Sabater was born in Ponce in 1898 and applied for identity papers in August 1931. He was one of the more than 8,000 Puerto Ricans who migrated to the United States between 1931 and 1940. Their main destination was New York City, since the nineteenth century the U.S. port with the best transportation links with San Juan. New York offered abundant employment opportunities in its expanding manufacturing and service industries.