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A father who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after a traffic stop in San Marcos has been reunited with his family. Gerardo Reyes, who spent more than two months in detention, might still face deportation.
Parents and staff from the Austin Independent School District are urging state legislators to increase funding for schools. We’ll hear from some of the folks who spoke out this week.
Lou Diamond Phillips has been acting for decades, but his breakout role as Ritchie Valens in “La Bamba” was so iconic, it’s one he’s still largely associated with. Phillips’ latest film, “Keep Quiet,” recently screened in Austin, where he was recognized with a city proclamation.
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The full transcript of this episode of Austin Signal is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:08] An undocumented man detained after being arrested during a traffic stop in San Monica is now reunited with his family. He spent more than two months in detention. We’re gonna have the latest details. And parents and staff from the Austin Independent School District spoke to state legislators this week, urging them to increase state funding for schools. We’re going to hear from some of the folks who spoke out. We have more about both of these stories coming up on today’s show.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:32] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:37] Plus, Lou Diamond Phillips has been acting for decades now, but his breakout role as Richie Valance in La Bamba was so iconic, it’s one he’s still largely associated with to this day. Phillips was recognized with the City of Austin Proclamation during a visit to town in May. We’re gonna hear more from him. That’s up next, and it’s right here on Austin Signal. Howdy out there, you are listening to Austin Signal right here on Community Powered Public Radio. This is KUT News, it is Tuesday, June 2nd. I’m your host Jerry Kekono, thank you for making us part of your day. Travis County Commissioner Margaret Gomez is retiring early. Gomez said this week that she will continue to serve as Precinct Four Commissioner until the county appoints someone to fill in for the remainder of her term. Gomez is stepping down after more than 50 years working for Travis County. She was elected as the first female Mexican-American County Commissioner back in 1995. Before that, she served as the county’s first elected female constable. In a statement, Gomez said she’s looking forward to spending more time with loved ones and said she planned to retire at the end of her current term. George Modales won a runoff election last week to be the Democratic nominee for that commissioner seat, and no Republican has filed to run. In that election. At a Texas Public Education Committee hearing held in town this week, Austin ISD parents and teachers urged legislators to increase state funding for schools. For more about that hearing and what went on, we are speaking with Greta Diaz-Gonzalez-Vazquez. She is KUT’s education reporter. Greta, great to speak with you.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:02:22] Hi Jerry!
Jerry Quijano [00:02:23] So we weren’t there for tell us what exactly happened at this hearing.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:02:27] So this hearing focused on monitoring the implementation of House Bill 2, which passed last year, and it’s focused on school finance. So the hearing itself was on school finance, teacher recruitment, and teacher retention, and also special education.
Jerry Quijano [00:02:43] Okay, and as I understand it, House Bill 2 did add funds for school funding, so why are folks still asking for more money?
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:02:51] Yes, so it was a bill that added $8 billion, more than $8 billion, to education in the state. Half of that, $4 billion, went to teacher and staff pay raises, creating the teacher retention allotment. $1.3 billion went to district operational costs, like utilities, and it also, among other things, it also increased the basic, the per student basic allotment by $55. Which district advocates say it’s not enough to keep up with inflation costs. So let’s hear Navarro ISD’s CFO, Paul Newhop.
Paul Neuhoff [00:03:26] In Navarro, our utilities have increased close to 60% since 2019. TRS payments have gone up 62% since 2021. Transportation, last year when we reported to the TEA, our average cost per mile operating our bus fleet was $3.92 a mile. And that’s before the now spike that we have in diesel prices that are going to impact us this year.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:03:51] So he’s saying it’s getting harder to keep the lights on, to keep getting kids to school. It’s getting more expensive.
Jerry Quijano [00:03:58] How many people were at this hearing yesterday?
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:03:59] Yeah, so it was a long hearing. At first, it was packed. The room was packed, I would say, 100 people. I’m not great at counting people, but as hours kept passing, there was less and less people in the room for sure.
Jerry Quijano [00:04:14] And how long did it go?
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:04:15] So it went for about five, six hours. No, even more. I’m so sorry. By 7 PM it kept going. So it started at 10, 7 PM we were still.
Jerry Quijano [00:04:24] So at least nine hours. Right.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:04:26] Yeah. And, well, multiple parents spoke to the committee during the public hearing. The thing is they have panels where people talk with the committee, the committee asks questions. Those panels are district officials, education experts, even people from the TA. Legislatures asked the people from TA why the funding formulas weren’t working the way they I had expected. The legislature, John Bryan, who represents Dallas said that Dallas ISD, when HB2 was being voted on, that they were expecting to get funding of up to 134 million extras for next school year. But in the end, they saw only a 4 million increase. So he said there was $130 million that they weren’t expecting that they didn’t receive.
Jerry Quijano [00:05:19] Okay, from what I understand about House Build 2, it also has some funding for special education. Can you briefly explain what changed there?
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:05:29] Yes, so a few things changed for special education. Districts will receive more money based on student needs, like specific individual student needs. And one of the biggest changes was also that everybody talked about was that funding for initial special education evaluations. That means that each district will get $1,000 for each evaluation, initial evaluation, they have for a student to determine if a student is eligible. For special education. But educators told me yesterday that those evaluations could cost up to $5,000. So if the district gets only 1,000, there’s 4,000 that they have to cover. Representative Gina Nohosa questioned the TA during the meeting saying that their system didn’t quite work and that we’re seeing districts suffer with funding and that the expectations in terms of special education were unrealistic.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:25] You mentioned that this was a long and large hearing and those can go on for a long time. And so not everybody has a chance to speak. You got a chance to speak though after the meeting or outside of the Capitol with a teacher. Who did you speak with and what did they have to say?
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:06:40] Yeah, so I spoke to a teacher. His name is Eric Ramos. And he was telling me that while the funding has increased, especially for teachers with the incentives and allotments, that it’s it’s not enough. Let’s hear him.
Eric Ramos [00:06:53] It’s hard to say they’re working in good faith for me when they have a huge budget surplus and are making no effort to increase funding to a realistic level for public education.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:07:05] Know, and Ramos left the meeting without speaking during public comment, even though he had signed up to, but he was like, I’m tired. I want to go home. And other teachers left and came back, same as parents. And there was a teacher who legislators asked what is happening? Why are teachers leaving the state or teaching, maybe not the state, but that they’re leaving teaching. And she said, because there’s only so much money you can throw at teachers. Like she said we’re being demonized. We are tired of culture wars. And she says that they don’t feel valued.
Jerry Quijano [00:07:33] Okay, that is Greta Diaz-Gonzalez Vazquez. She is KUT’s education reporter. Greta, thank you for coming back on the show.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:07:41] Thank you, Jerry.
Jerry Quijano [00:07:52] During a special broadcast of Austin’s signal in May, we heard about the impacts of immigration enforcement here in central Texas. And we told you the story of Gerardo Reyes, a man taken into ice custody during a traffic stop in San Marcos. That was in March. Reyes was released from detention on Monday and reunited with his family after more than two months in custody. KUT’s Hays County reporter Lee Walden has been following that story and she is this now highly.
Leigh Walden [00:08:19] Hey, Jerry.
Jerry Quijano [00:08:19] So, for listeners who might not be familiar with Reyes’ story, can you give us a recap of it?
Leigh Walden [00:08:24] Yeah, in brief, Gerardo Reyes and Eson Esteban were pulled over in March in a mistaken traffic stop. So they were in San Marcos, though they live in San Antonio, and someone called in for a crime that hadn’t actually been committed, and the two were arrested and detained. Esteban was released the same day, but Gerardo, who is not a citizen of the United States, was sent to a detainment facility in Taylor and has been there for the last two months. Later in May, his immigration hearing happened and he was denied cancelation of removal. But this filing now gives him the opportunity to be reunited with his family while litigation continues.
Jerry Quijano [00:09:12] Okay, yesterday Reyes was released from that detention center in Taylor. You got to spend some time with his family reporting in May. What was their reaction to this news?
Leigh Walden [00:09:22] Yeah, I mean, they’re elated. It has been a really, really long journey to get to this point. And I mean the terminology that was told to me on the phone was this is like the first good news that they’ve had in a long time when I was speaking with his daughter yesterday. So they’re so excited that this is the filing or the filing was successful. And I spoke with the executive director of Mono Omega who’s an advocacy group in San Marcos and has been working alongside the family for Gerardo’s release. Um, and Eric Martinez told me that this is, this is a community win.
Eric Martinez [00:09:56] We feel really elated because this work is incredibly difficult and to see a family reunited after such unjust circumstances really really like warms our hearts and you know gives us something to hold on to to help us push through and continue to help more families and you know, demand systemic change.
Jerry Quijano [00:10:22] So you said the first bit of good news that they had gotten in a while, but there’s still some things to be played out here specifically regarding Reyes’ case. What does that mean? Where are we at in his case?
Leigh Walden [00:10:33] Yeah. And I’m going to try not to get in the weeds because it’s a confusing situation, at least to me, it’s been a confusing situation. There’s a lot going on in a lot of these situations. Yeah. So the, the filing for the denial of his cancelation of removal. So that means that the U S still has charges against him to be deported. Um, but habeas corpus deals with whether or not someone has been detained, um, legally and since the Trump administration last year, decided that undocumented immigrants aren’t entitled to bond hearings, habeas corpus filings have skyrocketed. So we’re seeing a lot of new habeas filings that are saying that the detainment is not legal because people aren’t having these bond hearings. And a bond hearing is placed because no matter if you’re a U.S. Citizen or not, you are entitled to be at home or be outside of a jail. If you are not a risk to the community or if you’re not a flight risk. So the habeas corpus filing means that he gets to be reunited with his family while the appeal of the deportation filing goes through. And now that he is out of detention, the likelihood of that appeal going through the Immigration Board of Appeals quickly goes down. So. They are overrun with cases right now, and it’s taking a long, long time for this appeals process to happen. Sometimes weeks, months, but I spoke to Ali-Lex what this morning that said it could be years.
Jerry Quijano [00:12:09] Okay, and since it could be a long time when you spoke to the family, what are they focused on right now in the short term?
Leigh Walden [00:12:17] I mean, just being together. I think this is something that was not necessarily super expected. They’ve, I mean understandably lost a lot of faith with systems operating effectively, you know, successfully. And so they’re excited to be back together. Of course they are. And they’re motivating themselves for the fight and recovering to an extent too, because this was their breadwinner, you now? And the living expenses, the cost of the… Taking care of all this litigation has been really, really burdensome to the family. So they’re excited to have them reintegrated into the community and starting to make up some of the debt, like the fiscal debt that this circumstances has brought onto them.
Jerry Quijano [00:13:01] Okay, that is Lee Walden. She is KUT’s Hayes County reporter. Thank you for bringing us this story, Lee. Thank you. And thank you for spending part of your Tuesday here with Austin Signal. We’re gonna have links to both of the stories that we talked about today in the show notes and you can find more from us at kut.org slash signal. We will be back after a break. Thanks for being with us. This is Austin Signal. Thank you for being with us today. The Texas softball team beat Tennessee twice on Monday, advancing to the championship of the women’s college world series for the third year in a row. Texas are the defending champions from last year. They will now face Texas Tech in the best of three championship series. That starts tomorrow night at seven, and you can catch that on ESPN. Texas baseball team has advanced to the men’s college World Series as well. But they’re still waiting to see who they’re going to be playing. And once they find out, we’ll let you know right here on Austin Signal. Lou Diamond Phillips has been acting for decades, but his breakout role was so iconic. It’s one that he is still largely associated with. La Bamba came out in 1987, where he played Richie Valance, and then went on to shine in Stand and Deliver and Young Guns. More recently, he starred in Longmire. His latest film is Keep Quiet, where he plays a tribal police officer. It’s screened at Austin’s Cine Las Americas, where the city of Austin and Councilmember Jose Velasquez proclaimed May 16th, 2026, Lou Diamond Phillips Day. Texas Standard’s Laura Rice caught up with Phillips on Zoom.
Laura Rice [00:14:47] You grew up in Texas. Is that right? Can you tell me your story?
Lou Diamond Phillips [00:14:51] Yeah, no, I grew up in Texas, you know, got to Texas from many places, you know, abroad and before that, my dad was in the Navy and then ended up in Corpus Christi right down there, you know, by a Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi. That’s where he retired. And so, yeah, I got to Texas for my formative years, junior high school, and then went to the University of Texas at Arlington. So, uh, you know all of my dreams all my aspirations all of that you know began right there in Texas uh uh you know i majored in theater you know when i was in high school i did a lot of university interscholastic league uh you no drama competitions uh you know it was it was something i intended to do from a very young age does it feel like home still or My dad is still down in Corpus and I got a ton of friends still there, so it does, in many respects. Although I’ve lived, I was in LA for 30-something years and been in New York now for seven. I have some high school friends coming to have dinner with me in Austin at the Dallas International Film Festival recently. A ton of high school friends, college friends, acting school friends. So my connections to Texas run deep and are eternal.
Laura Rice [00:16:12] Oh, well, you mentioned the Dallas International Film Festival. You won this Dallas Star Award while you were there this year. How great was that? What was that like?
Lou Diamond Phillips [00:16:26] You know, again, it’s a little like going to Austin and being given the key to the city. I mean, the Chamber of Commerce has come up with a nice little welcome package for me, which is really beautiful. But it is. It’s a full circle event where, as I said, back in the day, in my teenage years, I dreamed of being where I am now. And to be able to come back. Wearing that and owning that and not being done, you know. It’s an ongoing career. It’s very gratifying.
Laura Rice [00:17:05] Well, I think you’ve become an icon a bit. And I was going to ask you about that because I know you’ve been asked about this before, but you’re really an icon, especially in the Latino community, because of your your work with La Bamba and Stand and Deliver. And I wonder what that’s like for you, because some people might know that your background is a little a little different than than what you played on screen.
Lou Diamond Phillips [00:17:29] Yeah, no, yeah, I’m half Filipino with some, you know, the Hawaiian, Chinese, a lot of sort of Pacific theater stuff going on there. And then believe it or not, you know, like Scott Irish English, you there’s a healthy dose of Scandinavian in there as well and a drop of indigenous blood. But, you know, back in the day, you I fit the bill, you know, I was ambiguously brown. But since that time, I’ve been very, very proud to represent a number of communities, and even more proud that they not only have accepted me, but have elevated me in the platform. I mean, I get approached from Latinos all the time about what lavamba means to them, what standing delivered means. A lot of people in the Indigenous communities have been adopted into the Cheyenne Nation, into the Lakota Nation. Fortunately, I take that as a sign that I did them proud, which is what I set to do. Being, you know, a performer of color, it’s like, okay, you have to represent with some respect, not just use it as a piece of wardrobe. So my attitude from the beginning has always been, go to the source and, you, know, represent it to the best of my abilities. I mean, that’s very true of Keep Quiet. It’s an Indigenous story. It takes place on the reservation. We make sure to mention that I am not Indigenous in the film, that I married into it.
Laura Rice [00:18:54] I caught that, yeah. And your co-worker’s a bit surprised because, like you said, you could fit in the bill.
Lou Diamond Phillips [00:19:02] 100%. And, but that, that, you know, delineation allowed us a very interesting dynamic with the character in that he is a perennial outsider, you know, and that’s in some ways I get that myself, you know, because I don’t fit easily into anybody’s box. Even Hollywood’s, you know, they, they didn’t know what to do with me for a long time, you know, oh, is he the Brown Brat Packer? You know, so, because I sort of defy categorization. It’s been an interesting path.
Laura Rice [00:19:33] Well, I do want to get back to Keep Quiet because it’s a complex movie and you play this really challenging and conflicted character. What would you want people to know about him?
Lou Diamond Phillips [00:19:47] I think that he’s somebody that a lot of people can relate to, you know, he certainly is the old bull to a certain extent. He’s seen a lot, he’s lived a lot and he carries that with him. And in some respects, you now, it’s a burden. But it’s the community that may never fully embrace him, you not only knew who he was, I’ve known guys like that. Somebody asked me, what kind of research did you do? And I said, well, I’ve been doing this, you know, for 40 years. You know, I played, you know God knows how many cops, you can know. So the research was, you now, the living that I’ve, you known, acquired up to this point. And that’s, that was, that was incredibly attractive in the role because you know in page five, I saw myself in the world. I knew who this guy was and how I was going to play him.
Laura Rice [00:20:40] Like you said, film festivals like Dallas International Film Festival, Cine Las Americas in Austin, I think I saw coming out in July in limited theatrical release. But what do you make of this moment for independent film? I mean, does this feel like something that you’ve seen in decades past in your career, or are the challenges new and different right now?
Lou Diamond Phillips [00:21:04] Uh, you know, it ebbs and flows, uh, back when I did La Bomba and standing delivered back to back, you now, Oh my goodness, we’re going to have, you know, a Latino wave, a Latina wave, you know, in cinema, it didn’t happen. Uh, You know, but, but in recent years, uh we, we’ve seen more. Filmmakers, more writers, more producers, more people telling their specific stories and them finding a universal audience to them. You know, things like, you know, Minari, you now, Moonlight, I mean, just a lot of smaller films that break through. And because they’re done with love and they’re, and they’ve done with, Truth Capital T in the middle of them. And what we’re seeing now is we are seeing smaller films breakthrough, but it really does take people who care. We’re coming out in limited release in theaters, but it’s almost like we’re hand carrying it to a lot of places. I mean, it is artisanal, it’s handcrafted and it is grassroots.
Jerry Quijano [00:22:16] That is Lou Diamond Phillips. He stars in and executive produced the new film Keep Quiet, coming to theaters in July. He was speaking with Texas Standards’ Laura Rice. Coming up on Tomorrow Show, we continue our series of lasts for Austin ISD students, teachers and staff as the district closes multiple schools. We will hear from Ridgetop Elementary cafeteria staff and students during their last lunch at the school before the campus closes.
Ridgetop Elementary staff and students [00:22:42] Wait, PS, I love the Alfredo bite. I can’t believe you had some of my favorite foods for the last three days.
Jerry Quijano [00:22:52] That story from KUT education reporter Greta Diaz-Gonzalez-Vazquez, plus healthcare reporter Olivia Aldridge joins us to discuss a new report that finds a rising number of children in Texas are uninsured at data from Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families. We will dive into the numbers and we’ll have a whole lot more coming up for you tomorrow on Austin Signal. That is it for today’s show. Again, you can find more from us at kut.org slash signal. Talk to you tomorrow. Have a great day.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
