A 17 Year Old Texas Teen Who Enlisted in the Marines Says ICE Deported His Mother as Payback for His Viral Facebook Post About Being Detained

Teresa De Jesus Ochoa Briseño, a mother from Mexico, was arrested near her place of work in Alamo on Monday and then deported on the same day, ten days after her 17-year-old son, who is a citizen of the U.S., was detained during an interaction with federal agents.

On September 21, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) arrested Ochoa Briseño and put her on an expedited removal order to deport her back to Mexico. According to Border Report, Ochoa’s son, Luis Ochoa, revealed that his mother, aged 31 years, was arrested early in the morning at about 5 a.m. at Carmelita’s Restaurant in Alamo, where she works as a cook, and taken to Reynosa, Mexico.

This occurred after a September 11 encounter between her son and one of his friends. They say they stopped to record an ICE vehicle stop while heading to meet a Marine recruiter. The Department of Homeland Security claims that the two followed the officers, one of whom had knocked on the window of the government vehicle and had resisted detention by the agents.

Luis Ochoa is a senior at Edinburg High School and has enlisted in the Marines. He says his mother was picked up because he had spoken about his detention in the media.

“They detained her because of the Facebook post,” Ochoa told Border Report. “Also, we have been doing lawsuits.”

Ochoa, together with his lawyer, Carlos Moctezuma Garcia, attempted to visit his mother and obtain documents at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facility in Edinburg where she was held, but they were denied entry.

Federal officials provided details on Ochoa Briseño’s immigration and criminal history. She was arrested in July 2025 with charges of assault causing bodily harm to a family member, voluntarily returned to Mexico two days later, and entered the country illegally afterward. According to KRGV Channel 5 News, ICE says that the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office had handed her over to them after this arrest, and she was deported to Mexico on July 13, 2025.

“Briseño was served with an order of expedited removal and deported to Mexico,” the ICE statement read.

According to a DHS spokesperson, federal officials had repeatedly warned Ochoa Briseño during her arrest on Monday because she had disobeyed lawful orders before arresting her without any further issues.

The situation has received the attention of Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas. According to ValleyCentral, Cuellar has asked for body camera videos from the DHS about the events that led to the arrest of the teenager.

“We have a lot of questions,” Cuellar says.