The Makoka brothers, Congolese teens who had been in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody since April 21, returned to their host parents’ home in Diamondhead, Mississippi, on April 29, after eight days of detention that separated them across two states. Their release followed rapid intervention by Mississippi’s two Republican U.S. senators, a swelling community campaign, and the work of pro bono legal counsel.
“God is consistent,” Israel Makoka told the Mississippi Free Press shortly after reuniting with his brother in Texas. “Just keep addressing him. And if you’re around people who show love to you, who support you, just know that you’re blessed. It’s a blessing to be around a community who cares about you.”
The brothers, who came to the U.S. legally on F-1 student visas, fell out of status when they transferred from the Piney Woods Country Life School in Rankin County to Hancock High School in Diamondhead. In a statement provided on April 29, the Department of Homeland Security said, “On April 21, 2026, ICE detained Israel Makoka, an adult, and Max Makoka, his teenage sibling from the Republic of Congo, because they violated their student visas by failing to attend classes at Piney Woods School.” The DHS statement confirmed that the detentions stemmed from the school transfer without proper authorization.
Israel, 18, was held at the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Jena, Louisiana, a privately run facility where detainees are often packed into barracks of nearly 100 to a room. Max, 15, was sent to an Office of Refugee Resettlement group home in Houston, Texas. The average stay at the Louisiana facility is roughly one month, but the brothers’ detention lasted just over a week as political and community pressure mounted.
Senators Hyde-Smith and Wicker moved quickly, according to host parent Gail Baptiste, who described Hyde-Smith’s office as “great” and “involved from the beginning.” The senators’ staff connected the Baptistes with attorney Amy Maldonado, who is now representing the brothers at no cost. Rep. Mike Ezell, whose district includes Diamondhead, also publicly supported the family.
At the same time, the Gulf Coast community mobilized. An online petition launched by an Alabama resident on April 27 collected more than 3,100 signatures, mostly from Mississippi residents. On the same day, teachers and students at Hancock High School held a ceremony where Israel was to receive his graduation cap and gown, honoring the brothers just days after their arrest.
The release does not resolve the brothers’ legal status. Maldonado said she will file applications with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to reinstate their F-1 nonimmigrant student status at other schools. “They can’t go to Hancock,” she said, “but they were underage, they were not advised that they were gonna be violating status. This is completely inadvertent.”
Maldonado stressed that Max’s detention was especially questionable. “Max has legal guardians in the United States. ICE took him into custody and then put him in a shelter for unaccompanied alien children,” she said. “The legal definition of an unaccompanied alien child is one without a parent or legal guardian in the U.S.” Israel, meanwhile, had turned 18 just weeks before the detention, and had been a minor for nearly the entire period he was out of status, without any warning to the family.
Gail Baptiste said the experience has opened minds in the community. “I think this has awakened so many people,” she said. “And we’re thankful that a situation like this has caused so much awareness that we need to care for one another. Don’t judge. Be there, be supportive. Everybody has a different situation.”