CPJ joins legal effort to support detained journalist Estefany Rodríguez

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined a proposed amicus brief supporting detained journalist Estefany Rodríguez’s habeas corpus petition in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on Monday. 

The proposed brief was filed by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP) and joined by press freedom groups National Association of Hispanic Journalists, International Women’s Media Foundation, National Press Club Journalism Institute, and Foreign Press Association USA. In the brief, RCFP argues that arresting and detaining non-citizen journalists suppresses important reporting and violates their First Amendment rights, especially when the government finds their coverage unfavorable. 

The brief outlines how Rodríguez was targeted for arrest a few months after covering ICE activities regularly and before a final order of removal was entered in her case, which implies she may have been arrested in retaliation for her reporting. This case follows a pattern of immigration-related attacks on press freedom. Such viewpoint discrimination has a widespread effect, leading some non-citizen journalists to self-censor and seek legal advice. Rodríguez has been in custody for over two weeks where she has faced inhumane conditions.

On Monday, an immigration judge ordered Rodríguez to be released on $10,000 bond, but according to ICE records she remains in custody at the time of publication. The habeas case is pending until the immigration bond is posted. As part of the federal habeas filings, government lawyers alleged that “First Amendment rights…may not be even applicable to an illegal alien.” The Supreme Court has consistently found that all persons in the United States have some protection under the Constitution.

Read a copy of the amicus brief here.