Newly released law enforcement video Tuesday shows police pulling over a University of Florida international student from Colombia whose family says he is now being held by immigration agents in South Florida.
In the body camera video, released under Florida’s public records law, Gainesville police officers acknowledge that the circumstances of the traffic stop will almost certainly prevent Felipe Zapata Velásquez, 27, from lawfully remaining in the United States.
“At some point, you’ve got to get some kind of consequence,” said officer Brandon Vidal. “That’s life.”
Zapata Velásquez was stopped on March 28 driving near the UF football stadium and ticketed because his sedan’s registration had expired in July 2024 and his driver’s license had expired in 2023, according to court records. The ticket identified one of the officers as Vidal, and the department said the other officer was Tyler Allen.
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Zapata Velásquez, a junior studying food and resource economics, had been living in Florida for four years, according to court records. He was previously ticketed in December 2023 for an expired registration and driving without a valid license, and never paid the traffic fines, court records showed.
Zapata Velásquez’s family did not immediately return phone messages or texts. The Colombia consulate’s office in Orlando also did not immediately return a phone message or email on Tuesday.
Zapata Velásquez was booked into the Alachua County Jail after the traffic stop. Within days, Zapata Velásquez was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to an interview his mother, Claudia Velásquez, did with NTN24 in Colombia.
"We never thought we would experience something like this,” she told the outlet. “It's too much for him, and for us, to have no information."
Zapata Velásquez was taken to Jacksonville by ICE agents after his arrest, where his mother said they gave him two options: go to jail and await his case’s resolution in immigration courts, or sign his self-deportation and go back to Colombia.
He chose to remain in the U.S. while his case was decided. He was taken Tuesday to Krome North Service Processing Center in Miami, one of five ICE detention centers in Florida, according to NTN24.
The video shows Vidal asking Zapata Velásquez for a driver’s license, as he handed over an ID from Colombia.
Asked if he had American identification documents, Zapata Velásquez said he was in the process of filing an I-20 form, which certifies an international student’s enrollment in an American school, because he transferred from Santa Fe College to UF.
Zapata Velásquez told Vidal that he had an F-1 student visa. He also said he hadn’t been back to Colombia for about one year.
The officers said they decided to arrest Zapata Velásquez because of his prior traffic citations and his decision to continue driving without a valid license. Vidal said Zapata Velásquez was driving using his Colombian credentials, knowing that his U.S. license had been suspended.
“He knew what he was doing,” Vidal said.
The newly released video was obtained by Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.
The video showed that the officers reviewed Zapata Velásquez’s driving record, noting his license had been suspended since early 2024 for failing to pay the earlier tickets. They said he knew he no longer had a valid license. In Florida, knowingly driving with a suspended license is a more serious violation than doing so accidentally.
The officers told Zapata Velásquez to step out of his car. They ticketed him then arrested him and placed him in the back of the police cruiser.
“There goes his ability to get another visa, though,” Allen said.
“Yeah, you ain’t kidding,” Vidal said. “I thought about that, too, which is the reason why I didn’t want to. I didn’t really want to, but then I saw it was indefinite and he got a previous citation with knowledge.”
“It’s kind of out of our hands,” Allen said.
A Democratic congressman, Rep. Maxwell Frost, whose district is in central Florida, said Zapata Velásquez had become the “latest victim” in what he called a kidnapping spree by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“Felipe Zapata Velásquez is just the latest victim of Trump’s disgusting campaign against immigrants,” Frost said in a statement. “What should have been a routine traffic stop, resulted in a nightmare as Felipe is now forced to live in the hell on Earth that is the Krome Detention Center while he awaits deportation orders.”
The lawmaker whose district includes the university, Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., has been a strong supporter of President Trump’s deportation plans.
A judge scheduled the arraignment for Zapata Velásquez in his criminal traffic case for the morning of April 16 in Gainesville. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he would be allowed to attend. The judge’s directive to Zapata Velásquez noted “mandatory court appearance required.”
At least 32 ICE holds have been placed on people arrested in Alachua County since March 2022, including 12 in 2025 alone so far.
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Florida Rep. Yvonne Hinson, D-Gainesville, said Zapata Velásquez’s detention by immigration authorities shouldn’t have happened over a traffic violation.
“Why not give a ticket, but to be detained for such an offense is outlandish and quite alarming,” she said in a statement. “Though the Department of State can revoke non-immigrant visas, including F-1 visas for arrests for certain offenses, such as driving under the influence, did registration and an expired license fall under the scope of arrest and detainment?”
Hinson said immigrants in Florida are “under attack now more than ever.”
The UF chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America said immigrants like Zapata Velásquez were being punished in ways that citizens aren’t.
“Across the country, international students are being ruthlessly punished for statements and actions for which they would never face serious material consequences as citizens,” the group said in a statement. “We believe in the right of migration and the freedom to study without the threat of imprisonment and deportation at every step.”
The student group attached a petition to hire an immigration attorney from the university’s Student Legal Services department, which had around 370 signatures. It also posted on Instagram an emergency protest urging ICE off campus at UF and demanding the university take action “to support Felipe and his family.”
Democratic lawmakers in South Florida, including Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., have asked the Homeland Security Department to allow them to visit the Krome Detention Center amid complaints by family members of immigrants about overcrowding and deteriorating conditions.
This story was produced by Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. The reporter can be reached at blunardini@ufl.edu.
