Robert E. Jolicoeur
Field Office Director, ICE
1545 Hawkins Boulevard
El Paso, TX 79925
Fax: (512) 218-2450
Dear Mr. Jolicoeur:
We are writing to request that Emilio Gutiérrez Soto (A #077 491 780), the Mexican journalist who has sought asylum in the United States, be released from detention at the El Paso Processing Center, where he has been held since June. Gutiérrez was denied release in August and again, in November. Now, his detention has been prolonged until his next hearing in March. While it may be difficult to fit the case of Mr. Gutiérrez strictly into the rules for granting asylum, he certainly fulfills one primary requirement: his life is threatened by his own government.
There is no excuse for inflicting this hardship on a man who fled for his life from Mexico, who is a long-time, courageous professional. Gutiérrez is no danger to the United States and most unlikely to flee. We recognize that the process of obtaining asylum is complex and lengthy, but in the meantime, Mr. Gutiérrez should be free to live with his teen-age son in El Paso.
As you well know, Mexico is a very dangerous place, especially for journalists who cover crime and government corruption, as did Mr. Gutiérrez. Some twenty five Mexican journalists have been murdered for their work since 2000. Others have disappeared without a trace.
In the light of 1,300 or more murders this year alone just in the Ciudad Juarez drug wars, the killing of journalists may not seem of exceptional import. But Mexican journalists stand almost alone in telling the public about the crimes of drug cartels and about the incompetence and corruption of the government, police and army officials who are often in alliance with the gangs. One by one, the voices of the press in Mexico are being silenced by murder, kidnappings or simply by the fear of suffering the fate of so many colleagues. Under these terrible circumstances, the United States should offer a haven to those under immediate threat, not imprisonment.
In the case of Mr. Gutiérrez, there is no doubt that he was in imminent danger — from his own government, if not from the cartels. He made enemies in the Mexican Army as far back as 2005 by reporting that soldiers were involved in crimes. An Army major told him to stop writing, saying, “You should be afraid of us.” On May 5, soldiers raided his home (allegedly in search of drugs and weapons) which he reported in his paper, El Diario del Noroeste. When a month later a friend told him the Army was going to kill him, he fled with his son to the border and applied for asylum.
The risks run by journalists like Mr. Gutiérrez were amply confirmed when his colleague on the same paper, Armando Rodriguez Carreón, was shot down outside his house in Ciudad Juarez on November 13. A journalist on his way to the Rodriguez funeral, Jorge Luis Aguirre, editor of the on-line newspaper, La Polaka, received a call on his mobile phone saying he was next. Aguirre immediately fled the country seeking safety in the U.S. or Canada. Over nearly seventy years, the Overseas Press Club of America, which is made up of nearly six hundred present and former distinguished correspondents, has written thousands of letters to foreign governments urging them to stop persecuting journalists. It is thankfully rare that we have to write a letter to our own government. In this case, we are asking for humanity to our beleaguered colleagues in Mexico who are fighting for a basic human right and need our help. Gutiérrez has every reason to think he will be killed if returned to Mexico. The least our country can do at this point, while his plea for asylum is considered, is to release him from detention.
Very truly yours,
Jeremy Main
Kevin McDermott
Freedom of the Press Committee
The Hon. Michael Chertoff
Department of Homeland Defense
Washington DC 20528
Fax: (202) 282.8000
Leonarda Reyes
Director – CEPET
Oficina “C,” Calle del Puente No.222
Col. Ejidos de Huipulco
Delegacion Tlalpan
Mexico, D.F.
Mexico, C.P. 14380
Mexico
libex@cepet.org, cepet@cepet.org
The Hon. Janet Napolitano
Governor of Arizona
1700 West Washington
Phoenix, AZ 85007
Fax: (602) 542.1381
Alfredo Campos
Officer in Charge, El Paso Processing Center, ICE
8915 Montana Avenue
El Paso, TX 79925
Fax: (512) 218.2450
Daniel Borunda
El Paso Times
300 N. Campbell
El Paso, TX 79901
Fax: (847) 546.6415
borunda@elpasotimes.com
Carlos Spector, Esq.
Spector & Spector
1430 E. Yandell
El Paso, TX 79902
Fax: (915) 544.1814
Emilio Gutierrez-Soto A #077 491 780
El Paso Processing Center
8915 Montana Avenue
El Paso, TX 79925
Fax: (915) 544.1814
cepet@cepet.org