Naval Academy Cadet's Mom Detained at Green Card Interview, Sent to Dilley

Maria Rocio Rocha went to her green card interview in San Antonio believing she was on a lawful path to legal status. Instead, immigration officers arrested her on the spot on August 25, and she was transferred to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, a South Texas detention facility roughly 70 miles southwest of the city. Her son, David Garcia, is a U.S. Naval Academy midshipman who began his tenure this past summer.

Rocha was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office during her green card interview, according to the San Antonio Express-News. Rep. Joaquin Castro's office says Rocha had previously been granted Parole in Place, a discretionary federal benefit meant to let immediate relatives of military personnel adjust their immigration status without leaving the country, before she ever walked into that interview.

Castro said Rocha “was doing everything the right way,” and he has called for her immediate release, according to the same report. He said he has been in contact with ICE about her case and accused the Trump administration of targeting military families through enforcement actions like this one.

A Visit to Dilley, and a Ninth Trip This Year

Castro planned to travel to the Dilley facility Friday, accompanied by ICE's congressional affairs team, in what would be his ninth visit to the facility this year. His office had planned a virtual news conference after the visit, though privacy and permission forms for his meeting with Rocha were still being finalized as of Friday, the newspaper reported. He hoped to meet with her directly at the facility.

ICE representatives did not immediately respond to the Express-News' request for comment. As of July 30, Dilley held 539 people, including both adults and children, per the same report.

Military Parole in Place Was Built to Prevent This Kind of Separation

Military Parole in Place exists precisely to head off cases like Rocha's. Under Department of Homeland Security regulations and Section 212(d)(5)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the program is maintained to preserve military readiness by reducing deportation anxiety for active service members and midshipmen, according to the Fort Bliss Legal Assistance Office. Garcia's path to the academy ran through Castro's office as well: under Title 10, Section 8454 of the U.S. Code, members of Congress may nominate up to five midshipmen to the Naval Academy at any time, and Castro nominated Garcia for a spot this year, per the Legal Information Institute.

Rocha's arrest fits a pattern immigration attorneys have flagged since late 2025. Lawyers across California and Texas have reported a sharp rise in ICE agents arresting green card applicants, many with clean records, during scheduled adjustment-of-status interviews at USCIS field offices, according to CBS 8. Nationally, the ICE detention population reached roughly 73,000 people by early 2026, a 75 percent jump over the prior year, with nearly half of federal detention facilities exceeding contractual bed capacity, according to the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

Castro's Long Fight Over Dilley's Conditions

This is far from Castro's first clash over the Dilley center. On July 16, he led 111 House Democrats in a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin demanding the facility's complete shutdown, citing allegations of substandard medical care and poor living conditions. The 2,400-bed site is operated by CoreCivic under an agreement with ICE expected to generate roughly $180 million in annual revenue through at least March 2030, and it has had a turbulent history: opened in December 2014 under the Obama administration, closed in mid-2024 under the Biden administration due to high operating costs, and reopened in March 2025 under the Trump administration.

Rocha's detention adds to a string of recent cases Castro has publicized involving Dilley transfers. Earlier this month, Hoodline reported on a San Antonio mechanic and his 9-year-old daughter held at Dilley for a month following a traffic stop, and days later on a 5-year-old Austin boy detained en route to a soccer game and sent to the same facility. In May, community members demonstrated after ICE detained two Cambridge Elementary students and their stepmother despite pending asylum claims and valid work authorization, transferring them to Dilley as well.

What remains unclear in Rocha's case is whether ICE formally revoked her Parole in Place before the interview, or whether field offices are now operating under new guidance specifically targeting military dependents. Those questions, along with what legal options Garcia's family has to pursue an emergency stay, remain open as Castro pushes for his mother's release.