Children Say Hillsborough Deputies Injured Their Father in Seffner Traffic Stop Before He Was Handed to ICE

The children of a Mexican immigrant arrested during an Aug. 2 traffic stop in Seffner say Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office deputies used unnecessary force and then failed to get him proper medical care before he was transferred into federal immigration custody. Two months later, they say, their father still has dizziness and headaches. The sheriff's office says his injuries were minor, were checked twice by medical personnel and required no further treatment, and that it is investigating the incident, WUSF reported.

The family of Adelaido Chavez Mariano, 48, is demanding an independent investigation. His case offers a close look at how a routine traffic stop by a local agency can lead to immigration detention in Florida, where county sheriffs now work hand in hand with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and where data released this month show local law enforcement involved in a growing share of immigration arrests.

The traffic stop, as deputies describe it

Deputies stopped Chavez Mariano in Seffner after saying he did not come to a complete stop at a stop sign, according to WUSF's review of the arrest affidavit and deputies' reports. The affidavit says the driver refused to roll down his window and then said he did not have a valid driver's license. He later lowered the passenger window a few inches, and a second deputy opened the passenger door.

Chavez Mariano told officers he had not rolled down the driver's window because a deputy had a gun out, according to the reports. Deputies wrote that he pulled his arm away and began to brace and tense his body, and they removed him from the vehicle. A use of force report says one deputy struck him three times with a closed fist on the neck and head in order to handcuff him.

Sheriff's office body camera footage shows deputies and Chavez Mariano struggling and ending up on the ground, but it does not capture the full encounter. One deputy's camera was left in its docking station, and the assisting deputy's camera activated late, WUSF reported.

The family's account

His daughter, Lizett Chavez, and son, Gandi Chavez, told WUSF that the force was unnecessary. Photos and jail medical records show abrasions to his forehead, knee and ear. Lizett Chavez said jail medical staff did not properly assess her father, put him on suicide watch unnecessarily, and was slow to respond to a visible hematoma on his forehead. A CT scan was eventually ordered, and it showed no internal bleeding.

Describing the care her father received, Lizett Chavez told WUSF: "It wasn't because they wanted to do it. It was because we kept insisting." She said she had to listen to her father pleading for help over the phone while he was in custody. She said he still has dizziness and headaches and takes over-the-counter pain medication.

Gandi Chavez said his father came to the United States from Mexico decades ago to work in agriculture. He said his father came by foot to provide a better future for his family back in Mexico. Chavez Mariano does not have legal status, according to WUSF.

What the sheriff's office says

In a statement to WUSF, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said Chavez Mariano "sustained minor injuries during his arrest," which were evaluated on scene by Hillsborough County Fire Rescue personnel, and that those injuries did not require further medical treatment. The agency said medical staff reconfirmed that determination when they examined him a second time during booking at the Orient Road Jail. The sheriff's office said it is investigating the incident.

Chavez Mariano was charged with driving without a valid driver's license. A charge of resisting an officer without violence was dropped after the State Attorney's Office said there was not enough evidence to move forward. In explaining the decision, the office noted that prosecutors have time to review all available evidence and face a higher burden of proof than law enforcement.

From the county jail to ICE custody

After his arrest, Chavez Mariano was transferred into ICE custody and held at the state-run immigration detention facility in Baker County that officials dubbed "Deportation Depot," WUSF reported. The facility, in the former Baker Correctional Institution in Sanderson, west of Jacksonville, began receiving detainees in September 2025.

His children said he was released Oct. 2 on an $8,500 immigration bond. He is fighting his deportation case. Efforts to obtain legal status through a younger brother have failed, and the family has hired an attorney and is exploring other options, according to WUSF.

Hillsborough's agreement with ICE

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office is one of the Florida agencies that have signed 287(g) agreements, the federal program that lets ICE delegate certain immigration enforcement powers to trained local officers. An ICE memorandum of agreement dated Feb. 26, 2025, enrolls the agency in the program's task force model, which extends immigration authority to designated deputies beyond the jail and into street encounters. The agency also has a separate warrant service officer agreement, amended in June 2025, that covers serving ICE warrants and transporting detainees to ICE-approved facilities at ICE's request.

Every Florida sheriff signed 287(g) cooperation agreements in early 2025, as Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Legislature pushed local agencies into closer cooperation with federal immigration authorities, WUSF reported at the time. WUSF's reporting does not say whether any 287(g) authority was used in Chavez Mariano's arrest or transfer, or whether ICE issued a detainer to hold him.

Florida's local police role in immigration enforcement

The case comes as new data show how central local agencies have become to immigration arrests in Florida. A Prison Policy Initiative analysis of federal immigration records, reported by the Tampa Bay Times this month, found Florida had the nation's highest rate of arrests involving ICE detainers, the requests that ask jails to hold people booked on other charges. The state's annualized rate through Aug. 5 was 125 detainer arrests per 100,000 residents, up from 28 in the last year of the Biden administration.

Arrests at law enforcement locations without a detainer roughly doubled statewide in 2026 compared with 2025, the analysis found. In the Tampa Bay area, the records show 633 immigration arrests in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties from Jan. 20 through Aug. 5, with Hillsborough accounting for 474 of them.

The breakdown for the three counties over that period:

State money is flowing to the same agencies. On Sept. 29, Florida's State Board of Immigration Enforcement approved about $88 million in grants and amendments, including $5.47 million for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

What's next

The sheriff's office has not said when its internal review will be completed or what it will examine, including the gaps in body camera footage. Chavez Mariano's family is calling for an independent investigation. Meanwhile, he remains free on bond as he fights his deportation case.