Read our article Combat and Resist ICE Terror here.
San Augustine County sheriff’s deputies facilitated the abduction of two workers by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while they were laying fiber-optic cable in East Texas on May 26.
One of the workers, Joksan Gonzalez, is now detained at the Port Isabel Detention Center in South Texas, hundreds of miles from his family, while suffering from worsening health symptoms.
A co-worker of Gonzalez told The Worker that the incident began when deputies from the San Augustine County Sheriff’s Office approached a crew digging trenches for fiber-optic cables and began asking general questions. The deputies gave no indication that the workers were under investigation or suspected of any wrongdoing.
After returning to their vehicle, three ICE agents emerged from the same sheriff’s truck. Gonzalez warned his co-workers, but some initially thought he was joking because the agents had arrived in a sheriff’s vehicle. Two workers fled into nearby woods and avoided detention by hiding for nearly two hours until ICE left the area.
Gonzalez and another worker were detained and transported to the ICE detention facility in Livingston, Texas. Detainees there are currently on hunger strike to protest conditions that reportedly include worms in food and a tuberculosis outbreak. Gonzalez may have been exposed to those conditions and is now experiencing a fever, cough, and other symptoms while receiving limited medical attention.
Gonzalez was later transferred to the Port Isabel Detention Center, roughly six hours away. In an audio recording shared with The Worker by his wife, Emilia, Gonzalez described the horrible conditions inside the facility.
Gonzalez worked as part of a contracting crew laying fiber-optic cables for the AT&T communications monopoly. His friend and on-site manager spoke with The Worker and described Gonzalez as “a very humble, calm, respectful, hardworking person.”
His family launched a GoFundMe campaign to help cover legal expenses, commissary costs, and household bills. Gonzalez was the primary provider for his family.
He is also the uncle of Luis Fernando Cabrera, a fast-food worker and student athlete who was recently released from ICE detention following a successful campaign demanding his release.
Texas accounts for nearly one-quarter of all ICE arrests nationwide and holds more immigration detainees than any other state, with roughly 18,000 people currently in detention. A major factor behind those numbers is the state’s embrace of 287(g), an ICE program that expands collaboration between local law enforcement agencies and federal immigration authorities.
That collaboration has accelerated under Texas Senate Bill 8, passed in 2025 and implemented at the beginning of 2026. The law requires law enforcement agencies across the state to enter into 287(g) agreements, formalizing cooperation with ICE and increasing the role of local police and sheriffs in immigration enforcement. The mandate extends to departments in major cities where Democratic Party officials publicly claim to defend immigrants while continuing to administer policies that facilitate federal attacks on foreign-born workers.
Donate to Joksan Gonzalez’s fundraiser here.
Image: Joksan Gonzalez. Credit: GoFundMe fundraiser.
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