Family members for an Ecuadorian man arrested near Fort Fairfield last week by Border Patrol said they spent a week trying to find him after agents said they had to hospitalize him.

Humberto L. Cachimuel Alfusi, 57, was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on July 16, according to a petition filed in federal court. His lawyers filed the emergency petition in Maine’s federal court on Monday, seeking his release from Border Patrol.

Cachimuel’s sister-in-law told the Press Herald Wednesday they learned he was transferred to ICE custody Tuesday. She said he is now being held at a correctional facility in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

According to the petition, his family learned he was arrested the evening of July 16 after a Border Patrol officer called. They learned on Saturday that he had been hospitalized for his diabetes. Cachimuel’s lawyers said in the petition that Border Patrol refused to share where their client was being held and anything more about his condition.

“The family is currently left without an idea as to what Mr. Carchimuel’s current condition is, when they can speak with a doctor, or to Mr. Cachimuel directly,” according to the petition.

A spokesperson from U.S. Customs and Border Protection declined to comment Tuesday. An assistant U.S. attorney representing the border patrol officials named in Cachimuel’s petition said in an email they are waiting for U.S. District Judge Lance Walker to schedule deadlines for their response.

Across Maine and the rest of the country, immigrants and their advocates have complained that it’s getting harder to track their whereabouts after they’ve been arrested by federal authorities. Cachimuel’s petition is one of several that have recently been filed in Maine’s federal court on behalf of people held by immigration officials, challenging the constitutionality of their detention.

In most cases, those detainees are being held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which Cachimuel’s attorneys say have more due process obligations. Cachimuel’s petition against Border Patrol comes at a time when the agency is taking a larger role in immigration enforcement under the Trump administration — particularly in Maine, a border state.

Cachimuel and his family live in Massachusetts, according to his petition. He arrived in the United States on a visitor visa in 2000. A copy of a page in his passport, showing he was admitted to the United States with a visa, was also filed in court. An immigration judge approved an I-130 petition for relatives that his father, a U.S. citizen, filed in 2005 that Cachimuel’s lawyers say allowed him to stay in the United States legally. His lawyers also filed a copy of that document with his current petition, as well.

Cachimuel has been married to a U.S. citizen since 2019 and his 6-year-old daughter was born here, his lawyers said.

“Mr. Cachimuel was lawfully admitted to the United States and has unquestionably established deep connections, including being the child of U.S. citizens,” his petition states. “He is entitled to due process provided by law in seeking relief from both detention and removal.”

His attorneys, who could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday, said in the petition that Cachimuel also has the right to adequate professional medical care while in the government’s custody.

Cachimuel was driving near Fort Fairfield the morning of July 16 on his way to a fair, where he planned to sell Ecuadorian crafts, when he texted his family “I am lost,” according to his petition.

That afternoon, his family received a call from a man who identified himself as a supervisory officer for border patrol. The officer told them they were holding Cachimuel but shared no other information and referred Cachimuel’s lawyers to their public affairs office, according to the petition. Cachimuel’s lawyers said in the petition that they called on Saturday and reached a voicemail box that couldn’t accept new messages.

Cachimuel’s family received a call Saturday from another woman who said she worked for Border Patrol but didn’t offer her name. She told the family that Cachimuel had been hospitalized for his diabetes, that he was receiving medication and had “access to snacks.”

According to the petition, she also refused to share where he was being treated or how to reach the medical team. Cachimuel’s family was concerned for him, the petition says, because he recently had his gallbladder removed and was suffering polyps in his pancreas.

The woman also told Cachimuel’s family she didn’t know who the supervisory officer who initially called them was, according to the petition.

This story has been updated with new information from Cachimuel’s family.