Overview
- Estefany Rodriguez, a Nashville Noticias reporter from Colombia, was arrested March 4 during a traffic stop in a car marked with her newsroom’s logo and remains in ICE custody.
- ICE and DHS say officers had an administrative warrant and that she violated her visa conditions, while her attorneys say no warrant was shown at the scene and characterize the arrest as retaliatory and procedurally irregular.
- U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson directed immigration officials to respond promptly to an emergency habeas filing, and her legal team is pursuing arguments that may include First Amendment retaliation.
- She has been transferred out of Tennessee, with reports of a move through an Alabama facility and toward the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center.
- Rodriguez entered the U.S. on a tourist visa in 2021, sought asylum after threats in Colombia, holds a work permit, and has a pending green card application through her U.S. citizen husband, while ICE cites missed check-ins that her lawyer attributes to an office closure and scheduling errors before a March 17 meeting.