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- Estefany Rodríguez, a Nashville-based reporter, was released from ICE custody on bond.
- She had a pending green card application and work permit issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
- Rodríguez had reported critically on ICE practices before her detention.
NEW YORK — A Nashville-based Colombian reporter was released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody on bond Thursday after her arrest earlier this month.
Estefany Rodríguez, a Spanish-language reporter for Nashville Noticias who often covers immigration, was released from a Louisiana detention facility after posting a $10,000 bond. Her release comes just over two weeks after she was detained by ICE agents in Nashville.
"Today, we celebrate that Estefany has been released from the ICE detention center in Louisiana and is on her way home to be with her family," Mike Holley, a Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights attorney representing Estefany, said in a statement.
Rodríguez's attorneys are seeking an order barring ICE from "mistreating her in a similar way in the future," Holley said. Rodríguez has two cases, one over her detention and one over her immigration status.
A petition filed by her lawyers said Rodríguez has reported stories that are often "critical of the practices" by ICE and was reporting on immigration arrests the day prior to her detention.
Rodríguez fled Colombia in 2021 after receiving death threats related to her work as a journalist. She entered the United States legally on a tourist visa and applied for political asylum before the visa expired.
At the time of her detention, Rodríguez had a pending green card application and a work permit issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Following her detention, ICE claimed Rodríguez "currently has no lawful immigration status." The federal agency also alleged that she "failed to depart the country and is in violation of the conditions of her visa." ICE agents claimed Rodríguez was detained because she failed to appear at two immigration appointments.
Rodríguez's immigration lawyer pushed back on those allegations, pointing to a winter storm in Nashville that made travel hazardous and closed the ICE office. On the day of her second appointment, officers were unable to locate the appointment in the system, according to her legal petition. Rodríguez was slated for a check-in at the ICE office on March 17, but she was in custody by that date.
For almost a week and a half, Rodríguez was held in Alabama's Etowah County Jail, where "jailers refused to set up an attorney-client call," a court filing alleges. Rodríguez was kept in isolation for five days, the filing states.
Rodríguez's $10,000 bond is "unusually high," according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, especially considering her husband and 7-year-old daughter live in the United States and she is not considered a flight risk.
The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed Rodríguez's release but warned of the danger posed to journalists across the country.
"Her detention has had a chilling effect, undermining journalists' ability, especially local reporters, to cover their communities without fear of retaliation," José Zamora, CPJ's regional director for the Americas, said in a statement. "The government must uphold press freedom and ensure all journalists can work safely and without reprisal."
ICE had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.
The administration has detained other journalists during a nationwide immigration crackdown as well. In October, independent journalist Mario Guevara was deported to his native El Salvador after months in federal custody.
Like Rodríguez, Guevara had fled his home country after receiving death threats over his reporting there and, like Rodríguez, had reported on U.S. immigration prior to his arrest.
