A Disabled Child’s Mom Reported Him Missing. He Was Locked Away by Federal Immigration Authorities for 48 Days

Emmanuel Gonzalez, a 15-year-old with an intellectual disability, walked away from his mom’s fruit stand in October. Houston Police called ICE instead of reuniting them

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Credit: Photo Courtesy Maria Garcia

This article was also published in partnership with The 19th* News.

By Leslie Rangel

Maria Garcia couldn’t bear to attend the nightly meals near Triangle Lake, where for several weeks, the smell of pinto beans, turkey necks, and other soul food staples filled the air outside a federal children’s detention facility in southeast Houston.

The Southern home-cooked meals had become a supportive ritual, one that Garcia appreciated but was too difficult for her to take part in. Garcia’s son, who has an intellectual disability, remained locked inside for 48 days. Other mothers of children with neurological and development disorders stepped in.

“We need to be there every night. Because while the world scrolls and moves on, there’s still a baby waking up in a place that isn’t his home,” Cathi Rae, a member of Autism Moms of Houston, wrote in an October blog post. “A baby who can’t make sense of where his mom went or why she hasn’t come to get him.”

On Oct. 18, Rae started the nightly dinners from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the park bench across the street from the facility. She and other mothers knew that though he couldn’t see them, it was a way to show 15-year-old Emmanuel Alexander Gonzalez Garcia that he was not alone.

“As a mother of a child with autism, that thought breaks me,” Rae wrote. “My son, Noah, is 8, but developmentally he’s closer to 5. If he were in Emmanuel’s shoes, he would think he did something wrong. He’d believe I sent him away. Every time he called and I didn’t come, he’d lose a little more trust in the world.”

Some nights she was joined by several other mothers and their children, but as time passed and Emmanuel remained in custody, Rae said she was often alone. In those moments of quiet, she couldn’t help but think of Emmanuel and his mom.

In early October, Emmanuel walked away from his mom’s fruit stand to find a bathroom. Garcia looked for him all over the city, and after several hours of coming up empty handed, she filed a missing person’s report with the Houston Police Department.

The boy was found by Houston firefighters nearly 24 hours later. But instead of reuniting him with his mom, the police department turned him over to immigration authorities, and Emmanuel ended up in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), where he remained for 48 days, despite his mother’s pleas for him to be released into her care.

Immigration-related arrests and detentions have surged under the Trump administration, particularly in Texas. According to analysis by the Texas Tribune, daily arrests have risen roughly 30 percentage points in ICE regions including Houston, and the Harris County Jail leads the country in ICE detainers — requests from immigration agents to hold a person for deportation. The Houston Chronicle found police calls to ICE have surged 1,000%.

The vast majority — more than 70% — of those arrested haven’t committed any crime. And, in an increasing number of cases, calls for help to the Houston Police Department have resulted in the caller or a family member winding up in federal detention. In one case, a woman from El Salvador called Houston police to report an abusive ex-husband — instead officers called ICE on her.

Emmanuel’s story enraged many Houston residents as community members grappled with the cruelty of keeping a disabled child locked away from his mother.

In the 48 days since he left her side, Garcia was only allowed to see Emmanuel three times. Once when he needed emergency surgery. The second time was during a scheduled visit facilitated by her legal team and U.S. Rep. Al Green. In that case, Garcia and her son got to hug each other and share a meal.

“Se quería ir a casa y pregunto si se podía ir conmigo,” Garcia said tearfully during a press conference at Green’s office. “He wanted to go home and asked if he could come with me.”

Garcia said she was able to see her son for a third time last week.

“Estoy devastada, porque yo sé que esto es alegría para él, le encantan los regalos, y él sabe que estos días pues son son días alegres y incluso yo el lunes pedí un permiso para ver si él podía pasar conmigo el Thanksgiving pero me dijeron que no iba a ser posible,” Garcia told The Barbed Wire during an emotional phone call a week before the holiday. “I’m devastated because I know that this (season) is happiness for him, he loves presents and he knows these days are supposed to be joyful. On Monday I asked for permission to see if he could spend Thanksgiving with me but they told me ‘It wouldn’t be possible.’”

Garcia said she asked if she could at least visit Emmanuel on Thanksgiving, which would have marked 54 days in custody. But the answer was the same.

“Ese día es el cumpleaños de su hermanita y yo quería ver si podía pasar con él aunque sean unas horitas pero no me lo permitieron — no me lo permitieron,” Garcia said.

“That day is also his little sister’s birthday and I wanted to see if it would be possible to spend even just a few short hours with him, but they didn’t allow me to — they didn’t allow me to.”

‘Why did they instead decide to call ICE?’

Garcia stood on the corner of Hempstead and Clay Road in northwest Houston on Oct. 4. The sun was high in the sky. Temperatures were in the 80s, mild for Texas, but warm enough to entice people driving by the Spring Branch neighborhood to stop for a refreshing mango cup drizzled with tangy chamoy.

“Estábamos con mis niños porque yo siempre los camino conmigo, yo no los dejo con nadie pues ellos son mi prioridad,” Garcia told The Barbed Wire in Spanish. “We were with my children because I always have them with me. I never leave them with anyone because they’re my priority.”

Garcia relies on her fruit sales to feed herself and her two children. In 2021, they came to Texas from Nicaragua in hopes of better opportunities and medical care. Her 13-year-old daughter, Angela, has a condition that is causing her to go blind. Emmanuel has significant learning disabilities, a speech impediment, and is hard of hearing. He is in special education classes at Spring Branch ISD.

Garcia explained that she believes her son is autistic, but he has not received a diagnosis from a doctor because it requires money they do not have. Researchers say it’s also common for an autism diagnosis to get delayed, especially in Hispanic and Latinx families due to limited English proficiency, cultural barriers, and low-income status.

“Cuando él se siente frustrado porque tal vez tiene mucho estrés acumulado o la escuela hay algo que él no entiende, él se me ha hecho popó, se me ha hecho pipí, es algo como de que no no puede contener,” Garcia told The Barbed Wire. “When he feels frustrated because maybe he has accumulated stress or there’s something at school he’s not understanding, he has pooped, he has peed, it’s something that he can’t contain.”

Garcia provided 90 pages of school records that were independently reviewed by The Barbed Wire and detailed the boy’s qualifications for an Individualized Education Plan, or IEP, and show that he received services from a deaf education teacher, an audiologist, and a special education teacher.

Evaluations dating back to 6th grade show the lowest possible scores in English language proficiency for listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Records indicated that he is enrolled in the district’s life skills program, and an evaluation signed by a nine-person committee from last school year shows “he has a limited vocabulary in both languages and experiences difficulty expressing his wants and needs.”

“Mucha gente no lo comprende, no lo entiende, dicen pero si ya está grande cómo le va a pasar eso pero son cosas que por su misma discapacidad es pues él no lo comprende verdad,” Garcia said. “A lot of people don’t comprehend it, they don’t understand, they say, ‘If he’s older, how is that going to happen to him?’ But they’re things that due to his disability he doesn’t understand.”

Emmanuel’s challenges in language comprehension and vocalizing his needs are why Garcia believes her son walked away from her.

This piece by Leslie Rangel is from our friends at The Barbed Wire. Please support their work by visiting them at: https://thebarbedwire.com/subscribe