Source: The New York Times
Two teenage brothers and mariachi stars who visited the White House last summer were released with their family on Monday from ICE detention centers in South Texas, immediately following the visit of a delegation of Democratic legislators who pressed for them to be freed.
The case had drawn national outrage, and Representative Joaquin Castro of Texas, who led the delegation, had been working to secure their release since the family was detained over a week ago.
On the drive to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center on Monday, Mr. Castro spoke to an ICE official out of the San Antonio field office and warned him that the story of the detained mariachi brothers was gaining national attention and would prompt an outcry from the public. He compared it to the backlash over images of Liam Ramos, the 5-year-old wearing a Spider-Man backpack and an oversize fluffy blue winter hat, being detained by agents after being arrested in Minneapolis with his father. Liam also ended up at Dilley and was released last month.
After visiting with one of the brothers, Caleb Gámez-Cuéllar, and members of his family inside the detention center, Mr. Castro waited in the parking lot with other visiting legislators for hours as they were processed for release. Another brother who is also a member of the mariachi group, Antonio, 18, was released from a separate facility for adults, the El Valle Detention Center in Raymondville, Texas.
“The mom is very heartbroken and upset, and she feels like her sons were used,” Mr. Castro said in an interview after visiting with her at Dilley, before their release. “She’s saying, ‘We followed all the rules; we went to our appointments; we haven’t done anything wrong.’ They’re very nervous, it’s so uncertain for them.”
The family entered the United States in 2023 at the border crossing in Brownsville, Texas, and claimed asylum, according to Luis Antonio Martínez, the father, who said they were fleeing threats in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, where he had been kidnapped by cartel members.
The delegation of legislators that visited the family with Mr. Castro included Representatives Nanette Barragán, Julia Brownley and Sara Jacobs, all of California; Katherine Clark of Massachusetts; Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania; and Jim McGovern of Massachusetts.
Representative Monica De La Cruz, the Republican lawmaker who represents the district where the family had settled and invited the band to Capitol Hill last year, had not yet visited the center. On Monday, after facing pressure over the case, she wrote on social media that she was working to “explore every legal option available to help the Gámez-Cuéllar family” and that she had requested a visit to a detention center in Raymondville where Antonio, the older brother, was being held.
She posted that she was on her way to meet with him in Raymondville and then claimed credit for securing his release, writing in a news release that it followed her “direct advocacy with the White House” and homeland security officials.
Democratic legislators said the family members they met with on Monday expressed frustration that Ms. De La Cruz had not shown interest in their case until the public outcry.
“They said to me, ‘No, she hasn’t done anything, she isn’t helping us,’” Ms. Barragán said.
And later Monday, a person close to Antonio said his release from the center in Raymondville had been delayed until the Republican congresswoman could arrive for a photo opportunity. A representative for Ms. De La Cruz did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether she delayed her release until she could arrive.
Last summer, Ms. De La Cruz invited the brothers to perform on Capitol Hill as part of a championship-winning mariachi group from McAllen. They also visited the White House.