By the time Moises Benitez Diaz made it back to Raleigh, he had missed the birth of his daughter, burned through thousands of dollars in legal and medical bills, and was convinced that a three-month stay in a Georgia immigration facility had nearly killed him.
Benitez Diaz, who owns a small construction business in Raleigh, was picked up on Nov. 18, 2025, at a Cary job site and taken to an ICE processing center in Folkston, Georgia. He says the experience was so grim that at one point he feared he would not make it home alive. He spent roughly three months in custody before a judge set an $8,500 bond that led to his release in late February. While he sat in detention, his family tried to keep both the household and the business afloat without his paycheck.
Inside the facility, Benitez Diaz described overcrowded and unsanitary conditions. He told reporters that people slept on the floor, toilets were clogged, and food sometimes came with worms. He says he vomited so often that he briefly choked and that guards did not respond right away. According to his account, when he called for help, a guard replied, “OK, well, I’ll be there in a minute,” then never showed up, as reported by The News & Observer.
Facility Conditions In Folkston
The D. Ray James Processing Center in Folkston is owned and operated by the private prison contractor GEO Group. The complex was activated in 2025 to expand ICE processing capacity. In its own materials, The GEO Group highlights 24/7 medical access and what it describes as higher-than-typical healthcare staffing.
Outside reviews have raised tougher questions. Inspection reports and watchdog coverage have flagged sanitation and compliance problems at the Folkston site, according to reporting by The Current. The picture that emerges depends heavily on who is doing the talking: company profiles that emphasize services, or inspectors and journalists documenting violations.
How He Was Swept Up
Benitez Diaz says U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested him at a Cary worksite on Nov. 18 as part of a coordinated enforcement push. The multiagency operation, branded “Operation Charlotte’s Web,” led to hundreds of arrests across the region, according to the Associated Press.
For his family, the code-name operation translated into something far more basic: suddenly losing a breadwinner and business owner in the middle of a pregnancy and a busy roofing season.
Court Fight And Bond Hearings
Once in the system, Benitez Diaz ran into the kind of detention-versus-bond tug-of-war that has become routine in immigration courts. At a December hearing, he was denied bond after government lawyers cited the administration’s policy that sharply restricted who could be considered for release. He eventually won a second hearing on Feb. 23, where a judge set bail at $8,500. That decision allowed him to leave detention on Feb. 27. His application for cancellation of removal was later denied in March, and he is now appealing, according to The News & Observer.
The broader legal fight over who can even ask for bond has been playing out in federal court. A California district court issued a Dec. 18, 2025 ruling that opened the door for many detained immigrants to seek bond hearings. That window narrowed again on March 6, 2026, when the Ninth Circuit issued an administrative stay of the lower court’s judgment, according to federal court filings.
Family Fallout And The Immigration Path
Back home in Raleigh, the fallout landed hard on Benitez Diaz’s partner, Esmeralda Escobar. While he was in custody, she handled NICU visits, care for their other young children, and the day-to-day work of running the couple’s roofing business. On top of that, she scrambled to cover lawyers’ retainers and mounting hospital costs.
Escobar turned to crowdfunding to keep the lights on. Her GoFundMe campaign details hospital updates and legal expenses and shows roughly $38,152 raised so far, according to Bring Moises Home. It reads like a running ledger of what it takes for a working family to stay afloat when a key earner disappears into immigration detention.
On the immigration side, Escobar, a U-visa holder, filed Form I-929 in January to petition for her husband’s qualifying family-member adjustment. USCIS describes Form I-929 as the petition U-1 noncitizens use to seek immigration benefits for certain relatives. The agency notes that processing these petitions can take months or longer.
For now, Benitez Diaz remains in active removal proceedings while his appeal moves forward. His case leaves his family’s long-term future uncertain and offers a close-to-home look at how national enforcement priorities, private contractors and federal court skirmishes can collide in ordinary Raleigh households.
