Lawyers for a journalist who has been in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement since June asked a federal judge on Tuesday for a temporary restraining order to block his deportation, which they said was “imminent.”
The journalist, Mario Guevara, was arrested on June 14 while he was livestreaming from a “No Kings” protest against the Trump administration’s policies that was taking place outside Atlanta. Charges filed in connection to his arrest were dropped, his lawyers said.
Press freedom groups and civil liberties activists said that the detention of Mr. Guevara, who is originally from El Salvador, was another example of the federal government’s trampling on independent journalism and coverage that the administration viewed as unflattering.
In an emergency request made on Tuesday, Mr. Guevara’s lawyers asked Judge Benjamin W. Cheesbro of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia to release Mr. Guevara, while the immigration case is decided. They also sought a court order barring federal authorities from removing him from the country until his status is settled.
“His detention is intended to gag and punish his speech and therefore continues to violate the First Amendment,” Mr. Guevara’s lawyers wrote, including those with the American Civil Liberties Union.
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday about Mr. Guevara’s situation.
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