'Animal in a zoo.' Venezuelan woman describes South Florida immigration detention

Claudia Carolina Rodriguez Caglianone, a 29-year-old Venezuelan woman with a pending asylum case who was granted Temporary Protected Status in 2023, was detained by immigration agents at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in July as she prepared to board a domestic flight, the Miami Herald reported. She spent eight days at the ICE office in Miramar — despite a waiver that allows ICE to hold people there for no more than 72 hours — where she said dozens of women slept on the floor without showers and were given food that was sometimes expired or moldy, saying she felt like "an animal in a zoo." She was transferred to the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach and released Monday evening after advocacy from U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz; a DHS spokesperson said she had overstayed her visa and denied her account of detainees suffering miscarriages.