They ‘came after me simply because I was a street journalist’

Dear Friend of Press Freedom,

One year ago this month, independent journalist Carlitos Ricardo Parias was shot in the arm and arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as he left his home in Los Angeles, California. Parias, a native of Mexico who publishes on TikTok as Richard Noticias LA, has since been held in immigration detention at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in San Bernardino County.

FPF’s Deputy Advocacy Director Adam Rose spoke with Parias over the phone from the detention center last week. During the call, which was recorded and translated from Spanish, Parias spoke to Rose about the conditions at the facility, which he said remain dire, his arrest by federal officers last year and his family.

Parias said he was targeted for his journalism. “These people came after me simply because I was a street journalist. A grassroots journalist, you could say, because I didn’t study journalism. God simply gave me the opportunity to report the news on TikTok,” he said.

He told Rose that he hasn’t been getting the proper medical care, and that the food was bad. Rose recently wrote in The Intercept about fly larvae found in drinking water at the detention center. Parias said new water filters were installed after he got images of the wormlike creatures to multiple news outlets.

Parias also spoke about how proud he is of his family, and how the detention has affected all of them. “This is something extremely difficult and painful for my family,” he told Rose. “They’ve always supported me and helped me keep going so that I can get out of this situation.”

In an Oct. 20 news conference, his family, along with civil rights lawyer Denisse O. Gastélum, announced that they had filed a $50 million administrative claim against the U.S. government to compensate for the use of excessive force during the arrest, substandard medical care afterward and the loss of Parias’ livelihood, according to the Los Angeles Wave.

Updates from other journalists detained by ICE this year

Exiled Nicaraguan journalist Luis Galeano, who was held in ICE detention in Miami, Florida, for nearly two weeks in September, announced on Oct. 26 that he was granted asylum by the U.S. government. A Café con Voz Facebook post about the development, translated from Spanish, says this decision represented a significant moment in Galeano’s personal and professional journey.

On Sept. 9, a federal judge in Nashville, Tennessee, dismissed a petition filed by reporter Estefany Rodríguez. Rodríguez, who reports on immigration arrests for the news outlet Nashville Noticias, was detained by ICE in March and held for more than two weeks. Her petition, first filed while she was in custody, characterized her arrest as illegal and retaliation for her often-critical coverage of ICE.

Michael Holley, an attorney for Rodríguez, told the Tracker that while the judge had dismissed her petition as overbroad, he didn’t rule on whether her detention was retaliatory. “We believe the proof of retaliation by ICE remains strong and unrefuted,” he said.

Other notable Tracker updates

Denial of access: In September, CNN, Politico and MS NOW filed a lawsuit after being barred from the White House. On Oct. 13, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction restoring their access, focusing the ruling on the building itself. This month, CNN, Politico and The Independent’s White House correspondent Andrew Feinberg have all been denied access to Air Force One, with CNN kept off the presidential plane “no fewer than four times,” according to its attorney Theodore J. Boutrous Jr. On Oct. 28, CNN, Politico and MS NOW filed an amended complaint combining both the general pool access and White House bans.

Separate but related: After The Associated Press was banned from the White House in February 2025, it filed a lawsuit seeking reinstatement. That was granted, but a panel of D.C. Circuit Court judges ruled that some spaces, like the Oval Office and Air Force One, could be held separately. That litigation is ongoing.

‘No Kings’ assaults: Three California-based journalists were assaulted by LA police officers while covering “No Kings” protests in the city on Oct. 17. Independent photojournalist Angel Perez was tackled and handcuffed, with his camera and lens scratched during the scuffle. He was detained for roughly two hours before being released. Photojournalist Christopher Almaraz was shoved into the street by police, and photojournalist Cassandra Church was shoved from behind by a police sergeant. The protests were billed as anti-administration and get-out-the-vote demonstrations. Nearly 50 journalists have been assaulted by law enforcement during protests in LA so far this year.

New charges: On Oct. 8, independent journalist Tim Burke was charged a second time with 13 felony counts related to his publication of unedited clips from Fox News. In 2023, federal agents raided Burke’s home office in Tampa, Florida, seizing nearly all of his electronic devices, as part of a 14-count indictment alleging hacking and computer abuse charges. In September 2025, the government withdrew the charges; the new 2026 indictment is a reframing of those same charges. This September, Burke filed a lawsuit against the federal government over the search warrants.