A Colombian congresswoman denounces that her son has been detained for 18 days by ICE

Bogotá.- Colombian Congresswoman Ángela María Vergara reported this Friday that her son Rafael Alfonso Vergara has been detained for 18 days by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE, for its acronym in English) in "inhuman conditions". "A young man who doesn't even have a traffic violation, but who, like many Colombians, is living a martyrdom, who has not been able to return to his country, who needs the urgent intervention of the State. That is why today, as a mother, I ask for your help," Vergara pointed out in a video broadcast on social media. The Conservative Party congresswoman requested the urgent intervention of the Colombian Government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to guarantee the return and protection of her son and other nationals in similar situations. In the video, the Representative in the House assured that her son had a work permit, social security number, and a hearing scheduled for 2028 to address his asylum proceedings.

"He has been imprisoned for 18 days, chained in inhumane conditions, a person who was awaiting the resolution of his legal situation," Vergara added.

Despite knowing her son's situation for weeks, the congresswoman said today on X that she has remained silent until now because she trusted in the guarantees of the American Justice system, but decided to make the situation public in the face of what she described as a "deep emotional wear and tear". "I raise my voice from a human perspective for the families who suffer without help; for Colombians who are today treated as criminals without being so. Men and women who have been deprived of their freedom for months, waiting for a flight to return home or an intervention by the Colombian State that will restore their hope," he wrote. Nearly six out of seven migrants detained by ICE in the first year of the current US President Donald Trump's administration lack a violent criminal history, CBS revealed this week based on a document from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

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Furthermore, nearly four out of ten detainees have no criminal record, and some were only accused of civil immigration violations, such as living irregularly in the United States or overstaying their permitted time in the country. A study by the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) documented a monthly average of 6,000 Latino migrants without criminal records who entered detention centers from February to September 2025.