Three plainclothes ICE officers pulled Matías Pourrain aside during security screening at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on August 6 as he waited with teammates to board a flight to Los Angeles, telling him it would be a ten-minute check. He never came back. The 34-year-old Argentinian midfielder for Hialeah-based Miami United FC was on his way to the UPSL national championship game when federal agents took him into custody, according to the Miami New Times, and he has remained in ICE custody ever since.
The arrest, first detailed by Miami New Times, sent his Miami United teammates on to Los Angeles without him, where the club went on to lose 3-1 to Portland-based Deportivo Rose City in the UPSL national championship. As reported by Newsweek, the agents approached Pourrain under the premise of a brief check before escorting him away from his teammates entirely.
Pourrain was first taken to an ICE facility in Miramar before being slated for transfer to Krome Processing Center in Miami, where his legal counsel reported he was placed in a cell holding 68 other men, according to Canal 22 Web. A DHS detainee database later listed him in custody at Glades County Detention Center, per the Miami New Times report.
Family Says He Had Only Seconds to Call
Pourrain's brother, Juan Pourrain, told media outlets the player was allowed just a five-second phone call after his arrest to warn family that agents were pressuring him to sign self-deportation paperwork, according to Infobae. Teammates had to notify the family after Pourrain failed to return to the boarding gate. Juan Pourrain also said, per Todo Noticias, that his brother had sought asylum and possessed a Social Security number and work authorization, and that he was waiting for an asylum appointment.
Defense attorney Regina Borges said ICE agents urged Pourrain to sign voluntary deportation documents, which he refused to execute, and that she is preparing to petition an immigration judge for a bond estimated between $1,500 and $5,000, according to Cadena 3. Borges clarified that while Pourrain's original tourist visa expired in 2020, his pending application for legal status enabled him to lawfully obtain a five-year U.S. work authorization, a Social Security number, and a Florida driver's license, the outlet reported. Borges did not respond to the Miami New Times' requests for comment by press time.
DHS Says Admission Expired in 2020
DHS has offered a different timeline. A DHS spokesperson said Pourrain was legally admitted to the United States through Atlanta on November 12, 2019, and was authorized to remain for six months. The department reported that his authorized admission period expired on May 11, 2020, and said he stayed beyond that date in violation of U.S. law. DHS did not respond to the Miami New Times' request for comment beyond that statement.
DHS has said that people who do not self-deport will be arrested and deported without a chance to return, and the department has encouraged immigrants in the country unlawfully to use the CBP Home app to arrange departure, pointing to a $2,600 payment and a free flight offered to those who self-deport. DHS said Pourrain will receive full due process and will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.
A Career Built Across Two Countries
Before moving to the United States, Pourrain played lower-division soccer in Argentina for Real Pilar, San Martín de Burzaco and Club Mercedes, helping Real Pilar earn promotion to Primera C in June 2019 and eliminate top-tier club Vélez Sarsfield in the Copa Argentina, according to Reconquista Radios. In Florida, his career expanded to include stints with Miami Beach FC, Miami City FC and Club de Lyon FC in Winter Park, as well as indoor 6v6 play for Showtime FC in Baller League USA, the outlet noted.
Miami United FC said it was deeply shocked by Pourrain's detention ahead of his departure for Los Angeles, and the club, which plays in the fourth tier of U.S. soccer, announced the arrest publicly the day after it happened. The team posted an official statement about the arrest on Instagram, and it has since provided legal support to Pourrain and his family, made an attorney available to him, and said it has remained in constant contact with his relatives while cooperating with all parties involved in the case.
Part of a Wider Pattern at the Airport
Pourrain's arrest follows a similar detention a month earlier at the same terminal involving Venezuelan asylum-seeker Claudia Caglionone, who was released after public pressure and a congressional inquiry. Facilities handling South Florida immigration detainees, including Krome Detention Center, have faced protests and congressional oversight visits in 2025 and 2026 over detainee complaints of severe overcrowding, a pattern documented after Rep. Carlos Gimenez inspected the Miami-Dade facility.
Borges also told broadcast interviewers that federal agents are increasingly relying on automated database systems during routine identity checks at airport security checkpoints to flag travelers with unapproved immigration petitions, per Cadena 3. Whether an immigration judge will grant Pourrain a bond hearing during his detention, and how DHS responds to the allegation that officers pressured him to sign voluntary departure paperwork, remain open questions as his case moves forward.
