Martín Méndez Pineda was a writer for Novedades de Acapulco, and wrote about abuses committed by Mexican government officials. After being attacked by Mexican federal officers and threatened at gunpoint by six armed men, he decided that a change of scenery would be a good idea, and he went to El Paso, TX on February 5, 2017.
Although he’s still alive, things haven’t gone so well for him since then. He has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and, on May 4, 2017, was denied parole by ICE for the second time. He is being held in a detention center in conditions described by Méndez as “hell”. He has been denied medical care, intimidated, and harassed.
Méndez’ cause has the support of Reporters Without Borders, The San Miguel Center of PEN International, and multiple El Paso groups: Mexicanos en Exilio, Borderland Immigration Council, Hope Border Institute, Diocesan Migrant & Refugee Services, Border Network for Human Rights, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, the Detained Migrant Solidarity Committee.
According to Dylan Corbett, executive director of the Hope Border Institute, “Martín’s detention represents the Trump administration’s criminalization of asylum seekers. The land of the free should not be locking up journalists fleeing violence and persecution in an attempt to break their spirits. Martín’s inexplicable denial of parole despite substantial community support is another example of ICE’s deepening lack of transparency. Our community demands accountability from ICE for arbitrary decisions that affect real people’s lives.”
Donations to help him can be made to Mexicanos en Exilo c/o the Law Offices of Carlos Spector in El Paso, (915) 544-0441.
An earlier story at Daily Kos: Acapulco journalist Martín Méndez Pineda detained in El Paso
Update on May 7: An op-ed in the El Paso Times by Méndez himself: A Mexican journalist’s harrowing quest for asylum
