{"id":296341,"date":"2025-10-12T03:59:40","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T03:59:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/296341\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T03:59:40","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T03:59:40","slug":"houston-mother-separated-from-autistic-son-after-hes-placed-in-federal-immigration-custody","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/296341\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston mother separated from autistic son after he\u2019s placed in federal immigration custody"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON<\/strong> \u2013 A local immigrant rights group is stepping in to help a Houston mother after her 15-year-old autistic son, who had been missing for days, was found\u2014but not returned to her. Instead, he was placed in the custody of federal immigration authorities, sparking confusion, concern, and a growing outcry.<\/p>\n

What Happened to Emmanuel?<\/b><\/p>\n

Emmanuel Gonzalez Garcia, a mostly nonverbal teen who has lived in the U.S. for about seven years, disappeared last Saturday while helping his mother sell fruit on the street.<\/p>\n

After searching for about an hour, his mother, Maria, called Houston police to report him missing.<\/p>\n

Days passed with no word.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until a week later\u2014after Maria made a desperate public plea at a press conference organized by the immigrant rights group FIEL\u2014that she finally got a call from the Houston Police Department.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said, \u2018We found your son. He\u2019s alive,\u2019\u201d said Cesar Espinosa, Executive Director of FIEL Houston. \u201cBut the bad part is\u2014he\u2019s in a shelter.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Missing Person to Federal Custody<\/b><\/p>\n

According to HPD, officers found Emmanuel the day after he disappeared but were unable to identify him. With limited communication abilities, Emmanuel could only tell officers his name, date of birth, and country of origin.<\/p>\n

After exhausting other options, HPD says Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) helped them get in contact with the Department of Health and Human Services\u2019 Office of Refugee Resettlement, who transferred Emmanuel to one of their shelters.<\/p>\n

There, he was classified as an \u201cunaccompanied minor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because Maria is not a U.S. citizen, she cannot immediately regain custody. Instead, she must now find a U.S. sponsor to claim him\u2014a process that could take weeks or longer.<\/p>\n

An Emotional Reunion\u2014Over a Screen<\/b><\/p>\n

Maria was eventually allowed a brief FaceTime call with Emmanuel.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was able to physically see him and confirm he was alive and not hurt,\u201d said Espinosa. \u201cBut he\u2019s very scared. Officers were standing beside him on the screen.\u201d<\/p>\n

FIEL says they\u2019ve been denied information about his exact location and are deeply concerned about the lack of transparency.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t even know where he is,\u201d said Espinosa. \u201cWe don\u2019t know what kind of assistance he\u2019s getting, if he\u2019s in school, or if he\u2019s receiving therapy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Questions About ICE Involvement<\/b><\/p>\n

FIEL is now demanding answers\u2014specifically how and why ICE became involved in what began as a local missing persons case involving a child with special needs.<\/p>\n

The organization plans to raise those questions directly at Tuesday\u2019s Houston City Hall meeting.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s Next?<\/b><\/p>\n

KPRC 2 reached out to HPD and ORR for more information.<\/p>\n

HPD told us questions about Emmanuel\u2019s release must be directed to the Office of Refugee Resettlement. We also contacted the state\u2019s refugee coordinator but have not yet received a response.<\/p>\n

As for Emmanuel\u2019s immigration status, FIEL says they are not disclosing that information at this time.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 A local immigrant rights group is stepping in to help a Houston mother after her 15-year-old…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":296342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[151293,142168,4345,5410,409,27685,358,3187],"class_list":{"0":"post-296341","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-fiel","9":"tag-fiel-houston","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-ice","12":"tag-immigration","13":"tag-missing-child","14":"tag-texas","15":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115359197837000474","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296341","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=296341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}