Knoxville Catholic High School parent detained in ICE enforcement actions

en español

Immigrant community unsure of proper steps

By The East Tennessee Catholic

On the morning of Jan. 28, the father of a Knoxville Catholic High School student, whose family has asked to remain anonymous, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents near The Home Depot in East Knoxville. The father of three was leaving the store in his work van when he was pulled over by several unmarked cars at a nearby gas station.

His daughter, who spoke with him via video call at the Knox County jail on Jan. 29, said the immigration agents asked him to show identification. The father produced his driver’s license and a current work permit when asked for further documentation. The agents asked if he would step out of the car so they could take his picture. Upon exiting the vehicle, he was taken into custody.

The man is working with his immigration attorney to assess next steps. The family was told that not much can be determined until he is relocated and processed at a federal immigration detention facility in Louisiana.

“The officer [at the Knoxville detention center] wasn’t able to provide information,” the daughter said. “We won’t be informed of him being moved. We just have to wait for him to call us.”

The daughter said her father is originally from Mexico and has lived in Tennessee since he was 15. The family has lived in the same home in East Tennessee for nearly 20 years.

“I have lived here all my life,” the daughter said. She and her siblings are U.S. citizens. She said her mother is a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient and her father has been working with immigration lawyers since 2021 to continually update his status as he owns a framing company.

DACA is a U.S. immigration program that provides renewable protection from deportation and legal work authorization for eligible undocumented immigrants who were brought to the country as children.

Parish Responds

Father Samuel Mungai, GHM, pastor of St. Teresa of Kolkata Parish in Maynardville, has been in contact with the family, but the Knox County jail is not allowing clergy to make ministerial visits to ICE detainees.

Father Mungai confirmed that the family are active parishioners and that the father was involved in building the church sanctuary and donated his crew for portions of the St. Teresa construction project in 2018.

“The majority of our Hispanic community are feeling frozen – afraid of going out, going to work, and keeping kids from school,” Father Mungai said. “The church is helping with food and utilities as we can.”

Noting that he has noticed several families scared to attend Mass at church, he said, “I celebrated home Mass [with them] because of fear.”

The Diocese of Knoxville has been hearing similar reports from parishes across East Tennessee. Fear is increasing in many communities as arrests numbers continue to rise.

At a recent Diocese of Knoxville priest meeting, one Knoxville parish reported 26 Hispanic parishioners missing in the first half of 2025.

Navigating the process

A Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus parishioner, who has asked to remain anonymous, described her boyfriend and his brother being pulled over by ICE agents in Sevierville on Dec. 1. According to the parishioner, the agents did not give a reason for the stop. However, after questioning, the agents determined the brothers had overstayed their visas. The two were taken into custody and transported to a federal detention center in Louisiana.

The brothers are Honduran and arrived in the United States in 2022 on travel visas to assist with their father’s medical treatments – he is paralyzed from the waist down and requires full-time caretakers. The brothers have electrical engineering degrees and began working for an HVAC company to help support their mother and father during the treatment period.

Navigating the process of reuniting with their loved ones has been an ongoing challenge. “It’s like a puzzle where you have to figure out what the pieces are,” the girlfriend said.

The family has provided officials with support letters – 18 in total – from individuals vouching for the character of the men in the hope they could positively influence hearings.

In a Jan. 21 hearing, the boyfriend was denied bail. It remains unclear if he will be released.

The following week, on Jan. 28, the brother was released by a judge on house arrest. He was ordered to wear an ankle bracelet, pay $8,000 for bail, and not drive without a license.

The family scrambled to make transportation arrangements for him to return to the area as he was detained in rural Louisiana. They learned a taxi service would be required for pick up, and that they could book a flight for his return. He was fortunate that his belongings were returned as that had not always been the case.

He is now back in the area.

The family reports he lost around 30 pounds during the detention period – food was scarce and sickness was prevalent among the population. There are about 100 detainees per cell block at the facility, and due to the cold and winter storms they had not been allowed time outside for nearly three weeks.

In the community

Emma Ellis-Cosigua, community organizer with the Alliance for Community Transformation East Tennessee (ACTET), a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization focused on building multicultural, multiracial, and interfaith relationships, spoke with diocesan priests at the January meeting on the broader impact of ICE enforcement in the region.

“[ICE enforcement] has mainly been on Latino communities,” she said. “Agents will sometimes approach with guns drawn.”

Ms. Ellis-Cosigua said that her organization sometimes collaborates with Weekly Witness, an interfaith alliance that sets up outside the ICE field office in West Knoxville to provide hospitality, support, and witness to immigrants in ICE check-in lines.

“We have seen many immigrants picked up during routine check-ins for visas or applications for residency,” she said.

Weekly Witness has observed approximately 40 individuals picked up in 2025 during these required check-ins. The organization also reports that field office operations have been sporadic – at times requiring individuals to travel to Nashville for check-ins without advance notice.

She said ICE enforcement is largely targeting men, which is causing families to be separated. ACTET has assisted with easing the challenges when a father or husband is detained.

“We can assist with getting passports for their children so they can go home,” she said. “Women may not have transportation, so we have helped with getting food, paying rent.”

Ms. Ellis-Cosigua said that because the man is often the breadwinner, families may have had only one vehicle, and meeting basic needs can become challenging.

“We have families who are afraid to go to doctor appointments,” she said, adding they had to ease fears of a family who was reluctant to go to University of Tennessee Medical Center despite the mother needing surgery for appendicitis.

By the numbers

The Knox County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) estimates an average of 300 people are detained by ICE each month. Data aggregated by Allies of Knoxville’s Immigrant Neighbors (AKIN) in 2025 suggests the KCSO estimates may be low, as ICE detentions are categorized into two groups: those brought in on local criminal charges, and those brought in pursuant to bed contracts under the 287(g) program.

The 287(g) program is a voluntary partnership between federal immigration offices and local law enforcement to process and detain noncitizens in local jails for potential deportation.

The distinction is that those held on 287(g) bed contracts are brought in for civil actions, not criminal actions, and are temporarily held before being transported to a federal immigration detention facility for further processing and determination by ICE or an immigration judge.

When accounting for the periods when temporary funding suspensions affect the program, AKIN is recording numbers closer to 400 ICE detainees per month. In many of those months, less than 10% of the ICE detainees are being held on local criminal charges.

Justice and mercy

Ms. Ellis-Cosigua urged the priests of the diocese to “be aware of people at the parishes,” appealing for community vigilance and to check in on their Hispanic parishioners and neighbors.

Bishop Mark Beckman wrote in a Dec. 12 letter, on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, “I remind all that Catholic teaching affirms the right of people to migrate when they cannot find security, livelihood, or life for their families. We also affirm the right of nations to regulate borders in a just manner. The two truths must never be placed in opposition. Justice and mercy must walk together.”

The Knoxville Catholic High School family hopes that their father will be able to come home in time for their loved one’s graduation in May.