An HISD student whose asylum application was granted a year ago will remain in immigration detention after the Trump administration appears to have reversed course on its decision.Geremy Arteaga Cruz, 19, applied for asylum after arriving in the United States with his sister as an unaccompanied minor in 2023. The Houston asylum office granted his application in June 2025, his attorneys said. But he was told Thursday during a hearing that the agency has since deemed him ineligible. His case will now be transferred to an immigration judge who will hear the case later this month.The decision marks another hurdle for the Lamar High School student after his legal team said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services initially approved his application last year but failed to issue a notice of its decision.Article continues below this adIf the agency had promptly issued its decision, it could have prevented Arteaga Cruz from spending several months at an immigration detention center in Livingston. He was detained by ICE after Houston police arrested him on a misdemeanor charge of public intoxication, which he said came despite not being given a sobriety test or blood test.Houston Chronicle LogoMake us a Preferred Source on Google to see more of us when you search.Add Preferred SourceArteaga Cruz pleaded guilty to the charge, paid court costs and a fine of $193, and was credited with time served, according to municipal court records. Instead of being set free, he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents while in the Harris County jail.His legal team contends he would not have ended up in ICE custody if USCIS had issued a notice of its decision on his asylum application.Article continues below this ad“This (USCIS) error has resulted in serious consequences for Geremy, who has now been in immigration detention for four months,” attorney Lauren Fisher Flores, the legal director at South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project, or ProBAR, told the Houston Chronicle last month.Lamar High School junior Geremy Arteaga Cruz, 19, has been detained at the Polk Adult Detention Facility since January.Courtesy photoArteaga Cruz’s attorneys previously made a motion to terminate his case but told immigration Judge Billy Sapp they would like to withdraw the motion in order to preserve their right to have the asylum case heard in court. Sapp did not issue a ruling on those motions Thursday, and Arteaga Cruz will remain detained. His next court hearing is June 23.He also has a pending application for a T Visa, which grants victims of human trafficking temporary permission to work and remain in the country if they cooperate with law enforcement. His attorneys declined to give additional details about his application but said he is a victim of human trafficking.That application is pending.Article continues below this adIn a past video interview from the Polk Detention Facility in Livingston, Arteaga Cruz said he's worried about missing classes and not being able to graduate from high school. After months of homelessness, he said he finally found stable housing, and he had volunteered in a program that teaches immigrants English. Then ICE detained him.“I’m worried that I’ll just stay locked up.” he said.June 4, 2026Immigration ReporterJulián Aguilar is an immigration reporter for the Houston Chronicle. An El Paso native, Aguilar’s journalism career began in 2007 at the Laredo Morning Times. He joined the Texas Tribune in 2009 and extensively reported on immigration, border security and the drug trade for the nonprofit news organization until 2021. His stories on immigration took him from El Paso to border towns in the Rio Grande Valley. Aguilar was part of a team of Tribune journalists who wrote a series of stories about “the reality and the rhetoric” about immigration in Texas. He journeyed by raft with smugglers who ferry people from Guatemala to Mexico, and rode with police officers patrolling the gang-controlled streets of El Salvador. After leaving the Tribune, Aguilar worked at KERA News from 2022 to 2024, then became a freelance reporter. He attended the University of Texas and earned his master's degree in journalism at the University of North Texas.