The family's arrest and detention triggered social post videos like the one above.
CBS NewsThe 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's campaign for mass deportation has overreached.
Brothers Antonio Gámez-Cuéllar, 18, and Joshua, 14, were detained along with their 12-year-old brother and their parents on 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.
The teenage 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.
Antonio was released on Monday afternoon. Neither he nor his attorneys commented to reporters as they left a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Raymondville, Texas.
The other four family members were released from a separate detention center for families in Dilley, Texas, said U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Texas Democrat who visited them at the center near San Antonio on Monday.
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.
In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said ICE had detained the parents, Emma Guadalupe Cuellar Lopez and Luis Antonio Gamez Martinez, and that they chose to bring their children with them. The family illegally entered the U.S. in 2023 near Brownsville, Texas, the spokesperson said, adding that the law requires them to be in custody while their asylum claims are heard.
Intense public pressure finally forced their release Monday.
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