A routine traffic stop at the intersection of Wiles Road and State Road 7 in Coconut Creek turned into a nine-day ordeal that has now stretched on for nearly two weeks, after immigration agents detained 36-year-old Jorge Luis Eliecer Ruiz on August 3 and instructed him to drive his truck to a nearby parking lot before taking him into custody. His wife, Courtney Walter, a U.S. citizen who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, says she has since lost weight and struggled to eat because of the stress of his detention.
Ruiz, a Venezuelan national who entered the United States in April 2007, remains in custody pending removal proceedings, according to CBS Miami. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Ruiz was arrested during an enforcement operation in Broward County and, per the agency, admitted he was in the country illegally during the stop. Walter told the outlet she wants her husband home so the couple can continue pursuing lawful permanent residency for him, a process they had already set in motion.
Walter said Ruiz called her about his detention the same day agents stopped him, and she has since described the toll it has taken on her health as she also battles cancer. The station reports she said the detention exacerbated her existing health challenges, leaving her unable to sleep or eat normally.
A 2012 Removal Order Complicates a Pending Marriage Petition
An immigration judge issued a removal order for Ruiz on November 14, 2012, more than a decade before he and Walter married in 2025. The couple filed a Form I-130 petition on his behalf in September of last year, seeking to establish his eligibility for lawful permanent residency through their marriage — but that filing alone does not undo the earlier order. As U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services guidance makes clear, an I-130 petition establishes a qualifying family relationship but does not automatically vacate an outstanding removal order or confer lawful presence without a separate motion to reopen or an administrative stay.
Ruiz's attorney, David Estrella, is pursuing a federal habeas corpus petition asking a court to allow Ruiz to continue fighting his immigration case while released from detention. Estrella said an I-130 petition does not automatically prevent deportation, and he pointed to a separate legal protection in Ruiz's case: a grant of withholding of removal that bars the government from sending him back to Venezuela. Under federal law, that protection prevents removal to a specific country where a person faces persecution, but it does not convey legal status, family benefits, or automatic release from ICE custody. Estrella has also questioned why ICE's public statement on the case did not acknowledge Ruiz's marriage to a U.S. citizen.
Nine Days in Miramar Before Transfer to Pompano Beach
Before landing at the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach, Ruiz spent nine days at the ICE processing center in Miramar — a facility designed for short-term check-ins rather than extended stays. That detail carries added weight locally: U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz conducted an unannounced inspection of the same Miramar office in early July and afterward described conditions there as horrific and inhumane, telling WLRN she found up to 150 detainees crammed into small holding rooms without proper beds or shower access.
The Broward Transitional Center where Ruiz is now held is a 700-bed facility operated by private prison company The GEO Group under a federal ICE contract worth more than $20 million annually, according to background compiled on Wikipedia. The site is designated primarily for non-criminal and low-security detainees, including asylum seekers. It is the same facility from which 28-year-old Venezuelan asylum seeker Claudia Caglionone was released after family pressure earlier this month, following demonstrations by relatives and a congressional visit by Wasserman Schultz.
Case Unfolds Amid Renewed Venezuela Deportation Flights
Ruiz's arrest fell on the exact day the United States resumed charter deportation flights to Venezuela, after a pause tied to twin earthquakes there in late June. That August 3 flight returned 147 Venezuelan nationals to Barcelona, Venezuela, according to Legit.ng. Monthly deportations of Venezuelan nationals have climbed sharply since an October 2025 Supreme Court ruling let the federal government terminate Temporary Protected Status for roughly 300,000 Venezuelans, reaching 1,746 removals in May alone.
Broward County's local enforcement climate has also shaped how cases like Ruiz's arise. Florida's joint state-federal Operation Tidal Wave, which relies on 287(g) partnerships between local police and ICE, led to the detention of more than 10,400 foreign nationals between April 2025 and February 2026, including 312 Venezuelan citizens, per prior Hoodline reporting. Ruiz's stop at a routine intersection fits a pattern advocates have flagged of arrests emerging from ordinary traffic encounters rather than criminal investigations.
Estrella's habeas corpus filing places Ruiz's case within a much larger wave of litigation. Federal courts nationwide received more than 24,000 habeas corpus petitions from detained immigrants between January 2025 and March 2026, making such filings the primary legal avenue for challenging prolonged ICE detention, according to reporting cited by ProPublica. The federal government is expected to respond to Ruiz's petition by August 17.
Health and Safety Concerns at South Florida Facilities
The stakes of prolonged detention have drawn scrutiny beyond Ruiz's individual case. South Florida immigration facilities, including Krome, the Broward Transitional Center, and FDC Miami, recorded six detainee deaths in ICE custody during fiscal year 2025, contributing to a national total of 32 deaths — the highest annual figure since 2004, as previously reported by Hoodline. For Walter, those broader concerns are inseparable from her own circumstances: she has pleaded publicly for her husband's release while continuing her own cancer treatment, saying she simply wants him home so they can move forward with the residency process they started together.
