RAYMONDVILLE — A McAllen family that includes two award-winning high school mariachi students who were invited to the White House were released from immigration detention Monday following mounting uproar over their detention last month.

Antonio Gámez-Cuéllar, 18, walked out of the El Valle Detention Center in Raymondville along with U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, a Republican from Edinburg, who took steps to secure his release after news of his and his family’s detention drew outrage throughout the region.

His two younger brothers — Caleb, 14, and Joshua 12 — and their parents — Luis Antonio Gámez and Emma Guadalupe Cuéllar were later released from a family detention center in Dilley.

“This day should not be about politics,” De La Cruz said. “What this day is about is about common sense enforcement policies. This is about our community coming together for, not only their family, but other families who are in similar situations.”

“I challenge my colleagues to work together for new enforcement policies that not only secure our border but make safer communities and that ultimately are common sense,” she said. “These two things do not have to be in contradiction.”

The family was detained on Feb. 25 following a routine check-in with immigration officials

However, the situation didn’t garner attention until last week when lawmakers and politicians took to social media to slam the family’s detention.

“This family followed the appropriate process and procedures, yet this Administration is actively tearing them apart,” U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, a Democrat from McAllen, wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday.

“I call on this Administration and every member of our South Texas Congressional Delegation to speak out against this senseless cruelty and fight to keep this family together.”

The family had entered the country in May 2023 through the CBP One app, a Biden-era application process for asylum seekers.

The students had informed teachers at McAllen High School about their check-in the day prior, according to Neri Fuentes, an assistant director for the school’s mariachi band, the McHi Mariachi Oro.

“They’ve always had these check-ups,” Fuentes said. “We know how they are and that they’ve always followed the rules and followed the directions so we really didn’t think that anything was going to happen.”

But after their check-in, the family was detained, devastating their friends and sending shockwaves throughout the community. Caleb and Joshua, along with their parents, were taken to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley. Antonio, who is no longer a minor, was taken to the Raymondville facility.

Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.

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