ICE detains exiled Nicaraguan journalist Luis Galeano

• The Ortega-Murillo regime stripped Galeano of his citizenship in 2023, leaving him stateless.
• Advocates warn deporting Galeano would endanger his life while his 2019 US asylum application remains pending.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Florida detained exiled Nicaraguan journalist Luis Galeano on Monday morning, triggering alarm among press freedom advocates and fellow exiled dissidents.

Galeano, the director of the independent digital program Café con Voz, was taken into custody at approximately 9:50 a.m. on September 14, 2026, while working as an Uber driver.

His wife, Daykel Santamaría, told Expediente Público that she spoke with him briefly following the arrest.

"I’m detained by ICE. I don’t know where I am, at some station — they only let me make this call," Galeano told his wife before asking her to contact legal counsel and press outlets.

Santamaría noted that Galeano had expressed anxiety about recent immigration enforcement actions in Florida and had discussed quitting his rideshare job to focus full-time on launching a new morning news initiative.

Stateless journalist faces severe risks if deported

Galeano, a veteran investigative reporter with a 25-year career, fled Nicaragua on December 26, 2018, after a Managua judge issued an arrest warrant against him following a police raid on the facilities of 100% Noticias.

From exile in Miami, he continued broadcasting Café con Voz to report on political repression under President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo.

In 2023, the Ortega-Murillo regime escalated its retaliation against independent media by stripping Galeano and 93 other Nicaraguans of their nationality, declaring them "traitors to the homeland" and seizing their rights.

Immigration records confirm that Galeano filed a formal asylum application with US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in June 2019, which remains pending.

Following his detention, family members and civil society leaders warned of dire consequences should the U.S. attempt to remove him to Nicaragua.

"If they send him to Nicaragua, we know his life will be in danger," Santamaría stated, appealing for U.S. authorities to release her husband and process his pending asylum claim.

Javier Meléndez, director of the think tank Expediente Abierto, echoed those concerns, warning that "if Luis were deported to Nicaragua, they would basically let him die in prison."