A Central Texas community is mobilizing behind an 18-year-old high school senior who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in early May.

U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, held a press conference with Austin-area leaders on Monday, May 11, calling for the release of Austin ISD student Luis Fernando Cabrera Chavarria, who is set to graduate from Northeast Early College High School in a few weeks.

Chavarria was reportedly driving home on May 1 from a late-night shift at Popeyes around 2 a.m. when a Texas State Trooper pulled him over along IH-35 in Austin for expired registration.

“He’s a high school senior who should be about to graduate,” Casar wrote in an X post. “Instead, he’s sitting in ICE detention because of a traffic stop.” 

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) told MySA in a statement that during the traffic stop, the trooper was unable to verify the driver’s identity through DPS databases. Through further investigation, the trooper, whose a federally certified Delegated Immigration Officer under 287g, “determined the driver was not lawfully present in the United States and contacted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for assistance.”

The 287(g) program, signed by DPS in October 2025, is a partnership between ICE and local law enforcement agencies that allows trained officers to perform specified immigration enforcement functions under ICE oversight, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security website.

An ICE spokesperson also confirmed to MySA through email that Chavarria will remain in ICE custody in San Antonio pending immigration proceedings and will receive full due process. During Casar’s press conference on Monday in front of Northeast Early College High School, he said Chavarria came to the United States from Mexico when he was 11-years-old and described him as a beloved brother, uncle and teammate.

DPS said that officers in every region across Texas – including Troopers and Special Agents – have undergone 287g certification training to become Delegated Immigration Officers and are authorized by ICE to identify, arrest or detain individuals with an immigration violation. DPS added that its “officers working on Texas roads have been trained to recognize indicators of someone who may be in the country illegally.”

“When encountering illegal immigrants during traffic stops or other law enforcement operations, all DPS officers – regardless of 287g certification or being assigned to a strike team working alongside our federal partners – know to notify federal law enforcement partners, including ICE, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Border Patrol,” a DPS spokesperson said. 

Casar explained that Chavarria, whose family calls him ‘Nano,’ is a student-athlete who wakes up early every day to take his two-year-old nephew to childcare and works late after school to help provide for his family. 

“He goes to school and to soccer practice where his coach calls him a supportive, good team, respectable, honest and silly,” Casar said. “He goes to work on top of being a student and a soccer player. Oftentimes, putting 20, 30, and 40 hours a week at Popeye’s in order to help his family make the rent.”

MySA reached out to Austin ISD, but did not hear back before publication.