Dominic A. Walsh/HPM

After 48 days in federal custody, 15-year-old Emmanuel Gonzalez-Garcia, his mother, and an immigration rights advocate faced Mayor John Whitmire and the Houston City Council on Tuesday.

Gonzalez-Garcia was held by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement as an unaccompanied minor after becoming separated from his mother, Maria Garcia, in October. The Houston Police Department handed off the teenager, who Garcia said has autism, after they were unable to connect him to a missing child report initiated earlier in the day.

RELATED: Mother of autistic Houston teen speaks out after he was held for nearly 50 days in federal custody Sign up for the Hello, Houston! daily newsletter to get local reports like this delivered directl

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