In early 2025, Minneapolis found itself at the center of a national debate over immigration enforcement under the Trump administration. As federal agents, many armed and masked, surrounded the city, tensions rose. Independent photographer John Abernathy was documenting a protest when ICE agents approached him, leading to a viral image of him on the ground with pepper spray streaming down his face. The incident sparked discussions about how both immigrants and U.S. citizens who support them are treated, as well as the risks faced by journalists. Reports from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker showed that 2025 had already seen 32 arrests and 170 assaults on journalists, mostly during protests. The situation has continued into the current year, with journalists who are immigrants facing additional scrutiny. Among those affected was Estefany Rodríguez, a Colombian reporter based in Nashville, Tennessee, who covers immigration for a Spanish-language outlet. In March, she was arrested by ICE agents and held in detention centers in Louisiana and Alabama for two weeks before a judge ordered her release. The arrest came just a day after she reported on immigration arrests at a local courthouse. Rodríguez’s case was one of many that inspired a major international investigation led by Forbidden Stories, which involved over two dozen newsrooms across 16 countries. The investigation revealed confidential agreements made by the Trump administration with countries in Africa and Latin America to accept deportees the U.S. could not return to their home countries. Mario Guevara, an Emmy-winning journalist from El Salvador living in Atlanta, was arrested in June 2025 while covering a "No Kings" protest. Guevara had spent nearly two decades in the U.S., running an independent Spanish-language outlet and documenting immigration enforcement on TikTok. He was detained for over 100 days, mostly in isolation. "They didn't want me to hear the stories of other fellow prisoners and that's why they locked me up alone," he told Forbidden Stories. Deported to El Salvador last October, Guevara continues to report on U.S. immigration policies from abroad. He insists he was targeted for his journalism, noting that ICE agents repeatedly questioned him about his reporting activities. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security denied Guevara's claims, stating that his arrest was due to obstruction of law enforcement and that he was deported based on a prior immigration court order. The spokesperson emphasized that anyone who breaks U.S. laws would face consequences. Meanwhile, journalists reporting on the U.S.’s third-country removal policies have also faced pushback from foreign governments, especially those with limited press freedoms. In February 2025, four journalists, including three from the Associated Press, were briefly detained in Cameroon while covering a state-run facility housing migrants deported from the U.S. Their equipment was confiscated, and they were warned they could be "crushed" or "disappear without a trace." One of the journalists, Nalova Akua, told Forbidden Stories they were targeted for exposing a U.S.-Cameroon collaboration that local officials wanted to keep hidden. Abernathy, the photographer who was pepper-sprayed during the protest in Minneapolis, later told the Guardian that he tossed his camera to another photographer in hopes of preserving the images he had captured. "It deserves to be seen, what's going on around here," he said, highlighting the importance of documenting these events despite the risks.