McAllen Mariachi Family Released From ICE Detention, Reunited in Alice

Antonio Gámez-Cuéllar walked out of the El Valle Detention Center in Raymondville on Monday, more than 200 miles from where his parents and two younger brothers had spent nearly two weeks inside a family detention facility in Dilley. The five members of the McAllen family were reunited that afternoon at a Whataburger in Alice, roughly the halfway point between the two facilities.

"I'm just like completely happy. I didn't except this to happen soon," Antonio said after his release. "I was missing them a lot. I've been dreaming of this a long time. Right now I'm just so thankful we got it. So happy that I'm out here with them."

The family, including 40-year-old father Luis Antonio Gámez and 38-year-old mother Emma Guadalupe Cuéllar, along with brothers Caleb, 14, and Joshua, 12, had been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement following a scheduled immigration check-in on February 25. Because Antonio, 18, is legally an adult, ICE separated him from his family and transferred him to the adult facility in Raymondville while his parents and younger brothers were sent to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley.

U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, the Republican congresswoman from Edinburg whose district covers the McAllen area, announced she secured Antonio's release and accompanied him out of the Raymondville facility. She brought him to the Alice Whataburger, where the rest of the family arrived shortly after being released from Dilley. Rep. Joaquín Castro, a San Antonio-area Democrat who made his third visit to the Dilley detention center on Monday, confirmed the family's release in a social media post: "The Gámez-Cuéllar family has been released from Dilley! We just picked them up."

"This day should not be about politics," De La Cruz said at the reunion. "What this day is about is about commonsense enforcement policies. This is about our community coming together for not only their family but other families who are in similar situations."

Emma Cuéllar de Gámez described the experience in stark terms. "There are no words. My husband says they don't wish it on anyone, they don't want anyone to go through this. It's terrible, terrible. It's the worst that can happen."

Antonio and his brother Caleb are members of McAllen High School's Mariachi Oro, a nationally recognized program that has visited the White House, performed at Carnegie Hall, and won eight state championships. Antonio plays trumpet. The band performed on Capitol Hill in June at Rep. De La Cruz's invitation. Their father and brothers are also mariachi performers, and the family carries a long history of mariachi musicianship stretching back to Mexico.

The program's directors visited the family in Dilley earlier Monday before the release. Mariachi director Alex Treviño said the children were anxious about their musical ability after weeks without instruments. "They were worried that their fingers weren't going to work, because they don't have instruments," Treviño said. Assistant director Neri Fuentes, who had known the family through the program's regular immigration check-ins, said their detention came as a shock. "They've always had these check-ups. We know how they are and that they've always followed the rules and followed the directions, so we really didn't think that anything was going to happen."

Local officials and family friends have said the family legally entered the United States from Mexico in 2023 using the CBP One app, which allowed migrants to schedule appointments at ports of entry to legally claim asylum. A family member, Denise Robles, whose husband is a cousin to Emma Cuéllar de Gámez, said ICE called the house and asked specifically for Emma even though her husband answered the phone, and the family was told everyone had to appear at the appointment. "We were all shocked. We couldn't believe it," Robles said.

The release came after two days of protests and a weekend of bipartisan pressure from local, state, and federal officials. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, the McAllen Democrat, credited the community response but was direct about the underlying circumstances. "This family followed the law and did everything it asked of them. They should have never been detained in the first place, and their situation speaks to the grave injustices this Administration is inflicting on families in South Texas and across the country." McAllen Mayor Javier Villalobos, a Republican, voiced support for 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."

Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a New York Democrat and chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, called the family's detention "outrageous."

ICE has not publicly stated the specific reasons for detaining the family or whether formal removal proceedings remain active.