41 Press Freedom Groups Call for Immediate Release of Nashville-Based Journalist Arrested by ICE

On Tuesday, a coalition of 41 press-freedom groups demanded that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement immediately release journalist Estefany Rodriguez.

Read the letter here. 

ICE failed to produce a warrant when Rodriguez, a Colombian-born reporter, was arrested on March 4, 2026. She has been in ICE custody since, moving between detention facilities with her current whereabouts likely in Alabama but unclear.

Rodriguez had fled to the United States in 2021 after facing threats for her coverage of Colombia’s armed militia groups. She has since applied for political asylum in the United States, and has a pending green card application through her husband, who is a U.S. citizen. Rodriguez had covered immigration, including ICE actions, for the local Spanish-language news site Nashville Noticias.

“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,” reads the coalition statement, which was signed by groups including Amnesty International USA, Association of Foreign Press Correspondents, Committee for the First Amendment, Committee to Protect Journalists, Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa, Free Press, Freedom of the Press Foundation, Media and Democracy Project, National Writers Union, PEN America, Reporters Without Borders and the Society of Professional Journalists.