Nashville journalist Estefany Rodriguez continuously stories on Immigration and Customs Enforcement motion, turning into accustomed to the sudden arrests which have change into hallmarks of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
But when vans surrounded her and her husband’s automobile Wednesday and brokers approached the home windows, she was confused, her husband Alejandro Medina stated.
Medina realized it was ICE earlier than his spouse did, he stated. “We really couldn’t understand why we’re being surrounded.”
“We’re definitely shocked,” he advised CNN.
Rodriguez, who was born in Colombia, entered the United States legally, one among her attorneys stated. She is a journalist for Spanish-language information outlet Nashville Noticias and has reported tales “critical of the practices” by ICE and was covering immigration arrests the day earlier than her detainment Wednesday, a petition filed by her attorneys for her launch acknowledged.
It’s the most recent occasion of journalists being caught up in the Trump administration’s nationwide crackdown on immigration. Mario Guevara, a Salvadoran journalist, was deported in October after being arrested whereas covering a “No Kings” protest in Atlanta.
The brokers swarming the automobile to detain Rodriguez knew rather a lot about her and her husband, Medina stated. They knew he was born in the US, and so they knew that they had utilized for a inexperienced card, he stated.
Rodriguez additionally has a pending political asylum declare and a legitimate work allow, in keeping with court docket paperwork. A spokesperson for ICE advised CNN in a press release Rodriguez “currently has no lawful immigration status.”
“A pending green card application and work authorization does NOT give someone legal status to be in our country,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson advised CNN.
Rodriguez was at a detention heart in Alabama as of Friday earlier than she was set to be despatched to Louisiana, in keeping with her lawyer, Joel Coxander.
When she labored for a big broadcaster in her dwelling nation of Colombia, she reported on authorities businesses and situations of corruption, her dad Juan Rodriguez and Coxander stated.
But then she began receiving threats, Juan Rodriguez stated. She reported them to the police and the nation’s prosecutor’s workplace, and a safety element was assigned to her for some time, however that later modified to routine check-ins, her father stated.
“There are a lot of problems, including armed groups, guerrillas, corrupt politicians. When you report, you’ll find that some of these people don’t like what you’re reporting on, and they’ll get bothered and think they have to get rid of the reporter because the reporter is making too much noise and informing the public,” Juan Rodriguez stated.
When her daughter turned 1, Estefany Rodriguez determined to attempt to discover security in the US, he stated. She got here to the United States on a vacationer visa in 2021, in keeping with court docket paperwork. Before it expired, she utilized for political asylum, it stated.
However, in keeping with ICE, “she failed to depart the country and is in violation of the conditions of her visa and currently has no lawful immigration status. She will remain in ICE custody pending her immigration proceedings.”
While Coxander stated Friday he requested the court docket to let him amend his preliminary petition to launch Rodriguez to “specifically address that this is a First Amendment violation and retaliation” for her protection of ICE actions, the brokers stated they had been detaining her as a result of she had failed to point out up for 2 immigration appointments.
Rodriguez acquired a letter from ICE on January 8 asking her to come back to the Nashville subject workplace for “processing and additional information,” in keeping with court docket paperwork. She and her lawyer collected paperwork and had been prepared for the appointment, Coxander stated, however the metropolis was shut down by an ice storm and the workplace closed.
She quickly acquired a second letter, rescheduling the appointment for February 25, Coxander stated.
Three days earlier than the rescheduled assembly, Rodriguez’s husband and one other lawyer visited the ICE workplace to see if the workplace might mail the immigration charging paperwork to Rodriguez’s authorized staff quite than her showing in individual, the petition stated.
The lawyer requested the ICE agent instantly if she wanted to be there on February 25, and the agent stated they couldn’t discover Rodriguez in their pc system for appointments “and could find no sign of an appointment for her on February 25,” in keeping with the petition. The agent then stated Rodriguez ought to come on March 17 as a substitute, in keeping with Coxander. The company gave her one other discover that had the March 17 date on it.
Coxander stated it isn’t obvious there was an arrest warrant on the time and he hasn’t been in a position to get a duplicate of 1.
ICE denies that declare, saying in a press release: “ICE officers had an administrative warrant at the time of the arrest and the officers issuing administrative warrants have found probable cause to issue the warrant.”
“She’s a tough person. Obviously, she’s been through a lot and kept being a journalist despite everything that’s happened, and despite, you know, obviously, the inherent risk of just being near ICE and while she’s covering other arrests,” Coxander stated.
Medina stated his spouse “cares about her community, and she cares about her job, and she’s really good at it,” including that her work in journalism is simply “a piece of her life.”
“She is a mother, she’s a wife, she’s someone that makes her friends feel close,” he stated.
