RALEIGH, N.C. — She’s never been the patient kind. But after her husband was taken by the U.S. Border Patrol on Nov. 18, all Esmeralda Escobar can do is wait.

Escobar reads her Bible whenever she thinks of Moises Benitez Diaz, just like he told her to do. To stay patient, she’s clinging to Psalm 25: “Let me not be ashamed. Let not my enemies triumph over me. Let none that wait on thee be ashamed.”

“Our prayers aren’t in vain,” Escobar told The News & Observer in a phone interview Tuesday, a week after agents seized Benitez Diaz.

“A lot of people are praying with us for the same thing, and you know, God’s not gonna leave us now,” Escobar said. “He hasn’t left us, and he’s not gonna leave us now.”

Benitez Diaz was one of at least 370 people detained during “Operation Charlotte’s Web,” an immigration sweep that started in Charlotte and spread to the Triangle.

The N&O previously reported on Apex landscaper Fernando Vazquez, a U.S. citizen who was taken into custody in Cary on Nov. 18 — even after, Vazquez said, agents saw his N.C. REAL ID.

Vazquez sat in the back of a gray Chevy Tahoe next to another man who was detained but said he didn’t know the man’s name.

Escobar told The N&O that man was her husband.

Benitez Diaz, a 27-year-old Raleigh resident, is currently being held at D. Ray James Correctional Facility in Folkston, Georgia.

His detainment comes at a critical period. Escobar, also 27, is due to deliver the couple’s third child, a baby girl named Eliana, on Dec. 14. Benitez Diaz, who owns Capitol Construction and Roofing, is the sole breadwinner of the family.

Benitez Diaz’s first court hearing is Dec. 5, Escobar said.

She created a GoFundMe for the family’s legal fees after construction superintendent Chris Dupre — for whom Benitez Diaz is a regular subcontractor — suggested she start one. Dupre shared the fundraiser with his church. His pastor, the Rev. James Kubal-Komoto, emailed The N&O about Benitez Diaz’s situation. As of Wednesday, the GoFundMe had eclipsed its $30,000 goal.

Benitez Diaz came to the United States from Mexico as a first-grader, Escobar said. The two met when they were 13 at a youth event and were already good friends when they started dating in 2019. They married in 2021.

Benitez Diaz was always there for Escobar — even before they started dating. She recalled a time she had a panic attack and “felt like I couldn’t breathe.” She called Benitez Diaz to tell him she didn’t feel well. He came to her house that night and sat with her in her car to help her through it.

“He’s not the type of person that ever does things to try to get something in return,” Escobar said. “(That)] was something very new to me, having that type of pure friendship.”

When Escobar’s maternal grandmother died in Mexico a few years ago, her mother hadn’t seen her since she had left for the United States almost 30 years earlier. She became visibly depressed and lost motivation to do things she normally would do.

Benitez Diaz suggested Escobar go to her mom’s house to cook her meals. Her mother didn’t want anything but asked her to make pasta and seafood boils for her brothers and appreciated the chance to sit and talk. Her mood slowly improved.

On the one-year anniversary of Escobar’s grandmother passing, Benitez Diaz thought he and Escobar should give her mom a bouquet of sunflowers, her grandmother’s favorite flower. The couple has kept that tradition every year since.

Benitez Diaz always dreamed of going to college and had the chance to do so around 2018. But then his father was arrested by immigration enforcement. (His father was released after several months in custody and eventually obtained permanent residency.)

So Benitez Diaz started work at Raleigh Custom Carpentry as Dupre’s apprentice to support his mother and his seven younger siblings.

Benitez Diaz started out as a framer, then moved to siding and trim, a crew that required more attention to detail and a nose for what a specific job required.

Beyond just completing the job, Benitez Diaz offered to help clients move in or carry stuff around, Dupre said. After he finished, clients often asked if he could do random tasks they couldn’t find others to do.

One person asked if Benitez Diaz could build a hidden door for a litter box. Another asked if he could build a Murphy door — a door that acts as a bookshelf — to have more space than his HVAC closet allowed. He had no experience building either, but he figured it out. And the results, Dupre said, were “so freaking cool.”

“This is very skilled, detailed carpentry work,” Dupre said. “There (are) not a lot of people around that can actually do this work — or, if they can do the work, (are) able to do it in a way that’s affordable to the type of people that want this work done.”

Dupre moved on from Raleigh Custom Carpentry to become a superintendent, first at Metrocon, now at Singh Development. In both places, Dupre said, he regularly turned to Benitez Diaz — who had started Capitol Roofing and Construction in 2020 — as a contractor.

He was always the right fit, especially when Dupre had no one else to do the job he needed. That included projects at Dupre’s own place when he moved in 2024.

Dupre offered to pay Benitez Diaz, but he declined, grateful for the help Dupre had given his career. When Benitez Diaz did request a favor, it wasn’t for himself. He wanted to see if Dupre had any painting jobs for a friend who was out of work — and then offered to pay the painter himself.

Another part of being a good superintendent, Dupre said: finding qualified people to do work. In that respect, Benitez Diaz made his job easy.

“He has helped me get to where I am,” Dupre said. “Like, in life.”

Dupre is still mad at himself, he said. The morning of Nov. 18, he had tried to call Benitez Diaz to advise him to stay home.

N.C. Gov. Josh Stein and Raleigh Mayor Janet Cowell had confirmed the night before that federal agents were headed to the Triangle, The N&O previously reported. Dupre’s company sent an internal memo with a clear message: if you don’t feel safe for any reason, don’t come to work.

“It’s more because of the situations like Fernando (Vazquez),” Dupre said. “We have a lot of people that we know are legal who don’t look legal. We know that there’s racial profiling going on. We don’t want you to come in.”

Dupre didn’t push the issue because Benitez Diaz wasn’t doing a job for his company. He probably would have gone anyway, Dupre said, caring more about getting the job done for other people than his own safety.

That morning, Benitez Diaz was working at Lightbridge Academy, a daycare and preschool with a location in Cary. Lightbridge needed someone to install chalkboards so they looked like they were built into the wall — not just mounted onto it — a job requiring Benitez Diaz’s skill, Dupre said.

Benitez Diaz was completing the job with his brother, Mario, Escobar said, when Border Patrol agents rolled up to Lightbridge.

Agents asked Mario where he was from, Escobar said. Mario said he was from here. The agents moved on. Escobar thinks they believed him because Mario has green eyes and a lighter complexion than Moises.

Moises, however, immediately told agents he had the right to remain silent. The agents accused him of not cooperating and took him into custody.

Benitez Diaz was in the back of the agents’ Chevy Tahoe from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. while agents drove around in search of more people to detain, Escobar said. He told Escobar that the agents joked about going viral on the video Vazquez recorded of agents releasing him from custody and throwing his belongings on the car. The video has almost 6 million views on TikTok.

Benitez Diaz also told Escobar he overheard agents saying they would pick up anyone who looked Hispanic, Escobar said.

Around 3 p.m., agents took Benitez Diaz to Cary, Escobar said, then to New Hanover County Jail in Wilmington, where he was finally able to call her at 11 p.m. He told her he would be taken to Charlotte the next morning.

Benitez Diaz didn’t call Escobar until midnight on Nov. 20, Escobar said. He told her he’d been put on a plane from Charlotte to Florida and then a bus to Folkston. His ankles and wrists were no longer chained, and he was finally able to eat something. Escobar said Benitez Diaz told her he had only had crackers to eat and water to drink until he got to Georgia.

The N&O previously reported that Vazquez said Benitez Diaz told him to tell his brother “they got me.” Escobar’s sister picked Mario up from the job site. His voice was shaking, and he was upset, Escobar said. Her sister took him to her house and got food for him. He couldn’t eat.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has not responded to The N&O’s questions about Benitez Diaz’s treatment in custody.

On Nov. 19, DHS published a news release titled “DHS Continues to Catch the Worst of the Worst During Operation Charlotte’s Web.” The agency published a photo of Benitez Diaz and said he was “a criminal illegal alien from Mexico, convicted for felony larceny and previously arrested for possession of stolen goods.”

Court records show Benitez Diaz was charged with two counts of felony larceny in Wake County in 2022. His attorney in the case, Seth Percy, told The N&O in an email that the two felony charges were dismissed and that Benitez Diaz completed a misdemeanor diversion agreement on one count of misdemeanor possession of stolen goods — after which the charge was dismissed.

Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman corroborated Percy’s account that Benitez Diaz was not convicted of any offense in a text to The N&O.

“He was offered a diversion for first-time offenders on a misdemeanor possession of stolen property and completed all terms at which time all charges were dismissed,” Freeman wrote.

The N&O previously reported that evidence suggests many of the people arrested during Operation Charlotte’s Web do not have criminal records or violent criminal histories, contrary to the federal government’s claim that it is targeting the “worst of the worst.” DHS has not responded to The N&O’s questions about why it claimed Benitez Diaz had felony convictions.

Escobar also disputes how DHS characterized her husband’s arrest.

Benitez Diaz was charged with felony larceny after selling a machine he took from a work site that was later reported stolen, she said. The family had financial troubles, and Benitez Diaz was allowed to sell thingss that otherwise would have been thrown away, she said.

Benitez Diaz took the machine from near the trash after an employee told him it was being thrown away, Escobar said.

But when law enforcement officers questioned employees, they denied telling him he could sell it. Escobar said Benitez Diaz completed community service, and the charges were dismissed.

Because Benitez Diaz arrived in the U.S. as a child, he was eligible for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status. But by the time he could afford to apply for DACA — since 2024, filing for the renewal form costs $85, and filing for the work permit costs $470 to $520, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services fee schedule — the program stopped processing new applications after a judge deemed it illegal in 2021.

So instead, Benitez Diaz has sought citizenship through his marriage to Escobar, a permanent resident who got her U visa at the start of 2025.

Escobar was in the process of filing an I-929 form for Benitez Diaz, which allows U-1 holders to petition for their family members to obtain permanent residency.

Now, whether he’ll get to stay in the country at all is in limbo.

Benitez Diaz is not around, but Capitol Construction and Roofing’s contracts have to be honored somehow. So Escobar, a stay-at-home mom, is handling all the paperwork and invoices while Mario completes the jobs Moises would have done.

“Having to take some of the business on has been very stressful,” Escobar said. “Like, I can see all the things that he didn’t really share — like, all the stress that work causes him, because it’s very complicated.”

Escobar said she had to go to the emergency room Monday night after suffering extreme contractions. Seeing how stressed she is, doctors now want to see her twice a week ahead of her delivery date. She has diabetes and high blood pressure — both harder to manage with her current ordeal — and her last two deliveries were complex.

Her kids keep asking her “where Daddy is.” Escobar tells them for now that he’s on a business trip. She knows she’ll have to tell 5-year-old Rochelle the truth soon because Benitez Diaz has never been away for more than one or two days.

Her 2-year-old son, Elijah, isn’t old enough to understand what a work trip is. A few nights before Tuesday, Escobar said he woke up in the middle of the night screaming, “Where is Dad? Where is Dad?”

Even with his busy schedule, Benitez Diaz always made time to take the kids for bike rides after work, Escobar said. The Monday before he was detained, he went straight to Chuck E. Cheese after work. He texted his wife at 6:30 p.m. to meet him there with the kids — a surprise trip for the family to spend time together.

Now, Elijah doesn’t have his dad to build obstacle courses and race cars through them. Rochelle has lost her painting buddy, her tea party guest and a loyal customer at her pretend-grocery shop.

“They really miss their dad right now,” Escobar said.

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