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Venezuelan mother and three children held 50 days despite 20-day court limit

Aury Cadena, a Venezuelan single mother, and her three young children were held 50 days at a Texas detention center, past the 20-day limit for kids. Now home in San Antonio, she cleans apartments while her children return to school.

Mar 16, 2026San Antonio, TXCountry of origin: Venezuela

Aury Cadena, a single mother who arrived in the U.S. from Venezuela in 2023 seeking asylum, was arrested by ICE in December during a scheduled check-in appointment she had never missed. She and her three children, ages 10, 8 and 7, were held for 50 days at the Dilley family detention center in South Texas, despite a court-set 20-day limit for children in detention. Cadena said her children asked her what they had done wrong, and described long waits outdoors at night to get medication when her kids had fevers. She and her children were released after a federal judge allowed ICE to track her with an ankle monitor while her deportation case continues, and the family has returned home to San Antonio, where the children are back in school and she cleans apartments to support them.

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