National Guard members stand behind Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and fellow governors as they hold a press conference along the Rio Grande at the U.S.-Mexico border to discuss Operation Lone Star and border concerns on Sunday, February 4, 2024 in Eagle Pass, TX.
Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer
Mauro Yosueth Henriquez, 18, of Houston, TX, is pictured in a family photo held by his mother on February 23, 2026.
Sharon Steinmann/Houston Chronicle
Houston-area Democrats are outraged over the recent deportation of a high school senior who was detained for nearly four months after a routine check-in with immigration officials.
But top Texas Republicans remain silent on the teenager’s deportation, even as more voters have soured on President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement.
Mauro Yosueth Henriquez, 18, was deported to his native Honduras earlier this week after spending nearly four months at various ICE detention facilities. His arrest sparked a large protest in February outside Sam Houston Math, Science and Technology Center in north Houston, where he was co-captain of the varsity soccer team. Yosueth Henriquez had no criminal record.
Article continues below this ad
NEW POLICY BLOCKED: Federal judge blocks Trump refugee detention rule. What does it mean for Texas?
Houston City Council Member Mario Castillo, who attended the rally in February, said his deportation signaled that the Trump administration’s immigration policies extended far beyond the “worst of the worst” criminals that Trump promised to remove from the country.
“If following the law and doing things the correct way isn’t enough to protect someone, then what does that say about the system we claim to uphold?” Castillo said. “We’re not talking about a criminal. He is a student, a leader and a Houstonian.”
U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, visited Yosueth Henriquez when he was detained at a facility in Livingston in February. She blasted the deportation as a “disgrace” and as evidence the Trump administration isn’t focusing its resources on convicted criminals.
Article continues below this ad
“Mauro is a student, a leader in his school and a young man with no criminal record who should be with his family, not torn from the community he calls home,” Garcia said. “He is not the ‘worst of the worst’ this administration claims to target. This administration is not making us safer. It is ripping apart families.”
Many Texas Republicans have backed the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, but GOP leaders didn’t respond to questions about Yosueth Henriquez’s deportation. The Houston Chronicle contacted the offices of Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, and U.S. Reps. Dan Crenshaw and Monica De La Cruz to gauge their reactions to the deportation of the teenager. None responded.
Yosueth-Henriquez’s deportation comes as national polling shows a growing number of voters disapprove of the president’s approach to tackling immigration. A Reuters poll released in February showed that fewer than 40% of respondents approved of the administration’s immigration policy, down from about 50% within the first months of Trump’s return to the White House.
In Texas, about 45% of respondents to a December poll believed the administration’s enforcement of immigration laws had gone too far, according to a statewide survey by the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin. That’s compared to 25% who said enforcement had been “about right” and 23% who thought it hadn’t gone far enough.
Article continues below this ad
Mauro is one of nearly 4,000 immigrant students that HISD has lost since 2024-25, according to this year’s state enrollment data. Classmates and experts said students are staying home from school due to fears over immigration enforcement, cutting them off from their education and future careers.
FIELD TRIP: Milby students were ready for a state competition. Then HISD canceled the trip.
Mauro’s classmates told the Chronicle that his detention deepened concerns many students were already feeling. Teammates pledged to dedicate their season to their co-captain, and coach Miguel Gusart delayed a soccer awards ceremony in hopes that he’d be released. Just before his deportation, students launched a letter-writing campaign, pleading with elected officials to help secure his release.
At HISD’s board of managers meeting Thursday, some elected trustees called on the district to award Yosueth Henriquez his high school diploma.
Article continues below this ad
“I am heartbroken for Mauro and his family, which has now been separated by the inhumane policies of the current administration that don’t respect our fundamental rights,” said state Rep. Armando Walle, whose district includes Yosueth Henriquez’s high school.
“To his classmates that have been rallying to support him … I am proud of you. Don’t lose hope,” the lawmaker added. “We will continue to fight for Mauro and for our neighbors and loved ones who have been unjustly torn from our communities.”