WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The
National Press Club will hold a press conference Monday, Dec. 11 at 1:00
p.m. regarding the recent detainment of Mexican journalist
Emilio Gutierrez by U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement officials. The press conference will take
place in the club's First Amendment Lounge.
Just two months after appearing at the National Press Club to
accept the John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award on behalf of
Mexico's besieged journalists,
Gutierrez on Thursday found himself on the verge of deportation
and, later, removed to a detention facility in the remote west
Texas town of Sierra Blanca.
Eduardo Beckett, an attorney
representing Gutierrez, said immigration officials in El Paso handcuffed the reporter when he
arrived for a scheduled appointment and refused to wait for a
response from the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals. The BIA's
phone call granting the stay, 10 minutes later, prevented the
deportation. Afterwards, however, Beckett was unable to see his
client. He said ICE informed him that Gutierrez would be detained —
in a facility 90 miles from his attorney's El Paso office.
"I believe it's retaliation," Beckett told the National Press
Club.
Officials at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement have told
the club they are "researching" the case.
Gutierrez has been living in the
United States since 2008, when he and his son fled after
reporting he did about alleged abuses of civilians by the Mexican
military resulted in threats to his life. He is seeking asylum and
has appealed a July decision by immigration Judge Robert Hough denying his request.
International freedom of the press and freedom of speech
organizations, including Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders
and the Committee to Protect Journalists, have concluded that
Mexico is one of the most
dangerous countries in the world for journalists. Earlier this
week, the United Nations issued a report decrying a "crisis" of
safety for the press in Mexico.
Nearly two dozen journalism and immigration rights organizations
have signed a National Press Club letter supporting Gutierrez's
asylum request.
The National Press Club is one of the world's leading journalism
organizations; through its non-profit Journalism Institute, it
supports the First Amendment in the
United States and freedom of the press worldwide.
Press Contacts:
Lindsay
Underwood, National Press Club,
lunderwood@press.org, (202) 662-7561
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SOURCE National Press Club