Colombian pro-Trump lawmaker asks Petro for help after ICE arrests her son
The episode has drawn political scrutiny in Colombia because Vergara belongs to a Conservative Party wing that has openly aligned itself with the US Republican Party
Colombian Conservative congresswoman Ángela Vergara says her 22-year-old son, Rafael Alfonso Vergara, has been detained in the United States by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and had spent “18 days jailed and chained” when she first went public.
In a social media video, Vergara said her son was “waiting for his legal situation” to be resolved, held a work permit and a Social Security number, and had no criminal record or even traffic violations. She claimed he was stopped on a road in Louisiana in the early hours and taken into custody after officers identified him as an immigrant.
The episode has drawn political scrutiny in Colombia because Vergara belongs to a Conservative Party wing that has openly aligned itself with the US Republican Party. She rejected online claims that she had celebrated Latino deportations or called for a US military intervention in Colombia, describing those allegations as falsehoods.
Vergara has also urged President Gustavo Petro’s government to step in to speed up repatriation flights for Colombians held in US detention facilities. In a letter to Foreign Minister Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio, she asked the administration to bolster coordination of humanitarian flights — including support from the Colombian Air Force — to prevent people from remaining indefinitely in detention centers after requesting voluntary departure or when no proceedings are pending, EFE reported.
Colombia recently restarted such repatriation flights after a period of bilateral friction, sparked when Petro criticized conditions for deportees arriving in handcuffs. In the United States, Vergara’s complaint comes amid a broader enforcement drive. Reuters reported that the White House began drawing down “Operation Metro Surge” in Minnesota after weeks of backlash over heavy-handed tactics and federal-agent shootings that triggered nationwide outrage and protests.
| Angela Vergara, congresista del @soyconservador (partido pro EEUU), sube este video llorando porque el ICE tiene detenido a su hijo.
— Roi Lopez Rivas (@RoiLopezRivas) February 14, 2026
