Manuel Duran could be deported this month
Manuel Duran, the local Spanish-language reporterarrested at a protest last month, remains in custody and could face deportation by the end of May, one of his attorneys said this week.
An Atlanta immigration court denied Duran’s request to reopen an old deportation case, and the reporter’s defense team has filed an appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals, a Justice Department entity based in Falls Church, Virginia. Duran remains in immigration detention. The review board won’t rule until immediately before Duran’s deportation to El Salvador, said Jeremy Jong, a Louisiana-based attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“It means practically that he could be deported at any second,” Jong said. “The way the system works is that when he is in imminent danger of being deported, that’s when the BIA will make a decision on the stay.”
If the appeals board grants Duran the stay of deportation, it will offer clues on how the board would rule on the underlying immigration case, he said.
Jong said the legal team expects to receive 24 hours notice of the deportation and that it could happen soon.
“What (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has said is that the earliest they would try to deport him would be the end of this month,” he said.
Duran’s longtime girlfriend, Melisa Valdez, said the Atlanta court’s decision not to reopen his case is a big setback. “It’s really bad, to be honest with you,” she said. “I’m really disappointed.”
Duran, 42, is represented by lawyers with the Southern Poverty Law Center as well as Latino Memphis.
The defense team filed a separate case in federal court in Louisiana alleging government officials retaliated against Duran due to his news reporting related to immigration enforcement and alleged collaboration between local authorities and ICE. Authorities including Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings have denied retaliation.
That separate case is still pending, with no hearings scheduled, according to court records.
The Duran case has attracted national and international attention and organizations including the National Association of Hispanic Journalists have called for his release.
In late April, the Atlanta immigration court refused to reopen the case, Jong said. The legal team then filed the appeal.
Duran has remained in custody since his April 3 arrest at an immigration protest in Memphis. He was transferred on Wednesday from an immigration detention center in Jena, Louisiana to another in Pine Prairie, Louisiana, supporters said.
Reach reporter Daniel Connolly at 529-5296, daniel. connolly@commercialappeal.com, or on Twitter at @danielconnolly.