Nicaraguan journalist detained by ICE in Florida

Exiled Nicaraguan journalist Luis Galeano was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents while working as a driver for a ride-hailing service in Orlando, Florida, on Sept. 14, 2026.

Galeano, director of the Miami-based online news and opinion program Café con Voz, was able to briefly call his wife, Deykell Santamaría, from a police station after his detention and ask her to contact his attorney and notify other journalists, according to the Nicaraguan investigative outlet Divergentes.

Café con Voz later reported that Galeano was being held at the Krome facility, an ICE detention center in Miami, while his immigration proceedings continue. His hearing is scheduled for Oct. 2.

After his detention, Santamaría told The Guardian that Galeano said: “If God got me out of Nicaragua, he’ll get me out of here.”

ICE has not publicly explained what prompted his detention. Galeano has an asylum application pending in the United States, filed in 2019 after fleeing political persecution for his journalism in Nicaragua. He also has a work permit and Social Security number, The Guardian reported.

Before leaving Nicaragua, Galeano worked for the newspaper El Nuevo Diario and served as a reporter for the EFE news agency’s Nicaragua bureau between 2004 and 2006, according to the Latin Times. He later directed Café con Voz, a Nicaraguan political news and interview program that aired on the 100% Noticias news service.

Galeano faced threats over his journalism while in Nicaragua. In February 2011, Amnesty International issued an urgent action after an unidentified caller threatened him over reporting for El Nuevo Diario on alleged government misuse of about $20 million. The caller warned Galeano that his family would not see him again if he proceeded with publication.

Galeano ultimately fled Nicaragua in 2018, days after police raided 100% Noticias and authorities issued an arrest order for him, according to multiple news outlets. The raid led to the arrests of the outlet’s director and news director.

From exile in Miami, Galeano rebuilt Café con Voz as an online program and continued reporting on Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega and then-Vice President Rosario Murillo (the husband and wife are now co-presidents). He also took up work as a driver to supplement his income.

In February 2023, Nicaragua stripped Galeano and 93 other dissidents of their citizenship and ordered the confiscation of their property. The group included journalists, writers, human rights advocates, religious leaders and opposition figures.

In an interview with Nieman Reports in 2020, Galeano talked about his large online following and the power and importance of social media.

“It’s a way of telling the Nicaraguan public that we haven’t surrendered. That we’re still here and putting up a fight from outside the country,” he said.

Following his detention, Republican Rep. María Elvira Salazar of Florida warned in a statement that America must know the difference between a criminal and a political exile, and added, “He cannot be sent back into the hands of the people that targeted him.”

A coalition of press freedom groups, including Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is a project, condemned Galeano’s arrest in a letter and also warned of the dangers of deporting him.

“The U.S. government’s targeting and detention of Galeano are a troubling escalation of attacks on journalists and media workers, particularly immigrant journalists, who consistently provide much-needed journalism and civic information for their communities,” the coalition letter said.

An estimated 268 Nicaraguan journalists have fled into exile, according to a January 2026 report from the Committee to Protect Journalists. Many now produce news from Costa Rica, the United States, Spain and other countries while relatives remaining in Nicaragua face surveillance and intimidation.