Tennessee State Rep. Gabby Salinas visits Memphis high school student held by ICE in Mason facility

A student detention becomes a focal point for local and state scrutiny

A Tennessee state representative visited an 18-year-old Memphis high school student being held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the West Tennessee Detention Facility in Mason, a development that has drawn renewed attention to immigration enforcement activity in the Memphis area and its spillover into schools and youth sports.

The student, Yasser Jose Lopez Soza, is a junior at Memphis Business Academy. He was detained on Feb. 20, 2026, after the vehicle he was riding in on the way to a season-opening soccer game was stopped while traveling with other students. The other students were released, while Lopez Soza was taken into custody and later recorded as being held in Mason.

What is known about the visit and the detention

State Rep. Gabby Salinas said she visited Lopez Soza on March 8, 2026, at the detention facility. In a public statement following the visit, Salinas described Lopez Soza as focused on schoolwork and said the teen told her he was not a criminal. Salinas also tied the detention to intensified immigration enforcement activity in the Memphis area that began in late 2025.

Memphis Business Academy officials have characterized Lopez Soza as a good student who works a job in addition to playing soccer. Athletic records also list him on the school’s soccer roster in prior seasons.

Student walkouts and community response in Frayser

In the days after the detention, hundreds of students at Memphis Business Academy walked out to support their classmate and to protest ICE activity in Memphis. Students marched near the campus and chanted for his return; organizers and family members also sought financial help for legal expenses. Separate walkouts were reported at other Memphis-area high schools.

Policy context: enforcement, access to students, and oversight

The case has unfolded amid broader debate in Tennessee over how immigration enforcement intersects with everyday public life, including schools and routine traffic stops. While immigration enforcement is federal, state and local decisions—including cooperation practices and proposed restrictions on certain enforcement activity on school or religious property—have become a frequent subject of legislative proposals and public hearings.

The detention also highlights the limited public visibility into individual cases once a person is transferred into immigration custody. For families and schools, the immediate questions tend to focus on access to counsel, the timeline for bond or immigration court proceedings, and the conditions and duration of detention.

• Detained student: Yasser Jose Lopez Soza, 18, Memphis Business Academy junior.

• Detention location: West Tennessee Detention Facility, Mason, Tennessee.

• Key dates: Feb. 20, 2026 (detention); March 8, 2026 (legislative visit).

“Like most teenagers in their spring semester, his biggest worry is about his grades and his schoolwork,” Salinas said after the visit.

As of March 10, 2026, the public record reflects that Lopez Soza remains detained in Mason while questions about the stop that preceded his detention and the next steps in his immigration proceedings continue to draw community attention.