McALLEN, Texas (AP) — The detention by U.S. immigration authorities of two teen brothers who were prominent members of a nationally recognized mariachi band in South Texas has triggered bipartisan criticism that the Trump administration's campaign for mass deportation has overreached.
Brothers Antonio Gámez-Cuéllar, 18, and Joshua, 14, were detained along with their 12-year-old brother and their parents Feb. 25, according to a relative and a girlfriend who organized a GoFundMe account for the family. The family had been checking in regularly with immigration authorities, as instructed, when they were detained, the relative and girlfriend said.
The teenaged boys were prominent members of the McAllen High School Mariachi Oro band, which has visited the White House, performed at Carnegie Hall and won eight state championships.
Antonio was released Monday afternoon. Neither he nor his attorneys commented to reporters they left a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Raymondville, Texas.
The other four family members were released from a separate detention center for families in Dilley, Texas, said U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Texas Democrat who visited them at the center near San Antonio on Monday.
Castro had visited the facility before when he advocated for the release of a 5-year-old from Minnesota, Liam Conejo Ramos, and his Ecuadorian father.
In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said ICE had detained the parents, Emma Guadalupe Cuellar Lopez and Luis Antonio Gamez Martinez, and that they chose to bring their children with them. The family illegally entered the U.S. in 2023 near Brownsville, Texas, the spokesperson said, adding that the law requires them to be in custody while their asylum claims are heard.
“Unlike the previous administration, the Trump administration is not going to ignore the rule of law,” the statement said, noting that adult males without children — specifically, Antonio — are not detained at Dilley “for the safety of the children inside the facility.”
While the family may have entered the country illegally, it is legal for them to seek asylum.
Elected officials from across the political spectrum voiced support for the family, who are from Mexico and had sought asylum in the U.S. and were going through their immigration proceedings.
“I challenge my colleagues to work together for new enforcement policies that not only secure our border but make safer communities and that ultimately are common sense. These two things do not have to be in contradiction,” Rep. Monica de la Cruz, a Republican congresswoman representing McAllen, said after Antonio’s release.
McAllen's Republican mayor, Javier Villalobos, said he supported the family and said he continues to advocate for “responsible pathways for law abiding individuals who want to contribute to our economy, support their families, and become productive neighbors in McAllen.”
U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a New York Democrat and chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, called the family's detention "outrageous."
The boys’ mariachi directors visited the family held in Dilley earlier Monday. Alex Treviño, the mariachi director and Neri Fuentes, the assistant director, said the kids were concerned about losing their playing abilities.
“They were worried that their fingers weren’t going to work, because they don’t have instruments,” Treviño said.
Antonio, who had been held apart from the family due to his age, recently won the first chair for trumpet in a state competition.
“This year he’s going to be graduating from high school and going to college and joining some other groups in college. He wants to be a music educator,” Fuentes explained.
FILE - A federal agent wears an Immigration and Customs Enforcement badge in New York, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)
U.S. President Donald Trump had a call Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the war in Iran and other issues, which according to the Kremlin was a “frank and businesslike” conversation that lasted about an hour.
Here is the latest:
The National Intelligence Council’s assessment in February concluded that neither limited airstrikes nor a larger, prolonged military campaign would be likely to result in a new government taking over in Iran, even if the current leadership was killed.
That’s according to two people familiar with the finding, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the classified report.
The determination undercuts the administration’s assertion that it can complete its objectives in Iran relatively quickly, perhaps in a matter of weeks.
A spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment on the assessment on Monday and referred questions to the White House.
— By Michelle L. Price and Mary Clare Jalonick
▶ Read more about the intelligence assessment on Iran.
The Iranian athletes, who were visiting the country for a tournament, were transported from their hotel “to a safe location” by federal police officers in the early hours of Tuesday morning local time, Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said.
There, they met with Burke and the processing of their humanitarian visas finalized, the minister told reporters in Brisbane hours later.
Trump had said Monday that Australia’s prime minister was helping the Iranian team after Trump urged the U.S. ally to grant the players asylum rather than send them back to Iran.
The U.S. stock market careened through a manic Monday, going from a steep early loss to a solid gain as worries turned into hope that the war with Iran may not last that long.
Oil prices whipped from nearly $120 per barrel, their highest since 2022, back toward $90.
The S&P 500 fell as much as 1.5% before flipping to a gain of 0.8%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 239 points, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 1.4%. They’re the latest hour-to-hour swings to pummel markets because of uncertainty about how high oil prices will go and how long they will stay there.
The European Union’s economic chief is warning of the threat of stagflation if the war in the Middle East drags on, but says it’s too early to know how great the conflict’s impact will be.
“Stagflation” is a toxic combination of still-high inflation and a weak or stagnant economy. It bedeviled the U.S. in the 1970s, when even deep recessions didn’t kill inflation.
“Persistent targeting of shipping and energy infrastructure risks exposing the global economy to a stagflationary shock over the longer term,” EU Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters after a meeting of Eurogroup finance ministers.
But he said that “should the conflict quickly de-escalate, contain disruptions to energy supplies and infrastructure (it) would likely have limited impact.”
“We need to keep a cool head, so to say, and continue to monitor the situation,” he said.
Trump commented as rising oil and gasoline prices caused by the war spark international concern.
CBS News White House reporter Weijia Jiang posted on X that Trump told her over the phone Monday that the war is “very far ahead of schedule.”
“I think the war is very complete, pretty much,” Jiang quoted Trump as telling her. “They have no navy, no communications, they’ve got no Air Force.”
Trump had said the war could last about four weeks. It was launched on Feb. 28.
Asked about the Strait of Hormuz, Trump told Jiang that ships continue to move through the vital shipping channel but that he is “thinking about taking it over.”
Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov described the conversation as “frank and businesslike” and said it lasted about one hour.
He said the Russian president “voiced a few ideas aimed at a quick political and diplomatic settlement” of the conflict following his conversations with Gulf leaders and Iran’s president.
Trump offered his assessment of the developing situation, Ushakov said, “in the context of the ongoing U.S.-Israeli operation.” The two leaders had a “specific and useful” exchange of views, and they touched on Venezuela “in the context of the situation in the global oil market,” he said.
Iran’s capital has no citywide system of shelters or sirens to warn residents of incoming U.S. and Israeli strikes, leaving many to take cover in interior rooms and tape up windows to protect against shattered glass, a 41-year-old resident said. He said the city’s subway hasn’t become widely used as a shelter.
Because of Iran’s ongoing internet shutdown, many people there rely on satellite TV, state media and word of mouth for news about the war, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity out of security fears.
—By Shirin Hakim in New York.
Mohammad Raad, the leader of Hezbollah’s bloc in the Lebanese parliament, also slammed the government for criticizing the militant group’s rocket attacks on Israel.
He made the remarks in a televised statement as top government officials urged the international community for a diplomatic resolution that maintains Lebanon’s commitment to disarming Hezbollah.
“Lebanon today is not choosing between war and peace, as some claim,” Raad said, “but between war and submission to the humiliating conditions that the enemy wants to impose on our government.”
“We will fight the enemy with our teeth and nails until we expel them from our land, in fulfillment of our religious duty,” he said.
The head of the International Maritime Organization says they were killed in “recent” attacks on merchant vessels. Arsenio Dominguez spoke earlier Monday and said several other mariners had been injured, “some of them gravely.”
He did not say who was behind the attacks and urged shipping companies to use “maximum caution” in the region. He said all parties must respect the freedom of navigation.
The venue swap for the March 21 inaugural competition featuring numerous NFL players and coaches comes amid the Iran war and travel advisories.
It was slated to be held at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, but instead will relocate to BMO Stadium, which will be the site where flag football makes its Olympic debut at the 2028 LA Games.
The French president said he started discussing a French-led initiative that will involve European and non-European nations helping to escort oil and gas tankers with the aim of gradually reopening the Strait of Hormuz off Iran “as soon as possible after the most intense phase of the conflict is over.”
Macron said he talked with some other European nations and India about the proposal, during a visit to Cyprus.
“We are preparing this mission with our partners,” he said. The mission’s purpose would be “strictly peaceful and defensive”, he said and would come only when most strikes stop. “It is essential to our economies and to the global economy” to ensure freedom of navigation and maritime security in the region, he said.
The leader of Yemen’s Houthi rebels congratulated Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei on being selected as the new supreme leader in Iran, calling it a “significant achievement in these exceptional circumstances.”
In a statement, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi says the group is supporting Iran “against aggression and tyranny” without saying whether the group would join the war.
Iran has long backed Houthis, considered the strongest within Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance” that includes Lebanon’s Hezbollah group and Hamas. The Houthis follow a branch of Shiite Islam that is almost exclusively found in Yemen.
Just a few days ago, Father Pierre al-Rai had appeared in a widely circulated video saying that he would not leave the village, despite the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah militants in the border area.
“I am ready to die in my home, because it is my home,” he said in the video, adding that “the only weapons we carry are peace, goodness and love.”
There was no Israeli statement on his death. The Israeli military has issued several broad evacuation warnings telling residents in the area south of the Litani River to leave, as it is carrying out heavy bombardment that it says targets Hezbollah sites.
Residents of Qlayaa protested to demand the Lebanese army increase its presence around the town and prevent armed groups from entering the area, the National News Agency reported.
John Healey said Typhoon jets successfully took out two drones, one over Jordan and the second heading to Bahrain. He did not give more details.
He also confirmed that the first U.S. bomber aircraft landed at an airbase in England on Friday, after the U.K. gave the U.S. permission to use British bases for specific defensive operations.
Healey added Monday the destroyer HMS Dragon would set sail for the eastern Mediterranean “in the next couple of days,” where it would join U.S. air defense vessels.
The two-week school closure would affect about 40 million students in a country of roughly 250 million.
In response to soaring global oil prices, Pakistan is also telling half its state employees to work from home and switching colleges and universities to remote classes.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also announced a 50% cut in free fuel allocation for government vehicles for the next two months. Government offices, excluding banks, will operate four days a week.
In the CCTV released by Or Yehuda municipality, a man is seen walking next to a road as a huge explosion occurs. The man is then seen falling down, while another person rushes to help him seconds after. The municipality of Or Yehuda said Monday the man was seriously injured.
Dramatic security camera video shows a man walking next to a road as a huge explosion occurs. He then falls, apparently injured, while another person rushes to help him.
On Monday, Israel said another man was killed by Iranian missile fire in the same area, raising the country’s death toll to 11. This marked the first death from missiles in Israel in a week.
A foreign policy adviser to the office of the supreme leader told CNN on Monday that Iran is prepared for a long war with the United States, ruling out that diplomacy could end the conflict that started over a week ago.
“I don’t see any room for diplomacy anymore,” said Kamal Kharazi in an interview from Tehran. “There’s no room unless the economic pressure would be built up to the extent that other countries would intervene to guarantee (the) termination of aggression of Americans and Israelis against Iran”.
President Vladimir Putin on Monday said Russia has “repeatedly warned that attempts to destabilize the situation in the Middle East will inevitably jeopardize” the global energy market, raising prices and limiting supplies.
The Russian leader emphasized that Moscow is a “reliable energy supplier” and will continue to supply oil and gas to “countries that themselves are reliable partners,” like those in the Asia-Pacific region or Slovakia and Hungary in Eastern Europe. Moreover, Russia is “increasing supplies” to its reliable partners, Putin said.
He reiterated that Russia was pondering diverting gas supplies from the European Union, where a full ban on Russian gas from 2027 was agreed, to other markets, but added that if “European buyers” change their mind, Moscow was ready to work with them.
Mourners carry the bodies of Hezbollah fighters who were killed by Israeli airstrikes during their funeral procession in Khraibeh village, eastern Lebanon, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Israeli tanks are parked in a staging area in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon, Israel, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
This image taken from video provided by Iran state TV shows Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of Iran's slain supreme leader, who has been named as the Islamic Republic's next ruler, authorities announced Monday, March 9, 2026. (Iran state TV via AP)
Flames rise from an oil storage facility south of the capital Tehran as strikes hit the city during the U.S.–Israel military campaign, Iran, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
