Ice Detention

Elder Chávez Carranza, 18, from Copán, has been detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement since December 2025 despite holding a Special Immigrant Juvenile status visa, after a judge rejected his bail request citing flight risk.

Honduras's consulate in the New York region visited ICE detention centers across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut to interview 38 Honduran nationals, provide birth certificates, and offer legal follow-up support.

The Honduran consulate in New York handled 17 repatriation cases in September alone, at costs between $5,000 and $10,000 per case, while consular staff reported assisting Hondurans held in ICE detention centers across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut for up to nine months.

José Eliézer Martínez, deported to Honduras in April, re-entered the U.S. in August, was arrested and held 37 days by ICE, but obtained a court order allowing him to stay and was released.

Mauricio Josué Sarmiento, 21, a Honduran who entered the US irregularly in 2021 as a minor, faces charges in North Carolina for a hit-and-run that killed a 51-year-old man; ICE has filed a hold to be notified before his release.

Dulce Ponce, 17, died on August 8 from injuries sustained in a Louisiana car accident six days earlier, while her mother, Karina Oyuela, remains in ICE detention in Texas and has requested release or deportation to Honduras to attend her daughter's funeral.

Gerson Turcios, 23, who arrived in Rhinebeck, New York at 17 and built a life there, faces deportation after an old removal order surfaced following his arrest; neighbors, celebrities, and lawyers have launched a campaign to fund his legal defense and challenge the order in court.

A community advocate reported that more than 25,000 Hondurans are in ICE custody and that those with Temporary Protected Status are now being sought at their homes, criticizing the Honduran government's response to migrant hardship in the United States.