{"id":369888,"date":"2026-07-12T00:04:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T00:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/369888\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T00:04:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T00:04:22","slug":"mariachi-no-longer-in-ice-custody-after-calls-for-his-release-rep-castro-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/369888\/","title":{"rendered":"Mariachi no longer in ICE custody after calls for his release, Rep. Castro says"},"content":{"rendered":"

The man who sang the national anthem on July 4 at a South Texas immigrant detention facility<\/a> has been released, according to U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio.<\/p>\n

Hebert Kaleth Ibarra Castro, 20, was reunited with his wife, Marisol Pantoj, after being arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on June 25 while driving in China Grove.<\/p>\n

An ICE spokesperson told KSAT that Ibarra Castro \u201centered the United States illegally,\u201d but Pantoj said he entered the U.S. legally on a B-2 visa.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe came with a B-2 visa when he was 4 years old,\u201d Pantoj said. \u201cHe was fleeing violence from (Monterrey) Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pantoj said that the visa expired in 2020, and they have been working on obtaining his green card, but it has taken a long time, calling the process \u201cvery overwhelming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe packet itself was 178 pages,\u201d Pantoj said. \u201dSponsorship, birth certificates, IDs, passports, pay stubs, we had to develop a marriage evidence folder.\u201d<\/p>\n

While being held in the South Texas detention facility, Pantoj said Ibarra Castro was asked to sing the national anthem.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had said, \u2018I don\u2019t understand why they asked me to sing a song of the land of the free when they chained me up like an animal,\u2019\u201d Pantoj said.<\/p>\n

ICE said Ibarra Castro \u201cvolunteered to perform the national anthem for other detainees and contract staff at the detention center during a Fourth of July talent contest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe performance was part of broader efforts to promote positive engagement through voluntary activities,\u201d ICE said. \u201cCastro received no compensation and participated simply because he enjoys singing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Castro announced Ibarra Castro\u2019s release Saturday in a Facebook post.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a country that stands for freedom and opportunity,\u201d Rep. Castro said, \u201che deserves a fair chance at the American Dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The man who sang the national anthem on July 4 at a South Texas immigrant detention facility has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[59364,1829,1724,21085,82,84,83],"class_list":["post-369888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-china-grove","tag-ice","tag-immigration","tag-joaquin-castro","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}