A status update submitted to a federal court last Friday claimed the Colombian journalist arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) earlier this month, Estefany Rodriguez Flores, has been issued a REAL ID, even though Tennessee law prohibits illegal aliens from obtaining a driver’s license.
Attorneys representing Rodriguez Flores confirmed she was released after paying a $10,000 bond in last week’s status update to U.S. District Court Judge Eli Richardson, but also claimed, “ICE retained her Colombian passport, her REAL ID, and her work permit and is requiring her to make a certain request to try to recover them.”
Though U.S. Attorney Braden Boucek disputed the claim that ICE retained her work permit or REAL ID in a subsequent status update to the court, neither the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) nor Rodriguez Flores offered details on how the Colombian citizen came to possess the identification in Tennessee.
Since 2004, Tennessee has prohibited illegal aliens from obtaining driver’s licenses, and legislation passed last year also required licenses issued to legally present non-citizens to be visually distinct from those issued to citizens.
While it remains unclear whether the REAL ID described in the filing is a federally compliant Tennessee driver’s license, the status update appears to highlight a contradiction between Tennessee state law and federal immigration law.
According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Rodriguez Flores entered the United States on a tourist visa in 2021 and illegally overstayed it.
Upon entering the country, DHS states that Rodriguez Flores filed an asylum petition and was deemed eligible for a hearing, though one had not yet been scheduled at the time of her arrest. With the pending asylum application, the agency said Rodriguez Flores has obtained two work permits. In January, after receiving the first letter from ICE, she also filed a petition to change her legal status after marrying an American citizen.
Despite Tennessee law listing a work permit as valid evidence of lawful status within the United States, which can be used as part of the credentials needed to obtain a driver’s license, the letter ICE sent to Rodriguez Flores in January specifically requested her presence at the ICE Field Office in Nashville so agents could issue a Notice to Appear.
In immigration cases, a Notice to Appear typically sets out the federal government’s case for deporting a non-citizen, indicating immigration authorities considered Rodriguez Flores removable despite her work permit.
The apparent contradiction between state and federal law notably arises as Tennessee lawmakers have worked on a legislative package to make the state into a national model for immigration enforcement, including bills to require local law enforcement work with ICE, create state-level offenses for remaining in the country in defiance of a deportation order or illegally reentering after removal, and keep illegal aliens from driving commercial vehicles in the Volunteer State.
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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
Deport her
Find out the individual employee’s name at Motor Vehicle who issued the real ID. You may find someone that is part of a fraud ring, where this was not the first (or 100th???) time they did this. Not unprecedented.