A Venezuelan doctor in ICE custody misses husband's asylum interview after being detained at airport

Bolivar, who worked as a doctor in an area federally designated as medically underserved, was arrested by Border Patrol agents at McAllen International Airport on Saturday. She was with their American-born daughter, preparing to board a flight to join her husband and attend their asylum interview together.

Bolivar, 33, was the second Venezuelan physician arrested in the area within the span of a week. On April 6, Dr. Ezequiel Veliz was detained by Border Patrol agents at a checkpoint in South Texas. After spending about ten days in detention, his attorney, Victor Badell, said he was able to successfully request a bond hearing and secure his release on Thursday after paying a bond of $8,000.

The arrests are part of President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies. Following an enforcement surge in Minnesota in January, in which two U.S. citizens died, the Department of Homeland Security has focused on less visible arrests.

Bolívar worked in the emergency room of a hospital in McAllen, city of about 150,000 in the Rio Grande Valley near the Mexican border, starting in June 2025, when she was accepted into her medical residency program.

“She was always focused on the community, and when she was accepted, it was an immense joy,” Faria, 36, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “We have never done anything outside the law. We have done everything by following the steps in accordance with the law to obtain permanent residency."

The husband said that she arrived at the U.S. with a tourist visa in 2016, after graduating from medical school in her native Venezuela.

Before her authorized period of stay expired, she was included in the asylum application filed by her husband, he said. Both are also seeking a green card through an application for skilled workers, processed by Faria’s employer, a California company where he has worked as an information systems technician since 2019.

The couple was beneficiary of Temporary Protected Status for Venezuela that shielded more than 600,000 Venezuelans from deportation. Trump terminated the protections for Venezuela, Haiti, Syria, Afghanistan, Nicaragua and other countries, a decision that has been challenged in federal court.

The Department of Homeland Security said that Bolivar was arrested because she was in the country illegally.

“She has overstayed her visa since 2017, nearly a decade, and had no legal status,” said DHS spokeswoman Lauren Bis.

Jodi Goodwin, an immigration attorney in South Texas, noted that around September or October 2025, she observed a change in policy regarding travel of individuals with pending applications before USCIS.

”It just became a very apparent trend where anyone that had some kind of application pending with USCIS, whether it was an adjustment of status or asylum, anything like that, they were going to be arrested,” said Goodwin.

Faria and Bolivar lived together in Santa Maria, California, until she moved to Texas in the summer of 2025 for her medical residency. He said he traveled every two months to visit his wife and daughter. The day of her arrest was the first time Bolívar had traveled since moving to Texas.

Bolivar was arrested by Customs and Border Protection officers before passing through transportation security screening, where she was asked to show her identification. She showed her driver’s license — bearing the “Real ID” endorsement required to domestic flights — and a work authorization valid until 2030.

She told them that she was adjusting status to a green card and was traveling to California for an asylum interview but the officer detained her after asking for her nationality and demanding that she provide proof of legal permanent residency, said Faria. He received text messages from his wife at the time she was being arrested.

Their 5-year-old daughter, a U.S. citizen, was also arrested and handed over to her grandfather 19 hours later. The girl is currently in California with her father.

The doctor was transferred to ICE custody on Sunday and is being held at El Valle Detention Facility in Texas.

She has asked several times why she was detained but has not received any response yet, Faria said.

Ezequiel Veliz, the other Venezuelan physician, came to the United States to become a doctor in 2018 under a tourist visa. His friend, Hector Ruiz, described him as a kind-hearted doctor who loves his pet cats and is devoted to his work.

Veliz adjusted his immigration status as a student and later as a doctor at a South Texas hospital in the Rio Grande Valley working under TPS. The pause in the protection status had immediate consequences on his two-year residency.

“He was one year and four months into that. He couldn’t continue working legally. He had to stop,” said Badell, his attorney.

He was waiting for a visa requested by the hospital when he was detained at a Border Patrol checkpoint traveling to Houston with his husband on April 6.

Associated Press writer Valerie Gonzalez contributed.