{"id":209963,"date":"2025-09-08T10:30:26","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T10:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/209963\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T10:30:26","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T10:30:26","slug":"houston-mom-detained-by-ice-chooses-detention-or-deportation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/209963\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston mom detained by ICE chooses detention or deportation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy<\/a>, and give us feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sign up for The Brief<\/a>, The Texas Tribune\u2019s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.\n<\/p>\n

HOUSTON \u2014 At a Pentecostal church in a shopping center just north of the city, the pastor called the children toward the pulpit for a Mother\u2019s Day blessing. Brothers Isaac, 12, and Jeremiah Avila, 10, stepped forward holding cards they made for their mother, Margarita.<\/p>\n

Their smiles vanished as the mothers approached to hug and kiss their children \u2014 no one came for them.<\/p>\n

Seeing their faces, the oldest sister, Lisbet Avila, swept in to escort the boys back to their seats. Next to them, their father, Jos\u00e9 Avila, 54, kneeled as if to pray, but instead cried into his hands. Isaac pulled his button-down shirt over his face, hiding his red, tear-stained eyes.<\/p>\n

Jeremiah crumpled his card, which bore a note written in Spanish in his child\u2019s scrawl: \u201cMother, I love you, and thank you for having me.\u201d He leaned against his other sister, 27-year-old Ester Avila, who hugged him as she wiped her tears away.<\/p>\n

It was the first time any of them could remember Margarita missing a Mother\u2019s Day. She had been sitting in a cell in an immigrant detention center since March as the Trump administration was preparing to deport her to Belize, where she left two decades ago because of threats to her family.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really hard to see everything my wife is going through,\u201d Jos\u00e9 said. \u201cIt hurts not being able to be with my wife \u2014 and seeing my kids sad \u2014 because their mother is always around.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Inline<\/p>\n

Margarita with her sons Jeremiah (left) and Issac (right) in happier times. Photo courtesy of the Avila family<\/p>\n

Margarita Avila, 50, is among the tens of thousands of immigrants in the U.S. targeted for deportation in President Donald Trump\u2019s second term. Trump has said his administration is going after \u201cthe worst of the worst\u201d in an attempt to deport 1 million immigrants annually. But six months into Trump\u2019s second administration, at least 70% of the more than 56,000 immigrants detained across the country didn\u2019t have a criminal record, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse,<\/a> a nonprofit that collects and analyzes federal government data.<\/p>\n

Margarita requested asylum in the U.S. more than a decade ago and her case has been pending ever since. Meanwhile, she and Jos\u00e9 have grown their family in Texas, and like many other immigrants, they have put down deep roots. They bought a house in Houston\u2019s Independence Heights neighborhood, started a landscaping business that grew to hundreds of customers, and had five U.S.-born sons who are American citizens.<\/p>\n

But on March 12, their fortunes changed.<\/p>\n

According to a police report, Margarita was cutting weeds in a residential area in Spring, about 10 feet from a postal worker who was delivering to a community mailbox and asked Margarita to turn off the weed eater until she finished.<\/p>\n

Margarita couldn\u2019t hear her over the machine, the police report says, so the postal worker yelled to get her attention. The worker, who claimed Margarita hit her with the weed eater, called the police. When Margarita produced a Belize identification card, the deputy took her to jail on suspicion of assault \u2014 a charge that was later dropped. But it was too late \u2014 within a day, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plucked her from the Harris County Jail.<\/p>\n

As her family celebrated Mother\u2019s Day without her, Margarita pondered whether to fight her deportation order and stay in the detention center cell for months, or sign her voluntary deportation papers and be sent thousands of miles away from her children and husband.<\/p>\n

Because of their various immigration statuses \u2014 some undocumented, some pending asylum, some U.S. citizens \u2014 Margarita\u2019s deportation would make it difficult and in some cases impossible to see her close-knit family. Her husband would have to decide whether to stay in the U.S. with their two youngest children or follow his wife to Belize so they can raise the boys together in a country Isaac and Jeremiah have never known. For the oldest children born in Belize, it could mean not seeing their mother for years because they don\u2019t have permanent legal status.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019m in a lose-lose situation because if she\u2019s deported, I can\u2019t visit her because I wouldn\u2019t be able to come back,\u201d said Lisbet, 31, who has three children and can\u2019t easily travel outside of the U.S. because of her temporary protected status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. \u201cI have my own family here to think about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Lisbet<\/p>\n

Lisbet Avila, the oldest of Margarita\u2019s nine children, buys breakfast at a local store in May. They are a mixed-status family in which everyone has different immigration statuses.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n Lexi Parra<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Avila grandchildren build a Jenga version of the detention facility where their grandmother, Margarita, was being held in May.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n Lexi Parra<\/p>\n

\"Lisbet<\/p>\n

Lisbet Avila holds her daughter, Aubrey, while playing at the pool in May.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n Lexi Parra<\/p>\n

At the same time, the conditions in the detention center were eroding Margarita\u2019s will. The watery, undercooked food sometimes smelled rotten, she said, and she was only given Advil for the pain that emerged in her belly. She later learned it was Hepatitis B, a viral infection affecting the liver that she suspects she contracted in the detention center. A spokesperson for the holding facility did not provide a comment by deadline.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe medical treatment was so bad that there were two days when I couldn\u2019t even get out of bed,\u201d Margarita said, recounting one week when she had a fever and began vomiting. After three days the staff sent her to a hospital for treatment before returning her to a cell.<\/p>\n

David Paz, Margarita\u2019s immigration lawyer, said that before Trump returned to office, a situation like Margarita\u2019s \u2014 a minor criminal charge that was later dropped \u2014 would typically lead to release from ICE custody, Paz said. But not anymore.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s become harder to help people in her situation,\u201d Paz said from his downtown Houston office.<\/p>\n

An American dream<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 remembers when he first saw Margarita. He was 16, she was 13.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was very beautiful,\u201d Jos\u00e9 said. \u201cNot just was, but is still beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was drawn to her sincerity and how close she was with her family. She lived next door to his family in Belize. They dated for four years before marrying. He told her he wanted to have 12 children, and they soon had four: Lisbet, Abigail, Ester and Jos\u00e9 Jr.<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 supported them by working as a fisherman, maintaining an agricultural jet and importing snacks such as chips and cookies from Mexico, selling them to local businesses and street vendors. During his travels, he had left the Catholic Church for Pentecostalism, and he launched a church in their town.<\/p>\n

In 1998, the family went to a nearby lake for an outing, and one of Margarita\u2019s cousins began playing too roughly with the Avila daughters. When Jos\u00e9 stepped in to defend the girls, he said the argument turned into a physical fight that ended with Jos\u00e9 whacking the cousin across the head with a boat paddle.<\/p>\n

The cousin didn\u2019t forget the humiliation, and when he later joined a local gang, Jos\u00e9 and Margarita began receiving notes threatening to kill them.<\/p>\n

Later that year, the Avilas fled the country for their safety and applied for tourist visas in the U.S., settling in Houston. Jos\u00e9 began to work for a landscaping company and bought a house. When their visas expired, the Avilas stayed in Texas.<\/p>\n

The family kept growing. Eliseo was the first child born in the U.S. Then came Elias and David.<\/p>\n

In 2012, Jos\u00e9 was in a car accident, and because he didn\u2019t have a driver\u2019s license, he was arrested and eventually deported. Margarita and the children \u2014 except for Lisbet, who was 18 and taking care of her firstborn\u2014 returned to Belize to reunite with Jos\u00e9, who went back to Margarita\u2019s hometown.<\/p>\n

At first, everything seemed peaceful. But one day, someone delivered a note to their house demanding $10,000 \u2014 and threatening to kidnap one of their daughters if they didn\u2019t pay. Six months after they had returned to Belize, Jos\u00e9 traveled through Central America and Mexico and crossed the Texas-Mexico border in the Rio Grande Valley, where he surrendered and requested asylum.<\/p>\n

When Jos\u00e9 told a judge that he\u2019d be harmed or killed if he returned to Belize, the judge rejected his asylum request but granted him withholding of removal, which prevents the U.S. government from deporting someone to a home country where they could face persecution or torture.<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 couldn\u2019t get a green card or apply for U.S. citizenship, but the new status let him get a work permit as long as he checked with ICE agents once a year.<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 then sent for his wife and children, who made the same journey and turned themselves into U.S. Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley and requested asylum as well. Margarita received a deportation order for entering the country illegally, but the U.S. government granted her and the children humanitarian parole, allowing them to live in the U.S. until their asylum cases were settled.<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 was waiting for his family on the U.S. side. The first meal they got after being released was at a McDonald\u2019s, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just remember my kids’ faces being so happy to be back,\u201d Jos\u00e9 said.<\/p>\n

Planting roots<\/p>\n

After reuniting, Margarita and Jos\u00e9 lived in New York, where Isaac was born, but soon returned to Houston. There, they opened a landscaping business and returned to their home they had bought years earlier. Feeling safe and settled again, they had another child, Jeremiah.<\/p>\n

The oldest children worked with them, mowing lawns and helping them communicate with their English-speaking clients during summer breaks from school.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was hard work,\u201d said their daughter Ester. \u201cAs children, we didn\u2019t want to work, but we knew we had to help out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The older children started their own families. Lisbet, Abigail and Ester also started their own landscaping businesses with their father’s blessing and guidance.<\/p>\n

In their big mixed-status family, the threat of deportation was always there for the older members of the family: Lisbet applied and received Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals \u2014 also known as DACA \u2014 an Obama administration program that provides some young undocumented immigrants, who came to the U.S. as children, work permits and temporary protection from deportation.<\/p>\n

\"Lisbet<\/p>\n

Lisbet Avila visits clients\u2019 homes to send updates to her landscaping team in May. After helping her parents with their landscaping business, Lisbet started her own with her father\u2019s blessing.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n Lexi Parra for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

\"Jos\u00e9<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 hugs Lisbet, his eldest daughter, at her birthday celebration on May 24, 2025.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n Lexi Parra<\/p>\n

\"Lisbet<\/p>\n

Lisbet Avila at a landscaping client\u2019s home in May.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n Lexi Parra for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

Abigail married Oscar, another DACA recipient who came to the U.S. from Mexico with his family when he was a year old. Ester married her high-school sweetheart, Isaias, an immigrant from Honduras, who came to Houston without papers to join his parents who had immigrated years earlier. The other older children all have kids who are U.S. citizens.<\/p>\n

Eliseo, a U.S. citizen, sponsored his mother for a green card in January, but the application is still pending, and the government could take months or years to decide whether to grant it.<\/p>\n

But the threat of deportation seemed distant, and it didn’t affect how they lived.<\/p>\n

Margarita kept checking in with ICE once a year, waiting for her asylum claim to be heard. Even when Trump was elected president in 2016 after whipping up anti-immigrant sentiments, nothing really changed \u2014 until Trump\u2019s reelection last year.<\/p>\n

They soon began to see ICE agents arresting people during sweeps. The Avilas became more alert and tried to stay off the roads as much as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought that maybe we\u2019d be targets for, like, a racist incident, but not a target for deportation,\u201d Abigail said.<\/p>\n

Lisbet, Abigail and Ester Avila have talked to their partners about what they would do if one of them was arrested and deported. They game plan worst-case scenarios: closing their landscaping businesses, selling their homes and cars, deciding which of their native countries they would choose to start all over.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s this feeling of helplessness because you can\u2019t do anything about it,\u201d Oscar said. \u201cIt makes me angry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Missing moments<\/p>\n

From the detention center, Margarita called Lisbet\u2019s phone to talk to her family on May 10. They went to a Japanese restaurant to celebrate the birthday of the second-oldest grandchild, 11-year-old Alex.<\/p>\n

Margarita had been in detention for two months. It was weighing on her and her family more each day.<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 is the strict parent. He believes showing sadness is a sign of weakness. He told his children not to cry in front of Margarita to spare her any emotional pain. Margarita is nurturing and affectionate, the one who soothed the kids when they felt their father was being too hard on them.<\/p>\n

Lisbet, Abigail and Ester sat at a table talking to their mother through a video call. They asked her what she ate. Margarita said she was served spaghetti, but it tasted like bleach. She didn\u2019t eat it.<\/p>\n

Still, Margarita, wearing an orange jumpsuit and a white undershirt, had a Duchenne smile as her daughters talked to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you want to talk to dad?\u201d Lisbet asked. She passed the phone to Jos\u00e9, who stepped out of the restaurant to speak to his jailed wife. Cars roared down Interstate 10 next to the restaurant.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look sad. Why are you sad?\u201d Jos\u00e9 asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not,\u201d Margarita responded flatly. \u201cIt\u2019s just hard to hear you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, let\u2019s talk later,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Margarita was heartbroken to miss Alex\u2019s birthday, she later admitted. She just didn\u2019t want to tell her husband at that moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt horrible,\u201d she said. \u201cI would cherish those moments with my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Avila family hangs outside after Jeremiah\u2019s graduation ceremony.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n Lexi Parra for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

\"David<\/p>\n

David Avila, one of Margarita\u2019s sons, stands third in line as he walks towards the stage to receive his high school diploma at a June ceremony.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n Lexi Parra<\/p>\n

\"From<\/p>\n

Sisters Ester, Abigail and Lisbet (left to right) talk as they cook at Abigail\u2019s house in June. In the absence of Margarita, the sisters have looked out for their younger brothers.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n Lexi Parra<\/p>\n

Back inside the restaurant, the hibachi chef scooped up a shrimp on his spatula and flicked it toward Alex, who lunged with his mouth open but failed to catch it. The rest of the family laughed.<\/p>\n

It was a moment of relief for the family, but Margarita was still on their minds.<\/p>\n

\u201cNormally, she would be the first one to show up,\u201d Ester said, holding onto one of her daughters. \u201cSo, it makes me sad she\u2019s not here, because we\u2019re usually together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sad because she\u2019s in jail and I want to see her in person,\u201d Alex said, sitting between two of his uncles and sipping on his Coke.<\/p>\n

But they followed Jos\u00e9\u2019s instructions during their call with Margarita.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t show her we\u2019re unhappy,\u201d Lisbet said. \u201cIf she sees that we\u2019re not doing okay, she\u2019s going to get sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

They were all waiting for Margarita\u2019s appointment on June 10 with an ICE officer who would decide whether she would be released or remain in detention.<\/p>\n

Margarita said she was feeling sick and emotionally exhausted.<\/p>\n

Her daughters told her to hold on and keep fighting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure it\u2019s difficult being in there, but I want her to wait until we can get her out,\u201d Ester said.<\/p>\n

But Jos\u00e9 told his wife she should do whatever she needs to do to get out of the detention center \u2014 even if it means voluntarily being deported.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know my daughters mean well,\u201d Jose said. \u201cBut she\u2019s my wife. She\u2019s the woman of my dreams. So the goal is to be together, no matter what.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t feel the same without her\u201d<\/p>\n

On June 9, a day before her hearing, Margarita called and asked if Jos\u00e9 and the two youngest boys had finished writing their character reference letters; her lawyer wanted to present them to the ICE officer to show that she is a law-abiding immigrant with a family that depends on her. The lawyer told her family that he believed there was hope for her to be released because of her lack of a criminal record.<\/p>\n

\u201cLove, you know I can\u2019t write well,\u201d Jos\u00e9 responded. \u201cI\u2019ll ask one of the boys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeremiah told his father that he had already written his letter, but he had to fish the draft out of the trash. The letter read:<\/p>\n

\u201cI had my birthday, and the only person missing was my mom. Everyone else was there, my family, my friends, but not her. It didn\u2019t feel the same without her. All I wanted for my birthday this year was to have my mom back home. She helps take care of me, she\u2019s always here for me, and I miss her so much. Please let her come home. She wouldn\u2019t even leave us, I just want to see her again and be a family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Avila family celebrates Jeremiah\u2019s birthday with a waterslide in Jos\u00e9\u2019s backyard on June 6, 2025. \u201cAll I wanted for my birthday this year was to have my mom back home,\u201d Jeremiah wrote in a letter about missing his mother.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n Lexi Parra<\/p>\n

Jeremiah grabbed a pen to rewrite his letter on a fresh, unwrinkled sheet of paper.<\/p>\n

The boys said they want to be with their mother, even if it means moving to Belize.<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 and his daughters have argued about what Margarita should do. He said he knows that if she signs her deportation papers, he may have to give up his life in the U.S.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not going to be separated from his wife.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess you can say there\u2019s conflicting feelings among us,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I have to find a way to keep my boys and wife together and safe one way or another.\u201d<\/p>\n

Margarita\u2019s decision<\/p>\n

The next day, the family gathered at Abigail\u2019s house, waiting to hear news about Margarita\u2019s hearing. Abigail made a lunch of rice, ground beef and plantains.<\/p>\n

They weren\u2019t raised to express their feelings openly, she said while sweeping the kitchen floor. But it was getting harder for everyone to keep their emotions to themselves, she said.<\/p>\n

Even her dad.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s hard for my dad to see my mother like that,\u201d Abigail said. \u201cMy dad is always trying to act tough around us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier in the week, Abigail and her father had visited Margarita at the detention center. After the visit, Abigail said, they walked back to their own cars and headed to their respective homes. Jos\u00e9 called Abigail as he drove to remind her about some errands that needed to be done but he forgot to hang up his phone. Abigail heard her father scream, followed by loud cries.<\/p>\n

The collect call from Margarita came just before 1 p.m. She was crying.<\/p>\n

Between sobs, Margarita said the ICE officer canceled her interview to determine if she would be released.<\/p>\n

She was tired of being in the detention center. She told the officers she wants to sign her deportation papers.<\/p>\n

The family was silent, some staring at the floor with stoic faces. Lisbet took the phone and went into a bedroom to talk to her mother privately.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to be here anymore,\u201d Margarita said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, go ahead and sign,\u201d Lisbet told her mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s the right decision,\u201d Ester told her husband.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid she ask for this, though?\u201d Isaias responded.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell then, we have to respect her decision,\u201d Isaias said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, but I don\u2019t think she\u2019s thinking it through,\u201d Ester said.<\/p>\n

\"Jos\u00e9<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 Avila and his son Isaac attend a protest organized by FIEL, Immigrant Families and Students in the Fight, in front of the Core Civic Processing Center in Houston where Margarita Avila and others are detained, in June.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n Lexi Parra<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

People chant and wave flags during the protest outside of the Core Civic Processing Center.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n Lexi Parra<\/p>\n

\"Margarita<\/p>\n

Margarita Avila cries on a video call as she sees her family and hundreds of protesters chant in solidarity with the detainees outside the detention center where she is being held.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n Lexi Parra<\/p>\n

Two days later, Margarita called Abigail to tell her ICE was waiting until they had enough migrants to fill up a plane \u2014 and then she would be deported.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know my family was advocating and doing everything they could to help me get out,\u201d Margarita said later. \u201cBut seeing them in pain, I told myself, \u2018It\u2019s better if I sign my deportation so they can continue with a normal life.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

With her fate sealed, anger overcame Jos\u00e9. He stood in the living room, clenched a fist, and began to punch his palm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe it,\u201d he said, his voice cracking. \u201cEverything we worked so hard for is going down the drain.\u201d<\/p>\n

A family ripped apart<\/p>\n

Two weeks later, Margarita, wearing civilian clothes, boarded a plane along with dozens of immigrants from Guatemala and three others from Belize.<\/p>\n

Handcuffed to a seat, she sat for three hours, silently crying to herself. The plane stopped in Guatemala City to drop off most of its human cargo, then took off for Belize.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was such a nightmare for me,\u201d Margarita said. \u201cI\u2019d never imagine I\u2019d return to my country as a deportee.\u201d<\/p>\n

She sees her parents every day now, but she still feels lonely, she said. It doesn\u2019t feel like her country anymore \u2014 after so many years in Houston, everything in Belize seems unfamiliar and surreal to her.<\/p>\n

Back in Houston, Margarita\u2019s deportation cast a pall over her family.<\/p>\n

Oscar, Abigail\u2019s husband, said his anxiety has triggered urges to drink beer and smoke cigarettes, habits he left behind years ago. Financially, it\u2019s been stressful too. His mother, who is undocumented, has considered quitting her job at a restaurant because she\u2019s so afraid of driving. He listens to science fiction audiobooks to escape reality, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just feel like I\u2019m on edge,\u201d Oscar said. \u201cIt’s just scary even talking about this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ester and her husband, Isaias, who also have two daughters, have come up with a contingency plan in case they are arrested and deported.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, we\u2019re just waiting for one of us to get deported,\u201d Isaias said.<\/p>\n

\"Jos\u00e9<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 Avila packs up boxes to send belongings to his wife, Margarita, who has been sent to her home country of Belize after signing her deportation papers, in June.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n Lexi Parra for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

He says he has a recurring dream of suddenly waking up in Honduras and thinking, \u201cHow am I supposed to work? Who do I ask for work? Where am I going to live?\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a constant fear that hangs over us now.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Lisbet\u2019s part, she said she feels heartbroken that she can\u2019t see her mother everyday. But at the same time, she said, there is a sense of relief that her mother is safe.<\/p>\n

The experience has angered her, but she has used that as fuel to advocate for immigrant rights. Since her mother was detained, she has volunteered organizing events and demonstrations with a local immigrant rights organization known as FIEL, a Spanish-language acronym that translates in English to Immigrant Families and Students in the Fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just feel like the media keeps showing immigrants as criminals,\u201d she said. \u201cI just want to show that we\u2019re not and provide balance to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Margarita thinks about her children and grandchildren every day. And she thinks about the man she met here nearly 40 years ago, before they left all this behind.<\/p>\n

For now, Jos\u00e9 plans to put the boys on a plane to Belize so they can spend part of the summer with their mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hurts me having to leave my children behind,\u201d she said. \u201cAll the work my family has done to have a peaceful life, just so that it can be gone all in an instant.\u201d<\/p>\n

More all-star speakers confirmed for The Texas Tribune Festival, Nov. 13\u201315! This year\u2019s lineup just got even more exciting with the addition of State Rep. Caroline Fairly<\/strong>, R-Amarillo; former United States Attorney General Eric Holder<\/strong>; Abby Phillip<\/strong>, anchor of \u201cCNN NewsNight\u201d; Aaron Reitz<\/strong>, 2026 Republican candidate for Texas Attorney General; and State Rep. James Talarico<\/strong>, D-Austin. Get your tickets today!<\/a><\/p>\n

TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy, and give…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":209964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[69,4345,409,80,358,5526,5523,5525,5524,3187],"class_list":{"0":"post-209963","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-immigration","11":"tag-politics","12":"tag-texas","13":"tag-texas-government","14":"tag-texas-news","15":"tag-texas-policy","16":"tag-texas-politics","17":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}