10/31/2025
Finally, some facts about what happened at the ICE facility this week. This is an unacceptable way to treat children and families and not what our country is about. I’m so incredibly proud of this community supporting a family in need. We must continue to demand their release and reunification with their mother and wife. We must demand that human dignity and the rule of law be respected. We must not let this become normalized.
STATEMENT FROM
COMPAÑEROS: FOUR CORNERS IMMIGRANT RESOURCE CENTER
Compañeros: Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center is sharing the testimony of the Jaramillo Patiño family, who describe enduring 36 hours inside what they called a dungeon in the Durango ICE office. This testimony comes from their current location in the family detention center in Dilley, Texas. The family consists of the father, Fernando Jaramillo Solano, and his two children, Jana Michel Jaramillo Patiño, age 12, and Kewin Daniel Patiño Bustamante, age 15. The Jaramillo Patiño family is in the United States under an active asylum case, which means they have the legal right to remain in the country while that case proceeds, and they have complied with every requirement of the process, including scheduled check-ins, document submissions, and legal representation. There was no arrest warrant for Fernando, and there were no accusations of criminal behavior against any member of the family. Compañeros can confirm that immigration agents were seeking another individual entirely and misidentified and detained this family instead.
According to the family, they were held in a small windowless room where the lights remained on at all times. They were not permitted to step outside and did not see sunlight for the entire 36 hours they were held. The only toilet available was an open toilet in the same room, offering no privacy. Jana, who is 12 years old, was held in this space surrounded exclusively by men, without any staff trained to safeguard the rights and well-being of children, and without the presence of a social worker or a female agent to ensure her safety and dignity. The family reports that during those 36 hours they were given only potato chips and water. These conditions reinforce serious concerns that the Durango ICE office is not equipped to detain adults and is certainly not equipped to detain children.
“They did not put us in a holding room,” Fernando said. “They put us in a dungeon. There was no daylight. There was no air. There was no rest. They gave us potato chips and water. That is all we had. Every time I asked what would happen to my children, or if they could have something to eat, they hit us. They told me I did not matter. They told me my children did not matter.” His voice trembled as he spoke.
The children expressed the same fear. Kewin said he felt tortured and abused by the ICE agents in Durango. They left his hands swollen and bruised by how tight his handcuffs were. He also said that each time his father asked what would happen to them, the agents would beat him too. Jana, crying over the phone, shared that at one point she heard the voices of the community outside. “I heard the song you told the crowd to play. I heard the song, Mommy.” Kewin, bruised and scraped from the treatment he endured, asked his mother in confusion, “Why, Mom? What did we do? Why are we being treated like this?”
The family says that inside the Durango ICE office they were told that the children would be separated from their father, and witnesses outside also saw preparations to separate them. Today we can confirm that the father remained with his two children the entire time. Although the separation did not occur, the family believes it was the presence of the community that prevented it, and they want to express their profound gratitude.
The father later told his wife, asking her forgiveness for not being able to protect the children in the way he wished, saying, “My love, I did everything I could to protect them, but they beat me. I have bruises all over my body. I did everything I could to take care of them, but I could not.” His words were filled with helplessness and deep sadness.
“We were tortured. We did not see sunlight. The three of us were confined in a tiny cell, with no food, and with our hands, waist, and feet shackled. We were devastated. But when they finally took us outside and we saw all the people supporting us, we felt strength return. That sight filled me with hope and gave me the courage to keep going. From inside the black car, I tried to wave to everyone to say thank you, so many thanks, but I do not think anyone saw us. I am deeply grateful for every person who stood with us. I never could have imagined that kind of support,” Fernando said.
Compañeros and many others want to recognize the hundreds of community members who gathered outside the ICE office: immigrant families, neighbors, teachers, students, workers still in uniform, elders sitting in chairs wrapped in blankets, and children holding signs. People drove in from pueblos, reservations, and towns across Southwest Colorado. They stayed through the night. They prayed. They sang. They refused to leave.
The family also wanted to thank the demonstrators for something deeply meaningful: finding a way to play Jana’s favorite song in one of the worst moments of her life. In that moment, she felt joy. She felt her mother’s love. She felt held by her community. Thank you for giving her that light in the darkness.
Once in Dilley, Texas, the treatment changed. The family shared that officers there loosened the handcuffs, asked if the children were hungry, and gave them food and water. Compañeros emphasizes that this detail is not shared to praise ICE, but to demonstrate the severity and unnecessary nature of the suffering in Durango. The contrast makes clear that cruelty is not automatic. Cruelty is a decision. What happened in Durango was cruelty.
The father and his two children are now at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. They are together, but without their mother. They are not safe. Their conditions are still harsh. Their future remains uncertain. This facility remains a detention center. The children are still living with fear. The trauma they endured in Durango did not end when they left. Their asylum case continues, and their well-being remains at risk every day they are detained.
To everyone who watched, who cried, who prayed, who showed up, who made food, who held Estella Patiño while she waited for word, who stood in the cold, who held the line, THANK YOU SO MUCH.
To those who have not yet joined us, the time to join is now. Not later. Now.
And to the Republican leadership who currently hold the power to intervene in this case, we speak to you directly and with respect: This is not about party. This is not about political debate. This is not about immigration policy. These are children experiencing state sanctioned violence and trauma. They were held in a dark makeshift cell in Durango, and they remain in danger today. You have the power to help reunite this family in safety. We ask you to use it.
We urge our Republican elected officials, RRep. Jeff Hurd CCongressman Gabe Evans and State Sen. Cleave Simpson, to utilize their full political power and resources to ask their party colleagues and ICE to grant parole and ensure this family is released tday.
While we recognize that parole is granted at the discretion of ICE, we emphasize that this family can be released at any moment if ICE so chooses. The father and his two children pose no danger to society, and we are confident they do not intend to flee from the authorities.
We call upon every human being to urge their political representatives (from both sides) to ask ICE to grant this family parole and ensure they are released today.
Finally, we emphasize that Fernando Jaramillo Solano has no criminal record, and neither of his children has ever been involved in any criminal matters. They are believers in God, respectful of the laws, and are active, valued members of our community, where we recognize their significant contributions.
It is time to bring them home.
