By Mariah Timms

A federal judge has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to justify the detention of a Nashville, Tenn., journalist who was arrested by immigration officials last week.

Colombia-born Estefany Rodriguez Florez, 35 years old, was arrested by immigration officials Wednesday in the company of her U.S. citizen husband, according to legal filings.

Rodriguez and her family were in a vehicle that had a Nashville Noticias logo on it, the filings said. The Spanish-language online news outlet where Rodriguez works covers the Tennessee capital region. The arrest was retaliation for news coverage critical of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, her attorneys said.

U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson ordered quick responses in the case, directing the government to file a written justification by midnight Monday. He could set a hearing on the case as soon as Wednesday.

Rodriguez was being held in a county jail in Gadsden, Ala., as of Monday morning, according to a database maintained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Lawyers for Rodriguez filed an emergency petition Wednesday, seeking her immediate release. They said she was improperly detained with an inadequate warrant, violating her Fourth Amendment right to due process. They filed an amended complaint Sunday, alleging Rodriguez was arrested in retaliation for coverage critical of ICE operations in Tennessee.

"Her work as a journalist is central to this," her lawyer Mike Holley said. "She's the kind of person that ICE has been retaliating against, has been abusing, whether they're citizens or noncitizens. She's vulnerable to this kind of retaliation because of her status as a noncitizen."

Much of the legal debate hinges on whether Rodriguez was arrested without a warrant. Her attorneys argue she wasn't served with a copy of the administrative warrant until well after she was taken into custody.

DHS didn't immediately return a request for comment.

The federal government said Rodriguez was in the country illegally and was arrested as part of a targeted immigration-enforcement operation.

Rodriguez entered the U.S. on a tourist visa in March 2021, according to immigration records included in the court filings. Before it expired, she applied for political-asylum protections because of threats related to her journalistic work in Colombia. The asylum application is pending. Rodriguez married a U.S. citizen last month and filed for permission to adjust her status to that of lawful permanent resident, which is also pending. She has a valid work visa set to expire in 2029.

Broadly, immigrants with pending asylum applications are legally able to stay in the country while their cases continue. She had never been arrested before she was detained by ICE, according to DHS records.

Rodriguez was scheduled to check in with ICE on Jan. 26, records show. Severe weather closed the Nashville area ICE office that day. She later received notice her appointment was rescheduled for Feb. 25. On Feb. 23, her husband and lawyer went to the ICE office to ask what to expect from the interview, at which time her attorneys say ICE told them they had no record of the appointment. Instead, ICE gave Rodriguez a new appointment, this time for March 17.

Her lawyers say she was prepared to attend that meeting, too. DHS has held her in detention on the grounds she is likely a flight risk, which her lawyers deny.

Write to Mariah Timms at mariah.timms@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 09, 2026 15:10 ET (19:10 GMT)

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