Club's successful effort to Free Emilio lauded in Star-Ledger editorial

The Star-Ledger of Newark lauded the National Press Club for its successful efforts to free Emilio Gutierrez Soto, the Mexican journalist threatened with deportation by the Trump administration.

The editorial, which also ran on NJ.com, described the Club's work on behalf of Gutierrez Soto, who was jailed and threatened with deportation after criticizing the U.S. government's policy toward asylum seekers during a speech at the Club where he accepted the John Aubuchon Award for Freedom of the Press on behalf of Mexican journalists.

"The 'enemy of the people' is not a reporter brave enough to speak out, even when it earns him a death threat or lands him in jail, but a government that tramples on fundamental freedoms," the editorial said.

Gutierrez Soto fled Mexico after being threatened in 2008 and formally requested asylum for him and his son at a legal port of entry. His request initially was denied in July 2017, but while his appealed was pending, the Trump administration arrested him and said he would be deported.

The Board of Immigration Appeals stopped the immediate deportation, and the Rutgers University Law School international human rights law clinic sought Gutiérrez's freedom, backed by the Club and 19 other professional journalism organizations.