McALLEN, Texas (AP) \u2014 The detention by U.S. immigration authorities of two teen brothers who were prominent members of a nationally recognized mariachi band in South Texas has triggered bipartisan criticism that the Trump administration\u2019s campaign for mass deportation has overreached.<\/p>\n
Brothers Antonio G\u00e1mez-Cu\u00e9llar, 18, and Joshua, 14, were detained along with their 12-year-old brother and their parents Feb. 25, according to a relative and a girlfriend who organized a GoFundMe account for the family. The family had been checking in regularly with immigration authorities, as instructed, when they were detained, the relative and girlfriend said.<\/p>\n
The teenaged 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.<\/p>\n
Antonio was released Monday afternoon. Neither he nor his attorneys commented to reporters they left a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Raymondville, Texas. The other four family members were being held at a separate detention center for families in Dilley, Texas.<\/p>\n
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Gamez-Cuellar family\u2019s story breaks my heart. South Texans know better than anyone that we can secure our border and still treat people with dignity \u2014 these are not competing values,\u201d said Rep. Monica de la Cruz, a Republican congresswoman representing McAllen.<\/p>\n
McAllen\u2019s Republican mayor, Javier Villalobos, said he supported the family and said he continues to advocate for \u201cresponsible pathways for law abiding individuals who want to contribute to our economy, support their families, and become productive neighbors in McAllen.\u201d<\/p>\n
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Texas Democrat, visited the four family members at the detention center in Dilley, near San Antonio on Monday.<\/p>\n
Castro had visited the facility before when he advocated for the release of a 5-year-old from Minnesota, Liam Conejo Ramos, and his Ecuadorian father.<\/p>\n
U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a New York Democrat and chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, called the family\u2019s detention \u201coutrageous.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis family followed the rules, showed up to their immigration appointment in good faith, and is now being torn apart by ICE, with their 18-year-old son separated from his parents and younger brothers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
McALLEN, Texas (AP) \u2014 The detention by U.S. immigration authorities of two teen brothers who were prominent members of a nationally recognized mariachi band in South Texas has triggered bipartisan criticism that the Trump administration\u2019s campaign for mass deportation has overreached. Brothers Antonio G\u00e1mez-Cu\u00e9llar, 18, and Joshua, 14, were detained along with their 12-year-old brother … Continue reading ICE detention of South Texas Mariachi band teens sparks bipartisan criticism<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2851],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1486838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-state-news-archive"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-07 04:41:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1486838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1486838"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1486838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1486848,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1486838\/revisions\/1486848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1486838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1486838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1486838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}