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Judi Lynn

(160,515 posts)
Mon May 22, 2017, 10:20 PM May 2017

Journalist seeking asylum in U.S. gives up, returns to Mexico

3 HRS AGO
Angela Kocherga, Mexico Border reporter
Connect with Angela Kocherga


EL PASO — A Mexican journalist seeking asylum in the U.S. after reporting on police brutality gave up his fight and returned to his country last Tuesday after spending nearly four months in an immigration detention center he described as “hell.”

His lawyer, Carlos Spector, Reporters Without Borders and the Borderland Immigration Council, a coalition of immigration lawyers and advocacy organizations, had urged U.S. authorities to release the Mexican journalist while his case moved through the immigration court.

Martin Mendez Pineda, 26, arrived on the Texas-Mexico border in February and asked for asylum at the Paso del Norte International Bridge in El Paso. The reporter said he was fleeing death threats in Guerrero, where he worked for the Novedades Acapulco newspaper.

“Undoubtedly, he’s still at risk,” said Balbina Flores, a Reporters Without Borders representative in Mexico. Flores said the organization is in contact with Mendez but won’t reveal his location because it might jeopardize his safety.

More:
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/immigration/2017/05/22/journalist-seeking-asylum-us-gives-returns-mexico

LBN:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10141781673

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