An Alamo Heights family detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will head home after a federal judge ordered their release from the South Texas Family Residential Center.
U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia on Wednesday ordered the federal government to release Maria Betania Uzcategui Castillo, her 11-year-old stepson Victor Labrador and her 8-year-old stepdaughter Victoria “Monserrat” Labrador no later than 9:30 a.m. Thursday, the Express-News reports.
Castillo and her stepchildren were detained by ICE agents outside their home while waiting for the school bus on April 27. Both Victor and Victoria were students at Alamo Heights ISD’s Cambridge Elementary School.
“Thank you to everyone who spoke up — your voice made a difference,” U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, who visited the family while they were being held in Dilley and advocated for their release, tweeted after news of the judge’s ruling broke.
Garcia handed down the release order in response to a habeas corpus hearing on Wednesday.
The Venezuelan family’s attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, maintained the family had applied for asylum and were granted both parole and work permits under the Biden Administration in 2021, according to the daily.
Even so, lawyers representing the federal government are expected to appeal the ruling.
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U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia ordered the family, whose cause was championed by U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, to be released no later than 9:30 a.m. Thursday.
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