KEY WEST — The detainment — and now reported deportation — of a local student has shaken up the Key West community.Elvis Garcia, 18, a Key West High School student, was stopped and detained on his way to school by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Dec. 2 on U.S. 1. The detainment was first reported by Key West Newswire Dec. 3. The Newswire also reported that Garcia had been deported to Honduras.This also makes Garcia a second recent student detained by federal agents. A Coral Shores High School student was detained in Islamorada in November after being identified by CBP as a citizen of Honduras who was unlawfully present in the United States. The student’s name was not disclosed.A CBP spokesperson confirmed the Garcia’s detainment, stating, “On December 2, 2025, U.S. Border Patrol Agents conducted a vehicle stop in Key West, Florida, encountering one occupant — a citizen of Honduras unlawfully present in the United States. The illegal alien was processed according to processing guidelines.”Garcia is a senior at KWHS and has been part of the wrestling team. He had graduated from Key West’s Firefighters Academy in May.“It’s been one of the toughest weeks for me as a coach,” Key West wrestling coach Chaz Jimenez said on US-1 Radio Dec. 10. “He’s a great kid. He’s a ranked wrestler right now in the state of Florida.”Garcia also worked at restaurants in addition to his involvement in school. According to the Newswire, Garcia worked to help pay for an immigration attorney.According to the Dec. 3 article, a local who knew the student said Garcia and his mother had been working their way through the court system, being on Temporary Protective Status (TPS).TPS allows immigrants from countries dealing with wars, internal conflicts or natural disasters to emigrate and stay in the U.S. The program is not a pathway to citizenship but also protects immigrants from TPS countries from deportations.The Trump administration has been terminating TPS designations from a number of countries, including Honduras. TPS for Honduras ended Sept. 8.Fears of even more arrests and deportations follow after the Department of Homeland Security announced the termination of TPS for Haitian migrants late last month. Other TPS terminations include Venezuela, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Cameroon.Jimenez told US-1 Radio that he had been following Garcia’s case, trying to find ways to get Garcia released such as writing letters and trying to contact departments.“We found out (Dec. 8) that they actually were deporting him,” Jimenez told the local radio station. “And we were trying to get temporary injunctions and different things done with lawyers, and to no avail. He was deported yesterday, and was in Honduras yesterday afternoon by the time we started practice.”The local community has responded to his detainment, sharing his story throughout social media platforms.Two local Facebook pages, “Key West Immigrant Support Network” and “Key West Freeze Warning,” have been actively updating the community on any reports they get on the presence of CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The Key West Immigrant Support Network had reported high activity around Thanksgiving and on Dec. 2.On Tuesday, Dec. 2, at 7:50 a.m. they wrote, “Border Patrol is on Rockland Key running plates of passing cars.”Rockland Key is just a few miles outside of Key West, with many Lower Keys residents passing this area on U.S. 1 to commute to Key West.The Key West Freeze Warning also posted about the activity writing, “Confirmed CBP on US-1 all over Rockland and Boca Chica. Two marked cruisers and at least two unmarked. All drivers should exercise extreme caution on US-1.”Since Aug. 1, there have been a reported 9,488 immigration-related encounters in Florida by law enforcement officers, according to a report by the State Board of Immigration Enforcement. The stats are presented on a website titled, “Florida’s Suspected Unauthorized Alien Encounters Dashboard.”The website also reports more than 6,000 arrests and more than 3,000 of the arrests being made with 287(g) authority, in which ICE has the ability to delegate state and local law enforcement officers the authority to perform immigration officer functions under the agency’s oversight and direction.The visual on the website also provides stats on the countries of origin related to the encounters. In Florida, more than 1,000 encounters have been reported with immigrants originating from Honduras, according to the stats.Garcia’s attorney, Amanda Velazquez, also spoke with US-1 Radio confirming that Garcia was with family in Honduras, providing her relief that his time in detainment was only for a short duration.The immigration attorney reported that Garcia was “in good spirits.”Velazquez also told the radio station there was a possible pathway for Garcia to return to the U.S.“It’s not going to be an overnight thing,” Velazquez said. “It might take a couple of years, but there is an avenue for him to return.”