After 13 years, Mexican journalist seeking asylum still in legal limbo

Thirteen years after crossing the U.S. border from Mexico legally and applying for asylum, journalist Emilio Gutierrez-Soto still lives in legal limbo waiting for a response to his appeal from a deportation order.

An update on his case was one of three presentations at a National Press Club virtual event Monday in observation of World Press Freedom Day. The presentations highlighted the cases of journalists Gutierrez-Soto, Maria Ressa and Austin Tice,, each of whom is struggling against government repression or captivity. Each has received the John Aubuchon Award, the club’s highest honor for press freedom.

John Donnelly, chair of the Club’s Press Freedom Committee, summarized the events of the case: Gutierrez-Soto covered drug cartels and the Mexican Army for a newspaper in northern Mexico. Soldiers invaded his home and seized his personal documents, which he saw as intimidation.

The journalist, knowing the fate of others who had criticized the government and army, fled for his life to the United States with his then teen-aged son in June, 2008. Separated from his son, he was detained for six months. He applied for asylum, which was denied in 2017.

Kathy Kiely, currently a faculty member of the University of Missouri and formerly a fellow of the Club’s Journalism Institute, emphasized that the journalist followed all requirements for an asylum seeker, including earning his own living. She called 2017 the “turning point” when, under a new administration, he began to experience harassment. After speaking at the Club on the occasion of the Aubuchon award that year, he was detained again.

Kiely said a group of supporters filed a writ of habeas corpus to obtain his release.

Lynette Clemetson, director of the Knight-Wallace Fellowship and Livingston Awards of the University of Michigan added that a judge in the case ruled that documents from immigration authorities had to be supplied to supporters of Gutierrez-Soto. Clemetson said Gutierrez-Soto was released from detention, apparently because immigration authorities wanted to withhold something in the documents from the supporters.

Kiely noted the wide range of organizations and legal experts who contributed their support. Nonetheless, she said, “We are still waiting in legal limbo.”

“There is so much about this case that can only be explained by grudge carrying and punitive behavior rather than justice and mercy,” she said.

Clemetson noted signs of disrespect in the court room -- for example, the judge left his bench to adjust the blinds while Emilio was speaking. And although Clemetson has credentials as an English-speaking journalist for The New York Times and NPR, she was asked if she needed a translator, which she attributed as disrespect to herself as a woman of color.

Gutierrez-Soto joined others in a one-year fellowship at the University of Michigan. Following the fellowship year, he continues to live with his son in Michigan, working in the food service industry, Clemenson said.

The panelists identified three possible resolutions for the case: a private House of Representatives bill by Debbie Dingell, D-Mich, and Fred Upton, R-Mich, could be passed in Congress; the Department of Justice could drop the case or the Board of Immigration Appeals; or an administrative court in the Department of Justice could rule in favor of Gutierrez-Soto.

Kiely noted that the Federal courts could provide another option.