A 15-year-old boy and his father were “beaten, handcuffed and forced to sign documents” after being arrested Monday in Durango by federal immigration officers, the boy’s mother told an immigrant services nonprofit.
Estela Patiño said she spoke with her son, Kewin Daniel Patiño Bustamante, in a phone call shortly after 10 p.m. Monday – the last time she has heard from him as of Wednesday morning, according to Compañeros: Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center.
She said she has not spoken with her 12-year-old daughter, Jana Michel Jaramillo Patiño, since the arrest.
In an open letter to Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, Compañeros identified the father as Fernando Jaramillo Solano.
Durango Police Department officers attempted a welfare check on Kewin after receiving a report of possible abuse by federal agents but were denied entry to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office on Tuesday, the city said in a news release.
Compañeros expressed concern that Jana was being held in the custody of only men, calling it “not just terrible” but “inhumane” and a violation of “every prevailing human right for children.”
“These children are just children; they bear NO responsibility of any kind,” Compañeros said in a Facebook post.
The group described Solano as an “honest and hardworking individual” who works more than 80 hours a week at two cleaning companies and a hotel.
Solano has no criminal record, nor do his wife or children, and the family is seeking asylum in the United States, according to Compañeros.
The family, originally from Colombia, has lived and worked in Colorado for more than 18 months, and their asylum case remains open and active, according to Compañeros.
In an interview Wednesday with The Durango Herald, Patiño said she feels like she is “drowning” and “choking.” She said the arrests by immigration agents felt like an attack on her entire experience in the United States.
She spoke in Spanish, with Liza Tregillus of the Apoyo Immigrant Partner Team providing English translation.
“It’s destroyed her life,” Tregillus said of the arrests.
Patiño said her family came to the U.S. seeking protection. In Colombia, she said, they lived under threat of being killed. Now, she feels the same persecution – this time with her children as targets.
Patiño began to cry.
“It’s reminding me of the worst year I spent in Colombia,” she said. “I feel attacked. Complete loss of safety.”
She said the arrests of her partner and children triggered memories of relatives who were attacked in Colombia.
“To be in a place where she thought she could be helped and have safety and asylum, instead she is experiencing the same feelings all over again,” Tregillus said.
Kewin, Jana and Solano were arrested Monday morning on their way to school and taken to the ICE field office in Durango’s Bodo Industrial Park. Their arrest sparked a protest lasting more than 24 hours.
By noon Tuesday, more than 200 people had gathered outside the field office’s barbed-wire fence.
Protest signs read “Resist fascism,” “You’re the bad guys, go away ICE,” and “Let them out!”
Protesters chanted “Free the kids – and the dad,” strummed guitars, pounded drums and sang.
Protesters – ranging from teens to white-haired adults – formed a human chain at two entrances to the field office Monday night at 32 Sheppard Drive. Volunteers donated food, coffee and blankets as protesters hunkered down for a cold night.
Many protesters wore masks. Some blew whistles just before daybreak Tuesday as a vehicle arrived to deliver food to the family.
ICE agents exited the building, and a confrontation ensued.
Tensions escalated around noon Tuesday, when federal agents used pepper spray and rubber bullets to clear protesters from the gates.
Once the gates were cleared, several black vans – thought to be carrying Kewin and Jana – left the facility. Protesters flung milk cartons and loose trash.
Protesters’ singular goal was to prevent ICE from removing children and separating the family. Once the vans left, the crowd dispersed, believing the children had been taken away.
But Tregillus said a Colorado Rapid Response Network confirmer saw a white van enter the facility and later leave with all three family members after the protesters had gone.
Beatriz Garcia Waddell, Western Slope organizer for the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, confirmed the same story.
On Monday, Compañeros said the children believed they would be separated from their father – sent to Texas while he would go elsewhere.
But Tregillus said she and Patiño called the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, on Wednesday morning and learned all three were being taken there together.
“That is a huge relief,” Tregillus said, adding that it remains unfair.
She said ICE agents falsely claimed that if Patiño had a legal representative and an active asylum case, her partner and children would be released. But that didn’t happen.
Patiño attended the protest and watched from the sidelines, hoping demonstrators could stop agents from taking her children, Tregillus said.
As the vans passed, she collapsed and wailed in despair.
“It’s destroyed her life,” Tregillus said. “I have never been present with such awful grief in my life as when she saw them.”
Apoyo is providing Patiño with safe places to stay while an attorney, funded by the group, assesses the family’s case, Tregillus said. But Tregillus said Patiño feels unsafe despite having a strong asylum case.
Patiño is now requesting her husband and children to be allowed to self-deport to Colombia. But in all likelihood, they will be stuck in detention for months given a backlog of cases.
“Bad news: once you’re detained, even if you want to self-deport, it can be weeks or even months,” Tregillus said. “Sometimes the family must go back to court and ask for a removal order.”
Bonds are not being issued for detainees awaiting court dates, she said.
“Many get sent back anyway,” she said. “But having to wait in a detention center is not a choice this family wants to accept.”
She said more than 25 local children have lost a parent to ICE removals.
“It is completely, just beyond...” Tregillus said, at a loss for words. “To call this a solution to any immigration problem... . We are punishing people who did not design the system, that does not help them get an answer as to whether they can legally be here or not.”
Drawing on her experience as a play therapist, she said removing a child’s parents is one of the most damaging things someone can do to a young child’s mental health.
In response to Tuesday’s protest, ICE questioned demonstrators’ motives, touted the arrests of three “criminal aliens” unrelated to the Patiño-Solano family, and repeated a disputed claim from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi that assaults on ICE agents have risen by 1,000%.
ICE detains three with criminal backgrounds in Durango area
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson named three individuals with criminal backgrounds it arrested in the Durango area, as follows:
Juan Lorenzana-Ruvalcaba, 41, of Mexico. He was arrested for criminal penetration of a child and aggravated battery, and prosecution is pending for felony manufacturing, distributing or dispersing of a controlled substance.
Anderson Tovar-Perez, 29, of Venezuela. Tovar-Perez was convicted of child abuse and driving while intoxicated.
Daniel Rivera-Munoz, 36, of Mexico. He was convicted of “illegal alien possession of a firearm” and has been arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and felony possession of a controlled substance.
“What these protestors (sic) hope to achieve by chaining the gates of a federally leased property is unclear,” the spokesperson said. “Their actions do nothing to serve the detainees they claim to support or the community, instead delaying lawful processes and creating unnecessary risks for everyone involved.”
ICE said in a statement that it respects First Amendment rights to peaceful protest but added that extreme protesters often misrepresent the agency’s mission.
“Calls to abolish ICE or obstruct its operations inadvertently support the release of dangerous individuals with no legal right to remain in the U.S., including those convicted of violent crimes, drug trafficking, child exploitation, and other serious offenses,” the spokesperson said.
ICE described Solano as “an illegal alien from Colombia” who entered the U.S. on Dec. 22, 2024, near San Diego.
Asked why Solano and his children – who have an open asylum case and no criminal records – were arrested, the spokesperson said ICE “cannot comment on an individuals asylum claims” and noted that a pending asylum claim does not prevent arrest or removal.
The spokesperson did not answer questions about its policies for interacting with protesters and instead referred the Herald to another ICE media contact. That media contact did not respond to inquiries about policies for engaging protesters or standards of care for minors in its custody.
“ICE takes any allegations regarding professional misconduct seriously,” the spokesperson said when asked about alleged abuse of Solano and his son.
The ICE Office of Professional Responsibility investigates and takes action where warranted, the spokesperson said.
Tregillus said ICE is targeting people with asylum cases less than two years old, even if they have no criminal history. She said active asylum cases should not make someone eligible for deportation – and didn’t under President Joe Biden.
But she said the Trump administration is changing the rules, putting current asylees at risk of removal.
She suspects President Donald Trump is under pressure to fill detention center beds to justify their existence.
“There was no court order signed by a judge to detain him (Solano). So that’s illegal,” Tregillus said. “To detain the children as well is over-the-top. None of their civil rights were respected.”
cburney@durangoherald.com
