PRESS ADVISORY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Alain Cisneros (Español)
Campaigns Coordinator
Cell: 832-503-3689
Email: acisneros@fielhouston.org
PRESS CONFERENCE: HPD Ignores Plea for Hospital Assistance – Reyna Gonzalez Ends Up in Immigration Detention
[HOUSTON, TX] On Friday September 26 at 11:30am at FIEL Headquarters (4635 Southwest Freeway #220 Houston, TX 77027) the Gonzalez family and FIEL Spokepeople will gather to recount the unfortunate story of Mrs. Gonzalez.
Mrs. Gonzalez Story: Reyna has been married to Luis Antonio Medrano for 32 years. They have four children together who are American citizens. She began to suffer from mental disorders in 2020, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. She maintained her medication relatively well at first, however, her mental health deteriorated further. Before the incident on July 1, Reyna had already had three episodes where her husband called the police as a last resort to take her to the mental health hospital, and everything had been normal. She entered the hospital and left when she stabilized.
Incident: Reyna Gonzalez had a mental health episode on July 1, 2025, Luis Medrano her husband took her to the Ben-Taub hospital after signing all the documents Reyna did not want to stay, at the hospital the nurse said that we could call the police so they forced her to enter the hospital since she could hurt herself or hurt someone, I called the police but they did not arrive, we returned home and after 30 minutes they called me from the hospital and told me to call the police again to take her to the hospital and the police did not take her to the hospital, despite the fact that we begged him, he decided to take her to jail with false charges that nobody said to take her.
The young police officer upon arriving explained to her that I was going through a mental health crisis, the young police officer asked if I had hit myself, I told him that I accidentally hit my lip but that I needed to go to the hospital, he arrogantly told me that he would take her to jail and did not want to listen to explanations. I speak Spanish and so does the police officer so he could understand exactly what we were saying. THE HPD INCIDENT REPORT IS #0856422-25 SPN#03294751
IN ICE CUSTODYReyna González OrtegaCountry of Birth : Mexico A-Number: 221439364Status : In ICE CustodyState: TXCurrent Detention Facility: HOUSTON CONTRACT DETENTION FACILITY (CDF)
After Mr. Luis Medrano spent his savings to fight his wife’s case while she was detained in the county jail and was identified by ICE inside the county jail, she was transported to the detention center in Montgomery County. We remind you that ICE has an office inside the Harris County Jail, and people who are arrested, whether innocent or guilty, having their day in court to defend themselves, or often not having their day in court, are handed over to ICE.
Mrs. Reyna has been visited by her son and her husband has received calls from her where Reyna clearly speaks many incoherent things and it is obvious that she is not taking her medication, we fear for her mental health and for her life in ICE custody, Reyna says that she was interviewed by an ICE officer and that she told him that she was perfectly fine and that she did not need medication, we do not know if immigration officers are licensed to know if someone needs medical attention or not and her family is very worried about her.
Our Demands:
- We want you to review Ms. Reyna’s case so that this type of incident does not happen again, to provide better training to officers, and to more actively work on HPD programs to address mental health cases
- In Haris County Jail: it must be ensured that people with mental health problems are not handed over to ICE under any circumstances, and even more so when the charges were dropped in error due to a false accusation by a police officer. The policy is that before they are released, they work with the family to be transported to a health care facility and again not handed over to ICE.ICE
- That Ms. Reyna can be evaluated by a health professional to obtain her medications
- That Ice can release her without bail so that her family can give her the health care she needs.
Public: The Gonzalez family is a low-income family and they are trying to raise money to hire a lawyer. If any lawyer wants to work on their case pro bono, please contact FIEL.If she were to be deported, she would have nowhere to go in her home country of Mexico, which would put her in a situation of extreme vulnerability for her mental health that could lead to death.
FIEL: Immigrant Families and Students in the Fight is an Immigrant Led Civil Rights Organization that advocates for just laws for all families, access to higher education for all people regardless of immigration status, and for the rights of all people in unjust situations.
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FIEL Houston 