MEXICO CITY _ A Mexican journalist held in U.S. immigrant detention since last year was released Thursday night.
Emilio Gutierrez Soto fled to the U.S. with his teenage son a decade ago after Gutierrez said he was threatened by the Mexican military.
He and his son, who were held at an immigrant detention center in El Paso for more than seven months, still face deportation. Their asylum claims were denied by a judge last year, but the Board of Immigration Appeals found errors with the case and sent it back to the same immigration judge to conduct a new hearing.
But now they will be able to walk free as they wait for a resolution.
"We are happy as can be," said William McCarren, executive director of the National Press Club, which advocated for the release of Gutierrez and awarded him the group's Press Freedom award last year.
Gutierrez was also granted a prestigious Knight-Wallace Fellowship, which funds an academic year for a small group of journalists from around the world at the University of Michigan. Gutierrez will now be able to begin the fellowship in Ann Arbor, Mich., this fall, fellowship director Lynette Clemetson said in a statement.
"There is a full community of support in Ann Arbor eager to welcome Emilio, to restore his well-being, and to help him resume the journalism work that means so much to him," Clemetson said.
A former reporter for a small newspaper in the violent Mexican state of Chihuahua, Gutierrez said he received death threats after writing about a group of soldiers who had stolen money from migrants.
Gutierrez said that several days after publishing his stories in 2005 he was summoned to meet with several military leaders.
"You've written three idiotic stories," Gutierrez said a general warned him. "There will not be a fourth."
In the following years, Gutierrez said, his home was once ransacked by dozens of soldiers. Another time, patrols of soldiers loitered threateningly in front of his house.
"You've got to leave now," he was told by a friend who knew one of the soldiers.
In 2008, shortly before his 45th birthday, Gutierrez and his 15-year-old son Oscar asked for asylum at the U.S. border, telling a border agent: "We're not afraid; we're terrified."
Mexico is one of the deadliest countries in the world for journalists. Last year, reporters and photographers turned up dead in Mexico at a rate of about one per month.
A journalist enrolled in a government protection program was shot dead this week in the resort city of Playa del Carmen, less than a month after the killing of another journalist who worked at the same news site. Ruben Pat, news director of the Semanario Playa News, entered the protection program after he said he was kidnapped and tortured by police for accusing a local police chief of ties to a drug cartel.
A majority of the more than 100 journalists enrolled in the federal protection program, which provides emergency evacuations, police protection and in some cases a panic button that summons authorities, have faced threats from government authorities, not criminal groups, according to officials.
At least 15 journalists have fled Mexico in recent years, according to press freedom advocates. A majority of them have sought refuge in the United States.
Though a few won asylum during the Obama administration, denials or prolonged detention have been the norm under President Donald Trump. Last May, Mexican journalist Martin Mendez dropped his asylum claim in the U.S. and agreed to be deported after being held in detention for nearly four months.
After Gutierrez and his son entered the U.S., they were detained for several months. Eventually they were released on parole while they waited for their asylum cases to be heard. For several years, they lived in Las Vegas, N.M., where Gutierrez operated a food truck.
Their asylum claim finally came before a judge in November. It was denied, and Gutierrez and his son were detained again shortly afterward. U.S. immigration authorities continued to argue that the pair should be jailed even after the Board of Immigration Appeals decided that their case should be reconsidered
Lawyers for Gutierrez demanded his release, saying Trump's frequent attacks on Mexicans and journalists are evidence that Gutierrez was a victim of discrimination.
His asylum denial and detention sparked outrage among many U.S. journalists and immigrant advocates, who organized protests outside the detention center where he and his son were being held.
Andrea Edney, president of the National Press Club, said the release of Gutierrez was a victory for press freedom.
"Though it has been far too long an ordeal, especially for Emilio, we are ecstatic and relieved to welcome him back into the ranks of a free press," she said.
