go anywhere... they have violated all the rights that exist in life, because we are human beings." He said he still wants to pursue his asylum claim, while immigration attorney Morella Aguado said there is no legal basis for sending migrants to a country not designated by an immigration judge.

Paula Sofia Ramirez Clavijo, a 33-year-old Colombian asylum seeker and survivor of sexual assault, was detained by ICE on July 24, 2025, immediately after appearing at San Francisco Immigration Court for a scheduled removal hearing. She had entered the U.S. without inspection in December 2023 and been released on her own recognizance. ICE arrested her outside the courtroom pursuant to a Warrant of Arrest. Attorney Erin Meyer filed a habeas corpus petition on her behalf. A U.S. District Court judge issued an order for her release while she was already on a United Airlines flight to Honolulu with ICE officers. The court granted her petition, ruling that she has a protected liberty interest and cannot be re-detained without a pre-deprivation bond hearing where the government must prove by clear and convincing evidence that she is a flight risk or danger to the community.

Jaciel Cirrus Rojas, a Mexican national and Chatino-language speaker from rural Oaxaca, came to Racine in 2018 to reunite with his brother. In June 2025, ICE agents arrived at his home searching for a prior tenant and detained him as "collateral" despite no prior criminal convictions or civil citations. Held at Dodge County jail for nine months and separated from his partner and child, Rojas filed for asylum citing fear of torture if returned to Mexico. His attorney Jennifer Bizzotto challenged his detention through a federal habeas petition. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in his favor on July 31, 2026, rejecting the Trump administration's mandatory detention policy and allowing detainees like Rojas to seek bond hearings in immigration court.

Emely Charloth Suaza Chambo, a 16-year-old student at Churchill High School in San Antonio, was detained by ICE while on her way to church. ICE agents told her father, Fernando Suaza Ortiz, who was employed at the Hilton Garden Inn, to pick her up or she would be sent out of state. When he arrived at the location to collect his daughter, he was also taken into ICE custody. Both have pending asylum cases and are being held at the Dilley detention facility in Texas. Congressman Joaquin Castro shared their story on social media.

Yasmany Noel Moreno-De Armas, a Cuban immigrant who fled Cuba by raft and reunited with his family in the U.S. in 2022 after six years apart, was deported on July 30, 2026 to the Central African Republic, a country he has no ties to. He says he fears punishment from the Cuban government for having been a balsero and for trying to use the 'wet foot, dry foot' policy, and did not know where he was being sent until the plane landed. He now lives in Bangui under IOM protection, has developed high blood pressure and panic attacks, and his father in South Florida says the family is once again separated.

The petitioner is a citizen of India who arrived in the United States around May 18, 2023, and was briefly detained by immigration officials before being released on his own recognizance. He has a pending asylum petition. On or about July 30, 2026, he was re-detained by immigration authorities and has remained in ICE custody since, held at the California City Immigration Processing Center. He filed a habeas corpus petition and a motion for a temporary restraining order challenging his detention, which is governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a). The court found that his detention without a pre-deprivation hearing following his prior release violated his due process rights, citing its reasoning in Cajina v. Wofford and Perez v. Albarran. The court granted his habeas petition, ordering his immediate release and enjoining respondents from re-detaining him without written notice and a hearing before an immigration judge, absent exigent circumstances. His motion for a TRO was denied as moot.

Debora Kapisha, a Maine Medical Center nurse originally from Zambia, was taken into ICE custody at Portland International Jetport on July 30 after an agent told her she needed a luggage inspection in a separate room, where immigration agents were waiting, according to her attorney Kerry Doyle. ICE has accused her of overstaying a visa that expired in November 2024, though she has a pending asylum claim and, according to the Maine State Nurses Association, is legally authorized to work in the U.S. After she challenged her detention in federal court, Kapisha was ordered released from ICE custody last week, though her removal case continues. Her colleagues protested her detention, and Maine immigrant advocates say at least five people have been detained at the jetport in the past two weeks amid a nationwide increase in airport immigration enforcement.

Mabel, an Oakland resident from Ecuador, was detained by ICE agents at Phoenix airport while waiting for a connecting flight. She had a pending asylum claim and held a valid work permit issued by U.S. immigration authorities. According to her husband Abraham Sanchez, an ICE officer approached the couple with a photo of Mabel on his phone, asked her to confirm her name, and took her away. She spent her first night detained near the airport before being transported to Eloy Detention Center. Her case is part of a broader ICE airport crackdown targeting individuals with expired visas and pending immigration applications.

Sarafinah Bukirwa, a 31-year-old Ugandan immigrant and founder of Sarafinah Sickle Cell Society, a nonprofit treating sickle cell anemia, was detained by ICE on July 22, 2026, at Muhammad Ali International Airport in Louisville while traveling to a sickle cell anemia conference in California. Bukirwa entered the U.S. legally on a visa to expand her nonprofit work and has a pending asylum claim with valid work authorization. After being held at Grayson County Detention Center in Leitchfield, Kentucky, her family reported she was denied her required sickle cell medication for nearly a week despite having the medication with her, with prescriptions reportedly diluted in water and withheld. She experienced a medical crisis requiring hospitalization at a Louisville hospital the day before her detention. Her brother Isaac Kabunga stated at a press conference that ICE agents claimed she was arrested for overstaying her visa, though U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey confirmed she is following proper legal procedures and called for her immediate release, stating her condition could become life-threatening without proper treatment.