A Tennessee family is searching for answers after Isai Cabrera, a 24-year-old man who has spent nearly his entire life in the U.S., was detained and transferred by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
Leslie Whitehead, Cabrera’s mother, told Memphis channel WREG that her son called on Saturday to inform her he was being transferred from the facility where he was being held.
“He called me panicking, saying that he was being shipped out in the morning, that they had come in and said that everyone needed to be ready by 4:30 because they were getting shipped out,” Whitehead said. “I asked, ‘Where are you going?’ and he said he did not know, and he only had 30 seconds to talk to me.”
Cabrera, who first came to the U.S. at seven months old, was initially detained at a CoreCivic-operated facility in Mason, Tennessee, WREG reported.
Newsweek reached out to ICE for comment.
Why It Matters
Immigration enforcement remains a central focus of the Trump administration. During the first 100 days of Trump’s second term, ICE reported that it arrested 66,463 undocumented immigrants and removed 65,682.
What To Know
Cabrera lived in Halls, Tennessee, where he raised his daughter and held multiple jobs, including fixing fences and detailing cars, WREG reported.
Earlier this month, Cabrera was pulled over for a broken tail light. When he could not provide proper identification, he was sent to the ICE detention center in Mason, WREG reported.
“I just lost my mom two months ago, and I felt a gut-wrenching feeling inside my stomach like I had just lost my son,” Whitehead said.
Whitehead became Cabrera’s legal guardian after his biological parents were deported in 2001, WREG reported. She said she had tried to obtain a green card for Cabrera, but the process was prohibitively expensive.
“We checked into the price of getting his green card and visa and we were running into like $16,000 for the whole process, and unless you’re rich, you can’t afford that,” Whitehead said.
She added that Cabrera does not speak Spanish and struggles to communicate with those around him.
“He said the sergeant didn’t like him because he spoke better English than she did,” Whitehead said.
Family Concerns
Leslie Whitehead told WREG, “I feel like we have a right to know where they are. Because we love him and he’s got a little girl out here that says every day that she misses her daddy.”
CoreCivic, the company operating the Mason facility, stated to WREG: “As a reminder, CoreCivic does not enforce immigration laws, arrest anyone who may be in violation of immigration laws, or have any say whatsoever in an individual’s deportation, release, or transfer between facilities. Those decisions are solely made by our government partners at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).”
What Happens Next
Whitehead said she remains “unsure what the resolution is going to be.”
“We worry about him going to Mexico and the fact that he doesn’t know anybody there,” she said.
