Congresswoman Angela Vergara denounces the retention of her son and several Colombians at the hands of the United States.
In dialogue with EL TIEMPO, the representative to the Chamber Angela Maria Vergara Gonzalez broke the silence: his son, Rafael Alfonso Vergara Vergara, 22, was detained by United States immigration agents in Louisiana 17 days ago, at 4:00 am, while working for a freight transportation company.
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According to him, he had not committed any infraction. He was handcuffed, stripped of his belongings and taken to a detention center. “You only had three minutes to tell us your case number”said.
ICE is the federal agency in charge of immigration laws within the United States. Photo:EFE.
This publishing house also accessed the official statement in which the congresswoman narrates the odyssey that the family experienced to place him in the system and the decision to recommend him a voluntary departure as the only way to regain freedom which, although it was signed, has not yet arrived.
Rafael’s arrest has prompted the congresswoman to call Government and the Chancellery so that urgent guarantee verification routes are activated and repatriation. In her public statements, the representative assures that your son entered legallywas awaiting a hearing and faces “harsh and inhumane conditions” that have caused “deep emotional wear and tear.”
“In here they ask for help”
“I’m not just speaking for my son,” he assures that there are hundreds of people on the waiting list, who a voluntary departure can take 45 days or moreand that the absence of timely responses aggravates the families’ ordeal. In his official communication, he reported that even after the judicial authorization to leave, Your child must be detained until a space is allocated on a flightin ICE custody, without the possibility of purchasing a ticket on your own.
This organization has been heavily criticized for its treatment of migrants. Photo:AFP
In contact with this medium, the congresswoman explained that Rafael is currently in the River Correctional Center, in Louisiana. From there—through a call that his aunt managed to broker— the young man described overcrowdingwidespread flu-like symptoms and minimal medical care.
In the call, he also told him the cases of other Colombians: Jorge Gregorio Acosta (held by ICE since August 28, 2025, without contact with his family), Leonardo Fabio Montero Ortiz (he signed voluntary departure and has already been waiting for six months) and John Fernando Velascotransferred through three centers without a court date. They are proper names of a phenomenon that far exceeds an individual story.
“One thinks that the United States prison system It’s different, but because of what I’m experiencing firsthand, There are no guarantees on anything at all.“The representative told EL TIEMPO. The scenes she describes have also been part of her public call for the country to act and Don’t leave your citizens adrift in an administrative limbo that prolongs pain for weeks and months.
The chronology of a wait that lengthens
According to the congresswoman, Rafael traveled in 2022 and in 2023 requested asylum; had two adjourned hearings and received social security, identification and driver’s licenses —including that of a cargo truck— while its status was resolved. The statement details that, after the arrest, the family chose to recommend voluntary departure to avoid indefinite detention; However, that decision did not free him.
The representative is in a delicate situation for the well-being of her son. Photo:Social networks (X).
Now it depends on a list and the flight schedule. In his public messages, Vergara states that “He is not undocumented” and asks for state intervention to return him. The congresswoman claims that a State has the right to deny permanence, but cannot keep migrants who do not represent a danger deprived of their liberty nor have they committed crimes, while their departure is being resolved.
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At this time, the representative of Bolívar is primarily requesting a verification of humanitarian guaranteeseffective consular accompaniment and expediting repatriation processes that bring them “as soon as possible” and May his case make visible that of “thousands of Colombians” and Latinos in a similar situation.
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