Federal immigration agents detained the co-owner of a popular Bellingham coffee bar. He and his family are now asking for help paying his legal bills. Oscar Quintero Frias, owner of Colombian coffee shop Cof& (pronounced coffee), was returning from a work trip in Chicago on Sept. 15 when federal immigration agents detained him at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. He is currently being held at the Northwest ICE Processing Facility in Tacoma. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed Quintero Frias’s detainment at the airport, stating he’d overstayed his tourist visa that expired in August 2021. Quintero Frias is a lawful permanent resident, but not a U.S. citizen, according to his family, and does not have a criminal history in the United States. “Quintero Frias will receive due process and remain in ICE custody pending the outcome of his immigration proceedings,” the spokesperson said. “To be clear: a pending application does NOT confer legal status in the United States.” Transportation Security Administration agents have been coordinating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the last year at airports, providing ICE officers with the names of travelers who may have deportation orders, according to The New York Times. Quintero Frias explained in a GoFundMe set up on his behalf he immigrated from Colombia in 2021 to Bellingham. In the same year, while getting his electrical engineering license, he also opened the coffee shop, first in the Sunnyland neighborhood before opening a larger location downtown. He originally sold coffee beans. His goal was to share his country’s coffee. “The first thing that a person has in mind (about Colombians) is Pablo Escobar, and I’m trying to speak about everybody that we are more than that. We have good coffee, we are good people, we are friendly people — with bad English,” Quintero Frias quipped in a 2022 Cascadia Daily News article. Amy Vergillo met Quintero Frias and his family when she was the communications director for Sustainable Connections. The group would often host events at Cof&, helping to cultivate the community feeling Quintero Frias strived to create at the shop. Vergillo said in an email Quintero Frias and his family worked hard to “build up the coffee shop despite many financial hurdles that the U.S. has on business loans for people who are not U.S. citizens.” A GoFundMe is set up to help Oscar Quintero Frias collect funds for his immigration lawyer. (Photo courtesy of GoFundMe) Quintero Frias and his wife won a Bellingham Mayor City Center Award in 2024, which celebrates businesses in downtown revitalizing the area. He spoke about Bellingham being an accepting place to share his Colombian culture in the award video. While Quintero Frias’s wife runs the coffee shop, Quintero Frias has been working as a senior electrical engineer for a Bremerton firm, according to The Bellingham Herald. The GoFundMe has raised $48,000 out of a $45,000 goal that is meant to cover legal bills and a possible immigration bond if he is found eligible for release by an immigration judge. Annie Todd is CDN’s criminal justice/enterprise reporter; reach her at annietodd@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 130.