The University of Florida international student arrested near campus and sent to an immigration detention center has returned to Colombia, according to a new statement from his mother there.Felipe Zapata Velásquez, 27, was arrested March 28 for driving with a U.S. driver’s license that had been suspended since January 2024 and with an outdated vehicle registration. He was taken to Jacksonville by federal immigration agents after his arrest and told he could await his case’s resolution in jail in the United States or sign his self-deportation and return to Colombia, according to an interview on April 2 with his mother, Claudia Velásquez, by NTN24. The University of Florida international student arrested near campus and sent to an immigration detention center has returned to Colombia, according to a new statement from his mother there.Felipe Zapata Velásquez, 27, was arrested March 28 for driving with a U.S. driver’s license that had been suspended since January 2024 and with an outdated vehicle registration. He was taken to Jacksonville by federal immigration agents after his arrest and told he could await his case’s resolution in jail in the United States or sign his self-deportation and return to Colombia, according to an interview on April 2 with his mother, Claudia Velásquez, by NTN24.

A University of Florida international student from Colombia who was renewing his student visa was arrested in a traffic stop and is being held by immigration agents in South Florida, his family says.A Gainesville police officer stopped Felipe Zapata Velásquez, 27, on March 28 driving near the UF football stadium and ticketed him because his sedan’s registration had expired in July 2024 and his driver’s license had expired in 2023, according to court records.

After the Trump administration announced plans to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans, many families were thrown into limbo — including that of one Florida Gulf Coast University student.

Pointing to the federal government’s power to regulate immigration, a U.S. district judge Friday temporarily blocked a new Florida law aimed at cracking down on undocumented immigrants.Miami-based Judge Kathleen Williams issued a 14-page decision granting a request for a temporary restraining order against the law, which the Republican-controlled Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis approved in February.

The recent controversy and confusion over immigration enforcement training for Fort Myers police may cost the long-time city attorney his job.Grant Alley has been attorney for the city of Fort Myers since the summer of 1995 — nearly 30 years.

City of Punta Gorda has mixed opinions at their city council meeting on Wednesday, March 19.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said his office would investigate Monday night's split vote by the Fort Myers City Council that will now block city police from entering into a federal government agreement on immigration operations.

Arguing the termination of Temporary Protected Status for non-citizen Haitians in the United State was unlawful, harmful, out of its purview and on a whim, a group of attorneys, immigrant advocates and Haitians themselves are suing Donald Trump, the Department of Homeland Security and its secretary Kristi Noem. The complaint was filed in court Friday.This is Round 2 for many Haitians who faced deportations under the first Trump administration. It is also Round 2 for many others.The complaint was filed Friday in the U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York, the same court that in 2019 enjoined the attempt the first Trump administration’s attempt to end TPS status for Haitians in 2017.

The Urban Institute found that immigrants worried about essential activities such as driving, talking to police, seeking health care services, or taking their children to school a month before Trump came back to the White House.