Local volunteers have created a humanitarian project called “Humans of ICE” to share the stories of immigrants detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Broome County Jail.

The project is a collaboration between volunteers at Concerned Residents of Greater Binghamton and Justice and Unity for the Southern Tier. Christina Zawerucha ‘05, the project manager of Humans of ICE and lecturer and conversation pairs coordinator at Binghamton University’s English Language Institute, told Pipe Dream that the project aims to share the voices of those detained by ICE and held in jail.

Zawerucha explained that the organization recruits volunteers to interview detainees and write their stories to share with the community. She said they are also hiring artists, mainly from immigrant backgrounds and people of color, to illustrate the detainees’ stories and “to help humanize the people who are detained in the Broome County Jail by ICE.” She shared some of the stories from the interviews the organization has conducted.

“We also have a narrative from a person who lives in Endwell, who was detained by ICE and he’s out on bail,” Zawerucha said. “When you read this narrative of what happened to him, it’s quite startling. So I would recommend reading his narrative and seeing how it feels. It actually involves a lot of places that might be familiar to Binghamton University students.”

Humans of ICE began in December when the Concerned Residents of Greater Binghamton began supporting Guan Heng, a Chinese whistleblower who was legally present in the United States when he was detained by ICE at Broome County Jail. The volunteers helped his mother, who was visiting from Taiwan, navigate the Broome County Jail system and understand her way around Binghamton to see her son. Nationwide activism urging for Guan’s release contributed to the eventual approval of his asylum application, according to Zawerucha.

After he was transferred to a facility in Batavia at the end of January, Guan was released from detention on Feb. 3 and reunited with his mother. Guan’s story moved organizers to start sending volunteers to visit the jail and tell the stories of those detained by ICE, Zawerucha said.

“These are our friends and neighbors,” said Zawerucha. “These are people who are working. These are people who are running businesses that we have eaten at and patronized. These are people who are contributing to our community. Nobody should be picked up and treated this way.”

JUST filed Freedom of Information Act requests to obtain the names of people detained at the Broome County Jail before trying to determine who on that list may be an ICE detainee. Volunteers then went to visitation hours to ask detainees questions about the support they might need and if they are comfortable with their stories being told.

Zawerucha explained that the Humans of ICE project wants to contradict the narrative that most people detained by ICE are criminals or are unlawfully present in the United States. She told Pipe Dream that many of those detained in the Broome County Jail have legal permission to be in the country.

“The Humans of ICE Project is a humanitarian project where local residents have gotten together to humanize ICE detainees, and share their experiences and stories that otherwise would have been buried and ignored,” Hussein Adams, executive director and CEO of the American Civic Association, wrote to Pipe Dream. “The Equal Protection Clause found in the 14th Amendment of our Constitution ensures that all individuals, regardless of status, are treated equally under the law.”

“These are fundamental human rights that must be afforded to everyone, and community grassroots efforts like these help highlight personal stories where in some cases there’s injustice and due process failures,” he continued. “These initiatives and efforts are commendable, impactful and educational.”

Zawerucha said that one of the biggest challenges that Humans of ICE has faced is the lack of immigration lawyers in the Binghamton area. She claimed that many individuals self-deport because of pressure to sign documents they don’t fully understand.

In a Feb. 4 statement, Broome County Sheriff Fred Akshar told Pipe Dream that “all detainees are provided access to legal representation, translation, technology and more to ensure due process as they make their way through the legal system.”

Journey’s End Refugee Services, a Christian organization that works with refugees to “become healthy, independent, contributing members of the community,” told Pipe Dream that members have met with a few detainees at the jail. While Journey’s End does not have an official partnership with the sheriff’s office, it has met with Akshar and offered suggestions “about areas that could hinder a lawyer’s ability to help.” The organization has also contacted Akshar’s office to offer detainees presentations to learn more about the legal process.

Zawerucha said that Humans of ICE is in “urgent need” of immigration lawyers and seeks artists and volunteers willing to meet with detainees and write their stories to share on its website.

She also told Pipe Dream that she would like to see the sheriff’s office terminate its 287(g) agreement with ICE, which allows state and local law enforcement to execute warrants on behalf of ICE in the correctional facility. As of Feb. 9, 2026, 14 law enforcement agencies across the state have existing 287(g) partnerships. The sheriff’s office has repeatedly stated that these warrants apply to those already in the jail and that the office “does not participate in any active immigration enforcement activities in the community.”

Zawerucha also urged the state legislature to pass the New York for All Act, which would broadly prohibit state entities from cooperating with federal immigration agents and prevent local law enforcement from inquiring about a person’s citizenship status, and the Dignity Not Detention Act to end “existing contracts for the detention of individuals in immigration detention facilities.”

On Jan. 30, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed the “Local Cops, Local Crimes Act,” which would ban all 287(g) agreements in New York but would not prohibit local or state police from cooperating with federal law enforcement in criminal investigations.

As Humans of ICE continues to grow, Zawerucha said she hopes similar initiatives will begin in other counties and states that house ICE detainees.

“This nonprofit project has really taken off and that’s a beautiful thing,” she said. “I hope that more places mimic this model and that this becomes a movement across the country.”