{"id":582207,"date":"2026-04-13T19:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T19:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/582207\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T19:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T19:46:09","slug":"2-south-texas-doctors-detained-by-ice-spark-outcry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/582207\/","title":{"rendered":"2 South Texas doctors detained by ICE spark outcry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two doctors serving one of Texas\u2019 most physician-starved regions have been\u00a0detained by immigration authorities<\/a>, sparking outrage from lawmakers and medical groups who warn the arrests could worsen an already healthcare shortage.<\/p>\n

On Monday, April 6, U.S. Border Patrol agents detained Dr.\u00a0Ezequiel Velize, a doctor from Venezuela, at a roadside checkpoint as he was traveling from the Rio Grande Valley to Houston. Just days later, Dr.\u00a0Rubeliz \u201cBibi\u201d Bolivar \u2014 also from Venezuela \u2014 was detained at the McAllen International Airport as she and her 5-year-old daughter were traveling to a previously scheduled asylum interview in California. Both physicians had obtained legal status to be in the United States, though Veliz\u2019s work permit had recently expired, according to a GoFundMe<\/a> post by his husband, Joseph Williams.<\/p>\n

The detention of the two doctors was announced on social media by U.S. Rep\u00a0Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, who said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement\u2019s targeting of such professionals is \u201cdestroying lives\u201d and hurting a region that is \u201cseverely underserved\u201d when it comes to access to medical care.<\/p>\n

\u201cICE is not going after the worst of the worst, they are targeting people like Dr.\u00a0Veliz, who has been living in the U.S. for nine years, married to a U.S. citizen, and meeting the healthcare needs of a severely underserved population,\u201d Castro wrote in an April 9 Facebook post.<\/p>\n

Dr.\u00a0Veliz is an award-winning physician who worked at Knapp Medical Center in Weslaco as a resident doctor of UT Health RGV. In 2025, Veliz was recognized as the program\u2019s \u201cbest resident doctor,\u201d according to his husband<\/a>. Veliz was part of the family medicine residency program, according to his LinkedIn, and had previously earned a medical degree from La Universidad Central de Venezuela. Veliz has been in the U.S. for about nine years and had entered the country legally.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, due to a recent federal visa pause,\u00a0Ezequiel\u2019s work permit renewal was halted and he was unexpectedly detained,\u201d the GoFundMe post reads.<\/p>\n

Currently,\u00a0Veliz is being held in a migrant detention facility in McAllen.<\/p>\n

Dr. Bolivar is an emergency room physician who works for South Texas Health Systems (STHS), one of the largest hospital systems in the Valley. On Saturday, April 11, Bolivar was traveling to meet her husband in California, where the couple were scheduled to attend an asylum interview, according to a GoFundMe campaign<\/a> launched by her family. Bolivar and her 5-year-old daughter \u2014 a U.S. citizen \u2014 were detained by immigration officials at the airport, according to reporting by The New York Times. The child was ultimately released to a relative later that day.<\/p>\n

Bolivar has been in the United States lawfully for a decade and had a work permit that was valid through 2030, her husband told the Times.<\/p>\n

Castro hasn\u2019t been the only one to condemn the detention of the two doctors. Victor \u201cSeby\u201d Haddad, a McAllen city commissioner who is now seeking a seat in the Texas House of Representatives, sharply criticized the detention of health care professionals \u201cwho followed every legal protocol.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAn attack on one of our physicians is an attack on the dignity of the entire\u00a0RGV,\u201d Haddad said on Facebook<\/a>. Haddad\u2019s father is an immigrant and doctor.<\/p>\n

The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) also weighed in, describing the detention of doctors like Bolivar as a \u201cthreat\u201d to local communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cDetaining physicians who are here legally and serving communities in need of vital emergency care is not targeted enforcement. It is a threat to the health of the American people, and it must stop,\u201d\u00a0ACEP President Dr. L. Anthony Cirillo said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two doctors serving one of Texas\u2019 most physician-starved regions have been\u00a0detained by immigration authorities, sparking outrage from lawmakers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253,255147,78758,13569],"class_list":{"0":"post-582207","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare","11":"tag-mysapolitics","12":"tag-mysasotx","13":"tag-mysastaff"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}