Photojournalist arrested at Miami immigration protest, gear seized

Freelance photojournalist Dave Decker was arrested by Miami-Dade Sheriff’s deputies while documenting anti-deportation protests outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Miami, Florida, on Nov. 22, 2025. Decker was held in custody for more than 30 hours before being released on bond with two charges.

Decker was on assignment to cover the protest for multiple outlets: Creative Loafing Tampa, an alt-weekly newspaper; News2Share, a collective that sells footage to news outlets; and Zuma Press, an independent press agency.

The activist group Sunrise Movement organized the protest at the Krome North Service Processing Center. In a clip posted to the group’s Instagram, more than a dozen activists are seen sitting and standing in front of a gate into the facility while singing and holding signs.

Decker told Creative Loafing that he was wearing National Press Photographers Association credentials around his neck and was photographing the protest. Once officers with the Miami-Dade Police and Florida Highway Patrol moved in, he began documenting the arrests of the protesters.

“It just felt normal to do the work of photojournalism and document from the sides, to document the detainments as they were happening,” Decker said. He added that, without warning, an officer made eye contact with him and began placing him in flex cuffs.

“I said, ‘Hey officer, I’m a member of the press.’ They said, ‘You were warned, you’re getting arrested,’” he recounted. Decker was able to speak with a Highway Patrol sergeant and identified himself as a journalist yet again, but said it was to no avail.

“He said, ‘I don’t care about any of this.’ And he said, ‘You’re going to get arrested too,’” Decker said. “So he arrested me, and then he isolated me on another side of the road.”

In footage captured by Decker, the photojournalist can be heard saying, “Oh my gosh, I’m not with them.” An officer then responds, “OK. Well, you’re here,” to which Decker replies, “I’m working.” “Anybody that’s here,” the officer continues. “OK, I’m not fighting,” Decker says. “I’m on assignment.”

Decker told the alt-weekly that he eventually convinced the officers to put his camera and other gear in his car, which was then impounded, and his belongings inventoried. His camera remains in custody.

The publication reported that Decker was among more than 30 individuals arrested outside the facility that day, and that the photojournalist was released shortly after midnight Nov. 24 on bond. Decker was not immediately available for comment.

According to court records reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, the photojournalist was charged with trespassing on property after warning and resisting officer without violence to his or her person.