ICE still holds journalist arrested covering anti-Trump protest
Salvadoran journalist, Mario Guevara, arrested covering a June protest, is still being held by ICE despite judge's order to release him.
- Guevara has worked in the US for decades and has more than 750,000 Facebook followers
A Georgia-based journalist from El Salvador has been in custody for nearly a month after he was arrested while covering a protest. He faces removal from the United States.
Mario Guevara, 47, runs MG News, a Spanish language news outlet serving Latino communities in Georgia. An Emmy Award-winning journalist, Guevara has more than 780,000 followers on his Facebook page.
Guevara had documented increasing immigration enforcement in the region. He was arrested covering a June protest opposing the Trump administration. His arrest has drawn scrutiny on press freedom in the United States.
“I am a victim of persecution for doing my journalistic work covering operations in the streets,” Guevara said in a July 8 statement.
He has asked Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, an ally of President Donald Trump, to intervene in his case. Neither Bukele’s office nor did the Salvadoran embassy responded to an emailed request for comment.
Press organizations condemned Guevara's arrest and continued detention.
“We are dismayed that immigration officials have decided to ignore a federal immigration court order last week granting bail to journalist Mario Guevara,” Katherine Jacobsen, the North American program coordinator at the nonprofit Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement. “Guevara is currently the only jailed journalist in the United States who was arrested in relation to his work. Immigration authorities must respect the law and release him on bail.”
Reporting in this country for years
Guevara, who fled El Salvador after receiving death threats for his journalism at a conservative newspaper, has been in this country for more than two decades, his lawyer Giovanni Diaz said. He has work authorization and recently applied for a green card. His American citizen son's recent 21st birthday made him eligible to receive residency.
During his detention, Guevara has been moved to at least five different facilities across Georgia.
Initial charges against him were dropped and an immigration judge allowed him to post bond. But federal officials blocked his release after another set of traffic-related misdemeanor charges ‒ stemming from of an alleged incident nearly a month before his arrest ‒ were issued by a Georgia sheriff’s office.
On July 10, Guevara's lawyers announced prosecutors dropped the charges, yet Guevara is now in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention.
Diaz has called Guevara's detention an organized effort by local and federal agencies.
“They’re working together to make sure he stays detained as long as possible,” Diaz told Paste BN. “Whatever it takes.”
In a statement, Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, said Guevara is in the country illegally. The department has begun deportation proceedings.
Diaz said Guevara has been allowed to stay in the country since 2012, when the government administratively closed his case. He kept receiving work permit renewals, and he had a pending asylum application, giving him legal right to stay in the country, Diaz said.
Why was he arrested?
On June 14, Guevara was arrested by local police in DeKalb County while recording a “No Kings” protest.
Videos of his arrest show Guevara, in a red shirt with a protective vest that says “PRESS,” live streaming as police faced off against demonstrators. Guevara stood on the sidewalk with other journalists until a line of police officers began moving toward a dwindling crowd of protesters. One officer in a parking lot moved toward Guevara. As he moved away another officer ran toward him and grabbed him without warning, bodycam footage showed.
“I’m a member of the media, officer,” Guevara can be heard saying in English. As an officer shuffled him to police cars parked in the street, people could be heard asking why he was being taken. His live stream continued recording in his pocket as he was taken away in a police vehicle. He called for a lawyer.
Lengthy court battle as new charges brought
On July 1, a federal immigration judge ruled Guevara could be released on $7,500 bond, Diaz said. As his family sought to pay digitally and in person, he was denied release.
By July 3, the sheriff’s office said Guevara had been booked, released on bond and was no longer in custody. The same day, ICE transferred him to the sheriff’s office for the outstanding arrest warrants on the three new misdemeanors. They have since been dismissed by the local solicitor general's office, WSB-TV reported.
On July 4, local officials transferred him to ICE custody for removal proceedings.
As of July 10, he remains in the Folkston ICE Processing Center, a privately-run facility in southeastern Georgia.
Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at emcuevas1@usatoday.com or on Signal at emcuevas.01.