An Edinburg woman's family is pleading for her release from ICE custody.

San Juana Guerra, 74, has been held at the El Valle Detention Center in Raymondville for two weeks. Her family says Guerra has been a permanent U.S. resident since 1989.

"She deserves to be released," her daughter Carla Gomez said.

Guerra was detained by Border Patrol at the Progreso port of entry on March 2, 2026. Gomez was told it was because of a charge from over 30 years ago.

"As a child, I tried to commit suicide, and my mom caught me and she took the gun away from me," Gomez said. "She put it in her purse."

Gomez says the gun stayed in her mother's purse when she went to the McAllen airport to visit Carla's aunt. Guerra was detained and given six months probation.

Inside the detention center, Gomez is worried about her mom's heart disease, diabetes, and kidney infection.

"My greatest fear is to lose my mom in a place like that," Gomez said.

Carlos Garcia is an immigration attorney who does not represent Guerra. He believes people who do not pose a threat to public safety are being detained by ICE during interactions with immigration officers.

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"There's absolutely no reason the taxpayer should be footing the bill for people who don't have to be detained," Garcia said.

Garcia says he's noticed an increase in ICE detentions over the past two months.

"Our community has to tell our politicians to wake up," Garcia said. "Look at what's going on. Our private prisons are getting rich off of people being detained."

The call for Guerra's release comes after a McAllen family was released following a large outcry from South Texas lawmakers.

Civil rights group UnidosUS held a Wednesday press conference in McAllen calling for ICE to release thousands of families who are in detention.

"With the spotlight on the Gamez-Cuellar family a couple of weeks ago, we have to keep up the pressure," UnidosUS Texas Director Eric Holguin said. "It isn't just one or two families that are affected. It is hundreds; it is thousands that are being affected like this."

Guerra's next court hearing is on March 26, 2026.

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