Human Impact Project

Karina Alvarez San Juan, a Mexican national who has lived in the U.S. since age 12, was arrested during a traffic stop in Florida on May 6, 2026, for an allegedly broken taillight. She is the mother of four U.S. citizen children and was nursing her youngest child, born on January 7, 2026, at the time of her arrest. ICE transferred her to South Louisiana Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana, where she remained detained for over three months. Her attorney Michelle Borton reported that conditions at the facility were inadequate, with detainees lacking sufficient clean water for basic hygiene including bathing and flushing toilets. San Juan alleged due process violations, including a cancelled bond hearing and a denied emergency motion without explanation. On July 8-9, 2026, U.S. District Judge David C. Joseph, a Trump appointee, ordered ICE to release her within five business days after finding that the agency violated its own Directive 11032.4, which prohibits detention of postpartum and nursing mothers unless release is prohibited by law or exceptional circumstances exist. ICE officials stated they had no additional evidence to justify her continued detention.

Owen Ramsingh, a Netherlands native who arrived in the United States at age 5 in 1986 and held a green card for over 40 years, was detained by ICE at Chicago's O'Hare Airport in November 2025 based on decades-old drug convictions from 1997 and 2011. He was deported to the Netherlands in February 2026 after months in detention, receiving a lifetime ban from the United States. Ramsingh had been living in Columbia, Missouri with his wife Diana and daughter, working in property management and security at local venues. After finding conditions in the Netherlands difficult, Ramsingh and his family relocated to Mexico to be closer to U.S.-based friends and relatives while his wife pursues remote work opportunities, unable to visit his daughter's gravesite in the United States. Owen Ramsingh, a long-term green card holder who immigrated to the U.S. at age 5 in 1986, was detained by ICE at Chicago airport on September 30 while returning from a family visit to the Netherlands. DHS cited prior drug-related convictions from 1997 and 2011 as justification for his detention. Ramsingh, who had worked in property management and security at music venues in Columbia, Missouri, was held in ICE custody in Texas and New Mexico. In December, a New Mexico judge issued him a lifetime ban from the U.S., and he was deported to the Netherlands in February. Unable to secure housing or viable visa options in the Netherlands, Ramsingh and his family have since relocated to Mexico, where they are working on obtaining residency and rebuilding their lives closer to family and friends.

Maisa Lopes Eliaser, a 32-year-old Brazilian national with no criminal record, was detained by ICE on July 8, 2026, during a scheduled green card adjustment-of-status interview in Montgomery, Alabama. She is married to Staff Sergeant Alexis Jaramillo, an active-duty Army soldier of 11 years. Lopes Eliaser legally entered the U.S. on June 18, 2019, with authorization to remain until December 2019, but overstayed her visa. She had previously applied for asylum and later sought permanent residency through marriage; her green card petition had been approved before her detention. Immigration officials indicated she missed a biometrics appointment related to her asylum case, resulting in a removal order from an immigration judge on April 15, 2026. She is currently held at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana. Jaramillo stated he feels "betrayed" by the detention, believing the family was completing the legal process for her permanent residency. The detention has caused panic attacks for Jaramillo and emotional distress for their young stepson. Her case is now before the Board of Immigration Appeals.

Ulises Peña López, a 30-year-old Mexican carpenter and father living in Sunnyvale, California, with pre-existing conditions including a mini-stroke, blood clot, heart condition, and spinal and knee injuries, was surrounded by armed ICE agents outside his home in late February 2025. Agents smashed his truck window, pulled him out at gunpoint, and beat him unconscious in an alleyway while his wife Aby and young daughter watched, according to a federal lawsuit filed by his family with Disability Law United and Pangea Legal Services. He was hospitalized in Mountain View and allegedly shackled to his bed, with nurses passing him written notes to avoid ICE surveillance; his wife said he lost feeling in half his face and parts of his right side. During months in detention at Golden State Annex, California City Detention Facility, and other GEO Group and CoreCivic-run facilities, staff allegedly denied him a cane, hearing aids, medication, and other disability accommodations, and mocked him when he filed grievances. He was deported to Mexico in October 2025, where he says he is living in hiding, while his wife has been diagnosed with PTSD and their daughter has shown developmental regression. The family's lawsuit against DHS, ICE, GEO Group, and CoreCivic alleges civil rights, due process, and disability rights violations.

ICE arrested at least five immigrants at New York immigration courthouses in late June despite a federal judge's order limiting such arrests, and advocates have asked U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel to determine whether the agency violated that order. ICE says the arrests were lawful, with acting supervisory officer Roberto Rodriguez stating courthouses are the safest location because enforcement elsewhere in New York risks protests and bystander intervention. Attorney Katherine Rosenfeld's June 29 letter raised concerns about ICE's compliance and noted a near-daily ICE presence at the courthouses. Of the five arrested, three were released without explanation while two remain detained awaiting habeas corpus petitions; one was from the Dominican Republic and another from Ecuador.

Erianny Rodriguez Balza, a Venezuelan woman with active Temporary Protected Status (TPS), was detained by ICE at Eloy Detention Center in Arizona for approximately 9 months. Court filings show that a federal government attorney acknowledged her legal status, yet she remained in detention despite this acknowledgment. She was eventually released after the wrongful detention.

Rabbiatu Kuyateh, a 58-year-old nurse who spent more than 30 years in the U.S. caring for Covid-19 patients and disabled adults, was detained by ICE agents during a routine check-in in Baltimore on July 1, 2025, with her son Mohamed present. Kuyateh had fled civil war in Sierra Leone as a child and had been granted a withholding of removal protecting her from being sent back there, saying she had no criminal record: "I did not commit any crime; I always abided by the law." After four months in ICE custody, she was deported to Ghana as part of a third-country deportation, a country with which she had no ties. Video obtained by news outlets shows Ghanaian officials dragging her by her hair, shoeless and screaming, through a hotel in Accra and forcing her onward to Sierra Leone, the country a U.S. judge had ruled would endanger her life. She is now living in hiding in an undisclosed location in Africa.

An Indian citizen who entered the U.S. on July 15, 2023, was detained on July 3, 2026, when he appeared at a local ICE office for a routine check-in appointment. He had been released on his own recognizance in an Alternatives to Detention program and had a pending asylum application with valid employment authorization. The court found his detention violated due process and ordered his immediate release, prohibiting future detention without seven days' notice and a bond hearing before a neutral arbiter.

An immigration detainee held at California City Detention Center filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus challenging her detention. Respondents argued she was subject to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c)(1)(A) due to a 2014 petty theft conviction under California Penal Code § 484(a), claiming this made her inadmissible as having committed a crime involving moral turpitude (CIMT). However, the court found that she qualifies for the petty offense exception because she has only one CIMT conviction, the petty theft offense carries a maximum penalty of less than one year (6 months), and she was sentenced to 180 days or less. The court rejected respondents' argument that a separate simple battery conviction disqualified her from the exception, noting that simple battery is not categorically a CIMT. The court granted the petition for writ of habeas corpus and ordered respondents to provide her with a bond hearing before a neutral arbiter pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) within seven days, or release her if they fail to do so.

Seyo Cecunjanin, a West Hartford restaurant and laundry business owner from Montenegro, was arrested by ICE on June 20, 2026, in a Dunkin' Donuts parking lot surrounded by five unmarked vehicles while with two of his sons. He was detained at Wyatt Detention Center in Central Falls, Rhode Island for approximately 12 days. Cecunjanin entered the U.S. in 1997 using a fraudulent passport and had an outstanding removal order, but had been permitted to reenter in 2024 and maintained valid work authorization at the time of his arrest. He owns two restaurants and a laundry business employing 15 people and has a pending permanent resident application filed in September 2023. U.S. Rep. John Larson and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, along with other members of Connecticut's congressional delegation, held a press conference and sent letters to ICE demanding his release, citing his valid work authorization and pending immigration case. Cecunjanin was released on June 26, 2026 (or July 2, 2026 according to another account).

During a surge in ICE enforcement in late June 2026, three men were arrested at federal courthouses in Lower Manhattan in apparent violation of a federal judge's order issued the previous week restricting courthouse arrests. An Ecuadorian man was arrested at an immigration court inside 26 Federal Plaza, a Guatemalan man at 290 Broadway, and a man from the Dominican Republic was also arrested at 290 Broadway. The arrests occurred during a broader ICE enforcement operation in which the agency detained over 10,000 people in five days after being instructed to make 2,000 arrests per day. Legal advocates with Make the Road New York filed challenges claiming the arrests violated due process rights and court orders prohibiting immigration enforcement in courthouses.

Miguel Angel Gomez Alvarado, who had lived in the United States for 14-15 years as an undocumented immigrant, was stopped by police during a traffic stop between November 2025 and February 2026 and turned over to ICE, which held him in deportation proceedings without a bond hearing. Gomez had no criminal record and was raising American citizen children. A federal judge found that holding him without a bond hearing violated his due process rights and ordered his release. The Trump administration appealed the decision to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled on July 2, 2026, that the government cannot hold undocumented immigrants for more than 90 days without a bond hearing and must articulate individualized justification for detention.

Two federal judges in Iowa held ICE Supervisory Detention and Deportation Officer Quintin Erdman in civil contempt for knowingly and willfully transferring detainee Pardeep Saini from Iowa to Nebraska in direct violation of a court order blocking such transfers. In a separate case, detainee Osmar Jose Arraiz Montilla was transferred between federal judicial districts while his case was pending. The judges sharply criticized ICE officials for a pattern of repeatedly violating court orders in immigration cases, with one judge warning that noncitizens are not 'bargaining chips' to be moved based on litigation strategy.

Jesus Eduardo Reyes Hermes, a Venezuelan national with valid Temporary Protected Status, was arrested by ICE on April 28, 2026, while working on his car outside his South-Central El Paso home. His 11-year-old son, identified in court records as J.R.C., was also detained during the incident despite both having pending asylum claims; the boy told El Paso Matters he believes the arrest stemmed from a neighbor's noise complaint to ICE. Reyes Hermes had lived in El Paso for nearly four years and was in the process of applying for a TPS exemption at the time of his arrest. He was transferred to the Camp East Montana detention facility at Fort Bliss and separated from his son. After attorneys filed federal habeas corpus petitions, a federal judge ordered bond hearings, and an immigration judge set a $5,000 bond on June 16; Reyes Hermes was released on June 24, the same day USCIS issued a negative credible fear determination triggering expedited removal proceedings against him. In July, his son requested voluntary deportation to reunite with his mother in Venezuela after three years in El Paso.

JeanCarlos Fiallos Manzanares, a 31-year-old DACA recipient from Miami, was detained by ICE agents following a traffic stop near his mother's house despite holding valid deferred action status. He was transferred to Otero County Processing Center in New Mexico, approximately 2,000 miles from his family. While detained, USCIS approved his deferred action renewal in January, but ICE did not release him. An immigration judge subsequently ordered his deportation to Honduras, and USCIS rescinded his approved deferred action protections. Fiallos Manzanares filed a lawsuit challenging his detention after a federal judge found merit to his petition, but he was deported after more than a year in custody, separated from his U.S. citizen wife and two young sons.

Aylin, a 28-year-old gay woman from Turkey who fled after being threatened by a religious group and a family member, had been granted withholding of removal by a US judge because returning to Turkey would endanger her due to her sexuality, though her underlying asylum application had been denied. After spending 18 months in US immigration detention, she says she was handcuffed and shackled and put on a flight she only learned mid-flight was headed to the Central African Republic, a country she had never heard of. She spent weeks confined to an apartment in Bangui, too afraid to go outside, before ultimately returning to Turkey, telling her family she had 'changed her sexual orientation' and saying she hopes to eventually reach another country. The Department of Homeland Security told CNN that third-country deportation agreements are lawful and that a protection order barring removal to one's home country does not bar deportation elsewhere; CNN reported she is one of several deportees sent to third countries despite court protection orders, and the AP found eight of nine deportees on one January flight had similar orders, with at least 35 third-country deportation deals signed by US immigration authorities.

S, a Nigerian Christian, came to the United States in 2001 and applied for asylum based on her fear of religious persecution. A U.S. immigration judge found she would be persecuted if returned to Nigeria and granted her withholding of removal. She is the primary breadwinner for her four U.S. citizen children and her husband, who is disabled. At a routine ICE check-in in Los Angeles in July 2026, she was arrested, detained, and summarily deported to Ghana, separating her from her family and the country she called home for 25 years. Within 24 hours of her arrival, Ghanaian authorities refouled her to Nigeria, where she fears the persecution she fled.

A Peruvian asylum seeker and father of two US citizen toddlers, a citizen of Peru, entered the United States on June 9, 2023, and has lived and worked in the country since then, employed in the A/C mechanics and warehouse industry while paying taxes and contributing to his community. He has two toddlers who are United States citizens. After presenting himself at a port of entry and expressing fear of returning to Peru, he passed a credible fear interview and was paroled into the country to pursue asylum, with his asylum application still pending in ongoing removal proceedings. On July 1, 2026, DHS detained him after he left his local DMV office, and he argued his parole and liberty had been unlawfully revoked without notice or justification. He was held at the Denver Contract Detention Facility and filed a habeas petition seeking immediate release or, alternatively, a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a). The court found he was improperly subject to mandatory detention under § 1225(b)(2), citing prior rulings and a Tenth Circuit decision limiting that provision's application to noncitizens detained at the border. The court granted the habeas petition, ordered his immediate release without conditions such as GPS monitoring, enjoined his re-arrest absent a clear-and-convincing-evidence bond hearing, and denied his TRO/preliminary injunction motion as moot.

A Honduran woman entered the United States without inspection near Presidio, Texas on May 6, 2019, and was encountered by U.S. Border Patrol. She was released from custody at that time with no Notice to Appear. She was subsequently placed in removal proceedings and issued an Order of Release on Recognizance in 2019. As of July 2026, she is detained at Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana. The court denied her motion for a temporary restraining order to prevent her transfer or deportation, finding that such relief would circumvent the habeas corpus process and that she failed to meet the legal requirements for emergency injunctive relief.

A 52-year-old asylum seeker from Mexico was detained on July 1, 2026, at an ICE check-in in San Francisco after ICE revoked her Order of Supervision without a hearing. She had been released under supervision after her 1999 removal order was reinstated on March 23, 2026, following a USCIS adjustment of status interview. The court granted her preliminary injunction, prohibiting re-detention without notice and a pre-deprivation hearing before a neutral decisionmaker, finding she had a constitutionally protected liberty interest based on the government's affirmative decision to release her.