A family whose teen sons are part of a nationally recognized South Texas mariachi program said Monday that they were reunited after Antonio Gámez-Cuéllar was released separately from ICE custody in Raymondville, Texas, following earlier releases of his brother and parents. U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Texas Democrat, said the family’s reunion came after criticism spanning the political spectrum of how the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operation handled the case.
Castro said at a news conference in San Antonio that Joshua Gámez-Cuéllar and the family had been released earlier from a detention facility in Dilley, and that the family had been separated by facilities because Antonio was held apart due to his age. Castro said Antonio’s release brought “ecstatic” relief and that their mother repeatedly asked a question centered on whether the family had done anything wrong—“What did we do wrong? We followed all the rules. We went to court, we haven’t done anything wrong.”
The brothers’ parents, Emma Guadalupe Cuellar Lopez and Luis Antonio Gamez Martinez, and their children were detained Feb. 25 after immigration authorities took the family into custody, Castro said. According to a relative and a girlfriend who organized a GoFundMe for the family, the family had been checking in regularly with immigration authorities as instructed before the Feb. 25 detention.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had detained the family through a sequence that included separate facilities: Castro said two younger boys and their parents were released Monday from a family detention center in Dilley, while Antonio was released Monday by ICE from a detention center in Raymondville. Castro said Antonio’s release was part of an “ensemble” effort and said he continued to push for the Dilley facility to close.
The detention drew support from elected officials including Republicans. De la Cruz, a Republican congresswoman representing McAllen, said after Antonio’s release that she challenged colleagues to work together on “new enforcement policies” that secure the border while making communities safer and providing “common sense” changes. McAllen’s Republican mayor, Javier Villalobos, said he supported the family and continued 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.”
Other lawmakers also characterized the detention decision as excessive. U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a New York Democrat and chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, called the family’s detention “outrageous.” Castro said the Dilley facility’s population had fallen from about 1,100 people in January to about 450, including about 100 children.
The dispute over the family’s entry and immigration status also fueled criticism. The Department of Homeland Security said the parents were arrested and “chose” to bring their three children, and it said they entered the U.S. illegally in 2023 near Brownsville, Texas. Efrén C. Olivares, an attorney with the National Immigration Law Center representing Antonio, said the family entered lawfully through the CBP One app, which Olivares described as a legal pathway, in 2023.
Olivares said Antonio was released after attorneys filed a parole request with ICE, which ICE granted, and Olivares said attorneys did not need to ask for a judge’s order. The AP report said the family is from Mexico, had sought asylum in the U.S., and was going through immigration proceedings.
Before their detention, the brothers 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 mariachi directors visited the family held in Dilley earlier Monday. Alex Treviño, the mariachi director, and Neri Fuentes, the assistant director, said the younger boys had been concerned about losing their ability to play while detained—Treviño said they worried that their fingers “weren’t going to work, because they don’t have instruments.”
Fuentes said Antonio, who recently won first chair for trumpet in a state competition, had planned to graduate high school this year and attend college, with aspirations to become a music educator. Castro said his continued push for the Dilley detention center to close followed the family’s separation and the criticism that followed their detention.