Andrew Tahmooressi is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran. On March 31, 2014, he was detained at the San Ysidro crossing of the U.S.–Mexico border with legally owned firearms, after what he said was a wrong turn. He was held 214 days. On October 31, 2014, a Mexican judge ordered his immediate release on humanitarian grounds, without a determination on the charge.
LUCID Strategies (DBA LUCID Public Relations) was asked to take over representation of the Tahmooressi family partway through the case, and stayed through Andrew’s release. President and Founder Jonathan Franks was the family’s spokesman.
The work was public representation of a family in an extremely high-visibility case — one that had also become heavily politicized.
What LUCID did
We do not negotiate releases. Bringing a detained American home is government work, done through diplomatic and legal channels no family or advocate controls. The decision to release Andrew belonged to a Mexican judge. A communications firm should never claim credit for an act of government.
Our role was different. We were the family’s press contact and its public voice while the case moved through a Mexican court. A family in that position faces two problems at once: a son in a foreign jail, and a story moving faster than they can answer it. A spokesman gives reporters one accountable contact, and gives the family room to decide without taking every call.
What the coverage shows
When a Mexican judge ordered Andrew’s immediate release on October 31, 2014, the Associated Press quoted “family spokesman Jonathan Franks” in a report CBS News published. BBC News, ABC7, and NBC San Diego covered the release and his return to U.S. soil.
On the morning of November 1, CNN interviewed Franks on air as the family’s spokesman. Later that day he gave the family’s news conference in Weston, Florida. Fox News carried it on camera and identified him on screen as “Jonathan Franks, Tahmooressi Family Spokesman.” The Associated Press covered it on the wire.
He spoke so the family did not have to.
The record, on tape
These clips do not say LUCID freed Andrew Tahmooressi. They show one family’s spokesman, quoted by name on the wire the day the judge ruled, on camera the morning after, and named on national television in the week that followed.
The part we can own
The Tahmooressi matter is what our detention work looks like. We make no promises about outcomes. Those belong to governments and courts. What we can own is what the tape shows: one accountable contact for the press, quoted by name on the wire and on camera by the Associated Press, CNN, and Fox News.
How we approach the cases of Americans detained abroad is here. The rest of the track record is on our results page.
We came in partway through. We stayed until he was home.
Sources
- CBS News / Associated Press — “Judge in Mexico orders immediate release of U.S. Marine”: cbsnews.com
- BBC News — coverage of the Tahmooressi release: bbc.com
- ABC7 — “Marine reservist jailed in Mexico back on US soil”: abc7news.com
- NBC San Diego — “Judge orders US Marine Andrew Tahmooressi’s release from Mexican jail”: nbcsandiego.com
- CNN “New Day Saturday,” November 1, 2014 — on-air interview with family spokesman Jonathan Franks (Internet Archive TV News Archive): archive.org
- Fox News “America’s News Headquarters,” November 1, 2014 — on-camera carriage of the Weston news conference, chyron “Jonathan Franks, Tahmooressi Family Spokesman” (Internet Archive TV News Archive): archive.org
- Fox News “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren,” November 3 and 7, 2014 — Montel Williams naming Jonathan Franks on air (Internet Archive TV News Archive): Nov 3 · Nov 7
- Associated Press (via The Hour) — wire coverage and photo of the November 1, 2014 Weston, Fla. news conference: thehour.com