ICE recently released a Mexican reporter and son after seven months in detention. Emilio Gutiérrez-Soto and his son Oscar were seeking asylum in face of death threats made during the father’s reporting on government and military corruption. The two had been in the U.S. for ten years before they were detained last December after the father criticized the asylum process. (The Texas Tribune, July 26, 2018, by Julián Aguilar)
A judge ruled last year that the government had violated Gutierréz’s First Amendment rights and sought evidence on whether Gutiérrez’s rights were intentionally violated. With the release, ICE is released from the order to produce e-mails, and the case returns to the judge who initially denied his asylum claim where Gutiérrez plans to introduce more evidence that Mexico is dangerous for reporters. Mexico is known as a killing ground for reporters with most of the murders going unpunished. (Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, July 28, 2018, by Teresa Mioli)