Toombs County Student Remains in ICE Custody
mrandolphadvance@gmail.com
A Toombs County student remains in U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody in Louisiana after being arrested for driving without a license.
Roberto Itzep-Caba first came to the United States with his family at age 4, as the family was seeking asylum from Guatemala. He has solidified his reputation in the community as an outstanding athlete and accomplished student, but is now facing potential legal consequences.
Caba was driving to school after dropping off his mother at work on August 8, when he was pulled over by law enforcement officers for failing to stop at a stop sign. During the traffic stop, officers discovered that Caba did not have a license and took him into custody.
Once in custody, officers learned that Caba had an administrative warrant for his arrest from the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency for failing to appear at a Border Patrol hearing in 2017. According to information received by officers, Caba and his father allegedly crossed the United States border illegally in 2016 by crossing a river. The pair were confronted by Border Patrol, who ordered the father and son to attend a hearing regarding the matter in November 2017, but neither attended.
Even though Caba was a child at the time of the crossing, new federal legislation requires that he be held accountable for the event – meaning, officers had to notify ICE of the arrest. Caba was transferred into ICE’s care, and was moved to Stewart Immigration Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia.
Since then, Caba has been transferred to the Alexandra Staging Facility in Alexandra, Louisiana, which is usually a facility where detainees are processed before being deported.
