MCALLEN, Texas (AP) — U.S. immigration authorities have detained two teenage brothers who are prominent members of a nationally recognized mariachi band in South Texas, sparking bipartisan criticism that the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign goes too far.
Brothers Antonio Gámez-Cuéllar, 18, and Joshua, 14, were taken into custody on February 25 along with their 12-year-old brother and their parents, according to a relative and girlfriend who started a GoFundMe account for the family. Relatives and girlfriends said the family had been instructed to regularly check in with immigration authorities while they were detained.
The teenage boys were standout members of McAllen High School’s Mariachi Oro Band, which has visited the White House, performed at Carnegie Hall and won eight state championships.
Antonio was released Monday afternoon. Neither he nor his attorneys commented to reporters as they left the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Raymondville, Texas.
Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, who visited them at the center near San Antonio on Monday, said four other family members had been released from a separate family detention center in Dilley, Texas.
Castro had previously visited the facility when he advocated for the release of Liam Conejo Ramos, a 5-year-old from Minnesota and his Ecuadorian father.
ICE detained the parents, Emma Guadalupe Cuellar Lopez and Luis Antonio Gamez Martinez, who chose to take their children with them, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman said in an emailed statement. The family entered the United States illegally near Brownsville, Texas, in 2023, the spokesperson said, adding that the law requires that they be detained while their asylum application is pending.
“Unlike previous administrations, the Trump administration will not ignore the rule of law,” the statement said, noting that adult men without children — specifically Antonio — would not be detained at Dilley “for the safety of the children within the facility.”
While the family may have entered the country illegally, they were seeking asylum legally.
Elected officials from across the political spectrum have expressed support for the family, who is from Mexico, seeking asylum in the United States and going through immigration proceedings.
“I challenge my colleagues to work together to create new enforcement policies that not only secure our borders, but make communities safer, and ultimately become common sense. Those two things don’t have to be contradictory,” Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz, who represents McAllen, said after Antonio’s release.
McAllen’s Republican mayor, Javier Villalobos, said he supports the family and said he will continue to advocate for “responsible pathways for law-abiding individuals who want to contribute to our economy, provide for their families and be productive neighbors in McAllen.”
Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, called the family’s detention “outrageous.”
Earlier Monday, the boys’ mariachi director visited a family being held in Dilley. Mariachi Director Alex Trevino and Assistant Director Neri Fuentes said the children were worried about losing their ability to play.
“They were worried that their fingers wouldn’t work because they didn’t have the instruments,” Trevino said.
Antonio, who was separated from his family because of his age, recently won first place in trumpet at the state competition.
“This year he will graduate from high school, go to college, and join some other groups at the college. He wants to be a music educator,” Fuentes explained.
