On its face, Rodriguez\u2019s residency background in the U.S. seemed devoid of any reason to force her to leave. There is no criminal background.\u00a0 She applied for political asylum six months\u00a0 after her arrival from life under the regime of then-President Nicolas Maduro. In 2023, she received Temporary Protected Status and went on to earn a graduate degree in business administration from St. Thomas University in Miami-Dade County.<\/p>\n
Arrested at the airport<\/p>\n
But last month, Rodriguez, a resident of Davie, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. She was headed to North Carolina to visit friends and watch the World Cup Final with them.<\/p>\n
Her first stop in U.S. custody: An eight-day detention stint at the ICE field office in Miramar. She was transferred on July 24 to the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach.<\/p>\n
Shortly after 5 p.m. on Monday, she was back in society, free after aggressive advocacy from U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman, D-Weston, whose district in Broward County is heavily populated by Venezuelans. The congresswoman received referrals to the case from Rodriguez\u2019s family members, friends and various other intermediaries.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so grateful and relieved that Claudia is with her family again,\u201d Wasserman Schultz said at a crowded emotionally charged news conference at her office in Sunrise on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was proud to help put a spotlight on her case, but there are 300,000 Florida families who had TPS ripped away just like Claudia, and they are just as vulnerable to the kind of cruel arrest and detention that she and her family just went through,\u201d Wasserman Schultz told reporters from both English and Spanish language media organizations. \u201cShe\u2019s clearly no threat to our community. And the atrocious pain and uncertainty that she and her family were put through, and all the immense, wasteful expense it costs taxpayers, are just appalling. The end of TPS means more and more of our neighbors will be targeted by ICE. I\u2019ll keep fighting to keep families like Claudia\u2019s together, and to put an end to Trump\u2019s racist cruelty. There are still too many Claudias going through this same horror.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was not immediately clear what triggered Rodriguez\u2019s arrest after being a lawful resident in the U.S. for nearly a decade, although the Trump Administration terminated TPS for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans last September.<\/p>\n
Equally unknown: Why Rodriguez was released less than a month after her arrest.<\/p>\n
![\"Claudia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/tfl-l-ice-claudia-release.jpg\")
Claudia Carolina Rodriguez Caglianone, of Davie, cries at a Tuesday news conference as she speaks about conditions inside an ICE facility in Miramar. She was detained at the facility for eight days. (Carline Jean\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
\nFoul conditions<\/p>\n
Last week, the administration, in an apparent effort to re-emphasize its determination to clear the country of foreign nationals who have resided in the U.S. for lengthy periods of time, canceled TPS for hundreds of thousands of Haitians, prompting mass layoffs across a broad spectrum of industries in South Florida and elsewhere around the nation.<\/p>\n
![\"Family](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/tfl-l-ice-claudia-release2.jpg\")
Family member Gabriel Dominguez, left, and Claudia Carolina Rodriguez Caglianone, of Davie, speak with Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz about conditions at ICE facilities during a Tuesday news conference in Sunrise. (Carline Jean\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n