POMPANO BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A Venezuelan woman with temporary protected status is sharing her story after she was detained by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement and held at two of the agency’s South Florida facilities for nearly three weeks.
Claudia Rodriguez opened up about her ordeal on Monday during a news conference held at the Sunrise office of U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.
Rodriguez said she was detained by ICE agents at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport while trying to catch a flight to North Carolina back in July.
“I was about to board my flight and there were two officers. They said that I was going to be asked a few questions and then go home,” she recalled.
But that didn’t happen. From the airport, she was taken to a detention facility where she said that what she witnessed was inhumane, indicating that many of the people she was detained with, some of whom have cancer, did not receive the necessary medical care.
“I felt like an animal in a zoo,” she said. “It’s hard because they don’t make it easy for [the other detainees]. It is not easy for them,” said Rodriguez.
Rodriguez was released from the ICE facility in Miramar on Monday afternoon and is now back with family. She told reporters that she is not sure what the future holds.
“I do not feel safe. I do not feel safe because I have also heard stories that people have gotten out and taken back again by not doing anything. They’re just being taken,” she said.
Rodriguez has been in the U.S. with her family since 2017 when she arrived from Venezuela. She had a visa and later received TPS. During her time in the U.S., she has excelled academically, obtaining her master’s degree from St. Thomas University.
“I’m Venezuelan and I feel for Venezuela but my home is here. This is where I call home,” she said.
Her attorney was able to secure her release from federal custody. It’s unclear what exactly prompted her release, though she is wearing an ankle monitor.
Rodriguez’s cousin, Gabriel Dominguez, also spoke at the news conference.
“Going through that experience was just – it was the biggest gut punch we’ve faced together,” he said. “She’s my little cousin, and my job is to protect her, and to feel like I wasn’t able to do that is heartbreaking, and I know a lot of my family felt the same way.”
Dominguez said the whole family is happy that she’s back home.
“To have her home is just a feeling of relief, of joy, and a feeling of being able to protect her again,” he said. “It’s an unbelievable feeling. You try to look for silver linings, try to understand why these things happen and to have her home and being with the entire family is feeling overwhelmed with gratitude. Nobody wanted to let her go.”
Rodriguez has a pending asylum case and is awaiting a court date.
“I don’t feel safe, but I do feel strength. I have resilience, and I have all these people supporting me,” she said.
As Rodriguez awaits next steps in her immigration case, she vows to fight for her dignity and those in similar situations as her.
“I’m not scared because I know that I have not done anything wrong and I know that I have the right to fight for my rights,” she said.
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