In an unfortunate turn of events, 23-year-old Caden Hawkins, a Texas oil field worker crossed the border in Columbus, New Mexico in an “honest accident”, leading to him getting detained in one of Mexico’s most dangerous prisons. Authorities ordered him held for nine months as his family is desperately trying to bring him back.
He was detained back on March 2 at the Port of Palomas Border Crossing in Columbus, New Mexico. According to Hawkins’ family, he was returning from work, following directions on GPS and after a point lost direction. As a result, he crossed the US-Mexico border without even realizing it.
Talking to KLTV, Hawkins’ mother April Thomas said, “I am on the phone with Caden, and he starts telling me the speed bumps are so bad in this town he’s in and then the next thing you know he is telling me that he couldn’t turn around. We hear men around him yelling in Spanish and we just tell him to do what they say.”
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Hawkins filmed the moment of his capture on his phone and it then came to light that he was detained because he was carrying a gun and bullets. His family however clarified that the gun was a licensed one and he was not doing anything illegal by carrying it. Since he crossed the border without realizing it, carrying the gun did not appear as a problem initially, when he was in his own country.
Hawkins appeared clearly frustrated about the situation as he told his family over a phone call, “This was something that, ‘oh hey I messed up and get a ticket’, not a year in state prison in a different country.” His mother naturally feels devastated as she said, “Please give me my baby back, he does not deserve this. My son is not a criminal; this was an honest accident.”
It has been almost 267 days that Hawkins has been detained and according to his family, calls from the prison are expensive and they have spent a total tens of thousands of dollars till now on the same. Thomas said, “This has gone long enough. This was an honest accident. Caden would never do anything to hurt anybody and we just want our baby home.”
Emphasizing on the fact that they are not being able to do anything about the situation, Thomas added, “We need somebody that is more powerful than we are.”
Caden Hawkins is a 22-year-old American citizen who has spent the last NINE MONTHS in a Mexican prison after a GPS error sent him across the border with his legally registered firearm.
Since then, he has been turned into a financial hostage for a corrupt judicial system. His… pic.twitter.com/jhwjpJ2edN
— Isabella Maria DeLuca (@IsabellaMDeLuca) November 26, 2025
KLTV spoke to some lawmakers who claimed that they were aware of Hawkins’ situation and were looking into it. State Representative Jay Dean of Longview took to Facebook to post about this incident. His Facebook post, made on Sunday, reads, “Hallsville native, 22 year old Caden Hawkins is being held as a cash asset for a corrupt federal judge in Juarez, Mexico.”
It further added, “His family has been extorted for months, forced to pay over $1000 a week so Caden can have hot water, toilet paper and semi-protection from violent inmates. This is absolutely unacceptable and we need to ban together and force our federal government to BRING CADEN HOME. Below are numbers I need you to call every single day until Caden Hawkins is returned to his family. Please call and tell them to use all available resources to have Caden Hawkins released.”
He then added the relevant numbers and contact information that would help to bring Hawkins back home. Given the fact that Hawkins is held at Cereso Estatal No. 3, one of Mexico’s most violent prisons, makes the situation even more tense. With Hawkins’ family trying their best to get more attention to the case and Dean coming forward to help, it now remains to be seen how the case ultimately turns out.
