The Colombian journalist arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Nashville on March 4, Estefany Rodriguez Flores, now claims that her detention came one day after she published the “recognizable faces” of ICE agents, and is requesting discovery in her bid to prove she was targeted for arrest over her reporting.
In the filing, Rodriguez Flores’ lawyers argue the “temporal proximity” of her arrest to her coverage of ICE should justify discovery in her habeas corpus lawsuit, in which she has argued ICE sought retribution for activity protected by the First Amendment.
According to the filing, one day before the March 4 arrest, “she covered an unusual ICE operation, presenting a video of that operation. Although Nashville Noticias often blurred agents’ faces in these kinds of videos, this time they left the recognizable faces of ICE agents unredacted.”
The fact is later restated in the filing, where her attorneys claimed, “the ICE agents who arrested her knew she was a journalist for Nashville Noticias, and that they arrested her the day after she presented a news story showing the recognizable faces of ICE agents.”
Seeking evidence ICE targeted her for her speech, Rodriguez Flores’ attorneys are seeking internal government records explaining why ICE sent her a letter requesting her presence for a meeting at the ICE Field Office in January, why she was arrested on March 4, what led to her being moved to Louisiana, and the events that transpired during her detention in Alabama.
Her attorneys also seek depositions for up to 7 officials at ICE, seeking to prove she was arrested in retaliation and that the arrest was illegal.
In an exhibit filed with the court earlier in the case, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that Rodriguez Flores entered the country on a tourism visa in 2021 and has been illegally overstaying it ever since.
During her first year in the country, DHS stated Rodriguez Flores filed an asylum petition and was deemed eligible for an interview, but it has yet to occur. In January 2026, after she received her first letter from ICE, Rodriguez Flores also married a U.S. citizen and asked U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to amend her status in the country.
Her legal team includes attorneys from the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition and the Tennessee law firm MIRA Legal. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Eli Richardson, who was appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term in the White House.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Estefany Rodriguez Flores” by Estefany Rodriguez Flores.Â
As she should’ve been.
Came over on a tourist visa? How did she become legal to work here? She over stayed her visa and the big meany ICE agents arrested her in a retaliation? Sucks for you. Go home and reapply in 10 years. You also put ICE agents in danger. Go home and never return.