A Nashville reporter who documented ICE activities was arrested and detained by immigration agents on Wednesday.

Estefany Rodríguez, a reporter for Nashville Noticias, was detained while driving with her husband, a U.S. citizen, in South Nashville. There was no warrant for her arrest. Rodríguez claimed she was shown a Notice To Appear (NTA), rather than a warrant, upon her arrest.

ICE officials told members of Rodríguez’s immigration legal team that her arrest was due to her failure to appear at two meetings with ICE, deeming her a flight risk. Her immigration attorney, Joel Coxander, claimed that Rodríguez received a G-56 letter requesting that she come to an ICE office for “processing and additional information” in late January, which noted that she would be issued an NTA.

“They’re invitations,” Coxander said of the letters. “They don’t say they’re required. They say, ’Come in so we can help ensure the best outcome for your case.’ They cite no legal requirement to come.”

Rodríguez, who fled her home country of Colombia after facing death threats due to her work as a journalist, entered the U.S. legally on a tourist visa in 2021, after which she applied for political asylum. She was unable to attend the first requested meeting with ICE due to an ice storm in the area that forced the office to close.

After receiving another letter with a date for a makeup appointment in early February, Rodríguez’s husband and an agent of Coxander visited the ICE office to confirm the details of the meeting. The duty officer told them that, after running her Alien Registration Number, Rodríguez was not in the system and did not need to show up for her February appointment.

An additional agent looked over Rodríguez’s information and gave Rodríguez’s husband a check-in sheet with a future meeting date in March.

“She’s being told, ’We’re holding it against you that you didn’t do this thing we told you you didn’t have to do,” said Coxander, later adding that Rodríguez was “somebody that has been trying to follow the rules the whole time.”

Rodríguez has reported several stories on ICE activities for Nashville Noticias, which issued a statement on Thursday expressing hope that the situation would be resolved quickly so that their reporter could “reunite with her young daughter and husband.”

“Nashville Noticias LLC expresses its respect for the laws of the United States and hopes that this situation will be resolved favorably for our colleague so that she can be released soon, as she needs to reunite with her young daughter and husband to continue her legal process within the framework permitted by law,” the statement read.

“We trust in the justice system of the United States of America,” it concluded.