Pastor returns to pulpit after posting $12K bond after ICE detention

Pastor Luis Morales Pérez was back in the pulpit on Sunday after his $12,000 bond ended a stretch in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention.

Federal agents took Morales, 50, into custody on Aug. 6 at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, where he and his family were headed to New York, according to the Houston Chronicle, which now reports he posted the bond and was released from custody Wednesday.

Morales was held at an ICE detention facility in Livingston, Texas, north of Houston, according to the Houston Press and Univision Houston.

According to an account from his wife, Karina Alvarado de Morales, to Univision Houston, the couple had just messaged one of their daughters to say they'd arrived at the airport and were checking in for their flight. Morales briefly stepped away to use the restroom and retrieve his bag before the couple walked toward the security checkpoint, where two agents called out to a man, not realizing at first they were calling him. Agents then handcuffed him in front of his wife.

“He’s loving [being back] at home. He’s very aware of everything, aware of me, of my daughters,” his wife, Karina, said, adding that having him gone left a painful void in his Texas home.

Originally from Venezuela, Morales once qualified for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a humanitarian designation that allows people from countries facing war or disaster to live and work in the U.S temporarily. TPS does not give foreign nationals the right to long-term residency in the U.S., and the designation for Venezuelan nationals was terminated last year under the Trump administration.

Morales said he didn't expect to be detained, believing he was immune from deportation, because he thought federal authorities were prioritizing people with deportation orders or criminal records. 

“As a pastor, I’m an honest person. I don’t have a criminal record; I don’t owe the government anything. I have nothing to fear,” he was quoted as saying.

Morales leads four congregations in the Houston area as part of the Texas Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, where he has served since January 2023, and has spent 19 years in ministry, his wife told the press.  

In a Facebook post, the conference said it was "saddened" by his detention and that Morales' "commitment to our mission and the families he serves is unwavering," and it asked members to pray for a quick resolution.

An ICE spokesperson in Houston was quoted as saying afterward that federal agents treat anyone living in the country without valid legal status as eligible for removal.

At the time of his arrest, Morales had a work permit and an asylum application still under review. His attorney confirmed the asylum case remains pending, according to Telemundo, though ICE said it could not confirm details about that process due to privacy laws.

Immigration officials have said that having permission to work does not by itself establish lawful presence, even for people awaiting decisions on asylum, and that a pending application does not prevent someone from being detained.

Morales is due in immigration court Sept. 9, and his release terms require him to wear an ankle monitor.

The pastor, his wife and their two daughters left Venezuela for the U.S. in 2020, according to Click2Houston. They initially held tourist visas, then filed for asylum, and made Houston their home starting in 2023.

The couple had reached the terminal that morning, planning to meet the girls in New York, when officers stopped them. Karina said the agents already had documents bearing her husband’s information when they approached and identified him only as “Mr. Luis” before leading him out of the terminal, a moment captured on video.

The family said they had not expected him to be detained while traveling.

ICE said Morales entered the country legally in January 2020 but was due to leave by July. He received TPS in December 2023, protection that ended for Venezuelan nationals in November 2025 after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the termination to proceed in October.

In its statement, ICE said the TPS designation "has been allowed to function as a de facto amnesty program," stressing that Congress never meant it to last indefinitely.

Karina Morales said the couple had never received formal notice to leave the country, even as their asylum case moved through review.

Between February 2025 and February of this year, Texas ICE arrests included 30,670 immigrants with criminal convictions, and about 22,720 had charges still pending.

Morales said he intends to remain in the country and pursue his asylum case. He pointed to conditions in Venezuela, claiming they have not improved even after the departure of former President Nicolás Maduro.

Following his release, Morales expressed gratitude for the support he received from church members and friends who helped raise his bond, describing his return to his family and faith community as an answer to prayer, according to Spectrum magazine. He said his time in detention strengthened his reliance on God.

"So now, with God's help, all that remains is to fight for our asylum application in court," he was quoted as saying.