Venezuelan woman detained by ICE at South Florida airport while preparing to board domestic flight

A 28-year-old South Florida woman born in Venezuela is being held in federal immigration custody after her family says she was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents while preparing to board a domestic flight from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

Claudia Carolina Rodriguez is currently being held at the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach. Her relatives say she had Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which expired, and then a pending political asylum application at the time of her arrest.

According to her family, Rodriguez was detained on July 17 after she had already passed through a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint and was walking toward her departure gate. She had planned to travel to North Carolina to watch World Cup matches with friends.

"My cousin was detained at Fort Lauderdale International Airport when she was going to North Carolina to watch some games with some friends for the World Cup," said her cousin, Ruth Lares-Caglione.

The family says ICE agents approached and arrested Rodriguez after she cleared security.

Immigration attorneys and immigrant advocates say they have seen an increase in immigration arrests involving people traveling within the United States, particularly those with expired immigration protections or pending immigration cases.

In a statement previously provided to CNN, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said:

"This administration is working diligently to ensure that aliens in our country illegally can no longer fly unless it is out of our country to self-deport."

Rodriguez's family says she initially spent eight days at the Miramar processing facility before being transferred to the Broward Transitional Center. They note that the Miramar facility is intended as a processing center rather than a long-term detention facility.

Debbie Wasserman-Schultz made an unannounced visit to detention center, asking to see Rodriguez

South Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said she made an unannounced visit to the ICE Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach and requested to speak with Rodriguez.  Although she was not allowed to meet with her in person, the congresswoman said she was able to speak with Rodriguez by phone for nearly 15 minutes.

According to Wasserman Schultz, Rodriguez described difficult conditions during her stay at the processing center.

"She had no shower for that entire time, had the same clothes on that were never cleaned for that entire time. They could never go outside," the congresswoman said.

For Rodriguez's relatives, the case is especially difficult because they say she has built her life in South Florida. Her cousin, Gabriel Dominguez, described her as someone who recently earned a master's degree from St. Thomas University and enjoys spending time with family—not someone they believe should be treated like a criminal.

When asked about his greatest concern, Dominguez said his biggest fear is that Rodriguez could be deported to Venezuela, a country he says she has not lived in since she was a child.

"My biggest fear is that she gets deported to a country where she hasn't been since she was a kid," he said.

Rodriguez's family says they are still struggling to understand how a trip to the airport for a domestic flight resulted in her detention. CBS News Miami reached out to ICE for comment but had not received a response as of the time of publication.