Independent photographer John Abernathy was tackled by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents while documenting protests in Minneapolis, an incident that highlighted the risks journalists face while reporting on the administration’s immigration crackdown. The US Press Freedom Tracker documented 32 arrests and 170 assaults of journalists during 2025, with the volatile environment continuing into the current year.
Journalists who are themselves immigrants have become particular targets of enforcement actions. Estefany Rodríguez, a Colombian reporter covering immigration for a Spanish-language outlet in Nashville, was arrested in March and detained in ICE facilities in Louisiana and Alabama for two weeks before a judge ordered her release. In Georgia, Emmy award-winning journalist Mario Guevara from El Salvador was arrested while covering a protest in June 2025 and spent over 100 days in detention, mostly in isolation. Guevara was deported to El Salvador last October while his family remains in the US. He has stated he believes he was targeted because of his journalism documenting ICE operations on social media.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson disputed Guevara’s characterization, stating that claims he was arrested or isolated because of his journalism were “completely FALSE” and asserting that he was arrested by local authorities for obstruction and deported based on a removal order issued more than a decade earlier. The spokesperson added that individuals who break US laws will face arrest and deportation.
Journalists investigating the administration’s arrangements with third countries to receive deportees have also encountered hostility from foreign authorities. In Cameroon, four journalists including three on assignment for the Associated Press were briefly detained while reporting at a facility housing African migrants deported from the US. One detained journalist reported being warned by authorities they would be “crushed” and “disappear[ed] without a trace.” The multi-outlet investigation coordinated by Forbidden Stories has examined deportation agreements struck with nations primarily in Africa and Latin America.
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