Human Impact Project

Eber, a two-year-old U.S. citizen, remains in Mexico in the care of María Estela Díaz and Miguel Maldonado Mendoza after his father was deported to Venezuela in early 2024 and his mother that February. The couple took him in because he needed surgery to remove half of his left lung due to a cyst and could not travel with his seven-year-old brother Isaac, who joined their parents months later. The surgery was successful and Eber has recovered well, though Díaz and Maldonado have faced financial strain covering his care and have turned to GoFundMe campaigns for support. His mother has registered the case with Venezuela's 'Gran Misión Vuelta a la Patria' program to speed up consular processing, but the family still has no confirmed date for the visa Eber needs as a U.S. citizen to enter Venezuela. Díaz said Eber no longer recognizes his biological mother and now calls her and Maldonado 'mama' and 'papa.'

Jeury Concepcion, a 19-year-old U.S. citizen from the Bronx, was tackled by ICE agents near East Gun Hill Road and Hull Avenue after being mistaken for a man with a removal order. Cellphone video showed masked agents with guns drawn forcing him to the ground and handcuffing him outside a barber shop while a bystander yelled 'Why you kidnapping?!' Witnesses said Concepcion repeatedly told agents he was a U.S. citizen as he was restrained and left bleeding from a head wound. Agents later checked his ID, realized they had the wrong person, apologized, and dropped him off bloodied at an unfamiliar park, where his mother and grandmother, Ivelisse Garcia Santana, eventually found him and took him for treatment; he received a concussion diagnosis and seven stitches. A DHS spokesperson said ICE did not arrest him, claiming he was briefly detained for matching a description and refusing to identify himself. Judge Gary R. Brown later reviewed video of the incident, calling it 'extremely violent' and ruling the arrest illegal, citing 'significant injury to a U.S. citizen.' Concepcion's case is among more than 500 U.S. citizens ProPublica identified as having been detained by immigration agents during the Trump administration.

A man walking to a pharmacy in Evanston, Illinois, to fill a prescription was tackled and detained by federal agents believed to be ICE after being mistaken for a fugitive near Dodge Avenue and Howard Street. Witnesses, including Miguel Angel Olivares, recorded video showing agents using force, pinning him down and appearing to strike him as he repeatedly stated he was a U.S. citizen. He suffered injuries to his head, neck and teeth, bled at the scene, and was taken by Evanston Fire Department ambulance to St. Francis hospital for treatment. A paramedic and police officer at the scene expressed shock that agents drove away while he lay in the street. DHS said the man was uncooperative and declined assistance, while an ICE supervisor told Evanston police agents left because protesters began gathering. Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss confirmed the detention and release, while local police, eyewitnesses, and the group Sanctuary Evanston disputed DHS's account, calling it a violent assault. Evanston police, Illinois authorities, and the FBI are investigating, with body camera footage and 911 audio being reviewed.

Ruben Ray Martinez, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen from San Antonio, was fatally shot three times by Homeland Security Investigations Agent Jack Stevens on South Padre Island while traveling with his best friend, Joshua Orta, to celebrate his birthday. Federal officials initially claimed Martinez struck an agent with his car after refusing orders, but bodycam footage obtained through a FOIA lawsuit showed his vehicle stationary or barely moving, with brake lights on, when he was shot; he was then pulled from the car, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed before receiving medical care. Orta, the only civilian witness, told investigators Martinez was 'hesitant' and 'scared'; he later died in a car crash less than a year after the shooting. Martinez's mother, Rachel Reyes, said Texas Rangers investigators told her the footage contradicted the agents' account. The government did not disclose the shooting for nearly a year, until the nonprofit American Oversight obtained the incident report. A Texas grand jury declined to indict Stevens, and the family has filed a tort claim against the federal government.

Michael "Sandy" Sims, 42, a Philadelphia lighting technician born in Ireland and raised in London, was detained by ICE agents at the San Jose airport on September 2 as he returned from a business trip. Sims, married to U.S. citizen Jennifer Sims since 2017 and the subject of an approved I-130 family petition toward a green card, had worked in entertainment lighting since 2002, including tours for Metallica, Usher, and Florence + the Machine. He was held at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield. DHS claimed Sims faced a domestic battery charge in Nevada, but his wife, his immigration lawyer, and a search of Nevada court records found no record of any such case. Sims was deported to the United Kingdom days before an October 8 bond hearing he and his wife had hoped would lead to his release. Friends and family started a GoFundMe campaign that had raised nearly $21,000 toward legal expenses.

Anyi Hernandez-Escobar came to the United States from Honduras in 2018, eight months pregnant and fleeing what she described as a desperate situation, and was detained for four days before being granted parole to remain temporarily. She later married U.S. citizen Patrick Keating, who became a father figure to her son Daniel, and the couple had a daughter together in May 2025. A Houston immigration judge rejected her request to temporarily close her removal proceedings while she pursued a green card through her marriage, a decision her attorney said followed a June agreement between Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and the Department of Justice ending a Biden-era policy that allowed such closures. Without that option, her attorney says she may need to leave for Honduras to pursue an immigrant visa, and her seven-year-old son Daniel may be unable to go with her because his biological father has not surrendered custodial rights.

Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center and U.S. citizen, was fatally shot by Border Patrol agents Jesus Ochoa and Raymundo Gutierrez on January 24, 2026, during a protest against Operation Metro Surge, an immigration enforcement operation. Witnesses and bystander video showed Pretti, holding only a phone, stepped in after agents shoved a woman to the ground; footage showed agents shoving him, spraying him with a chemical agent, and beating him with a metal canister before shooting him ten times, contradicting initial federal claims of self-defense. Pretti was a legal firearm owner with a carry permit but did not brandish a weapon or attack agents. Officers did not provide immediate first aid, and a pediatrician who tried to help was initially prevented from doing so. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and other officials rejected the federal government's characterization of the shooting, and the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division opened an investigation. His death, along with that of fellow protester Renee Good weeks earlier, was among at least 14 shooting incidents during the enforcement surge, which led to the removal of ICE commander Gregory Bovino, the resignation of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and deployment of 'border czar' Tom Homan to Minnesota.

Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, mother of three, poet, and legal observer, was fatally shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross on January 7, 2026, while monitoring Operation Metro Surge, an immigration enforcement operation on Portland Avenue in south Minneapolis. Good had blocked the street with her Honda Pilot to warn neighbors of ICE's presence when Ross fired three shots as her car turned away from officers. Her wife, Becca, said they were simply warning neighbors. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and President Trump called her actions 'domestic terrorism,' but video evidence, a New York Times analysis, Human Rights Watch, and an independent autopsy found she posed no imminent threat. Fellow protester Alex Pretti was also killed during the same operation. Protesters who gathered at the ICE Field Office in St. Paul the following day were met with pepper balls, mace, and tear gas. The administration blocked a federal criminal investigation, Noem was later fired, and hundreds of federal agents were withdrawn from Minnesota. Good's family filed two federal lawsuits under Bivens and the Federal Tort Claims Act against the agent and top administration officials, and her case was presented at an Inter-American Commission on Human Rights hearing. DHS agents have shot at roughly two dozen people and killed six since the start of the administration.

Frank Duran, a Cargill meat plant worker in Dodge City, and his 20-year-old daughter Guadalupe Navarrete, who works at National Beef in Liberal, were pulled over by an ICE vehicle with sirens while driving home from work in southwest Kansas. An officer approached Navarrete, who was driving, demanding identification but did not respond when she asked if he had a warrant or why they were stopped. Both are U.S. citizens who have lived in Kansas their entire lives, and Navarrete was left shaking and crying after the officer scanned her identification. She told her father, "We're both born here in Kansas. We're legal citizens, Dad. They profiled us." Duran said he believed they had been racially profiled. They were not detained and were allowed to leave after the stop, which occurred amid a broader ICE enforcement action targeting meat processing plants in the region.

Salah Sarsour, 53, president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee and a lawful permanent resident for over 32 years, was detained by ICE on March 30, 2026, after armed plainclothes agents pulled him over in unmarked vehicles near Milwaukee. He is married to a U.S. citizen, has six U.S. citizen children, and has no U.S. criminal record. DHS alleged he lied on his 1998 green card application by omitting convictions from an Israeli military court when he was a minor, which Sarsour says were coerced under torture, and also alleged he was suspected of funding terror organizations. He was held 80 days at Clay County Jail in Indiana, where his unmonitored diabetes worsened, he faced religious liberty restrictions and inadequate medical care, and lost over 30 pounds. His attorneys, including the Muslim Legal Fund of America, argued he was targeted for his Palestinian background and advocacy, noting authorities had known of his prior convictions for 25 years. On June 18, 2026, U.S. District Judge James Patrick Hanlon ordered his release, finding ICE likely detained him in retaliation for his Palestinian rights advocacy. Despite this, an immigration judge later ruled in September that Sarsour can be deported under a cold-war era law, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio citing his activism as grounds for removal; his attorneys plan to continue fighting the case.

Brian José Morales García, a 25-year-old HVAC worker from Austin born in Denver, Colorado, was riding in his employer's truck near Fredericksburg, Texas, on April 3, 2026, when a state trooper stopped them for an alleged window-tint violation. He repeatedly told officers he was a citizen and offered his birth certificate, Social Security card, and baptismal record, but said they refused to accept them; he was held by the Gillespie County Sheriff's Office before Border Patrol took custody. He said agents mocked his citizenship claim and pressured him into signing paperwork admitting illegal entry, which he did only to avoid prolonged detention and reunite with his pregnant wife in Mexico. He was deported four to five days after the stop, missing the birth of his daughter and spending nearly five months with relatives in Mexico. His attorneys, including Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, filed a federal lawsuit alleging coercion and racial profiling, submitting his Colorado birth certificate, hospital records, baptismal certificate, and witness affidavits, while DHS disputed his citizenship claim. A federal judge called the case 'highly unusual' and ordered discovery; the Department of Justice agreed to let him return to Austin on August 30, 2026, with his lawyer picking him up in Laredo. His civil rights lawsuit continues, and he said his fear of being wrongfully targeted again will stay with him.

Teresa de Jesus Ochoa Briseño, 31, a cook at Carmelita's Restaurant in Alamo, Texas, was arrested by ICE agents outside her workplace around 5 a.m. on September 21, 2026, and deported to Reynosa, Mexico, later that day. Her 17-year-old son, Luis Ochoa, a U.S. citizen, had witnessed an ICE apprehension near a Marine Corps recruiting office days earlier and was himself detained after speaking out publicly; he said agents offered him money to stay quiet and threatened to detain his undocumented relatives. Luis believes his mother was targeted because of the attention her public criticism of ICE generated in local media. ICE said Teresa had a prior removal order from a July 2025 arrest for alleged illegal reentry and denied the deportation was retaliatory, describing it as part of a 'targeted operation.' Advocacy groups We the People RGV and Carnalismo Brown Berets are calling for a congressional hearing and independent investigation into the family's case.

Luis Ochoa, a 17-year-old U.S. citizen, and his friend JC were detained by ICE agents in Alamo, Texas, after stopping to film an immigration enforcement action near Santos Livas Elementary School. The teens said they were on their way to meet with a Marine Corps recruiter when agents pulled Ochoa from his vehicle, breaking his wrist, pepper-sprayed both boys, and struck JC in the face despite their stating they were U.S. citizens. Video of the encounter showed the strikes to JC's face before Ochoa was taken into custody; Ochoa said an agent told him 'don't resist' though he was not resisting, and another reportedly said, 'I don't give a damn... Your parents can't help you now.' Ochoa's mother, Teresa Ochoa, said she went about eight hours without information about her son, calling it one of the most frightening moments of her life, and said the ordeal made both teens reconsider plans to enlist. DHS disputed the account, describing the teens as 'anti-ICE agitators' who became combative and said two officers suffered minor injuries. The Alamo Police Department forwarded the teens' complaint to the DHS Office of Inspector General, and Teresa Ochoa was deported days after speaking publicly about the incident.

Pastor Molis Augustave, 33, a faith leader in York, Pennsylvania and former organizer with We Are CASA, was detained after West Manchester Township police stopped him over a reportedly broken headlight while he was driving for DoorDash and turned him over to ICE under the township's 287(g) agreement. He had an approved I-130 petition, a pending I-485 green card application, a pending motion to reopen before the Board of Immigration Appeals, and a federal habeas corpus petition, but was deported to Haiti after 19 days in detention alongside 38 other Haitians. An advocacy campaign led by his U.S.-citizen wife, Omara Boniface Nunez, briefly got him pulled from an initial deportation flight, but USCIS denied his green card application days later. While detained, he led a Bible study group and counseled a fellow detainee who was contemplating suicide. His wife and their two U.S.-born children, Isaac and Sofia, remain in York, where he pastored a congregation, and his Motion to Reopen remains pending.

A 21-year-old Brazilian man was arrested by ICE at 7:30 a.m. on Sept. 23, 2026, while commuting to his job at a garage in Somerset. According to his habeas petition, he cooperated and provided his license, but when told he would be detained for overstaying his visa, an agent reached into the car, unbuckled his seatbelt and dragged him to the ground while other officers shouted "Taze him!" He entered the U.S. on a tourist visa at age 11 in 2016 and graduated from Diman Regional Technical High School in Fall River. He married his U.S. citizen wife in June 2024, and she was among dozens who submitted letters urging his release, writing that he "consistently tries to do good, support others, and be a positive presence." He remains in custody at Plymouth County Correctional Facility.

Malena Chacón Santos, a 24-year-old Cuban woman who entered the U.S. legally in November 2024 through the CBP One app and applied for asylum, was detained by ICE in November 2025 after voluntarily attending a routine immigration supervision appointment in Dallas. She was transferred to the Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson, Texas, more than 175 miles from home, where she has remained for nearly 10 months. In February 2025, she married Juan Carlos Alvarez, a U.S. Army veteran who lives with disabilities including depression, anxiety and arthritis, and became stepmother to his three children. Alvarez drives three hours every Sunday to visit her, and the couple speaks by phone daily. Her attorney filed a federal habeas corpus petition in May 2026, which a judge denied with prejudice on August 4. Chacón Santos says she has no criminal convictions and is still awaiting a decision on her case.

Leonardo 'Leo' Garcia Venegas, a 25-year-old U.S.-born citizen of Mexican descent working construction in Baldwin County, Alabama, was detained by immigration agents multiple times beginning in May 2025 despite presenting a valid Alabama REAL ID. In the first incident, armed agents raided a Foley construction site, tackled his undocumented brother, and held Garcia Venegas handcuffed for over an hour after he began filming and asserted his citizenship; his brother was later deported. Weeks later, agents detained him again at another job site, again dismissing his ID as fake despite him also providing his Social Security card. In a third encounter, officers followed him home, pulled him from his vehicle, tackled him, and shackled him. Never charged with a crime, Garcia Venegas testified before Congress saying 'I don't feel free,' and filed a federal lawsuit with the Institute for Justice against DHS officials, including Tom Homan and Kristi Noem, alleging Fourth Amendment violations, assault, battery, and false arrest. A federal judge in the Southern District of Alabama denied the government's motion to dismiss and temporarily halted warrantless construction-site raids, a ruling Garcia Venegas called 'a huge blow to lawless enforcement practices.'

Laura Rojas Ortiz, a 21-year-old mother, has been detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley for more than 40 days while pregnant with a high-risk pregnancy. She was detained during a mandated ICE check-in in Dallas while applying for a U visa after she and her young son were struck by a stray bullet in their neighborhood, despite regularly attending check-ins while wearing an ankle monitor. Two days before her detention, she had gone to the ER with miscarriage symptoms and was diagnosed with a high-risk obstetric condition; a physician at Dilley later determined she needed to see a specialist, but the facility has not scheduled the consultation. Now approaching her third trimester, she reports persistent abdominal pain and bleeding and says she has not received an ultrasound, blood tests, or an OB-GYN visit. Her mother, Paola, said facility staff moved her to a medical room during a congressional visit and removed her afterward, and that her toddler son, who is lactose intolerant, was given whole milk at the facility. The advocacy group Each Step Home has provided commissary support so she can buy food for her children.

Johnny Jules was arrested by ICE on September 15 in Columbus, Ohio after reporting for a mandatory check-in, even though he was pursuing a green card through his U.S.-citizen wife, Lourdes Miya Dorsonne. The couple, married since 2024, has a 1-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter who Dorsonne said keep asking where their father is. Jules survived a 2022 boat capsizing in the Mona Passage that killed 11 women, was later released from ICE custody with periodic check-in requirements, and was deported to Haiti on the same flight as Augustave despite having submitted marriage-based adjustment documents to ICE.

Zach Cosseboom, a 37-year-old UC Santa Barbara employee and U.S. citizen, was pepper-sprayed by a federal immigration agent while volunteering as an observer with immigrant advocacy group SB Resiste at the Santa Barbara County Jail. Cosseboom, a 12-year Santa Barbara resident, was watching ICE agents in the jail's lobby when an agent sprayed him at close range in an incident captured on video, also hitting his wife, Ana Garcia. He was treated at Cottage Health's emergency room afterward and described feeling 'a little helpless' during the incident.