Argentine soccer player Matías Pourrain, 34, will remain detained at the Krome Detention Center in Florida, United States, after being arrested during an immigration check.
According to information from the Argentine News Agency, the player was separated from a domestic flight by three agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and has been in custody since Thursday, August 6.
With no prior criminal record and with the clarification that his detention is due to incomplete immigration paperwork, Pourrain will be transferred to a maximum-security immigration detention center while he awaits the setting of bail that will allow him to be released.
After spending a few days at the ICE processing center in Miramar, Florida, he was transferred to this maximum-security prison, where he will continue his incarceration.
The soccer player was traveling to Los Angeles with his teammates from Lyon FC, a third-division team, when he was separated from the group by three plainclothes agents.
Officials reported that it was a routine check that would last no more than ten minutes. During the procedure, it was discovered that Pourrain’s immigration paperwork was incomplete: residing in the United States since 2019, he entered on a tourist visa and, although he applied for residency, never received an official response.
For this reason, federal officials decided to detain him as a precautionary measure. His lawyer, Regina de Moraes, questioned the action and argued that it was exploiting a “gray area of immigration law.”
To set the bail amount, local law requires the endorsement of a U.S. citizen or permanent resident and the approval of a judge. According to the defense, the amount would range between three thousand and five thousand dollars.
