Venezuelan doctor detained at Sarita checkpoint shares experience in immigration custody
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A Venezuelan doctor who worked in Weslaco is speaking out after spending 10 days in immigration custody. Dr. Ezequiel Veliz was released on bond and is now living in Houston with an ankle monitor.
Channel 5 News first reported on Dr. Veliz earlier this month. He and his husband were stopped at the Sarita Border Patrol checkpoint while leaving the Rio Grande Valley.
"I'm very happy when it comes to being released and free," Dr. Veliz said. "But it's still very stressful."
The former Knapp Medical Center doctor spent time at a Laredo immigration detention center before his release. He was detained at the checkpoint on April 10.
The Department of Homeland Security said he was detained because he overstayed a tourist visa that expired in August 2018. Dr. Veliz said he had crossed the checkpoint multiple times before by showing agents he had applied for a B-1 work visa.
"I've been in the Valley for two years working there, and during those two years I've been crossing the checkpoint with the same paperwork the entire time," Dr. Veliz said. "The last time I crossed the checkpoint was around December with the same paperwork. I traveled to the airport where there was Border Patrol, and they stopped me to ask some questions, and I showed them the same paperwork."
Dr. Veliz said federal agents at a Valley airport accepted those documents three weeks before Border Patrol detained him. He was held at a McAllen Border Patrol station for three days.
"So imagine you're there, you cannot move, you cannot shower, food is terrible, you're basically on the floor, lights are always on, you cannot sleep, and you're not having any type of any information whatsoever," Dr. Veliz said.
He was later transferred to a detention center in Laredo. While detained, he said others shared why they were there, and he noticed a pattern.
"Out of 10, eight of us had pending visa processes," Dr. Veliz said. "I met two to three green card holders, work permit holders. All of these people, most of them had something going on that allowed them to work in the United States."
Valley immigration attorney Wendoli Rodriguez, who does not represent Dr. Veliz, said she has noticed a similar pattern.
"Before a lot of people would travel with this work permit, and under the discretion of the immigration officers, they would not detain you, but now we are seeing the trend that people are getting detained no matter what," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez recommends people check with an immigration attorney before traveling by car or plane.
"We are advising our clients that as long as your case is pending, not to travel, and that's not only here in the Valley," Rodriguez said. "I would say in other cities from the U.S. we are seeing that trend that people are getting detained if you are without status pending any kind of application."
Dr. Veliz said he wishes he could return to the Valley to help people and finish his medical residency program.
"I do want to go back," Dr. Veliz said. "That's the community that I was serving; that is a community that is in need of healthcare professionals."
Dr. Veliz has an ICE check-in scheduled for Thursday, April 23, and an immigration court hearing on July 23.
RELATED STORY: A Venezuelan doctor in ICE custody misses husband's asylum interview after being detained at McAllen airport
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