Worries at the door

The first time Estefany Rodríguez saw Alejandro Medina III, who would be her husband, it was through a screen. It was 2024; she was living in Houston but reporting for a Spanish-language site called Nashville Noticias, and often covered the city’s Hispanic community remotely. While editing a video feature about Medina, an artist who combines regional Mexican music with American country, something piqued her interest. “I thought to myself, ‘That one is going to be mine,’” she told me.

Later, they met in person, at the annual Nashville Noticias Christmas Day parade and toy giveaway. They stayed in touch. Journalism has given her a lot, she said, over a video call from her cream-colored couch. Rodríguez, who is thirty-five, wore a gray-and-white checkered shirt, her hair parted to one side. Beside her sat Medina, who smiled sheepishly as he listened to her tell their love story. They looked happy. Light poured into the room. To their right, a houseplant sprouted from a pot. He recalled how, back then, they would talk on the phone for hours, “about life, where she comes from, where I come from, our goals, our ambitions, what we want to leave behind.” It wasn’t long before Rodríguez moved to Nashville with her daughter Mariangel, who is now nine. On January 21, Rodríguez and Medina got married.

Then, on March 4, the couple was pulling into the parking lot of a Crunch Fitness in a Honda marked with the Nashville Noticias logo when they found themselves surrounded by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

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