A Springdale groom returning from his wedding in Mexico remains in the custody of federal immigration authorities after being detained in Houston on Feb. 13, his wife said Tuesday.
Cesar Acosta, 28, wed Megan Taylor, also of Springdale, in Playa Del Carmen, a coastal resort town in Yucatan, Mexico, on Feb. 9, Taylor said in a telephone interview. Acosta is a plant scientist doing research on sustainable agriculture in arid areas, she said. She is a certified behavior analyst working with children diagnosed with autism, she said.
"It was probably the best wedding I've ever been too," said family friend Zack Taylor, no relation, who was returning with the newlyweds when they arrived in Houston. Zack Taylor, also of Springdale, described events in a telephone interview Tuesday.
Acosta first came to the United States with his parents when he was 5 years old and has permanent legal resident status, Megan Taylor said. She and Acosta had traveled to Mexico and back as recently as December 2021 without serious delays, she said. The last short delay took place on that 2021 trip and resulted in Acosta being told to bring paperwork showing he had resolved a misdemeanor matter in 2013. Therefore, Acosta made certain to bring all the paperwork he might need on the wedding trip, she said.
The newlyweds arrived in Houston from their wedding trip on a 10:43 a.m. flight, Megan Taylor said.
"We were all going through customs and everything was fine until they got to Cesar, and immediately their faces changed," Zack Taylor said of U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement officials. "They called out some code number and security came."
"Cesar got a really scared look on his face, turned to us and asked 'Where will y'all be?'" Zack Taylor said. "They took him away so fast we didn't get to answer."
The ICE office in Houston cannot comment on individual cases without signed permission to waive privacy, the office said in a response email when asked for comment.
Megan Taylor was told at first by an ICE staff member the matter might take a couple of hours to resolve, according to her and Zack Taylor, after Acosta had spent an hour in detention. Later she was able to talk to Acosta by telephone and told it might be six or seven hours, but he had not been told what the reason for the detainment was, she said. "He hadn't eaten, and he was starving," she said.
Megan Taylor took an 8 p.m. flight out of Houston after deciding her husband needed a lawyer as soon as possible, she said.
Asked the nature of the 2013 misdemeanor, Megan Taylor said Cesar's attorneys recommended against releasing any such details but said no one was harmed and the charge was a minor high school prom night matter. Zack Taylor called the misdemeanor "an absolute joke. They call it a misdemeanor, but it's less than that."
Asked if Acosta's detention was related to the misdemeanor, both Taylors replied that, to their knowledge, there is no other matter it could be.
"If Cesar is unable to return home, I will leave everything we have worked for, everyone else we love, and our home to be with him," Megan Taylor said. Her husband has a master's degree, speaks Spanish but not well, and cannot read or write in that language, she said.
The couple had originally planned to return Feb. 14 but were returning early after learning of the death of her grandfather, Megan Taylor said.
More News
NoneOn the web
Website by advocates for Cesar Acosta:
https://bringcesarhome.org/