Immigration Authorities Detain Another Venezuelan Doctor in Texas Along With Her 5-Year-Old Daughter

Following the arrest of Ezequiel Veliz, a Venezuelan doctor who was detained by immigration authorities last week, another Venezuelan doctor was taken into custody in Texas along with her 5-year-old daughter as they were trying to travel to California to attend a scheduled hearing related to her immigration status.

On April 11, authorities detained Rubeliz Bolivar, an emergency medicine resident at the South Texas Health System in McAllen, as she was traveling to join her husband for their asylum hearing scheduled for this week.

According to her husband, Milenko Faría, she was detained by Customs and Border Protection agents stationed at the McAllen airport. They asked whether they were U.S. citizens, to which Bolivar showed them her work permit, valid through 2030, but Faría said that was not enough.

"She showed them her work permit. They told her, 'That is not valid. No documents from Venezuela are valid.'" Faría said his wife told agents she had a pending asylum case and was also seeking a green card through her husband, but she was detained nonetheless.

In an interview with Telemundo, Faría said his wife has been in the U.S. for nearly a decade and reiterated that her work permit is valid until 2030.

"We still don't know exactly what happened. We had traveled through that airport before and never had any issues. The questions are routine, if you're a citizen, where you're from, and they let you through without a problem. But when the officer asked my wife those questions, the agent said her Venezuelan documents were not valid and decided to detain both of them."

The family told Telemundo that Bolivar and her 5-year-old daughter were taken to a detention center in McAllen, and after 16 hours, the child was released.

Faría told the outlet he was able to speak with his wife on April 12, and she said she had been transferred to an immigration detention center in the Rio Grande Valley.

"She has told me she is OK. She is a strong woman, but I can hear in her voice that deep down she is not well," Faría recounted.

Her husband said the support she has received from Rep. Joaquin Castro, activists and even members of the medical community is helping move her case forward quickly.

For her part, Rubemar Bolívar, the detained doctor's sister, told Telemundo they never imagined something like this could happen to her.

"When she handed over her documents to the officers and explained why she was traveling, they told her she was Venezuelan and that didn't matter."

According to Dr. Jesús Gaurecuco, director of the organization Médicos Unidos Venezuela, there are more than 2,000 Venezuelan doctors practicing in hospitals across the United States, although more than 90% of them have pending immigration status.

"It's something that causes a lot of concern. It destroys families and destroys dreams," Gaurecuco said.