ICE mistakenly arrests father and two children and holds them 36 hours in 'torture' with shackles
An ICE officer admitted that agents were unaware that they were stopping Fernando Jaramillo-Solano on Monday morning in Durango while he was driving his two kids to school
A instance of mistaken identity led to the arrest of a Colorado man and his two children, which provoked demonstrations and outrage in the community.
In the meantime, the family had a grueling 36 hours in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Durango, according to a news release issued Friday by an immigrant assistance charity that included “testimony” from all three family members. During a court hearing in Denver on Friday on a lawsuit contesting ICE's arrest procedures in Colorado, the incorrect identity was disclosed.
According to the Denver Post, an ICE officer admitted that agents were unaware that they were stopping Fernando Jaramillo-Solano on Monday morning in Durango while he was driving his two kids to school. It comes after a heartbreaking clip showing ICE agents detain a mom in a Utah airport as as she tells them 'I have my papers!' emerged.
According to the Post, agents made the arrest without a warrant, which is not often necessary. Compañeros: The Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center verified that when federal authorities arrested the father, they were looking for someone else.
Compañeros claims that the family was mistreated, humiliated, and denied enough meals while in detention in Durango. Since then, Jaramillo-Solano, 45, and his kids, Kewin Daniel Patiño Bustamante, 15, and Jana Michel Jaramillo Patiño, 12, have been transported to a federal institution in Texas.
Following the family's detention, demonstrations broke out in front of ICE's field office in Durango on Monday and Tuesday. When federal agents deployed pepper spray and rubber bullets to remove demonstrators from the field office's gates around midday on Tuesday, tensions increased.
According to the release, Jaramillo-Solano's 12-year-old daughter was forced to use the single restroom in an open space with male cops around her.
Compañeros claimed that when Jaramillo-Solano asked questions, ICE officials hit him. According to his kid, the shackles were so tight that they caused his hands to swell and bruise.
“Every time I asked what would happen to my children, or if they could have something to eat, they hit us,” Jaramillo-Solano said in the release. “They told me I did not matter. They told me my children did not matter.”
His stay at the ICE field office was "torture," according to Jaramillo-Solano. “We did not see sunlight. The three of us were confined in a tiny cell, with no food, and with our hands, waist, and feet shackled,” he said. “We were devastated.”
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The three were moved Tuesday to a detention facility in Dilly, Texas, where the family said they were treated better. According to the announcement, Jaramillo-Solano and his family thanked the Durango demonstrators.
“When they finally took us outside and we saw all the people supporting us, we felt strength return,” he said. “That sight filled me with hope and gave me the courage to keep going. From inside the black car, I tried to wave to everyone to say thank you, so many thanks, but I do not think anyone saw us. I am deeply grateful for every person who stood with us. I never could have imagined that kind of support.”