Trump-supporting Colombian lawmaker criticizes ICE after son is held and shackled for 18 days
A Colombian congresswoman who has spent her political career championing Donald Trump’s hardline immigration agenda is now appealing to his administration to free her own son from an ICE detention centre.
Ángela Vergara, a member of Colombia’s Conservative Party, revealed last week that her 22-year-old son, Rafael Alfonso Vergara, had spent more than 20 days in custody at a facility in Louisiana.
She said he was detained by ICE agents as part of the US crackdown on immigration, thrusting the once-loyal Trump ally into an uncomfortable spotlight.
Vergara has also written to Colombian President Gustavo Petro seeking action to help repatriate citizens detained by ICE, drawing sharp criticism from political opponents who have pointed to the apparent contradiction between her party’s alignment with Trump and her current appeal.
From Trump Ally to ICE Critic
Vergara founded ‘Latinas for Trump’ and has openly supported the Republican Party and Trump’s hardline immigration policies throughout her political career. That record has made her son’s detention a focal point for critics online.
The case has sparked debate, with critics asking why Vergara, a member of a party that often supports Trump, began defending immigrants only after her son’s detention. She has firmly rejected accusations of hypocrisy.
‘Being a conservative politician doesn’t mean I agree with human rights violations in Colombia or anywhere else in the world,’ she told CNN.
Petro, a left-wing leader who has repeatedly clashed with Vergara politically, has nevertheless intervened on her behalf.
He shared a video that incorrectly identified a woman as Vergara, adding to confusion over the case. Separately, he addressed her son’s detention and asked the Colombian Embassy in Washington to provide consular assistance.
Inside the Louisiana Detention Centre
Rafael was detained not at the border but during a routine traffic stop. Vergara said ICE agents detained her son after a routine inspection while he was driving a commercial cargo truck in Louisiana, and that he had been held for more than 20 days at the River Correctional Detention Center.
She said he was detained at 4 a.m. on a public road after being identified as an immigrant. Speaking to CNN, the congresswoman described the facility’s conditions in stark terms, saying her son told her he was held with 70 people in a cell, that they went 12 hours without drinking water and that everyone inside was sick.
The congresswoman’s account has not been independently verified by IBTimes UK. She insists her son entered the US lawfully, saying Rafael had been living legally in the country with a work permit and paying into Social Security. She said he applied for asylum a year after arriving in 2022 and was awaiting a hearing scheduled for 2028.
CNN reported that it had contacted the US Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, for comment on the case. No response had been received by the time of publication.
A Mother’s Plea to Bogotá
Frustrated by the pace of the US process, Vergara turned to her own government for help.
On Feb. 14, 2026, she formally sent a letter to President Petro, the Foreign Ministry and the Fuerza Aérea Colombiana, requesting urgent measures to facilitate the repatriation of citizens who had already been authorised for voluntary departure but remained detained because of logistical delays.
The letter set out three specific requests.
Vergara called for a military-coordinated transfer, commercial flights supervised by consular officials for detainees able to pay, and bilateral cooperation to accelerate repatriations.
She stressed that she was not seeking to interfere in another country’s immigration procedures, but wanted to ensure that once detainees’ legal situations had been resolved, the Colombian state would help them return home in an organised manner that respected their rights.
Vergara presented the appeal as both political and personal, closing her letter by saying that she was speaking not only as a legislator but also as a mother, asking only that Colombian children be allowed to return to their country and reunite with their families.
Colombia had already signed an agreement to resume repatriation flights from the US, with the Foreign Ministry indicating that roughly one flight a week would operate in the following months.
Vergara has urged the pace to be increased, and Rafael Vergara’s continued detention has become a rallying point for dozens of Colombian families facing similarly prolonged detention under Washington’s tougher immigration enforcement.
Originally published on IBTimes UK