Luis Galeano, an exiled Nicaraguan journalist, was detained Monday morning by ICE agents in Florida, United States.
The director of the program Café con Voz was detained while working as an Uber driver.
His wife, Daykel Santamaría, told Expediente Público that she was only able to speak with him for about 15 seconds.
Sharon Ardon/Expediente Público
At 9:50 a.m. on Monday, September 14, 2026, Nicaraguan journalist Luis Galeano called his wife, Daykel Santamaría, to tell her he had been detained by agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
«I’m detained by ICE. I don’t know where I am, at some station — they only let me make this call,» Santamaría told Expediente Público.
Before the call ended, Galeano asked her to contact a lawyer and journalists to report his detention.
Galeano had been driving for Uber to supplement the income from his journalism work in the United States. His wife explained that they both hold second jobs on top of producing Café con Voz, the program he has directed from exile.
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Galeano’s Detention
«He usually leaves at 5 in the morning. Today he didn’t leave until 7:30, as if to say, ‘I don’t want to go,’ but I have an obligation — and he went,» Santamaría said.
According to her, the journalist had already told her he was worried about the detentions taking place in Florida and that he intended to quit that job.
Galeano had also voiced this concern days earlier to Javier Meléndez, director of the think tank Expediente Abierto. He called Meléndez on Thursday, September 10, to discuss a new journalism project and told him he wanted to stop driving.
«He was very worried about what’s happening in Florida with the detentions, and he wanted to get off the road. He wanted to stop driving for Uber,» Meléndez said.
Galeano had been planning to launch a morning news program, similar to a newscast; that would let him focus on journalism again. Meléndez had told him he would look for a way to support the project.
Four days after that conversation, Galeano was detained.
Background — Daniel Ortega’s Regime Pursues Journalists Into Exile
Eight Years of Journalism in Exile
The detention comes almost eight years after Galeano left Nicaragua. Over a roughly 25-year career, he has built a reputation for investigative reporting and criticism of Daniel Ortega’s regime.
«He has always been a very critical journalist, an investigative reporter who has never covered up anything happening — or that has happened — in Nicaragua,» Santamaría said.
In December 2018, Galeano was running Café con Voz in Nicaragua, an opinion program that also aired on 100% Noticias. That month, police raided the channel’s facilities and arrested its director, Miguel Mora, and its press chief, Lucía Pineda Ubau.
Days later, a judge in Managua issued an arrest warrant against Galeano and other journalists linked to the outlet. He left Nicaragua on December 26, 2018.
But that didn’t stop him from practicing journalism. From Miami, Galeano continued producing Café con Voz and kept covering Nicaragua’s political situation.
«His journalism only intensified, doubling down in its opposition to everything the Daniel Ortega regime was doing,» Santamaría said.
Further reading — Foreign Journalists Censored by Daniel Ortega: «There Is No Press Freedom in Nicaragua»
Stripped of His Nationality
The journalist’s situation worsened again in 2023, when the regime of Ortega and Rosario Murillo placed him on a list of 94 Nicaraguans stripped of their nationality.
The measure affected journalists, writers, human rights defenders and opposition figures, most of whom were outside Nicaragua at the time. The regime branded them «traitors to the homeland» and stripped them of their citizenship rights.
«If they send him to Nicaragua, we know his life will be in danger,» Santamaría said.
Meléndez also believes deportation would have serious consequences for the journalist. «If Luis were deported to Nicaragua, they would basically let him die in prison,» he warned.
Still, Galeano’s wife insists her husband has not committed any crime in the United States and that his asylum application remains pending.
«Let them release him, and let them truly approve our asylum,» Santamaría asked.
The family says Galeano’s lawyer has documentation to support the application.
Current Immigration Status
Immigration documents obtained by Expediente Público show that Galeano applied for asylum in the United States in June 2019, months after he was forced to leave Nicaragua amid the Ortega-Murillo regime’s persecution of independent journalists.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) confirmed at the time that it had received his asylum application and that the case remained pending.
However, Galeano’s wife insists that her husband has committed no crime in the United States and that his asylum application remains pending. She is therefore calling on U.S. authorities to release him and approve his asylum application.
Expediente Público is withholding case numbers, immigration identifiers and address details contained in the document for security and privacy reasons.
Disclaimer
This article was translated with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed and edited by a human editor.
