Houston mother detained by ICE faces choice: indefinite detention or deportation without family
Margarita Avila, a 50-year-old mother of five, has been held in an immigrant detention center since March 2025 as the Trump administration prepares to deport her to Belize, a country she left two decades ago due to threats to her family. Her two youngest sons, Isaac, 12, and Jeremiah, 10, attended a Mother's Day service at a Pentecostal church where children were called forward to greet their mothers—but no one came for Isaac and Jeremiah. Her husband, José Avila, wept during the service as he watched his sons struggle with their mother's prolonged detention. Margarita is among tens of thousands of immigrants targeted for deportation under the Trump administration's stated goal of deporting 1 million immigrants annually.


























