Federal agents removed a traveler, who they said was in the United States with an expired visa, from a Southwest Airlines jetway at Denver International Airport on July 20, 2026. A video shared with 9NEWS shows Chantal Alejandra Morales Rojas, a 27-year-old from Ecuador, being escorted to a van on the tarmac.
According to an ICE spokesperson, Morales entered the country on Oct. 20, 2024, on a J-1 visa that expired Jan. 4, 2025. She was traveling from Denver to Oakland. A GoFundMe page for Morales says she lives in Oakland, California.
She has a work permit and a pending asylum case. However, ICE said in a statement that having a work permit and/or a pending asylum case does not mean a person is in the United States legally. Furthermore, the agency said it does not prevent it from "arresting or deporting an illegal alien from the country."
Morales is currently being held at the GEO ICE Processing Center in Aurora, Colorado. As has been the case in multiple other ICE detention cases, a GoFundMe has been set up to support Morales through the detention process.
In less than two days, the fundraiser surpassed $100,000. The goal is to raise $150,000 for Morales. According to fundraiser organizer Alicia Dantzker, the funds will be managed by Morales' friends while she is being held by ICE.
