U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, center, joins elected officials and community leaders at a City Hall news conference in January to call for the release of Liam Conejo Ramos, a 5-year-old boy who was taken into custody by immigration agents in Minnesota and held in a federal detention center in Texas.
Katina Zentz/San Antonio Express-News
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro visits classrooms at Burbank High School before presenting a $4.5 million federal grant to support career training and education at seven San Antonio Independent School District high schools in 2024.
KAYLEE GREENLEE BEAL
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, left, prepares to testify before the House Rules Committee on border security legislation in 2023.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro will receive the public service award of the Hispanic Heritage Foundation for what the group called “his relentless work to expand opportunity, strengthen communities and advocate for the well-being and dignity of all Americans.”
The San Antonio Democrat, a seven-term member of Congress, will receive the award at the 39th Annual Hispanic Heritage Awards in Minneapolis on Sept. 10, the foundation announced on Thursday.
Article continues below this ad
Castro will be honored along with singer-songwriter Mon Laferte, who will receive the foundation’s social justice award, and musician-actress Ximena Sariñana, who will receive the music award.
The foundation is giving its humanitarian award to “the people of Minnesota” for fighting the Trump administration’s campaign to identify and remove unauthorized immigrants in Minnesota this past winter.
In Operation Metro Surge, launched in December, 2,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and 1,000 Customs and Border Protection officers fanned out across the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and later other parts of Minnesota. For weeks, protesters confronted federal agents in the streets, and some 3,000 people were arrested.
Article continues below this ad
In separate incidents in January, federal agents, in circumstances still hotly disputed, shot and killed two protesters, Renée Good, 37, and Alex Pretti, also 37, both U.S. citizens. The administration wound down the enforcement effort in February and withdrew the Border Patrol commander in charge, Gregory Bovino.
On Thursday, Castro congratulated his fellow honorees and “the entire Minneapolis community for your resilience and resolve.” He added, “It’s especially important to stand up for our community in this moment and share our powerful stories.”
Antonio Tijerino, president and CEO of the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, said Castro “represents the very purpose of public service and leadership, which has been shaped by family, community and an indefatigable belief in providing opportunities for everyone to share in the prosperity of this great nation.
“His commitment to not only San Antonio but to all Americans, including the most vulnerable across the country, is inspiring and a model for service with values, dignity, and inclusion.”
Article continues below this ad
The foundation noted that Castro has long championed Latino representation in the arts and annually invites members of the public to submit nominations for the National Film Registry and National Recording Registry, “helping ensure that Latino voices, stories and artistic contributions are recognized and preserved for generations to come.”
The Hispanic Heritage Awards were established by the White House in 1988 to commemorate the start of Hispanic Heritage Month.
Past honorees have included entertainers Linda Ronstadt, Rita Moreno, Gloria Estefan, Bad Bunny, Celia Cruz, Tito Puente and Ricky Martin; acclaimed novelists Junot Díaz and Isabel Allende; fashion designer Carolina Herrera; chef-restaurateur José Andrés; actresses America Ferrera, Salma Hayek and Zoe Saldaña; astronaut Ellen Ochoa, a former director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston; and retired Air Force Lt. Col. Olga Custodio of San Antonio, the service’s first Latina pilot.
Castro, 51, was born in San Antonio and raised on the city’s West Side. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and a law degree from Harvard and then returned to San Antonio. He practiced law, ran successfully for a Texas House seat and went on to serve five terms. He was first elected to Congress in 2012, representing the 20th District, which covers a swath of the city’s South, West and Northwest Sides.
Article continues below this ad
His identical twin, Julián Castro, is a former San Antonio councilman and mayor who served as U.S. secretary of housing and urban development in the Obama administration and ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2019.
Their mother is the civil rights activist and educator Rosie Castro.