MIRAMAR, Fla. – The Gainesville Police Department released the bodycam video recorded during a traffic stop that resulted in a University of Florida student’s recent deportation to Colombia.
The video shows Felipe Zapata, an international student who graduated from Santa Fe College, was cooperative when police officers ordered him to hand over his cell phone and step out of his car.
“Yes, I’m doing the renewal of my visa,” Zapata said after a police officer told him his driver’s license was suspended, according to the GPD video released.
The video shows a police officer told Zapata it was his second citation for driving with a suspended license and put him in handcuffs. On Wednesday, UF students protested his deportation after the college town’s police handed him over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“Felipe is undergoing a physical and emotional recovery, and we are prioritizing his well-being and overall health,” Claudia Velásquez, Zapata’s mother in Colombia, said in a statement to Local 10 News.
The third-year economics student in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences had transferred from Santa Fe College to UF in 2023 with an F-1 visa, The Independent Florida Alligator reported.
Velásquez recently told Colombian Radio W in Spanish that her son had an expired driver’s license and registration because he was processing the I-20 form required for student visa holders to have both.
Velásquez said ICE treated her son like a criminal and took him from Gainesville to Jacksonville and the Krome Detention Center in Miami-Dade County before his deportation.
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.
“We are awaiting responses from the relevant authorities, through the attorney representing him, who has recommended not making public statements at this time,” Velásquez said in the statement.
Zapata is not alone. President Donald Trump’s push for massive deportations has been affecting the international community in academia nationwide.
After a review of court filings, statements from attorneys, and announcements from universities and colleges, CNN reported on Wednesday that more than 340 students, faculty, and researchers have had their visas revoked this year.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently said this applied to international students who supported Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.
Torres contributed to this report from Miami.