first_published_at,last_published_at,title,slug,latest_revision_created_at,charges,legal_orders,updates,categories,links,equipment_seized,equipment_broken,targeted_journalists,authors,date,exact_date_unknown,city,state,latitude,longitude,body,introduction,teaser,teaser_image,primary_video,image_caption,arrest_status,arresting_authority,release_date,detention_date,unnecessary_use_of_force,case_number,case_statuses,case_type,status_of_seized_equipment,is_search_warrant_obtained,actor,border_point,target_us_citizenship_status,denial_of_entry,stopped_previously,did_authorities_ask_for_device_access,did_authorities_ask_about_work,assailant,was_journalist_targeted,charged_under_espionage_act,subpoena_type,subpoena_statuses,name_of_business,third_party_business,legal_order_target,legal_order_type,legal_order_venue,status_of_prior_restraint,mistakenly_released_materials,type_of_denial,targeted_institutions,tags,target_nationality,workers_whose_communications_were_obtained,politicians_or_public_figures_involved 2021-07-09 19:02:44.153110+00:00,2021-10-20 12:38:12.309694+00:00,U.S. immigration officials detain Honduran journalist after she requests asylum in Georgia,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/us-immigration-officials-detain-honduran-journalist-after-she-requests-asylum-in-georgia/,2021-10-20 12:38:12.267588+00:00,,,,Other Incident,,,,,,2021-05-23,False,Atlanta,Georgia (GA),33.749,-84.38798,"
Honduran journalist Thirzia Galeas was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement when she requested asylum at the airport in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 23, 2021, according to the Committee for Free Expression in Honduras (C-Libre).
Galeas is a journalist and human rights activist who worked with C-Libre, a Honduran free expression organization that supports independent journalists. She has also reported in Honduras for the digital news outlet Conexihon.hn and Reporteros de Investigación.
In a written statement, Galeas told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that her life was threatened in December 2020 when C-Libre employees were summoned for a security training. Galeas’ statement was translated from Spanish by Dagmar Thiel of Fundamedios, a partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
The man who was leading the training identified himself as a government employee who worked in the Public Prosecutor’s Office and in government intelligence, Galeas said. She said he gave his name as Lester Obando.
Galeas said that Obando threatened her, telling her that there was a price on her head. She said she asked him why, and he told her it was because she knew a lot of information.
Obando told her that she had been under surveillance for a while, and told her details of what she did when she was on a recent assignment for C-Libre bringing aid to journalists in the city of San Pedro Sula who had been impacted by storms.
Galeas said several other incidents also had raised her concerns. In November 2020, the month before the man threatened Galeas, two other journalists who worked with C-Libre were detained and beaten by members of the Honduran National Police, the organization reported. When the other journalists working for the organization were standing outside of the police building, a person in a military uniform took a photo of the group, according to Galeas.
According to Galeas, Obando indicated that the journalists were detained in order to “disappear” them, or kill them. However, the two journalists were released.
In February 2021, Galeas said there was an assassination attempt on a member of C-Libre, which prompted several C-Libre colleagues to express concerns about their safety to the Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared of Honduras. Galeas said that was the first time she said that she was afraid.
According to C-Libre, Galeas had faced harassment in Honduras since 2011. In that year, the organization said, she was assaulted by the country’s Presidential Honor Guard as the group arrived at a protest against the murders of journalists in the country. The international press freedom group IFEX reported at that time that Galeas, who was there to observe events, was punched in the face by a soldier.
According to Fundamedios, Galeas entered the United States on a tourist visa and requested asylum because of persecution. She said many journalists have been killed in Honduras.
“I left Honduras for fear of being murdered, of being one more victim,” Galeas wrote in a statement.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, a founding partner of the Tracker, has documented eight journalists in Honduras killed due to their work since 1992. According to C-Libre, 87 journalists have been killed in the country over the last two decades.
Galeas was detained in the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, for 18 days, according to Fundamedios. Her brother told C-Libre that she was held with about 30 other detainees, some of whom were infected with COVID-19.
Galeas has been released and is awaiting a hearing on her asylum request, she told the Tracker.
ICE did not reply to a request for comment.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said on Dec. 9, 2020, that it would not enforce a subpoena issued to BuzzFeed News the previous week. ICE’s subpoena had sought information BuzzFeed gathered in reporting a story on deportation policy.
BuzzFeed’s article, published on Oct. 7, divulged the contents of emails and a memo about ICE plans to implement a Trump administration policy significantly expanding fast-track deportations of undocumented immigrants. The expanded deportation policy was initially blocked in 2019 by a federal judge, but that judge’s injunction was lifted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in June 2020, allowing ICE to begin implementing the wider fast-track deportation program.
BuzzFeed publicly reported on the subpoena, issued Dec. 1, and said it sought information about emails the news organization obtained that had been sent to ICE attorneys. The subpoena demanded BuzzFeed “provide all documentation including, but not limited to: (1) date of receipt, (2) method of receipt, (3) source of document, and (4) contact information for the source of the document.” The subpoena ordered the information be turned over by Dec. 22, 2020, and requested that BuzzFeed not disclose the issuance of the subpoena.
In the article on the subpoena, BuzzFeed News Editor-in-Chief Mark Schoofs said, "BuzzFeed News emphatically rejects any requests for information about possible sources and methods of our reporting.”
On Dec. 9, BuzzFeed reported that ICE would not be enforcing the subpoena.
ICE also issued a statement saying, “In response to the summons, the media outlet subsequently declined to provide details regarding the sources of the unauthorized disclosure of law enforcement sensitive information. At this time, ICE will not enforce the summons and will pursue the investigation through other channels.”
The Department of Homeland Security subpoenaed the editor of an immigration law journal in an attempt to identify the source of a leaked internal memo from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Daniel Kowalski is a Colorado-based immigration attorney and the editor of “Bender’s Immigration Bulletin,” an immigration law journal published on LexisNexis. In July 2018, Kowalski published a leaked copy of an internal ICE memo about changes to the government's approach toward asylum claims.
On Oct. 16, 2018, Kowalski received a subpoena from the Department of Homeland Security ordering him to produce:
all information related to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) memorandum with the subject title of “Litigating Domestic Violence-Based Persecution Claims Following Matter of a A-B-“ dated July 11, 2018; including, but not limited to: (1) date of receipt, (2) method of receipt, (3) source of document, and (4) contact information for the source of the document.
DHS summons to Daniel Kowalski
The subpoena also includes a gag provision, which states: “You are requested not to disclose the existence of this summons for an indefinite period of time. Any such disclosure will impede this investigation and thereby interfere with the enforcement of federal law.
The subpoena orders Kowalski to produce the requested material by Oct. 30, 2018, to a special agent in ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility, suggesting that there is an active internal investigation into the source of the leaked memo.
Kowalski told Freedom of the Press Foundation that he intends to ignore the subpoena, which he believes was not properly served on him.
“I’m planning on ignoring it,” he said. “They also haven’t served me in person; they just faxed and emailed it, so technically they’d need to physically find me.”
If Kowalski does not comply with the subpoena, ICE can try to get a federal judge to compel him to provide information about the source of the memo. But Kowalski is confident that no judge would compel him to comply with the subpoena.
Unlike subpoenas issued by federal courts, the subpoena to Kowalski was a summons issued directly by DHS, in accordance with a federal law (19 U.S.C. § 1509) that allows DHS to issue summons in connection with investigations concerning the importation of merchandise.
ICE’s sister agency, Customs & Border Protection, previously cited the same law to issue a summons to Twitter last year. The summons, which demanded that Twitter reveal the user behind an alt-government account, was later withdrawn, and the DHS Office of Inspector General chastised CBP for misusing the statute.
Federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General's Office interrupted a CBS News interviewer with ICE whistleblower James Schwab, on June 27, 2018.
The June 27 interview was conducted at Schwab’s home near San Francisco. It was the first time that Schwab, the former spokesman for ICE, had spoken publicly since abruptly resigning from the agency in March.
Schwab said in the interview that he was compelled to quit his job after ICE asked him to ""lie"" to journalists about Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf, who upset ICE after she warned her constituents about an ICE raid.
As CBS News reporter Jamie Yuccas was interviewing Schwab about the circumstances surrounding his resignation, agents from the DHS Inspector General's Office unexpectedly arrived at his home and asked to speak with him. The agents refused to speak to Yuccas, other than to say that the reason for their visit was confidential.
""They just said that they want to talk with me about the leak with the Oakland mayor,"" Schwab told CBS News after the agents left.
Schwab believes that the unannounced visit from DHS agents was meant to intimidate him.
""This is intimidation, and this is why people won't come out and speak against the government,"" he told CBS News.
WATCH: Our interview with former @ICEgov spokesperson James Schwab was interrupted by a surprise visit from government agents.@JamieYuccas reports ➡️ https://t.co/QlDGflrdP4 pic.twitter.com/4shmAqutD8
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) June 28, 2018
A screengrab from a CBS News video shows two DHS agents interrupting an interview between CBS News correspondent Jamie Yuccas (left) and former ICE spokesman James Schwab (right).
,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,ICE,,, 2018-04-05 21:30:33.328369+00:00,2024-02-29 20:02:06.982362+00:00,"Journalist Manuel Duran, arrested while covering immigration protest, could be deported by ICE",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-manuel-duran-arrested-while-covering-immigration-protest-could-be-deported-ice/,2024-02-29 20:02:06.838247+00:00,"blocking traffic: obstructing a highway or passageway (charges dropped as of 2018-04-05), obstruction: disorderly conduct (charges dropped as of 2018-04-05)",,"(2018-05-31 10:36:00+00:00) Duran gets stay of deportation, (2018-07-09 10:52:00+00:00) Duran speaks to Daily Beast, (2019-07-11 14:00:00+00:00) Detained journalist Manuel Durán released on bond, (2022-03-24 16:29:00+00:00) Detained journalist Manuel Durán granted asylum in U.S., (2019-12-06 17:10:00+00:00) Memphis-area governments settle with journalist, lawyers for 2018 arrest, (2018-12-02 22:43:00+00:00) Eleventh Circuit grants stay after BIA denies appeal, (2018-04-16 12:00:00+00:00) SPLC petition and Duran statement",Arrest/Criminal Charge,"Memphis journalist in federal custody after immigration protest arrest (http://wreg.com/2018/04/05/memphis-journalist-could-face-deportation-after-arrest-during-protest/) via WREG, Charges dropped for reporter arrested in Memphis protest; immigration case remains, says lawyer (https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2018/04/05/spanish-language-reporter-memphis-protest-charges-dropped/488304002/) via The Commercial Appeal, Jailed Memphis reporter could face deportation; others arrested at protest released on bond (https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2018/04/04/jailed-memphis-reporter-could-face-deportation-fight-15-activist-also-held/486467002/) via The Commercial Appeal, Memphis Police Department statement on arrests (https://www.facebook.com/mpd1827/posts/1677271615686524), SPLC petition for writ of habeas corpus (https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/manuel_duran_habeas_final.pdf), Manuel Duran's arrest was retaliation for news coverage, lawyers say (https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2018/04/16/memphis-police-arrest-manuel-duran-retaliation-news-coverage-lawyers-say/519896002/) via The Commercial Appeal, Lawyers: Journalist was detained by ICE because of reporting (https://www.apnews.com/fe29c2bb9c7743cb992a89a461b39c86) via AP, Manuel Duran statement (https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/manuel_duran_statement_4_16_2018.pdf), Manuel Duran wins stay of deportation - still faces months more of detention during appeal (https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2018/05/30/manuel-duran-wins-stay-deportation-immigration-detention/656516002/) via Commercial Appeal, Journalist Held by ICE Speaks: ‘Without a Doubt’ I Was Targeted for My Work (https://www.thedailybeast.com/journalist-held-by-ice-speaks-without-a-doubt-i-was-targeted-for-my-work?ref=home) via Daily Beast, Immigration board rejects appeal from Memphis Spanish-language reporter Manuel Duran (https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2018/11/05/manuel-duran-journalist-memphis-arrest-deportation/1894775002/) via Commercial Appeal, An immigrant journalist faces deportation as ICE cracks down on its critics (https://theintercept.com/2018/11/28/ice-immigration-arrest-journalist-manuel-duran/) via The Intercept, Appeals court issues favorable ruling for detained Memphis reporter Manuel Duran (https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2018/11/29/manuel-duran-journalist-facing-deportation-court-ruling/2152940002/) via Commercial Appeal, Eleventh Circuit decision granting stay of deportation (https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/documents/duranortega_stay_11thclean.pdf)",,,Manuel Duran (Memphis Noticias),,2018-04-03,False,Memphis,Tennessee (TN),35.14953,-90.04898,"On April 3, 2018, journalist Manuel Duran was arrested while reporting on a protest in Memphis, Tennessee. Though all charges against him were later dropped, he was placed into the custody of Immigration & Customs Enforcement and could be deported.
Duran, who is from El Salvador, runs Memphis Noticias, a local Spanish-language news website. He previously worked as a reporter for WGSF, a Spanish-language radio station in Memphis.
On April 3, Duran covered a demonstration by immigration activists outside the Shelby Protest Criminal Justice Complex in Memphis. As he livestreamed the demonstration on Facebook Live, police arrested him and a number of the demonstrators. Duran and the demonstrators were charged with disorderly conduct and “obstruction of a highway or passageway.”
Police later said that they arrested the group because they blocked traffic while slowly crossing the street.
The Commercial Appeal, a daily newspaper in Memphis, reported that prosecutors agreed to drop all charges against Duran during a court hearing on April 5.
“This office has dismissed misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and obstruction of a highway or passageway filed Tuesday against Manuel Duran,” Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weinrich said in a statement to the Commercial Appeal. “There was not sufficient evidence to go forward with prosecution. This ends any legal issues Mr. Duran has with this office.”
Latino Memphis, a group that advocated for Duran’s release, said in a tweet that ICE detained Duran immediately after the court hearing.
Criminal charges for Manuel Duran have been dropped thanks to the work of Ann Schiller and our attorney Christy Swatzell. Unfortunately, ICE was waiting for him in the court room. He is currently with ICE. #StopICE
— Latino Memphis (@LatinoMemphis) April 5, 2018
Local TV station WREG reported that Duran was taken into federal custody on April 5.
An ICE spokesman did not respond to a request for comment from the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
Emilio Gutiérrez Soto, a Mexican journalist who fled to the United States seeking asylum in 2008, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Dec. 7, 2017, in El Paso, Texas.
Gutiérrez worked for approximately 25 years as a correspondent in Mexico. He said in May 2008 that approximately 50 armed soldiers entered his home without a permit, claiming they were searching for “weapons or drugs,” but left after finding no evidence of unlawful activity. At the time, he was writing for the Chihuahua-based El Diario del Noroeste.
In June 2008, he said, a source informed him that he was on a “hit list” due to his reporting on the military, and he fled Mexico with his then-15-year-old son, Oscar.
Eduardo Beckett, Gutiérrez’s attorney, told the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) that Gutiérrez was offered physical protection by the Mexican government but declined it because he doubted the government’s ability to effectively protect him.
In 2008, Gutiérrez claimed political asylum at a border checkpoint in Columbus, New Mexico, and he and his son were taken to separate detention facilities in El Paso, Texas. His son was released to family in the United States in August 2008, and Gutiérrez was released in January 2009.
While awaiting an asylum decision, Gutiérrez and his son settled in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and regularly completed their required check-ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
On July 19, 2017, nearly a decade after Gutiérrez’s original application for asylum, El Paso immigration judge Robert Hough denied his asylum request, ruling that Gutiérrez’s testimony was not credible, he had not sufficiently established fear of torture, and he had failed to show that the Mexican government could not protect him.
Beckett, Gutiérrez’s lawyer, believes that the judge underestimated the risks that Mexican journalists face. He said that, although Gutiérrez has not received specific threats from the Mexican military since entering the United States, the reporter still believes he would be killed if he returned to Mexico.
“The threat is still viable, and military people have long memories,” Beckett said.
Outside of war zones, Mexico is the most dangerous country in the world for journalists. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 42 journalists and media workers were killed there in 2017 alone.
On Nov. 20, 2017, Gutiérrez’s attorney filed an appeal with the Board of Immigration Appeals, asking that the board reopen Gutiérrez's asylum case and grant Gutiérrez a temporary stay of removal, which would prevent ICE from deporting him while the board considered his appeal.
On Dec. 7, Gutiérrez and his son attended a routine check-in with ICE but were unexpectedly detained, according to Beckett. ICE agents served Gutiérrez and his son with deportation papers, and walked them back towards the port of entry. When Beckett acquired an emergency stay of deportation, Gutiérrez and his son were taken to an ICE facility instead of being immediately deported.
Beckett said that it was technically legal for ICE to deport his client, since an immigration judge had previously denied Gutiérrez's asylum request. But he said that the detention and attempted deportation was still very unexpected and unusual, since Gutiérrez had an appeal pending before the Board of Immigration Appeals and there were irregularities in the case.
On Dec. 22, the Board of Immigration Appeals agreed to reconsider Gutiérrez's deportation order. Gutiérrez and his son remain detained in ICE custody.
Asked for comment, ICE public affairs officer Leticia Zamarripa would only confirm that “Emilio and Oscar Gutierrez, citizens of Mexico, remain in ICE custody pending disposition of their immigration cases.”
Beckett believes that by granting his client asylum, the United States would be promoting democracy.
“We’re in a time right now where journalists around the world are being threatened,” he said.
In October 2017, the National Press Club awarded Gutiérrez the Aubuchon Press Freedom Award, which honors journalists who demonstrate the principles of press freedom and transparency in governments through their work.
Journalist Emilio Gutiérrez Soto talks during an interview with Reuters at his home in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on July 13, 2011.
",None,None,2018-07-26,2017-12-07,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,ICE,,, 2017-07-26 02:00:48.560178+00:00,2024-03-20 17:13:48.378924+00:00,ICE denies parole to Mexican journalist seeking asylum,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/ice-denies-parole-mexican-journalist-seeking-asylum/,2024-03-20 17:13:48.273929+00:00,,,(2017-09-13 12:00:00+00:00) CBP refuses to allow Pineda into U.S.,Other Incident,,,,Martín Méndez Pineda (Independent),,2017-03-28,False,El Paso,Texas (TX),31.75872,-106.48693,"Martín Méndez Pineda, a Mexican journalist legally seeking asylum in the United States, was denied parole on March 28, 2017. Pineda arrived in the U.S. the previous month on February 5 and entered an asylum claim alleging that he received death threats in relation to his reporting on the federal police in the Mexican state of Guerrero.
On March 1, Pineda passed a “credible fear interview” to establish whether a real threat exists. U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement refused to grant parole to Méndez, however, on the grounds that he was a “flight risk” and did not have substantial ties to the community.
Pineda spent almost four months in detention before returning to Mexico in May 2017.
Martín Méndez Pineda
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,ICE,,,