Missing Houston teen located at immigration facility
Teenager Emmanuel Gonzalez Garcia, who was reported missing, was located by authorities and is now being held by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, leading to a dispute over whether HPD improperly contacted ICE.
The backstory:
HOUSTON – On Friday afternoon, Emmanuel Gonzalez Garcia’s family held a press conference asking for help from the community in locating the 15-year-old.
Emmanuel was reported missing by his mother on October 4th, but claims HPD had not reached out to her with any update on where he could be.
Shortly after the press conference, HPD called FIEL Houston (the non-profit organization representing the family) to say that Emmanuel was being held by the Office of Refuge Resettlement. HPD also posted that Emmanuel had been located on social media.
FIEL Houston then shared with Fox 26 that the teen was in ICE custody. ICE sent Fox 26 the following in response:
On Oct. 5, the Houston Police Department contacted ICE about a minor they had picked up who claimed to be homeless and from another country. ICE worked with HPD to see if they could identify the minor or any of the minor’s family members living in the U.S. When no family could be identified, ICE helped HPD place the minor with the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement. At no point was the minor in ICE custody.
— ICE Spokesperson
What they’re saying:
FIEL Houston says that Emmanuel is still currently being held by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, and it is not known when or if he could be reunited with his family.
“Shortly after yesterday, we got a call that Emmanuel in fact has been found and there’s a moment of joy followed by a moment of utter distress,” Executive Director of FIEL Houston Cesar Espinosa said. “Because he has been found, but he has been found inside a detention center.”
Espinosa continues to add how the family is undocumented, but is sharing their story because of their worry about Emmanuel and his condition while being detained.
“We want to make it very clear that the office of refugee resettlement, ORR, will have people believe that these are shelters,” Espinosa said. “They are not. They are detention centers for unaccompanied minors.”
FIEL Houston plans on speaking with Mayor Whitmire and City Council inside of Houston City Hall to ask why HPD called ICE, despite the Mayor’s previous statements saying Houston police wouldn’t communicate with them.
“At the moment where the HPD decides to call ICE, they get ICE involved,” Espinosa said. “So even though he might not have been with them physically, his case got referred over to ICE and they are the ones who took it upon themselves to put Emmanuel in one of these shelters.”
The Source: Houston Police Department, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Executive Director of FIEL Houston Cesar Espinosa and Emmanuel Gonzalez Garcia’s family.
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