Democrat Joaquin Castro is speaking up against the detention of two elementary school students aged 11 and 8, along with their stepmother, by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
On Monday, April 27, 2026, ICE agents detained 5th grader Victor Uzategui-Labrador Jr. and 2nd grader Monseratt Uzategui-Labrador while they were waiting at a bus stop in Alamo Heights, San Antonio. Both are students at Alamo Heights ISD’s Cambridge Elementary School. Their stepmother, Maria Betania Uzategui Castillo, was also detained along with them, while classmates witnessed the arrest.
Betania Uzategui Castillo arrived in the U.S. from Venezuela with her husband and two stepchildren in 2021. According to Rep. Castro’s office, the family was seeking U.S. asylum and had valid work permits that allegedly authorized them to remain in the US through 2030. They had also allegedly turned themselves in to Border Patrol officers after crossing the border.
“ICE arrested a 5th grader and 2nd grader at the school bus stop in San Antonio as their classmates watched in horror. Their stepmother was detained with them. The community at Alamo Heights Independent School District elementary is speaking out—no child should be locked away at the Dilley trailer prison,” Congressman Castro wrote in an X post.
ICE arrested a 5th grader and 2nd grader at the school bus stop in San Antonio as their classmates watched in horror. Their stepmother was detained with them. The community at Alamo Heights Independent School District elementary is speaking out—no child should be locked away at… pic.twitter.com/WT12QA4zNX
— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) May 4, 2026
“I am in touch with their father, Victor Labrador, and I plan on visiting with the family during my inspection of Dilley tomorrow. The family were asylum seekers and had valid work permits—what is happening to them is shameful,” he said.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told KSAT that the detained students and the stepmom were in the U.S. illegally.
“They illegally entered the U.S. from Mexico on December 4, 2021,” a DHS spokesperson said, adding, “This administration is not going to ignore the rule of law.”
On Sunday, May 3, around 50 locals gathered to protest the arrest at the Loop 410 and Broadway intersection at Alamo Heights. Toru Ramierez, an organizer for the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), which organized the protest, slammed ICE, accusing them of “kidnapping innocent children.”
The father says his family was seeking asylum and complying with all requirements ahead of their 2027 court date. The community has raised more than $28,000 as neighbors rally for their release: https://t.co/dnuuEE1SMV pic.twitter.com/i3V7TSXoxa
— KVUE News (@KVUE) May 4, 2026
“It’s clear that ICE is not here to make our neighborhoods safer when they are kidnapping innocent children on their way to school,” Ramierez said, according to San Antonio Current.
“Trump’s and [the Department of Homeland Security’s] lies are on full display yet again. ICE thugs don’t protect people, they terrorize them. Specifically, they racistly target and terrorize our neighbors for not being white.”
PSL officials said that the Uzategui-Labrador children and their stepmom are currently being held at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, approximately an hour southwest of the Alamo City.
“There are no criminals at Dilley,” Rep. Castro previously told San Antonio Current, talking about the prison camp, where prisoners and their advocates allegedly face substandard conditions. “None of those people has committed a crime,” Castro told the news outlet.
