November 07, 2025 10:51 AM UTC

Another Botched ICE Arrest In Durango Fuels Outrage

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• by: Colorado Pols

For the past ten days, a significant controversy has been brewing in the southwest Colorado town of Durango over an arrest by federal immigration agents of a father and his two school-age children on their way to class, an incident that provoked large protests and reported instances of violence against demonstrators, as well as allegations that the children abducted by federal agents were being abused. In response, as Denver7’s Micah Smith reports, lawmakers from both parties are asking for Fernando Jaramillo-Solano, an asylum seeker from Colombia with no criminal record, to be released from custody along with his kids:

Democratic U.S. Senators Michael Bennet, John Hickenlooper and a representative for Republican Congressman Jeff Hurd said they are working to secure the release of Fernando Jaramillo-Solano, 45, along with his two children, ages 12 and 15…

Last week, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation launched an investigation into an incident involving a video showing a federal agent grabbing a protesters phone, throwing it, grabbing her by the neck, and then slamming her to the ground.

On Monday, Sen. Michael Bennet demanded Jaramillo-Solano’s immediate release along with his children after ICE admitted they were arrested by mistake:

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— Michael Bennet (@bennet.senate.gov) November 3, 2025 at 4:12 PM

And then yesterday, as FOX 31’s Heather Willard reports, ICE responded by denying that Jaramillo-Solano’s arrest was mistaken at all:

“Let’s set the record straight,” ICE said in a statement provided to FOX31. “ICE did not mistakenly arrest anyone.”

But in the very next sentence, ICE admits that’s exactly what they did:

The agency said that it had “conducted a targeted enforcement operation” during which agents saw Jaramillo-Solano and determined he “matched the description of the individual targeted for arrest.” After initiating the traffic stop, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations agents “quickly determined that Jaramillo-Solano was not the intended target but was an illegal alien nonetheless.” [Pols emphasis]

The problem is, Jaramillo-Solano is not an “illegal alien.” Jaramillo-Solano has a valid asylum claim. Jaramillo-Solano has no criminal record. In every way, Jaramillo-Solano is an example of the kind of immigrant who Republicans like Rep. Gabe Evans claim should not be targeted for deportation–and that’s why he wasn’t a target. Jaramillo-Solano was arrested because he looks like a migrant ICE officials were targeting, and when they realized they had a different brown guy, they decided to keep him and his kids in jail anyway. All of their excuses boil down to a simple case of mistaken racial profiling.

ICE’s revised position that the arrest of Jaramillo-Solano was not a mistake is similar to their questionable handling of the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who the government initially admitted was deported to El Salvador’s infamous CECOT prison in error–only to retract that admission, and then go to absurd lengths to justify his deportation after the fact. The lesson appears to be that if you are mistakenly caught up in ICE’s dragnet, rather than admit their error, the Trump administration will simply double down on your punishment in order to shut you up.

Like the case of Abrego Garcia, however, ICE’s extreme arrogance after initially conceding error is only making the situation more politically toxic for Republicans. The story of Jaramillo-Solano and his children locked up after being mistakenly plucked off the street on their way to school is now part of a national narrative that is turning against Trump on an issue that he capitalized on with success in the 2024 elections. Deporting hardened criminals is popular and politically defensible. Abducting innocent brown people and their kids on the way to school, and then refusing to acknowledge their mistake while rushing to cover it up by deporting the whole family, is why the voting public has turned against Trump on immigration along with his other once-bedrock issues like the economy.

This isn’t how we do things in America.