Spanish-language reporter released from immigration custody

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Spanish-language reporter who has been facing deportation since his arrest while covering an immigration protest in Tennessee has been released from custody as his case proceeds.

Southern Poverty Law Center attorney Gracie Willis said Manuel Duran was released Thursday from an Alabama detention center on $2,000 bail.

The El Salvador native was arrested while covering an April 2018 rally protesting immigration policies in Memphis. Protest-related charges were subsequently dropped, but he was picked up by immigration agents after he was released from jail and detained.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has said Duran was taken into custody because he had a pending deportation order from 2007 after failing to appear for a court hearing.

The Board of Immigration Appels reopened Duran’s case this week. Lawyers are pursuing asylum.