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An Austin ISD high school senior’s detention has shaken his classmates, church members and family awaiting his graduation. He’s being held in a South Texas immigration processing center. We’ll hear more about his story and the people awaiting his return.
You’ve probably interacted with the Austin’s Art in Public Places program without even realizing it. The city of Austin and the public arts community are clashing over millions in funding for the program. Austin Current’s Andrea Ball will tell us why.
Bobby Pudrido is a local drag performer whose musical namesake has become a candidate for Congress. We’ll talk about increased recognition in an already hyper-analyzed performance space.
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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] In Austin, ISD high school senior’s detention has shaken his classmates, church members, and family awaiting his graduation. He’s being held in the South Texas Immigration Processing Center. We’re gonna hear more about his story and the people waiting on his return. And you’ve probably interacted with Austin’s Art in Public Places program without even realizing it. The city of Austin and the public arts community are clashing over millions in funding for the program. We’re going to tell you why that’s the case. That is coming up on today’s show.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:37] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:42] Plus, Bobby Pudrido is a local drag performer whose musical namesake has become a candidate for Congress. We’re going to talk about increased recognition in an already hyper-analyzed performance space. Those stories and more, coming up next right here on Austin Signal. Howdy out there, you are listening to Austin Signal. I’m your host, Jerry Kikano. It’s Tuesday, May 12th. Thank you for tuning in. Friday is the last day to apply for a mail-in ballot for the upcoming primary runoff election. In Texas, only certain groups are eligible to vote by mail, including people with disabilities and those who are age 65 and older. Applications for a mailing ballot must be received, not postmarked, by this Friday. In-person early voting in the runoff starts Monday and ends on the 22nd. Election day is May 26th. High school students across central Texas are getting ready for graduation, but one Austin Independent School District student is having to fight to make it to graduation. Earlier this month a student was detained by ICE after being stopped while driving home from work. KUT’s Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vazquez tells us how his community is coming together for him.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:01:59] Luis Fernando Cabrera Chavarria is a senior at Northeast Early College High School. On a regular day before going to school, he would take his two-year-old nephew to daycare. Then, after school, he’d go to soccer practice. His sister Holly says he’s a good student.
Luis Fernando [00:02:14] He’s a mischievous child, and I have no complaints about him.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:02:18] He’s a fan ankle, an excellent soccer player. His friends and teachers love him, plus he works up to 40 hours a week to help pay for rent. But on May 1, Luis Fernando was stopped by DPS over an expired sticker. He was driving home from work. He called Holly in the middle of the night.
Luis Fernando [00:02:35] And he said, yes, the state trooper is calling for migration and they are taking me to San Antonio.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:02:41] He told Holly that the officer called immigration and customs enforcement. In a matter of minutes and with barely any prior questions, Luis Fernando was being taken to a detention center in San Antonio. KUT is only using Holly’s first name because of her immigration status. Luis Fernando and Holly’s family is from Honduras. The family fled the country because of violence. They lived in Mexico for a few years, where Luis Fernando is born. In 2019, they had to leave Mexico once more because of fear for their safety.
Luis Fernando [00:03:11] And they made us the political asylum process.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:03:14] They crossed the border and applied for political asylum. They moved to Austin, found a church to attend and a school for Luis Fernando to go to. They built a life. At some point, their mom moved to Boston. Their dad went back to Honduras. Holly became Luis Fernando’s sole caretaker. She feels responsible for him.
Luis Fernando [00:03:33] I have a concern and I have been crying a lot since they arrested him.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:03:39] Holly says since Luis Fernando got detained, she has cried a lot.
Luis Fernando [00:03:43] Well, I’m also afraid that he’ll get sick or that something will happen to him inside.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:03:49] She says she’s afraid that he might get sick or that something might happen to him. Ruiz Fernandez’s detention has been felt by all his community. His teachers helped Holly start a GoFundMe for legal expenses. His friends and loved ones put together an event to draw attention to his case.
Luis Fernando [00:04:05] Re-release Fernando! Free Luis Fernando!
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:04:10] Travis Oldbridge, a family friend who has known Luis Fernando since his family moved to Austin, says like any teenager, Luis Fernando has hopes of a big life. He said to graduate in June.
Travis Oldbridge [00:04:21] Last year, he was talking to me about wanting to go to college, get a degree, be successful, have a career. He’s not a criminal. He doesn’t need to be locked up.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:04:31] At the event, multiple people spoke about Luis Fernando. The band Los Fandangueros played music to show their support and to make sure joy was not lost. Yes, vamos, y no nos… Bye!
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:04:46] Luis Fernando’s church community also showed up. Chris Milk is his godfather.
Chris Milk [00:04:52] He and we had one other kind of older student who were kind of the the models of the church, right? As the older ones they were they were the people that all the children looked up to.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:05:04] Luis Fernando turned 18 in February, which means he’s being processed as an adult. But Milk says he’s just a kid.
Chris Milk [00:05:12] He’s a loving, caring, wonderful child, right? Which makes us even more scared for him to be in a detention center.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:05:19] His soccer friends, like Joseph Perez, share the fear.
Music [00:05:22] It scares me because it’s something that happened to my friend and since he’s close, it’s also something that could happen to me at some point.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:05:30] Joseph says he’s now scared because if it happened to Luis Fernando, someone so close to him, then it could happen to Joseph as well. On Monday, Luis Fernando’s attorney Jim Harrington said he has filed paperwork for immigration officials to let Luis Fernando out of detention.
Jim Harrington [00:05:45] There’s no reason to detain him. He’s not a flight risk. Let him out. Let him support his family. Let him graduate, right? So the government has that option.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:05:56] They’re waiting for a hearing date. Harrington says Luis Fernando is being patient.
Jim Harrington [00:06:01] He’s actually doing really well, because he hears all of the support. He’s pretty upbeat for somebody, I think, that young in that condition.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:06:12] Harrington says Luis Fernando is as American as anybody else. He’s a good kid. He was just not born in the U.S. His family and friends are hopeful that he will get out soon. Harrington said Luis Fernando was really looking forward to his graduation.
Jim Harrington [00:06:28] And I just hope in three weeks he is here wearing that robe.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:06:32] As for Holly, Luis Fernando’s sister, she’s trying to do video calls with him to keep him in good spirits.
Luis Fernando [00:06:38] Because I don’t want them to feel like, no, well, they’ve locked me in, there’s nothing to do, no one’s thinking the same thing.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:06:45] She says she wants him to know that his community is thinking about him. They’re all trying to bring him back home in time for graduation. I’m Greta Díaz González Vázquez.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:58] And we’ll have more about detentions and life for Central Texas Deering Ice Enforcements coming up on a one hour special this Friday here on Austin’s Signal. A fight has sparked over funding for an Austin public arts initiative with community artists saying the city has shortchanged the Art in Public Places program by millions of dollars. Andrea Ball is covering the story for Austin Current where she reports on growth and development. Andrea, welcome back to the show. Thank you for having me. So I think lots of our listeners have probably encountered and seen Art in public places out and about. But in case they’re not familiar with what the actual program is, what is it And when did it get its start?
Andrea Ball [00:07:40] So it first started in 1985 when the city passed an ordinance saying that capital projects that come through the city, uh, need to devote 2% of construction costs to art in public places. And the ones that people probably know if they work downtown, the beautiful rainbow horse, and then there, and that’s right near what used to be the federal courthouse. And one at the airport, there’s the picnic tables at Sehome. And there’s an octopus one on South Congress.
Jerry Quijano [00:08:12] Okay, so lots of public art are in and around Austin. So let’s get to the funding dispute. What is the Arts Commission alleging here?
Andrea Ball [00:08:22] So it didn’t just start with the arts commission. Let me just tell you, kind of bring it back a little bit. So in 2025, there were some issues as the city was starting to get ready to tear down the old convention center and start with its new facility. At that time, there was some really large artworks that had not been planned for in terms of, how do we get rid of this? Do we give it back to the artist, whatever. And then at the same time, was another concern that these Art in Public Places projects were given to people out of state when it’s really supposed to, you know, be inclusive of Austin artists. So at that time in 2025, the City Arts Department said, we’re going to really look at Art in public places and see what we’re doing. And when they did that, they started looking at some numbers and felt like the math wasn’t math-ing. So they were supposed to get 2% of capital construction costs, which would be roads, bridge, building, that kind of thing. They felt like we should have been getting this money under the current formula which is laid out in ordinance. Instead, they were getting less. Ultimately, the disconnect was that the city was using a different interpretation of construction costs that is in the actual ordinance.
Jerry Quijano [00:09:45] Okay, can you lay out the differences in the two, I guess, ideas of what construction costs constitutes?
Andrea Ball [00:09:52] Sure. So in 2002, when this was passed, there were some very basic construction costs and you could eliminate certain costs to take it out before you had to give the 2%. So that would be stuff like property acquisition and that kind of thing, equipment. But this… Interpretation that the city was using was an industry-based stuff, and they include design and architectural plans. And that makes the pot of money smaller that would be devoted to arts in public places. And so there’s a panel, the Arts in Public Places panel, That was like wait what no the Arts Commission also said wait no you’re not using the actual in-ordinance definition of construction costs so they were using different formulas by which they were measuring how much money when the arts commission talked about this with capital delivery services which is they deal with the construction projects they said we include these other costs it’s how we’ve always done And the Arts Commission members were like… I don’t care how you’ve always done it. This is what the ordinance says. Um, I think that this becomes an issue of government inertia. They’ve been using the old formula for 40 years or so. And finally, when the arts community figured it out, they have just butted heads, you know, had gone head to head about this. When we talked to the city about it, they said, We’re just codifying what we’ve been doing.
Jerry Quijano [00:11:42] The Arts in Public Places panel voted against the proposition changes, as did the Arts Commission, I believe. Why do you think they voted against it?
Andrea Ball [00:11:52] Because they don’t like this shrinking pot of money formula that they realized that has been going on. They, now remember the panel and the commission, they’re advisory boards. No one has to listen to them and they didn’t. So after these commission and the panel said, no, we don’t this, the arts department went and put in a, an ordinance to be passed by the City Council, and it would have enshrined the formula that the city is already using, which allows all these costs to be deducted from the pool of money. And it was taken off the agenda. Now we don’t know what is gonna happen or what the City council thinks.
Jerry Quijano [00:12:40] Okay, and we don’t have any kind of timetable on when to expect something to happen next? No, but I am keeping my eye on it. Alright, that is Andrea Ball. She is the Growth Development Reporter at The Austin Current. Andrea, always great to talk with you. Thank you. We’ll be back after a break. This is Austin Signal. This is Austins Signal. Tejano star Bobby Pulido has retired from music and set his sights on politics, running against an incumbent Republican in South Texas. Here in Austin, we have drag king Bobby Pudrido. His performances are inherently political. Drag has been the subject of legislation, most recently SB12, known as the Texas Drag Ban, which went into effect in March. Governor Abbott says the legislation is intended to ban drag shows in public spaces. Here to talk about this is drag king, Bobby Poudrido, thank you for being here.
Bobby Pudrido [00:13:32] Thank you for having me.
Jerry Quijano [00:13:33] So, you are a drag king, so for those in our audience who might not be familiar, what is a drag King?
Bobby Pudrido [00:13:39] A drag king is essentially like a drag queen, but a few inches shorter, LOL. No, a drag king, it’s basically just like, usually what you think of drag is drag queens. And so you think of RuPaul’s drag race, right? You think of what people who don’t know about drag think of is a man dressed as a woman and drag kings, they think of women dressed as men. It’s a lot more nuanced and complicated than that. There’s non-binary people. There’s people who do. Even the drag itself is very gender-neutral, but if I had to put it into words, it would just be like a drag queen, but different folks. It’s usually either AFAB folks or non-binary folks, transmasc folks, sometimes it’s cis women. So just different people that do drag.
Jerry Quijano [00:14:31] How did drag come into your life?
Bobby Pudrido [00:14:33] I, uh, there was a drag king scene in Austin that I had heard about and there’s a live audition for a all drag king troupe. And I had never performed before and I had always wanted to do some kind of performance so I figured that would be like a low stakes way to be like, you know what, this is, you know, my first time on stage and if I don’t get it, no, it’ll be fine. So I went in and I invited all my friends and I got into the drag king troop and Then I thought about the concepts of my drag persona and as I kept kind of growing it, I think people resonated with it a lot. And yeah, I started being booked and getting booked for shows to MC and things like that. So it just kind of grew from there.
Jerry Quijano [00:15:19] Well, your drag name is Bobby Pudrido. That is a play on the Tejano singer Bobby Pulido who has been gaining a little bit more national attention as he makes a run for Congress. Why did you choose Bobby Pulid to pick your name after?
Bobby Pudrido [00:15:33] I thought it was really funny. We grew up calling him that just because it was funny. And so that was when I had a list of names. I was like thinking of like some queer icons and some not queer icons. And this one just resonated because he is a Tejano star. And in the nineties, he was this like… Really big heartthrob that everybody just, you know, kind of either wanted to be or be with. And I thought it would be really funny to be a drag king kind of impersonating that kind of masculinity that’s very like tailored to, I mean, I don’t want to say just women, right? But tailored to people who are attracted to Bobby. So the persona was, I think, a really funny play on him. And also the word burrito, it means rotten in Spanish. So I was like, that’s pretty funny to me. Um, and yeah, I think it was just a mix of silliness, but also bringing my culture into my drag.
Jerry Quijano [00:16:30] Do you have a favorite song of his that you’d like to perform too? You know it’s Desverlado. Desveralado it has to be, of course.
Bobby Pudrido [00:16:37] Yeah, because I think that that’s the one that everybody kind of knows and That beginning, you know when it starts, you you know, you knowing the people know it. Yeah
Jerry Quijano [00:16:46] Yeah, absolutely. Even if you don’t know who Bobby Belillo is, if you lived in Texas long enough, you’ve heard the beginning of that song so many times.
Music [00:16:55] Será fe que yo encontré una voz eterno
Jerry Quijano [00:17:00] And now that Bobby Pulido has gone into politics, has anything changed, have people recognized the fact that you’re making a play on his name now more often, or is it still kind of, you know, still people trying to figure it out?
Bobby Pudrido [00:17:12] It is a lot more known now. I am so used to having to explain who he is. And now people will send me, when he’s being interviewed or something, they’ll send me and be like, this is why your name is Bobby Pudrido. And I’m like, yes. Now I at least don’t have to explain it to this person. But yeah, it’s been nice for people to even come up to me and realize this is what you’re doing and it makes sense to me. Um so it’s been nice i mean shout out to him for doing that thanks
Music [00:17:47] Mi deseo no me deja descansar
Jerry Quijano [00:17:54] Well, Bobby is running for Congress and he’s running on a variety of platforms. One thing that has been big here in the state of Texas has been this drag band that has been back and forth and back and fourth and has been in effect now. What kind of effects has that had on your performances?
Bobby Pudrido [00:18:11] It has had, I mean, I think the answer in the forefront of my mind is just my livelihood. I think as a drag artist, one of the things we need to do is get booked so that we can pay our bills. And this drag ban, even though it is very vague, I think there are some venue owners, business owners that whether or not it does affect them, the risk of being fined $10,000 is enough for them to not want to book drag anymore. You know, I thin, As queer people, we eventually come to find out that people are allies up until a certain point and sometimes that point is business and that’s no shade, it just is what it is. And so there are some folks that lose opportunities in venues that the business owners are just afraid of the drag ban because that’s all they know that is happening. So my livelihood, but then also just, I would say something I don’t hear a lot about is like, mentally and like spiritually and the way it chips away at a queer person to hear any type of anti-queer legislation pass is something that’s really big for me because we’re constantly just as human beings, you know, trying to maintain our mental health and things like that just kind of add and exacerbate to our mental health and struggles like that.
Jerry Quijano [00:19:36] So has it diminished your passion for performing?
Bobby Pudrido [00:19:39] It has not, it definitely has not. It has fueled it, which, you know, it’s different for, for, for different performers, but for me, um, I’m, you know, how there’s like cycles of grief. Um, right now I’m in the angry phase where I want to be louder. Um, but I do go through phases where, um it does kind of, you feel too sad to do. Um, But like I said, if now I I’m at the point in my drag where it is paying my bills. And so just like anyone who is working class knows you have to go to work because you need to pay your bills. So whether or not that affects my mental wellbeing, unfortunately doesn’t really have a lot to do with it. But for me right now, I’m at the point where I do wanna be louder. And since I produce shows, I do want to create even more spaces that are open to that kind of drag.
Jerry Quijano [00:20:32] You’re also part of the trans community, and I wanted to ask, how has it been living here in Texas also in a time where there are laws being aimed at reducing trans rights for Texans?
Bobby Pudrido [00:20:44] It’s been difficult for the same reasons, just like I said, it chips away at you, but also I think about the fact that being in a place like Texas and being trans requires interconnectedness between the community. So that in itself is a little bit healing for me. I never had trans friends before until I came out as trans and now I wanna say 80% of my friends are trans, Twitch. As someone in Texas, I think is a really big deal, but it’s something that took a lot of work to get to. And it also, like I said, I’m in my 30s, so it took work that I had the mental capacity for. So for me, I can think of a bright future still. I think the people that are affected by it that don’t necessarily get that privilege are kids and youth who don’t quite know who they are because it’s normal to not know at that point. But who are hearing all these terrible things about trans people. So yeah, for me, it’s been hard, but I have people around me who are also feeling that and voicing that, so I’m very privileged in that.
Jerry Quijano [00:21:54] What is it about performing as Bobby Budrizo that is so addicting that you can’t possibly see yourself not doing it?
Bobby Pudrido [00:22:04] I think it’s a mix of things. I think just performance art is something that really fuels me because I get to connect with audiences and people in ways that I don’t feel like I can do in my normal life. I’m introverted. I need a lot of recharging in my real life. And so I think that as Bobby, I don’t know, I just get to see so many people smiling at once at me. And it feels so good. So I don’t know, maybe there’s a little bit of ego there, which I think you kind of have to have as a performer. Absolutely. But then also just how deep and meaningful it is on a historic level of like how important drag is for queer people. And learning about the history of drag has made me so proud of it. And so proud how far it’s come. And like I said, you know, it’s hard for drag kings to get booked sometimes, so we’re still a- far away from the perfect ideal world for drag kings, but still the fact that I have a platform at all is huge. It’s huge and it’s something that I think even when I moved to Austin was probably not something I could have done. So yeah, that passion also comes from that history of like our ancestors who started drag as a way of being political, of being against. Systems that were oppressing queer people.
Jerry Quijano [00:23:33] Well, I think our listeners can hear the big smile that you had on your face whenever you’re answering that, especially when you mentioned seeing the smiling faces. We will have a link to Bobby Pudrido’s Instagram in today’s show notes. We have been speaking with Bobby Poudrido. Thank you for your time. Thank you, for having me. And thank you for spending part of your day here with Austin’s Signal. I’m your host, Jerry Quijano. We will 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.
