According to sources, Rodriguez Florez was arrested while in a car marked with the Nashville Noticias logo, with her husband present. S. for the past five years, per another source.
S. citizen, with a pending application to adjust her status to lawful permanent resident, and she has a valid work permit. S.
to escape death threats she received for reporting in Colombia. ICE scheduled a meeting with Rodriguez Florez on her case, but it was rescheduled twice due to a winter storm closure and an agent not finding her appointment in the system, with a new meeting set for March 17. The specific legal grounds or charges ICE used to justify Rodriguez Florez's arrest without a warrant are unknown.
Whether Rodriguez Florez's arrest was directly linked to her reporting on immigration or critical coverage of ICE is also unclear. ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 'Several men got out and demanded that our colleague be taken into custody,' according to a statement from Nashville Noticias.
'She needs to reunite with her young daughter and husband to continue her legal process within the framework permitted by law,' according to another statement from Nashville Noticias. 'We don’t yet know if Estefany Rodríguez’s detention was in retaliation for her reporting but we certainly wouldn’t be surprised,' according to the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Her detention joins a 'shameful and alarming pattern of the Trump administration’s use of immigration authorities to clamp down on freedom of the press,' according to Katherine Jacobsen of the Committee to Protect Journalists.
'The United States has traditionally been a safe haven for journalists fleeing retaliation in connection with their work,' Jacobsen said. 'The Trump administration consistently targets our most vocal and vulnerable voices to do just that,' said Nora Benavidez of Free Press. Rodriguez Florez 'is the latest to be caught up in this government-led campaign of censorship and control,' according to Benavidez.