Despite being granted bond last week by an immigration judge, journalist Mario Guevara remains in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a Georgia detention center.
Guevera, who left his native El Salavador over 20 years ago and founded Spanish-language new outlet MG News, was detained by ICE agents as he was reporting on a “No Kings” protest on June 14 in the Atlanta area. The 47-year-old journalist’s arrest was captured on video because he was livestreaming his news report as the incident occurred.
Police officers from Doraville, Ga., warned protesters at the June 14 demonstration that they needed to disperse and upon that announcement Guevara made it known that he was a member of the media. In spite of voicing his media status, law enforcement is shown detaining him. He was then turned over to ICE.
Guevara was charged with unlawful assembly, obstruction of law enforcement officers and a traffic violation for improperly entering a roadway, according to records provided by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. All of the charges against him were dropped on June 25.
On June 24, the Department of Homeland Security posted on X about Guevara’s situation.
“Mario Guevara, a Salvadoran national, is in ICE custody because he is in our country ILLEGALLY. Guevara was arrested by Dekalb County, Georgia police for willful OBSTRUCTION after he REFUSED to comply with local police orders to move out of the middle of the street,” the post claimed. “Following his arrest by local authorities, ICE placed a detainer on him. Following his release, he was turned over to ICE custody and has been placed in removal proceedings.”
According to Guevara’s lawyer, Giovanni Diaz, the journalist’s family attempted to pay the $7,500 bail that he was granted last week by Georgia immigration judge James Ward, but their payment was denied.
“We are of the opinion that there seems to be a concerted effort between different jurisdictions to keep him detained,” Diaz told the Associated Press. “What we didn’t know [when the payment was allegedly denied] was what was going on in the background.”
Diaz claims that ICE has challenged Guevara’s release to the Board of Immigration Appeals and requested that his bond be put on hold while the appeal is under review.
Regarding Guevara’s residence status, Diaz noted that Guevara has a work permit and has a pathway to citizenship through the sponsorship of his adult son, who is a U.S. citizen.
On Monday, Guevara posted a statement on social media with the help of some of his professional colleagues in which he revealed he is being held at the Federal Correctional Institution in Atlanta and made a plea for his release.
“I hereby make a call to the Government of El Salvador, particularly President Nayib Bukele, to please intercede on my behalf with the Government of the United States, as I am being persecuted for having carried out my journalistic work while covering operations in the streets,” his statement reads.
Guevara alleges that the prosecutor in charge of his case blocked his release through an appeal, and added that being in detention for a month has left him unable to support his family, including his son who has a “special condition” that leaves him in need of constant care and attention.
“I had never been arrested before. In these past three weeks, I have been held in five different jails, and I believe the government is trying to tarnish my record in order to deport me as if I were a criminal,” Guevara continued in his letter. “I am a father who has paid taxes throughout all these [22] years [in the U.S.] and who has never committed any kind of crime in this country, nor in El Salvador. I believe I do not deserve to be treated this way.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists on Monday evening called on ICE to honor the initial bond release ruling from last week.
“We are dismayed that immigration officials have decided to ignore a federal immigration court order last week granting bail to journalist Mario Guevara,” said the organization’s U.S., Canada and Caribbean program coordinator Katherine Jacobsen 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 instead of bouncing him from one jurisdiction to another.”
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