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A 20-year-old student at Texas Christian University was deported Tuesday to El Salvador following an arrest last month in Arlington.
Federal officials say Luis Andrade Garcia came to the United States from El Salvador around age 3 near Hidalgo, a border town in South Texas.
He went on to graduate as valedictorian from Arlington's Sam Houston High School in 2024 and enroll at TCU, where he is majoring in accounting and business information systems.
Members of his fraternity, Lambda Theta Phi, pleaded for his return to the U.S. this week and said they have not heard from him in days. In a GoFundMe to raise money for his legal expenses, the fraternity described him as "genuine, hardworking, selfless, honest, dependable and humble."
Andrade Garcia was arrested June 28 after police spotted his parked vehicle near Meadowbrook Park. The officer turned his overhead lights on, and Andrade Garcia drove away, police spokesman Tim Ciesco said.
A couple hours later, police found the car parked outside a home along Valley View Drive, and Andrade Garcia admitted he drove away from the officer, Ciesco said. He was arrested and booked into the Arlington city jail on one count of evading.
He was transferred to the Tarrant County jail the next day. The Tarrant County sheriff's office, which runs the jail, referred questions to Arlington police.
Federal immigration officers took Andrade Garcia into custody July 10, said Sarah Loicano, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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Friends say the last time they heard from him, he was being held at an ICE facility in Jena, Louisiana. ICE confirmed he was deported this week.
"Attending school in the United States does not confer lawful immigration status," Loicano said in an email. "Enforcing immigration law is not optional and is essential to protecting America's national security, public safety, and economic strength."
A spokesperson for Lambda Theta Phi said Andrade Garcia's family is in the process of hiring an attorney.
Because he arrived in the U.S. in 2009, he would not have been eligible for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status, commonly known as Dreamers. The program allows immigrants who arrived as young children to remain in the country legally, but they must have arrived before June 2007.
A spokesperson for TCU said the university is working to get more information but did not immediately provide an additional response.
Andrade Garcia is among the tens of thousands of immigrants targeted by the Trump administration's mass deportation program. In June alone, federal immigration officials detained more than 43,000 people. About 60% of migrants arrested across the country in 2025 had no criminal convictions.
The fraternity said Andrade Garcia ran cross country in high school and earned multiple scholarships to attend TCU, where he mentored young Latinos.
In his valedictorian bio, Andrade Garcia called his father his hero and advised incoming freshmen to push themselves and work hard.
"Take a chance on yourself. Try that hard class," he said. "Even if you don't get the grade you want, get the 100, challenge yourself. It's all about growing as a person."
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