Two teen brothers in Texas mariachi band are released from ICE custody amid bipartisan criticism

RAYMONDVILLE, Texas (AP) — A family whose two teen boys are in a nationally recognized mariachi band in South Texas was reunited Monday afternoon after bipartisan criticism that the Trump administration’s campaign for mass deportation overreached by detaining the family.

Brothers Antonio Gámez-Cuéllar, 18, and Joshua, 14, were detained along with their 12-year-old brother and their parents Feb. 25. The teenage boys were prominent members of the McAllen High School Mariachi Oro band, which has visited the White House, performed at Carnegie Hall and won eight state championships.

The two younger boys and their parents were released Monday from a family detention center in Dilley, Texas, said U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Texas Democrat who visited them, marking his third visit to the detention center.

Antonio was released on Monday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from a detention center in Raymondville, Texas.

“They were ecstatic. They were crying. They were excited to be reunited with their son and brother, Antonio, who was being held separately in Raymondville,” Castro said at a news conference in San Antonio. “But their mom kept asking, ‘What did we do wrong? We followed all the rules. We went to court, we haven’t done anything wrong.’”

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The family had been checking in regularly with immigration authorities, as instructed, when they were detained, according to a relative and a girlfriend who organized a GoFundMe account for the family.

The Department of Homeland Security said the parents, Emma Guadalupe Cuellar Lopez and Luis Antonio Gamez Martinez, were arrested by immigration authorities and “chose” to bring their three children with them. The department said they entered the U.S. illegally in 2023 near Brownsville, Texas.

Efrén C. Olivares, an attorney with the National Immigration Law Center representing the eldest son, Antonio, clarified that the family entered lawfully through the CBP One app, a legal pathway, in 2023.

Olivares said Antonio was released after attorneys filed a parole request with ICE which ICE granted, and attorneys did not need to ask for a judge’s order.

Elected officials from across the political spectrum voiced support for the family, who are from Mexico and had sought asylum in the U.S. and were going through their immigration proceedings.

“I challenge my colleagues to work together for new enforcement policies that not only secure our border but make safer communities and that ultimately are common sense,” U.S. Rep. Monica de la Cruz, a Republican congresswoman representing McAllen, in Raymondville after Antonio’s release.

McAllen’s Republican mayor, Javier Villalobos, said he supported the family and said he continues to advocate for “responsible pathways for law abiding individuals who want to contribute to our economy, support their families, and become productive neighbors in McAllen.”

U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a New York Democrat and chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, called the family’s detention “outrageous.”

The boys’ mariachi directors visited the family held in Dilley earlier Monday. Alex Treviño, the mariachi director and Neri Fuentes, the assistant director, said the kids were concerned about losing their playing abilities.

“They were worried that their fingers weren’t going to work, because they don’t have instruments,” Treviño said.

Antonio, who had been held apart from the family due to his age, recently won the first chair for trumpet in a state competition.

“This year he’s going to be graduating from high school and going to college and joining some other groups in college. He wants to be a music educator,” Fuentes said.

Castro attributed the release of the family to an “ensemble” effort and said he continues to push for the family detention center in Dilley to be closed. He said the population at the detention facility had gone down from about 1,100 people in January to about 450 people, with about 100 of them being children.