On March 4, Colombian journalist Estefany Rodriguez who is also a resident in Nashville, Tennessee was detained by ICE during a traffic stop. She was with her husband at the time of the stop who is a U.S. citizen while they were in their car and on their way to pick up their 8 year old daughter from school. After 16 days in detention, she was released on a $10,000 bond.

ICE stated that Estefany missed an immigration appointment and described this as “absconding” (escaping), which they said made her a danger to society. However, her family and her lawyer say that the immigration office rescheduled her first appointment because of a strong storm that affected Nashville and the second appointment did not appear in the ICE system.

Estefany Rodriguez was under political asylum because of her work as a journalist in Colombia, where she reported on criminal gangs and drug trafficking even after she had received death threats for her work.

Rodriguez’s legal team filed a petition arguing that her detention violates the Fourth Amendment because she was arrested without a judge’s warrant, and there is no evidence that she presented any danger to the public.

Estefany and her family thanked the news media in Tennessee and the Hispanic community for their support. Even the National Association of Hispanic Journalists openly denounced the unjustified arrest by ICE.

This is an evolving case an the Roadrunner will be following closely for updates.