Mexican journalist in Sierra Blanca immigration facility as he appeals deportation order

A Mexican journalist fighting a deportation order is being held at the immigration detention facility in Sierra Blanca while he waits for his case to be resolved.

Emilio Gutierrez Soto, 54, and his 24-year-old son, Oscar, who came to the United States in 2008 seeking asylum, were detained Thursday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents while trying to file paperwork to prevent their deportation after an immigration judge denied their asylum request.

Immigration Judge Robert Hough ruled in July that there was not enough proof that Gutierrez's life was in danger if he goes back to Mexico. Since July, with the help of his attorney, Gutierrez has been going through an appeal process.

“The goal is to get him released while the appeal process continues,” said immigration attorney Eduardo Beckett, who represents Gutierrez and his son.  

More:Mexican journalist, son on verge of deportation after asylum request denied

Beckett and Gutierrez spoke by phone at a news conference held by the National Press Club on Monday in Washington, D.C., in an effort to bring attention to Gutierrez’s case. In October, Gutierrez traveled to Washington to accept the John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award on behalf of Mexico’s besieged journalists.

Mexico is considered one of the deadliest countries for journalists worldwide, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonprofit that promotes press freedom worldwide.

According to the committee, 64 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2008. 

Beckett said, “He can be detained from six months, even to a year. This is a very long process and we need to get him and his son out as soon as possible.”

Beckett said the journalist described the Sierra Blanca detention center as “a type of prison that can make you go crazy.”

During the news conference, Gutierrez said he was depressed and denounced the harsh conditions in which he and his son are detained.

“Practically, we have spent our time in bed. I’ve not received my medications. The food is gross, but we have no other alternative,” Gutierrez said in Spanish.

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Gutierrez said the food is so bad that he is considering going on a hunger strike to complain against the arbitrary process he is going through.

“If I have to summit myself to a total hunger strike, I will,” he said. “Our moral principles are bigger than the criminal procedures as to how they are treating us.”

However, Gutierrez said he will not give up because their lives depend on the process they are going through.

Gutierrez said that if he is deported to Mexico, he has no doubt that he will be killed. He said he doesn't trust Mexican authorities. 

“The only journalists who can work freely in Mexico are the ones who do the work or benefit the government or criminal organizations,” he said. 

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Gutierrez, who wrote for El Diario del Noroeste, said he fled his country after he received death threats from a Mexican army general after he wrote three articles on alleged abuses army soldiers were committing against people in the rural communities in the northwestern area of Chihuahua State.  

Beckett said his client should have been granted asylum, but the immigration judge, for some reason, did not do it.

He said immigration judges in El Paso have the highest asylum denial rates in the country. He said more than 98 percent of asylum cases in El Paso are denied. 

The National Press Club, the National Press Club Journalism Institute and other organizations are asking the U.S. Department of Justice to reconsider the deportation order against Gutierrez and his son.

Aileen B. Flores may be reached at 546-6362; aflores@elpasotimes.com; @AileenBFlores on Twitter.