Journalists Face Detainment, Assault and Deportation Amid US Immigration Crackdown

Media workers in the United States are grappling with an increasingly volatile press climate as federal immigration enforcement operations expand across the country. Independent photographers, Spanish-language reporters, and international journalists have found themselves caught up in the aggressive tactics deployed during high-profile protests and enforcement actions, facing detentions, physical assaults, and in some cases, deportation.

According to data from the US Press Freedom Tracker, the hostile environment for reporters intensified significantly, with dozens of arrests and numerous assaults documented during protests. While these risks have heavily impacted domestic demonstrators and immigrants alike, journalists attempting to document the human and systemic impact of the enforcement policies have increasingly become targets.

The friction between federal authorities and the press has unfolded in major urban centers. In Minneapolis, Minnesota, independent photographer John Abernathy was documenting daily street demonstrations when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents tackled him to the ground. A widely circulated photograph showed Abernathy on the pavement with pepper spray running down his face, highlighting the forceful tactics utilized by federal agents against both citizens and members of the media.

Immigrant journalists working within the United States have faced even more severe legal and professional disruptions under the hardline immigration policies. Estefany Rodríguez, a Colombian reporter covering immigration issues for a Spanish-language news outlet in Nashville, Tennessee, was arrested by federal agents in March. Rodríguez was held in ICE detention centers across Louisiana and Alabama for two weeks before a judge ordered her release. The arrest occurred just a day after she had reported on immigration enforcement actions at a local courthouse, while she was sitting in a vehicle marked with her media outlet's logo.

Similarly, Mario Guevara, an Emmy award-winning journalist originally from El Salvador, was arrested in Georgia in June during a "No Kings" protest. Guevara, who had lived in Atlanta for nearly twenty years operating an independent Spanish-language outlet and documenting enforcement operations on TikTok, spent more than 100 days in detention, primarily kept in isolation. Guevara told Forbidden Stories that he believed his detention was a direct result of his reporting, noting that guards and agents questioned why a non-citizen was documenting their activities.

Following his detention, Guevara was deported to El Salvador last October, separating him from his wife and children who remain in the United States. Despite his removal, he has continued reporting on US immigration enforcement from abroad.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security strongly rejected Guevara's assertions that he was targeted because of his profession, calling the allegations completely false. The spokesperson stated that Guevara was arrested by local authorities for obstruction of law enforcement and deported because an immigration judge had previously issued a final order of removal more than a decade earlier, emphasizing that individuals who break US laws face arrest and permanent removal.

The challenges facing journalists extend beyond US borders, touching nations involved in the administration's third-country removal policy. This secretive arrangement involves deals struck with third countries, primarily in Africa and Latin America, to accept deportees whom the United States cannot return to their countries of origin. Journalists investigating these arrangements have encountered hostility from foreign governments with restrictive press freedom records.

In Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon, four journalists—including three on assignment for the Associated Press—were briefly detained last February while reporting at a state-run compound holding African migrants recently deported from the United States. Accused of criminal trespassing, the journalists had their equipment and phones confiscated for a week. One of the detained reporters, Nalova Akua, told the Committee to Protect Journalists that authorities warned during questioning that they would be crushed and disappear without a trace, believing the reporters were targeted for exposing sensitive bilateral cooperation.

Despite the mounting obstacles, media workers continue to emphasize the necessity of public documentation. As Abernathy noted after tossing his camera to a fellow photographer while being tackled by federal agents, the reality unfolding on the ground is a matter of public record that deserves to be seen.