{"id":13947,"date":"2026-01-16T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/family-seeking-asylum-in-durango-reunites-in-colombia\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:42:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:42:39","slug":"family-seeking-asylum-in-durango-reunites-in-colombia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/family-seeking-asylum-in-durango-reunites-in-colombia\/","title":{"rendered":"Family seeking asylum in Durango reunites in Colombia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Fernando
Fernando Jaramillo-Solano and his 12- and 15-year-old children were greeted by family at an airport in Bogota, Colombia\u2019s capital, in mid-December. (Courtesy of Fernando Jaramillo-Solano)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A family that sought legal asylum in the United States before their hopes were dashed by federal immigration enforcement in October has reunited in their home country of Colombia.<\/p>\n

Fernando Jaramillo-Solano, 45, and his two 12- and 15-year-old children arrived at El Dorado International Airport in Bogota, Colombia\u2019s capital, on Dec. 9 or 10, said Liza Tregillus of the Apoyo Immigrant Partner Team.<\/p>\n

Tregillus worked with the family throughout their asylum case and is still in contact with them. She served as a liaison between The Durango Herald<\/em>, Jaramillo-Solano and his wife, Estella Pati\u00f1o, for this story.<\/p>\n

\n

Newsletter signup<\/h4>\n

To receive daily or breaking news alerts, visit www.durangoherald.com\/newsletter-signup\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The couple gave their consent to share their story despite their ongoing fears for Pati\u00f1o\u2019s safety and well-being.<\/p>\n

The family was removed from the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, at midnight Dec. 9 after spending more than a month there and transferred with other families awaiting deportation to an airport \u2013 Jaramillo-Solano said he did not know which one \u2013 where a Colombian plane awaited.<\/p>\n

They arrived at the airfield in shackles, Tregillus said, and left uncuffed.<\/p>\n

\"Fernando
Fernando Jaramillo-Solano is greeted with a hug from a family member after arriving at El Dorado International Airport in Bogota, Colombia, in mid-December. (Courtesy of Fernando Jaramillo-Solano)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cColumbia actually sent a flight to pick them up because they don\u2019t like the people arriving in shackles. They had been turning (U.S.) flights away,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Jaramillo-Solano and his children, along with a mother and her two children, boarded the plane and were promptly given food and clothing. He said he was moved by the sudden show of hospitality.<\/p>\n

Soon after, two buses full of more deportees \u2013 one busload of men and another of women \u2013 arrived. The people disembarked the buses in shackles, which were soon removed, and boarded the plane.<\/p>\n

Family members greeted Jaramillo-Solano and his children upon their arrival in Bogota with hugs and a banner that read, \u201cBienvenidos a casa\u201d \u2013 or Welcome home.<\/p>\n

In a video recorded by the welcome party, Jaramillo-Solano hugs his wife Estella Pati\u00f1o\u2019s oldest daughter.<\/p>\n

Arrest and detention gets attention in court<\/div>\n

Pati\u00f1o herself was not present for the reunion. She was still in Durango in an undisclosed safe house, unsure of how to proceed with her active asylum case, Tregillus said.<\/p>\n

The Pati\u00f1o-Solano family had lived in Durango for 18 months as they waited for their asylum claim to be processed. It was the strongest asylum case Tregillus had ever seen, she said.<\/p>\n

But a fateful case of mistaken identity led to the arrest of Jaramillo-Solano and his children by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement agents on their way to school on Oct. 27.<\/p>\n

Just days later, The Denver Post<\/em> reported ICE-Denver\u2019s third-ranking agent acknowledged in federal court proceedings<\/a> officers didn\u2019t realize they were pulling over Jaramillo-Solano when they mistook him for another person, but proceeded to arrest him without a warrant anyway.<\/p>\n

Later, as reported by The Colorado Sun, a federal judge ruled ICE\u2019s method of arresting people without warrants and without probable cause that the person is a flight risk is \u201cunlawful.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

The lawsuit was filed by the Meyer Law Office, American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado and Olson Grimsley Kawanabe Hinchcliff & Murray LLC on behalf of four people arrested by ICE last year.<\/p>\n

The plaintiffs submitted Jaramillo-Solano\u2019s and his children\u2019s arrests as evidence ICE\u2019s \u201cillegal\u201d arrest practices are widespread, The Denver Post<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n

In his ruling favoring the plaintiffs, the federal judge said three of the plaintiffs \u201cnow represent a class that includes all people arrested since Jan. 20, 2025,\u201d according to The Colorado Sun.<\/p>\n

\"Protesters
Protesters linked arms as agents pull them away from the gates of an ICE facility in Durango on Oct. 28. (Josh Stephenson\/Special to the Herald file)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Jaramillo-Solano\u2019s and his children\u2019s arrests quickly spurred outrage in the Durango community. Protesters set up outside the ICE field office in Durango\u2019s Bodo Industrial Park the same morning of the arrest, determined to prevent agents from separating the family and leaving with the children.<\/p>\n

Federal officers responded to the protest \u2013 which included some demonstrators linking arms and blocking the facility entrance and exit \u2013 with pepper spray and rubber bullets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Allegations soon emerged that detention staff members had abused the family, including claims that an ICE agent inappropriately touched Jaramillo-Solano\u2019s daughter\u2019s chest<\/a>.<\/p>\n

An ICE spokesperson said all reports of misconduct are taken seriously. Requests by the Herald<\/em> for ICE\u2019s policies regarding detention of minors and engagement with protests were not returned.<\/p>\n

Search for asylum not over<\/div>\n

Pati\u00f1o has since returned to Colombia, but her troubles aren\u2019t over, Tregillus said. Pati\u00f1o has sent her videos of suspicious men lurking outside her temporary residence.<\/p>\n

Pati\u00f1o sought asylum from Colombia in the U.S. to begin with because of the threat to her life from guerrilla forces opposing the Colombian government.<\/p>\n

Seven of Pati\u00f1o\u2019s family members, including her first husband, uncle and grandfather, have been killed for political reasons, Tregillus said.<\/p>\n

\"The
The arrests of Fernando Jaramillo-Solano and his children spurred outrage among several in Durango on Oct. 27. Protests outside the ICE field office where the family was detained turned violent the afternoon of Oct. 28 when federal officers used pepper spray and rubber bullets on protesters. (Josh Stephenson\/Special to the Herald file)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The U.S. Department of State ranks its travel advisory for Colombia at Level 3 \u2013 \u201cReconsider travel\u201d \u2013 and notes some areas of the country are ranked at Level 4 \u2013 \u201cDo not travel.\u201d<\/p>\n

It cites violent crime such as \u201cmurder, assault, and robbery;\u201d organized crime such as \u201cextortion, robbery, and kidnapping;\u201d and terrorist violence.<\/p>\n

Tregillus acknowledged the sentiment shared by some that if an asylum-seeker returns to his or her country of origin, then their asylum claim must not have been serious.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t see anything more serious than having lost multiple family members,\u201d she said. \u201cNo. 1, she chose to be reunited with her family because her daughter had been molested by an ICE agent and she wanted to comfort her daughter whose mental health has been quite fragile after their arrest and six weeks of detention.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pati\u00f1o is looking to seek asylum abroad again \u2013 but likely not in the U.S., Tregillus said.<\/p>\n

\"Fernando
Fernando Jaramillo-Solano\u2019s 12-year-old daughter is greeted by family members after arriving at El Dorado International Airport in Bogota, Colombia, in mid-December. The family was arrested and detained by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement in Durango in October and spent about six weeks in a Texas immigrant detention facility. (Courtesy of Fernando Jaramillo-Solano)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Money initially raised in a GoFundMe campaign for the family\u2019s legal fees following the arrest of the father and children are being held for the family\u2019s future asylum efforts.<\/p>\n

The family, who once believed they could safely build new lives in the U.S., have lost their trust in a system that tore them apart<\/a>, Tregillus said.<\/p>\n

She said she\u2019s certain Jaramillo-Solano and his children would have eventually been released from ICE detention given the strength of their case. But Jaramillo-Solano could not bear the thought of his children waiting for months \u2013 and risking separation in the process \u2013 before they were freed, especially with no guarantee they wouldn\u2019t be arrested again.<\/p>\n

cburney@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

two \u2013 unsafe in home country \u2013 seeks new options<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1357,28,714,904,52,994],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-contests","tag-headlines","tag-human-interest","tag-immigration","tag-law-enforcement","tag-trueanthem"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13947"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19244,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13947\/revisions\/19244"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13947"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}