Colombian conservative congresswoman Ángela Vergara claims to be going through hell. Last Friday, she took to social media to report that her 22-year-old son, Rafael Alonso Vergara, had been detained in the United States by immigration police (ICE) and had been “imprisoned and chained” for 18 days.
In a video posted on social media, she said: “This is a person who was awaiting his legal situation, but he had his work permit and social security. A young man who has never even committed a traffic violation but who, like many Colombians, is going through hell.”
Vergara is a member of the Conservative Party, which has openly supported the Republican Party in the United States and celebrated Donald Trump’s return to the White House. In response to criticism against her, she rejects the rumors accusing her of celebrating the deportation of Latinos or calling for military intervention by Washington in Colombia.
The representative to the Colombian House, who is usually not very visible in the national political debate, has used her social media accounts and spoken to various media outlets to provide more details about her son’s arrest: she claims that he was detained on a public road in the state of Louisiana at 4 a.m. and that, after being identified as an immigrant, he was arrested by ICE agents.
Vergara had been in the United States since 2022. A year after his arrival, he decided to apply for asylum. Since last month, right after learning of her son’s arrest, the politician says that the legal strategy has been to request voluntary return to Colombia, as she thought it would be the quickest alternative. “My son is not undocumented. My son is just another Latino who is suffering firsthand what thousands are suffering in the US. There are people like him who are not criminals,” she stressed.
Since returning to the Oval Office for his second term, Donald Trump has tightened immigration policy. He has increased funding for ICE and the Border Patrol. He has given them more autonomy and powers to carry out indiscriminate raids searching for undocumented immigrants while limiting visas and tightening agreements with other countries. In the last year, the Trump administration has deported more than 650,000 undocumented immigrants, according to estimates given by the government.
ICE and Border Patrol agents have become the nightmare of thousands of immigrants and the target of criticism for their excessive tactics. Dressed like paramilitaries, with their faces hidden by balaclavas or masks, they have been deployed in states and cities governed by Democrats, such as Minneapolis, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
They have carried out raids and surprise checks, abusing their power. Some 3,000 of these agents were deployed in Minneapolis, where they have been involved in some of the most ruthless episodes involving these forces. Barely two weeks apart, immigration agents shot and killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti as they were peacefully protesting in separate demonstrations against Donald Trump’s repressive policies. The deaths of these US citizens sparked a wave of outrage across the United States.
Trump suggested that he would ease immigration pressure, but days later he returned to the fray and boasted about mass deportations. He tasked Border Czar Tom Homan with calming tensions in Minnesota. Homan announced the withdrawal of immigration police, but assured that raids against immigrants would continue.
Ángela Vergara is now calling on her government to “intervene” so that “Colombians can return to their country quickly.” In a letter addressed to Foreign Minister Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio, the congresswoman urges Gustavo Petro’s administration to speed up the coordination of humanitarian flights for repatriated Colombians with the support of the Air Force to prevent citizens from being held indefinitely in detention centers even though they have already requested voluntary departure or have no pending administrative or judicial proceedings in the United States.
Last year, as soon as Trump had landed in the White House and launched his strategy of mass deportations, President Petro decided to suspend them briefly because humanitarian conditions were not guaranteed for returning citizens. After a brief standoff, the left-wing leader decided to resume flights using civilian and military aircraft.
The drama surrounding this family has not gone unnoticed by internet users, who have complained about the congresswoman’s “hypocrisy.” Vergara, a member of the traditional Conservative Party, belongs to the so-called pro-life caucus in Congress: a group of anti-abortion senators and representatives whose views mirror several ideas also defended by the MAGA faction of the Republican Party in the US.
Following the attack on conservative activist Charlie Kirk last September, Vergara mourned his death and warned of the alleged risk to pro-life activists in the US and Colombia. “His passing represents a loss for those of us who firmly defend life, family, and freedom. May this painful event remind us of the urgency of uniting in defense of our values in the face of violence and intolerance,” she said at the time.
Following the news, several false rumors have also been published, such as that the congresswoman founded a movement called “Latinas for Trump” or that she has openly called for Washington to intervene in the country. Both accusations, for which there is no known evidence, have been rejected by the congresswoman.
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