Family says YES Prep student deported to Honduras despite no criminal record

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — The family of a 19-year-old YES Prep student said she was deported, even though they say she had no criminal record and had an asylum case pending in federal courts.

It’s a situation that appears to be coming more and more common.

New statistics from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement show most of those who are currently being detained do not have criminal convictions.

Cinthia Arevalo said she has taken care of her 19-year-old sister, Estafany Gonzalez, for seven years.

Now, she said they are more than a thousand miles apart.

“I would like a good life for her,” Arevalo said.

Arevalo is a United States citizen.

She said her sister, a senior at YES Prep Brays Oaks Secondary in southwest Houston, was deported a week ago.

According to the nonprofit civil rights immigration group FIEL Houston, Gonzalez had no criminal record and was in the U.S. on a pending political asylum case.

FIEL officials said Gonzalez went to a scheduled court check-in last week, and was then detained and flown to Honduras.

“Last night, we had FaceTime,” Arevelo said, “and she cried and she said thank you for everything.”

According to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a data research organization founded at Syracuse University, ICE held 70,766 people in detention as of Jan. 25, 2026.

According to TRAC, 74.2% of them had no criminal convictions when they were detained.

TRAC statistics also show immigration courts usually find asylum seekers are protected by their asylum status.

Out of a million deportation cases from 2014 to 2024, the group said records show two-thirds of all asylum seekers were allowed to remain in the country.

Gonzalez said her sister was four months away from graduating high school.

She showed ABC13 the college acceptance letters she says her sister received.

Now, her family is looking into legal options, but they said they don’t have much hope.

ABC13 reached out to ICE, but we’re still waiting on more information.

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