Incident details
- Updated on
- Date of incident
- September 14, 2026
- Targets
- Luis Galeano (Café con Voz)
Florida-based Nicaraguan journalist Luis Galeano, seen reporting for his online news program Café con Voz. Galeano was detained by federal agents while driving in Orlando on Sept. 14, 2026.
U.S. grants asylum to Florida-based Nicaraguan journalist
Nicaraguan exiled journalist Luis Galeano, who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Orlando, Florida, in September, was granted political asylum in the U.S. on Oct. 23, 2026.
Speaking on his online news broadcast, Café con Voz, Galeano called the decision a “miracle” and “historic” — not just for his family but for Nicaraguans fighting for freedom and those still awaiting asylum.
“I feel eternally blessed, because today we are before you with our asylum approved,” he said in Spanish. “It’s a precedent. The United States government has given us space, has given us place.”
ICE arrested Galeano on Sept. 14 while he was working as a ride-hailing driver. The agency has not publicly explained the reason for his detention.
Appearing on Café con Voz, Galeano said he was notified Oct. 26 that his asylum application had been approved. He said that during his bail hearing, the government acknowledged he had demonstrated a credible fear of returning to Nicaragua. Galeano’s lawyers cited that acknowledgment in a motion asking the immigration judge to review his case, and the judge subsequently approved his asylum application.
Galeano fled Nicaragua in 2018, after he faced persecution over his reporting. Authorities had raided 100% Noticias, where Galeano worked, and issued a warrant for his arrest. He filed for political asylum in the U.S. in 2019, and in 2023, Nicaragua stripped Galeano and 93 other dissidents of their citizenship and ordered the confiscation of their property.
Galeano said his exile never meant he would remain silent about what was happening in Nicaragua. He rebuilt Café con Voz from Miami to send a message to the dictatorship.
“We were firm and dignified and willing to give battle from exile,” he said during his Oct. 26 broadcast. “And now, we don’t give up, we keep doing the work. We keep denouncing the dictatorship that thought it had defeated us.”
In a statement posted to X, the Committee to Protect Journalists said it welcomed the granting of political asylum for Galeano. The group thanked other press freedom and human rights organizations, as well as U.S. lawmakers, who called for Galeano’s release and protection.
“The United States must remain a refuge for journalists persecuted for their work,” CPJ said.
Nicaraguan journalist released from ICE custody
Journalist Luis Galeano was released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody on Sept. 26, 2026, after nearly two weeks in detention in Miami, Florida.
Galeano, a Nicaraguan exile who directs the Miami-based online news and opinion program Café con Voz, announced his release on the outlet’s Facebook page. Reporters Without Borders also confirmed the journalist’s release.
In the Facebook statement, written in Spanish, Galeano said he was alive, healthy and free again — and ready to continue to fight against the Nicaraguan government and its presidents. In a video on YouTube, Galeano thanked his attorney, his pastor and other reporters for their support.
“I want to say thank you to everyone, everyone, with no exception to my fellow journalists, who from the smallest to the largest made the effort they could to make visible what was happening to me,” he said in Spanish. “We are united. We are a bastion that they have not been able to break and will not be able to break.”
Galeano was arrested Sept. 14 while working as a ride-hailing driver in Orlando. ICE has not publicly explained the reason for his detention.
He had previously worked for the Nicaraguan newspaper El Nuevo Diario and served as a reporter for the EFE news agency’s Nicaragua bureau. He later directed an earlier version of Café con Voz there, on the 100% Noticias news service.
Galeano faced persecution over his reporting in Nicaragua, including a 2011 threat following coverage of an alleged government misuse of $20 million. Galeano fled the country in 2018 after police raided 100% Noticias and authorities issued an arrest order for him, according to multiple news outlets. He has a pending U.S. asylum application, filed in 2019.
In 2023, Nicaragua stripped Galeano and 93 other dissidents of their citizenship and ordered the confiscation of their property. From exile in Miami, Galeano rebuilt Café con Voz as an online program and continued reporting on Nicaragua’s government.
A hearing in Galeano’s immigration case is set for Oct. 2.
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.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogs press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
