ByEstefany Rodríguez, a Nashville Spanish-language news reporter detained earlier this month by ICE agents, is scheduled to appear in a Louisiana immigration court for a bond hearing today, court records show.
Separately, a federal judge set a hearing in Nashville on Tuesday to consider constitutional challenges to the detention brought by Rodríguez’ attorneys.
Rodríguez was arrested by ICE agents on March 4. Government attorneys said Rodríguez is subject to deportation after illegally overstaying her visa.
In legal filings, attorneys for Rodríguez have outlined how they say she has complied with immigration laws. Rodríguez, 35, came to the United States five years ago on a tourist visa then applied for asylum as a result of threats she faced as a working journalist in her native Colombia, a claim that is still pending, they said.
Rodríguez is married to an American citizen; she filed a petition to adjust her status to lawful permanent resident in January.
Court records show Rodríguez has a valid work permit through 2029.
Rodríguez’ attorneys are also challenging her detention on First Amendment grounds: in recent months, Rodríguez, a journalist for Nashville Noticias, had been reporting on local ICE activities for months, up to the day before her arrest. Her arrest, they wrote in court filings, was in retaliation for her critical reporting.
They are seeking Rodríguez’ immediate release and asking the court to bar immigration officials from taking any enforcement actions in “retaliation against her past speech or to chill her future speech.”
“ICE’s arbitrary actions serve to punish her for her public criticism of ICE,” attorneys Joel Coxander, Julio Quiroz and Michael Holley wrote in court filings.
Government lawyers have asked U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson to dismiss the federal court case, arguing that Rodríguez failed to exhaust all remedies in the immigration court system and federal court lacks jurisdiction.
Federal prosecutors also countered Rodríguez’ allegation she was arrested without a warrant, filing in court a copy of a warrant document dated March 2.
ICE agents weren’t required to show Rodríguez the warrant at the time of her arrest, they said.
“Showing a detainee the arrest warrant is not a requirement when an officer arrests an illegal alien for deportation,” they wrote.
They also disputed Rodríguez’ allegations she was targeted for her reporting on ICE activities.
“Petitioner’s claim that the arrest was based on a violation of First Amendment rights, which may not even be applicable to an illegal alien, and hostility directed at her as a journalist is nothing more than a challenge to a discretionary decision to commence her removal proceedings,” Mercedes Maynor, assistant U.S. Attorney, wrote in a legal filing on Thursday.