{"id":583761,"date":"2018-05-22T07:00:45","date_gmt":"2018-05-22T13:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=583761"},"modified":"2018-05-21T16:12:24","modified_gmt":"2018-05-21T22:12:24","slug":"mexican-journalist-detained-in-texas-granted-new-asylum-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/05\/mexican-journalist-detained-in-texas-granted-new-asylum-hearing\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexican journalist detained in Texas granted new asylum hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_479899\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-479899\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Gutierrez-Emilio-771x529.jpg\" alt=\"Emilio Guti\u00e9rrez\" width=\"771\" height=\"529\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Gutierrez-Emilio-771x529.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Gutierrez-Emilio-336x231.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Gutierrez-Emilio-768x527.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Gutierrez-Emilio.jpg 1005w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Juli\u00e1n Aguilar \/ The Texas Tribune<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mexican reporter Emilio Guti\u00e9rrez Soto had sought asylum in the United States and been living in Las Cruces legally since 2008.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A Mexican reporter who has been in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2017\/12\/08\/after-years-seeking-asylum-us-mexican-reporter-and-his-son-just-narrow\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">immigration detention<\/a> on the border since late last year has been granted a new asylum hearing after he and his son were nearly deported last Christmas.<\/p>\n<p>Emilio Guti\u00e9rrez Soto and his son Oscar fled the border state of Chihuahua in 2008 when Emilio Guti\u00e9rrez\u2019s reporting on cartel crime and corruption there led to death threats. Both had been living legally in the United States, in Las Cruces, N.M., while waiting for a final decision from an immigration judge on the asylum claim, which they said was warranted because of his work chronicling one of the world\u2019s most violent countries.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article originally appeared in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/05\/21\/mexican-journalist-detained-texas-granted-new-asylum-hearing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Texas Tribune<\/a>,\u00a0a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans and engages with them about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>After dragging on for nearly a decade,\u00a0Guti\u00e9rrez&#8217;s claim was denied last year and his appeal was initially dismissed in December. But the Board of Immigration Appeals reinstated the appeal, and the board ruled last week that new evidence submitted in the case warranted another look at the claim.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was lucky. It could have gone the other way,\u201d said Guti\u00e9rrez&#8217;s attorney, Eduardo Beckett. \u201cIf he would have been denied, by the time I found out, he would have been in Mexico already.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The board wrote that its decision was based in part on new evidence submitted during the appeal and that while it doesn\u2019t usually \u201caddress evidence for the first time on appeal,\u201d it would return the case for consideration of \u201cnewly available\u201d evidence. The National Press Club, which joined Beckett and other journalism organizations in their efforts to secure the Guti\u00e9rrezes&#8217; release, said that included more than 150 pages of Guti\u00e9rrez\u2019s articles and recent reports on the dangers of reporting in Mexico. U.S. Rep. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/directory\/beto-orourke\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Beto O&#8217;Rourke<\/a>, D- El Paso, and officials with the Catholic Diocese of El Paso also called for the Gutierrez\u2019s release.<\/p>\n<p>Beckett said the next step is to get Emilio and Oscar Guti\u00e9rrez out of detention while their new case is handled. The reporter was recently awarded a Knight-Wallace Fellowship for the next academic year at the University of Michigan. The university has offered a $75,000 stipend but needs Guti\u00e9rrez in Ann Arbor by Aug. 27, according to a letter provided by Beckett\u2019s office. He was also awarded the\u00a0National Press Club\u2019s John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award in October.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Though the latest development is welcome news for the Guti\u00e9rrezes, Beckett and his clients know the battle to secure a permanent ruling in their favor will still be difficult.<\/p>\n<p>Of the 12,831 asylum requests from Mexicans\u00a0received during the 2016 fiscal year, only 464 \u2014 less than 4 percent \u2014 were granted, while 2,624 were denied and thousands more either withdrawn, abandoned or possibly pending, according to federal\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/eoir\/file\/asylum-statistics\/download\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">statistics<\/a>. That percentage of\u00a0Mexicans granted asylum\u00a0is far less than the 13.3 percent overall rate of approved asylum claims in the United States during the same time frame.<script async src=\"https:\/\/cdn.texastribune.org\/pixel\/dot.min.29c708b3d0da5d17a725.js\" integrity=\"sha384-8Xwf\/TlQnmHiajg1t3dn8w4qlF1rmV33o5NAQVXYu0T2q3rHV5579zrSmRjh+XnM\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\" data-tt-canonical=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/05\/21\/mexican-journalist-detained-texas-granted-new-asylum-hearing\/\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After a decade of seeking asylum, a Mexican reporter and his son have been granted a new asylum hearing. The pair has been detained in Texas since last December.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":479899,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[140,3268],"class_list":["post-583761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-border-and-immigration","tag-journalism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}