WASHINGTON, March 5 (Reuters) – A reporter working for local outlet Nashville Noticias was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Nashville without a warrant, according to an emergency petition filed by her attorneys in federal court.

Nashville Noticias said Thursday that journalist Estefany María Rodríguez Flores was taken to an ICE detention center and remained in custody. ICE did not respond to a request for comment.

Rodríguez Flores is from Colombia, has lived in the United States for five years and “frequently reports on stories critical of ICE,” his attorneys said in a court filing in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.

The news outlet said the reporter was with her husband outside a gym on Wednesday when the vehicle they were traveling in, which was marked with the Nashville News logo, was surrounded and detained.

U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson ordered federal immigration officials to give their preliminary response to the emergency petition by Friday. Rodríguez Flores had a meeting scheduled for March 17 with ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, his attorneys said.

ICE has been at the center of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown that human rights advocates say violates free speech and due process rights.

Human rights groups say it has made the environment unsafe for citizens and immigrants, especially after two separate deadly shootings in January of American citizens by federal agents in Minnesota.

Law enforcement officers detain a protester during a protest outside the SpringHill Suites and Residence Inn by Marriott hotels on January 26, 2026, in Maple Grove, Minnesota.
Law enforcement officers detain a protester during a protest outside the SpringHill Suites and Residence Inn by Marriott hotels on January 26, 2026, in Maple Grove, Minnesota.

AP Photo/Adam Gray

Across the country, at least eight people have died in ICE detention centers since the beginning of 2026, following at least 31 deaths last year.

Trump has said his policies aim to curb illegal immigration and improve homeland security.

Rodríguez Flores arrived in the United States on a tourist visa, requested political asylum, subsequently married a U.S. citizen and has a valid work permit, according to the document. She and her husband requested permission to adjust their status to legal permanent resident, she added.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Kate Mayberry)