<\/p>\n
Carlos Hugo Betancur is being held at the ICE processing center in Miramar.<\/p>\n
Provided to CBS News Miami<\/p>\n
A South Florida family is pleading for the release of a Colombian father who was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement while on his way to work despite having a pending political-asylum application, according to his daughter.<\/p>\n
Maria Alejandra Betancur said her father, Carlos Hugo Betancur, was recently detained while stopping for gas at a Marathon station on Northwest 58th Street in Doral.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel very worried and sad,\u201d Maria Alejandra Betancur told CBS News Miami.<\/p>\n
She says her father called her moments after ICE agents approached him and questioned him about his immigration status as he was pumping gas. She said the call was cut short when an officer took the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that moment, the ICE officer took the phone,\u201d she said. \u201cI asked, \u2018What is happening? What\u2019s your name?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
She said she heard her father say he was being taken to the Miramar ICE processing center before the call ended.<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked, \u2018Why are you detaining my dad?\u2019 He didn\u2019t answer,\u201d Maria Alejandra Betancur said. \u201cI asked again and again, and he just said, \u2018He\u2019s illegal here. He didn\u2019t have documentation.\u2019 I told him he has an asylum process.\u201d<\/p>\n
She showed, to CBS News Miami, documents that she said demonstrate her father filed for political asylum after arriving in the United States on Feb. 16, 2022. According to the paperwork, the asylum application was submitted in January 2023.<\/p>\n
She also provided copies of his employment-authorization card and Florida driver\u2019s license, saying she does not understand why her father was detained while apparently carrying out an ordinary stop for gas before work.<\/p>\n
Maria Alejandra Betancur says her father, Carlos Hugo Betancur, was recently detained while stopping for gas in Doral. CBS News Miami | July 2026 <\/p>\n
Doral City Councilwoman Maureen Porras, who is also an immigration attorney, said she is concerned about what she describes as an increase in immigration-enforcement actions involving people with pending immigration cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very concerning that we have ICE in our community picking up hardworking and law-abiding citizens,\u201d Porras said.<\/p>\n
Porras said she has seen cases involving individuals who have pending political-asylum applications or other forms of immigration relief but have been taken into custody.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something that\u2019s been happening,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have individuals that have pending political-asylum applications, have other pending applications for relief that have gotten picked up.\u201d<\/p>\n