{"id":607744,"date":"2018-07-27T09:39:12","date_gmt":"2018-07-27T15:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=607744"},"modified":"2018-07-27T09:39:12","modified_gmt":"2018-07-27T15:39:12","slug":"mexican-reporter-and-son-released-from-immigration-detention-in-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/07\/mexican-reporter-and-son-released-from-immigration-detention-in-texas\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexican reporter and son released from immigration detention in Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_607746\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-607746\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Emilio_Gutierrez-Soto_and_son_Oscar_TT-771x517.jpg\" alt=\"Emilio Gutierrez-Soto and Oscar\" width=\"771\" height=\"517\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Emilio_Gutierrez-Soto_and_son_Oscar_TT-771x517.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Emilio_Gutierrez-Soto_and_son_Oscar_TT-336x225.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Emilio_Gutierrez-Soto_and_son_Oscar_TT-768x515.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Emilio_Gutierrez-Soto_and_son_Oscar_TT-1170x784.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Emilio_Gutierrez-Soto_and_son_Oscar_TT.jpg 1250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Juli\u00e1n Aguilar \/ The Texas Tribune<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Emilio Gutierrez-Soto and son Oscar reunite after being released on Thursday.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>EL PASO, Texas \u2014\u00a0A Mexican reporter and his son who are seeking asylum in the United States were released\u00a0Thursday after spending seven months in federal detention in El Paso.<\/p>\n<p>Emilio Guti\u00e9rrez Soto, 55, and his son Oscar, 25, fled the border state of Chihuahua in 2008 when Emilio Guti\u00e9rrez\u2019s reporting on government and military corruption there led to death threats.<\/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\/07\/26\/mexican-reporter-and-son-released-immigration-detention-texas\/\" 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 living and working legally in Las Cruces, N.M. for almost a decade, the two were arrested and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in December during what their attorney said should have been a regular check-in with authorities.<\/p>\n<p>Their release Thursday comes a day before a court-ordered deadline for Department of Homeland Security officials to turn over to a federal judge in El Paso emails and other correspondence detailing why the Guti\u00e9rrezes were placed on a \u201cnon-detained target list\u201d created by ICE officials shortly after President Donald Trump took office.<\/p>\n<p>Their fight to gain asylum is far from over: the Guti\u00e9rrezes&#8217; claim was denied last year and\u00a0their\u00a0appeal was initially dismissed in December. But the Board of Immigration Appeals reinstated the appeal, and the board ruled in May that new evidence submitted in the case was worth considering. They are scheduled to appear before an immigration judge next month to argue their case.<\/p>\n<p>But for a short moment the father-and-son pair\u00a0that have garnered worldwide attention were all smiles outside the federal immigration detention center where they\u00a0had\u00a0been held since late last year. Guti\u00e9rrez\u00a0and his son were separated for seven months after they arrived in 2008 but were detained together in El Paso since last December.<\/p>\n<p>When asked what has kept him going for so long and why he continues to fight, Emilio Guti\u00e9rrez didn\u2019t hesitate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy son. He\u2019s been my inspiration. I understand and I share the pain with all the families who have come to this country in order to save their own lives,\u201d he said, referring to the thousands of families who were separated after seeking asylum under Trump\u2019s zero tolerance policy.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>In an order issued earlier this month, Judge David Guaderrama said there was evidence to suggest that the government might have detained the Guti\u00e9rrezes for nothing more that the older Guti\u00e9rrez speaking out against the asylum process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe believe they detained him in violation of his First Amendment rights in retaliation for criticizing both the [U.S.] immigration process and for criticizing the Mexican government,\u201d said Eduardo Beckett, the Guti\u00e9rrezes&#8217; lawyer.<\/p>\n<p>The correspondence won\u2019t have to be turned\u00a0over because the Guti\u00e9rrezes were released, Beckett said. But he added that other organizations, including the National Press Club, could still argue in court that the exchanges should be released. The National Press Club has been one of Gutierrez\u2019s most vocal supporters and awarded him the organization\u2019s John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award in October,\u00a0two months before he and his son were detained.<\/p>\n<p>In his order, Guaderrama cited the award and the publicity surrounding it as one of the potential reasons ICE may have targeted the Guti\u00e9rrezes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr. Guti\u00e9rrez-Soto criticized ICE and the government in a very public manner while accepting a prestigious award from the National Press Club. His arrest occurred only a couple months later,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Emilio Guti\u00e9rrez was also awarded a Knight-Wallace Fellowship for the next academic\u00a0year by the University of Michigan. The university has offered a $75,000 stipend but needs Guti\u00e9rrez in Ann Arbor by Aug. 27.<\/p>\n<p>That possibility that will happen looks more likely after Thursday\u2019s development. But Beckett said his first order of business was to get the two to a decent steakhouse and a warm bed in Las Cruces.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re thankful for all of the lawyers and the press [who followed the story],\u201d he said. \u201cThis victory was a collective effort.\u201d<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\/07\/26\/mexican-reporter-and-son-released-immigration-detention-texas\/\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Emilio Guti\u00e9rrez Soto and his son Oscar spent seven months in federal detention. Their release came a day before a court-ordered deadline for federal officials to turn over emails about why the two were detained.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":607746,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[140,3268],"class_list":["post-607744","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\/607744","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=607744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}