Journalist Manuel Duran, SPLC client, receives First Amendment award
after winning asylum case
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Liz Vinson, SPLC Staff Writer | Read the full piece here
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Friend,
Spanish-language reporter Manuel Duran spent 15 months behind bars
after he was arrested while covering a 2018 protest
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over local immigration enforcement policies in Memphis, Tennessee.
His arrest and quest for political asylum in the U.S. sparked
international attention, lawsuits and protests as the federal
government sought to deport him to his native El Salvador.
Last spring, after a grueling legal battle, he won his asylum case
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and has a clear path toward long-term legal status in the U.S.
And now Duran, who was represented in his asylum hearing by lawyers
from the Southern Poverty Law Center and Advocates for Immigrant
Rights
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, has received national attention for his commitment to First
Amendment rights.
On Sept. 15, the 46-year-old journalist was honored
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as one of five recipients of the 2022 Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment
Award during a ceremony at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Bestowed by the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation (HMH)
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, the award spotlights individuals making significant contributions to
protecting and enhancing First Amendment rights.
Duran, HMH says on its website, "has demonstrated unflagging
courage and commitment to covering protests and real-time
issues."
"It was spectacular," Duran told the SPLC. "I
couldn't believe it. I became very emotional as I told a bit of
my story."
Living the story
Unlike most reporters who write about immigration, Duran has lived
through the ordeals of the immigration system himself.
"I've seen the cruelty of the mass detention of immigrants
firsthand," Duran told reporters in 2019,
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"and it is unnecessary and inhumane."
Duran's arrest came in April 2018 while he was reporting on a
protest focused on local law enforcement's practice of detaining
immigrants suspected of being in the country without authorization and
handing them over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). His
reporting had been critical of both local law enforcement and ICE, and
he believes he was targeted by the agency and Memphis police for just
that reason.
Duran and eight other people were jailed and charged with disorderly
conduct and obstructing a highway. Duran was the only member of the
press arrested.
The protest-related charges were dropped, but Duran was turned over to
immigration agents and detained by ICE, initiating the long legal
battle. He was released on bond in 2019 and continued to work for his
online news outlet, Memphis Noticias
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.
"I was incredulous," he said. "I didn't
believe it. I didn't do anything wrong. It was terrible what was
happening in that moment, on that day. I know how the police behave
when a person considers them racist, so I was very scared when they
arrested me."
Duran spent much of his time in detention at the Pine Prairie ICE
Processing Center in Louisiana. This he labels as his worst
experience, due to being separated from his longtime partner. Duran
was also detained at LaSalle ICE Processing Center in Jena, Louisiana,
and at Etowah County Detention Center in Gadsden, Alabama, with which
ICE severed its contract in 2022.
"The experience affected me psychologically," Duran said.
"I always believed it wasn't lawful to arrest someone for
expressing their rights. It isn't fair, it isn't legal.
Being detained was like torture; it was impossible to remain
calm."
Duran's account of what it's like to be locked up in an
immigrant detention center is much like stories shared by other
detained and released individuals
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. The lights remained on in the facility virtually every hour of the
day. The shower was inoperable most of the time, and toilet paper was
absent on most days. The toilets didn't work, either.
Whenever Duran was transferred or moved to another facility, he was
shackled around the waist, legs and wrists for 12 to 14 hours while
riding in a bus all without being provided food or water and denied
permission to use the restroom.
"Even until now, I'm recuperating, little by
little," Duran said. "I feel as if I haven't
recuperated 100%. No one deserves the treatment you get while
detained."
READ MORE
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