The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) announced that on Sunday it detained in Miami, Florida, Wilmer Solano, a journalist originally from Venezuela who, for years, submitted an asylum request, which is still pending.
According to the Association of Venezuelan Journalists Abroad (Apevex), the incident occurred in the Haulover Beach area while the South American was working as he had been doing since he entered US territory more than a decade ago.
"Solano has an asylum process, a work permit and a valid Florida driver's license. He entered the US legally in 2015 and has no criminal record in this country, nor in Venezuela," mentions a statement issued by Apevex.
The journalist in question came to occupy a relevant role in his nation, as he worked on the Globovisión channel from 2002 to 2008, and later he was owner and director of the news agency Zorro Comunicaciones C.A.
However, he came under the crosshairs of his country's government due to his coverage of the political campaigns of Henrique Capriles, former leader of the Primero Justicia party and candidate for the presidency of Venezuela on two occasions; and Julio Borges, founder of the aforementioned party and presidential commissioner for Foreign Relations appointed by Juan Guaidó.
Wilmer Solano's willingness to report on the political agenda of politicians opposed to Chavismo made him the subject of attacks linked to his journalistic coverage in Venezuela.
For safety reasons, he chose to flee Venezuela in search of putting down roots in US territory and although he had been allowed to live and work in Florida, Donald Trump's return to the presidency and his desire to carry out the largest deportation of foreigners in history placed him on a list of possible deportations, as his asylum request has been pending for years.
With the aim of obtaining resources to initiate a legal defense, his wife María Moreno enabled a campaign on the GoFundMe platform supported by a text describing the complex panorama that surrounds the immigrant in the hands of ICE.
"He was detained without a warrant and without facing criminal charges. He has no criminal record, has lived in the United States for almost 12 years and has a pending asylum case.
Since then, we have followed the appropriate procedure for this process and are still awaiting a resolution.
"Wilmer has always worked hard to support our family, and we are doing everything we can to make sure he has the legal representation he needs," he wrote.
Prior to the arrest of Wilmer Solano, two other South American journalists experienced the same problem.
Mario Guevara, Salvadoran journalist, whose sin was having covered in real time for his YouTube channel a demonstration against President Donald Trump held in Georgia last year, an action that led to his deportation.
For her part, Estefany Rodríguez, a Colombian reporter who worked for Nashville Noticias and Univision 42 in Tennessee, who after being detained by immigration authorities, was released on bail last March.
