Texas lawmakers from both parties have criticized immigration authorities for detaining two teenage mariachi musicians who were honored by Congress last year.
The case has drawn national attention because brothers Antonio Yesayahu Gámez-Cuéllar, 18, and Caleb Gámez-Cuéllar, 14, traveled to Washington, D.C., last summer after their high school mariachi ensemble, Mariachi Ono, won a state mariachi competition. Their congresswoman, Mónica De La Cruz, invited them to the plenary session of the House, where she celebrated their achievement.
Late last month, the siblings and their parents, Luis Antonio Martínez and Emma Guadalupe Cuéllar, as well as their younger brother Joshua Gámez-Cuéllar, 12, were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to Texas representatives.
In a statement Saturday, De La Cruz, a Republican whose district includes McAllen, where the family lives, said the family’s story “breaks my heart.”
“South Texans know better than anyone that we can secure our border and still treat people with dignity; these are not competing values,” he said.
“I have repeatedly urged that law enforcement focus on those who truly threaten our communities, not on good, law-abiding, talented people who are working through the legal process. My office is closely monitoring their situation and we are doing everything we can.”
De La Cruz said later Saturday that he had requested a visit to the detention center and had “been in close communication with DHS, ICE, Border Patrol and community leaders to explore all legal options available to the Gámez-Cuéllar family.”
Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas said over the weekend that the parents and their two minor children were being held in a family detention center in Dilley, Texas, while Antonio, who recently turned 18, is being held in a separate adult detention center.
Castro said he met Antonio and Caleb at the Congressional event last year.
“The entire Gámez-Cuéllar family did everything right,” Castro said. “They applied for asylum and were granted it. They attended all court dates and immigration checkpoints. ICE detained them anyway.”
“Donald Trump said he was going after criminals, he said he was going after people who were dangerous to Americans — well, how come these two young men were good enough to perform at the United States Capitol at the invitation of their congressman, were safe enough to tour the White House, and yet the Trump administration has them in a prison in Dilley, Texas?”
The father, Luis Antonio Martínez, told the New York Times last week that the family had entered the United States in 2023 at the Brownsville border crossing with a request for asylum after fleeing threats in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, where he said he had been kidnapped by cartel members.
They settled in McAllen and attended required court dates and checkups. Martínez said their last appointment with ICE was in January, where they were told to return in June.
However, Martínez said he then received a call from ICE telling them to show up on February 25 and it was at that appointment that the family was detained, according to the New York Times.
In a statement Monday, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said ICE detained the parents on Feb. 25, who they said were in the country illegally. The spokesperson said the parents “chose to bring their adult son and two children with them.”
“ICE does not separate families,” the spokesperson said. “Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children, or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates. This is consistent with the previous administration’s immigration enforcement.”
