ICE arrest of TN journalist draws ire

Angele Latham and Evan Mealins

Nashville Tennessean

USA TODAY NETWORK – TENNESSEE

Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s arrest of a Nashville reporter has sparked outrage across the country among First Amendment and other advocates calling for her release.

ICE arrested Estefany Rodriguez, who works for local news outlet Nashville Noticias, during a March 4 traffic stop in Nashville, according to an emergency petition filed by her attorneys in federal court.

Rodriguez is detained in the Etowah County Jail in northeast Alabama, according to a Department of Homeland Security court filing.

Her lawyers say she was arrested without being shown a warrant. On March 8, they filed an amended complaint stating that her arrest is a result of her critical reporting on immigration activity that she completed under her valid work permit.

An ICE spokesperson said in a statement that officers had 'an administrative warrant at the time of the arrest,' and that Rodriguez did not have legal immigration status at the time of her arrest.

A coalition of 41 press freedom and civil liberties organizations, including The Society of Professional Journalists, have called for Rodriguez’s immediate release.

'With her arrest, federal authorities have both silenced an important on-the-ground perspective and have sent a chilling message that reporting critical of the administration may face retaliation,' the coalition’s statement read. 'Rodriguez’s detention is part of a broader erosion of democratic norms and human rights in the United States in which immigration authorities are increasingly being used to chill free expression and First Amendment rights. This practice must stop.'

At a Tennessee Chamber breakfast March 10, Gov. Bill Lee blamed former President Joe Biden for current immigration legal issues after a Nashville Noticias reporter asked if he was concerned about the potential precedent set in how federal agents treat journalists.

'I don’t know the details of her case,' he said. 'There are a lot of details. I do think there’s a process in her case being carried out, and we’ll see where that goes. And it’s important that due process occurs.'

When the reporter pointed out that Rodriguez wasn’t a criminal, and her lawyers assert she was not served an arrest warrant, Lee restated that he could 'not speak to the details of her particular case.'

On March 8, Rodriguez filed an amended complaint, officially accusing the government of violating her First Amendment rights.

Rodriguez was detained on March 4 outside a gym while in a car that displayed the Nashville Noticias logo on its outside.

In court documents, she argued that officers arrested her to punish her for her past reporting, to prevent her from continuing to do so, and to chill other journalists from reporting stories unfavorable to ICE.

'These speech-related consequences are not side effects of an action with some other purpose,' her attorneys wrote. 'They are, instead, the purpose of the government’s actions as to Rodriguez, which are intended to silence viewpoints with which the Trump Administration disagrees.'

Her presence in the United States, according to her lawyers, is also because of her reporting: while Rodriguez entered the country legally in March 2021 under a tourist visa, she later obtained a valid work permit and has green card and asylum applications pending due to death threats she faced in her home country of Colombia over her reporting.

In March 9, a rotating crowd of Nashville community members made calls to lawmakers about Rodriguez’s arrest while sitting inside a Mexican-inspired restaurant in the city.

A scripted plea for help was printed on a paper for each of the dozens of callers that read: 'Detaining a journalist raises serious concerns about due process and press freedom' echoed through the restaurant countless times.

Rodriguez’s asylum application has been pending since 2021, according to court documentation. She 'has followed ICE’s express directions at all times,' her petition states.

On March 6, the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed in court a picture of a crumpled piece of paper from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security titled 'Warrant for Arrest of Alien,' which is dated March 2.

A day later on social media, DHS posted picture of a different warrant for Rodriguez’s arrest. It is typed and dated March 4.

Both bear the same partially obscured signature. The last name of the signature, Elmasry, and the title 'SDDO' both match the biographical details of Amber Elmasry, a supervisory detention and deportation officer who works in Nashville.

Elmasry had not responded to a request for comment as of press time March 11.

Rodriguez’s attorneys say there is evidence neither warrant was served on her when she was arrested. The handwritten warrant is entirely blank in the 'certificate of service' section. This shows it 'obviously was not

served on Rodriguez,' they wrote.

On the second warrant, a box is checked saying officers believed Rodriguez was removable because of her 'failure to establish admissibility subsequent to deferred inspection.'

'That checked box reflects, at the ICE field office after Rodriguez’s arrest, that the examining officer asked her to establish lawful presence, and she couldn’t,' her attorneys wrote.

A second checked box says officers may have based their determination Rodriguez could be removed on a statement she gave. But Rodriguez had not had an interview with ICE before her arrest, indicating the warrant was issued after she was detained, her attorneys say.

ICE officers, like police, can arrest people without a warrant in certain circumstances.

An officer must believe the immigrant 'is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained for his arrest,' federal law says. Her attorneys say she 'could not possibly' be considered a flight risk given that she had a pending asylum application, a work permit, was married and had no criminal record.

The USA TODAY Network - South region’s coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners.