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Memphis Police coordinated with ICE to detain 18-year-old soccer player during traffic stop, contradicting mayor's account

On February 20, 2026, the Memphis Police Department and Tennessee Highway Patrol coordinated with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations unit during a traffic stop in Memphis, Tennessee, leading to the two-month immigration detention of 18-year-old high school soccer player Yasser Lopez Soza. Video obtained by MLK50 through public-records requests shows an HSI agent riding along in the MPD cruiser that made the stop, contradicting Memphis Mayor Paul Young's public account that federal immigration officials had arrived only after independently monitoring police radio. A federal judge ordered Lopez Soza's immediate release in April 2026, finding the Department of Homeland Security had failed to provide bond as required by law.

Jurisdiction
Tennessee
Location
Memphis, Tennessee

Abuses documented

Actors

On February 20, 2026, the Memphis Police Department pulled over a car carrying four high school students, including 18-year-old Yasser Lopez Soza, on their way to a soccer game in Memphis, Tennessee. Video footage obtained by MLK50 through a Tennessee Highway Patrol records request shows a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations agent riding as a passenger in the MPD cruiser that made the stop, and additional HSI officers arriving in Tennessee Highway Patrol cruisers. Officers on scene discussed Lopez Soza's immigration status and a prior 2023 notice to appear in immigration court before an HSI agent transported him to ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations for detention.

The video directly contradicts a public account Memphis Mayor Paul Young gave in April to the Institute for Public Service Reporting, in which he said immigration officials had arrived at the stop only after independently monitoring MPD radio traffic. MPD has publicly stated multiple times since fall 2025 that it does not assist ICE with immigration enforcement arising from routine traffic stops. Lopez Soza's attorney, Jay Fearnley, said the stop had no clear justification beyond a claimed lane change and that "Yasser Lopez was racially profiled and detained unlawfully." Neither the City of Memphis nor MPD responded to questions about the reason for the stop or the extent of MPD's cooperation with HSI.

Lopez Soza, a student at Memphis Business Academy, a public charter school, was held for two months at the West Tennessee Detention Facility in Mason, Tennessee.

Updates

2026-04-24 — Federal judge ordered Lopez Soza's immediate release [2]

U.S. District Judge Sheryl Lipman ruled that the Department of Homeland Security was required by law to provide Lopez Soza bond and ordered his immediate release, noting he had no criminal history and had lived in the U.S. for several years. DHS was ordered to provide proof of release by the following Monday; Lopez Soza was freed from the detention facility that Friday.

Why we recorded this

Due process protects even immigration detainees from open-ended confinement: federal law requires the government to provide bond absent a specific justification, and local police depend on public trust that rests on the promises they make about not enforcing immigration law. Here, Memphis police and Tennessee state troopers were captured on video quietly working with ICE agents to identify and detain a high school student during a traffic stop, directly contradicting the mayor's public assurance that federal agents operate independently of local police. The teenager was held for two months until a federal judge found the government had violated the bond requirement outright. This archive records the gap between what officials tell the public about immigration cooperation and what happens on the street.

Sources

  1. Video shows MPD worked with ICE to identify 18-year-old soccer player before his two-month detention — MLK50: Justice Through Journalism investigative accessed July 20, 2026
  2. Judge orders 'immediate' release of Memphis high school student detained by ICE, records show — FOX13 Memphis primary accessed July 20, 2026

See also