Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has detained a University of Florida student following a traffic stop.
Felipe Zapata Velásquez, a 27-year-old from Colombia, vanished after ICE agents detained him during a traffic stop in Gainesville late last month, his mother Claudia Velásquez told the Colombian news outlet NTN24. Now, she, along with lawmakers, is advocating for his release.
Zapata Velásquez was arrested on March 28 while driving without a license, NTN24 reports. He was processing the I-20 form required to apply for a driver’s license when he was arrested, local outlet WPLG reports.
ICE agents then took him to Jacksonville and gave him two options, his mother said: stay in jail while he attends immigration court or sign a deportation order.
His mother said he opted for the deportation order, allegedly without an attorney, WPLG reports. He’s now being held in the Krome Detention Center in Miami-Dade County.
“ICE is treating my son like a criminal and he is not,” Velásquez told NTN24.
Zapata Velásquez was studying at the University of Florida under an F1 Visa, the university’s student newspaper The Independent Florida Alligator reports. The visa allows foreign students to attend school in the U.S. He was reportedly in the process of renewing it when he was arrested.
The 27-year-old is a third-year undergraduate student majoring in food and resource economics at the University of Florida, a university spokesperson told The Independent. He graduated from Santa Fe College in 2023, and the University of Florida International Center was assisting him with the transition to their school.
Florida House Representative Yvonne Hisson, a Democrat, is now calling for his release, WPLG reports.
“Why not give a ticket?” Hisson said. “But to be detained for such an offense is outlandish and quite alarming.”
“Immigrants are under attack now more than ever,” she added. “We must speak up and not allow this to continue without voicing outrage.”
Florida Senator Shevrin Jones is joining Hisson’s call for his release.
“What we are seeing right now is absolutely not the way to move forward and the Trump administration, they really should pull back, slow down, work as a team with their colleagues on the other side of the aisle to see what does a bi-partisan measure look like in order to bring true immigration reform,” Jones, a Democrat, said in a statement.
“What are we, as a state and as a country? What message are we trying to send to students who are here legally, who are doing the right things to become productive members of society?” Jones added.
Zapata Velásquez’s detainment comes amid President Donald Trump’s aggressive crackdown on immigration across the country.
The president’s administration will now be able to carry out deportations even more rapidly after the Supreme Court issued a ruling this week allowing him to invoke the centuries-old Alien Enemies Act. The wartime law will allow his administration to remove alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to El Salvador. However, the administration has admitted in court filings that “many” of those sent to El Salvador didn’t have criminal records.
National lawmakers are speaking out for Zapata Velásquez, too.
“An international UF student here on an F-1 visa has become the Trump Admin’s latest kidnapping victim,” Florida Representative Maxwell Frost wrote in a statement. “Despite the fact that he was in the process of renewing his visa, Felipe Zapata Velasquez is being held at the Krome Detention Center and his family hasn't heard from him since April 1.”
The Independent has contacted ICE for comment.
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