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Friend,
Spanish-language reporter Manuel Duran spent 15 months behind bars after he was arrested while covering a 2018 protest 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 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, has received national attention for his commitment to First Amendment rights.
On Sept. 15, the 46-year-old journalist was honored 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), 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, “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.
“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. 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.”
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In solidarity,
Your friends at the Southern Poverty Law Center
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