MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A University of Florida student vanished after a traffic stop in Gainesville and a state lawmaker said on Monday that his case was concerning.
Florida House Rep. Yvonne Hinson released a statement saying U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shouldn’t be holding Felipe Zapata at the Krome Detention Center in Miami-Dade County.
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“Why not give a ticket? But to be detained for such an offense is outlandish and quite alarming,” Hinson said.
The third-year economics student in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences transferred from Santa Fe College to UF in 2023 as an international student with an F-1 visa, The Independent Florida Alligator reported.
“ICE is treating my son like a criminal and he is not,” Claudia Velásquez, Zapata’s mother, recently told Colombian Radio W in Spanish adding that her son had an expired driver’s license and was processing the I-20 form required to apply for a driver’s license.
Velásquez said that after her son vanished late March ICE detained him and he traveled from Gainesville to Jacksonville and later to Miami-Dade County.
“Immigrants are under attack now more than ever,” Hinson, a Democrat, said. “We must speak up and not allow this to continue without voicing outrage.”
Zapata allegedly agreed to sign a self-deportation agreement without access to an immigration attorney because his other option was to wait in detention for an immigration hearing. He was not included in the public ICE database for detainees in custody.