Freedom of the press and civil rights groups are rallying around a journalist who was put in immigration custody after being arrested while covering a protest in Atlanta, warning that his detention could chill press freedoms and put noncitizen journalists at risk.
Mario Guevara, an independent digital journalist who reports in Spanish, has been held for a week after law enforcement officials turned him over to Immigration and Custom Enforcement.
Guevara has authorization to live and work in the U.S., his attorney, Giovanni Diaz, told The Associated Press. Guevara also has an application pending with the Department of Homeland Security for legal permanent residency, sponsored by an adult son who is a U.S. citizen, the attorney said.
Diaz did not immediately return a request for comment.
Guevara was arrested June 14 while livestreaming a “No Kings” protest against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies in the Embry Hills neighborhood near Atlanta. He was arrested and charged with three misdemeanors: improperly entering a roadway; obstruction of law enforcement officers; and unlawful assembly.
But his bail proceedings were halted, and on June 18, he was turned over to ICE, which placed a detainer on him and put him in a detention center.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the misdemeanor charges against Guevara had not been reviewed or investigated by the DeKalb County Solicitor General’s Office when ICE took him into custody, giving Guevara no opportunity to defend himself or assert his First Amendment rights.
Additionally, after he was put in ICE detention, additional misdemeanor charges were filed against Guevara related to a incident more than a month before, when he was livestreaming activity by an immigration official while driving, the committee stated in a June 20 letter to the DHS, citing media reports and Gwinnett County Records.
“Arresting reporters in retaliation for their work is a crude form of censorship that harms the free flow of information and First Amendment rights enshrined in the Constitution,” the committee stated in its letter.
Tricia McLaughlin, Homeland Security assistant secretary, said that Guevara was placed in removal proceedings because he entered the country illegally in 2004, not because he’s a journalist. She said DHS was urging people who came to the U.S. or have stayed without legal permission to “self-deport.”
NPR reported that Diaz, the attorney, said Guevara had entered the country legally on a tourist visa.
The Committee to Protect Journalists warned that proceeding with the case against Guevara would undermine the rule of law. The committee’s letter was signed by other groups, including the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Atlanta Press Club, Reporters Without Borders and the Society of Professional Journalists.
Separately, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists called for Guevara’s immediate release. The group in a statement also called for an investigation into his arrest and the circumstances that led to his transfer to ICE, as well as, “reaffirmations from local, state and federal enforcement that journalists have the right to document public protests and law enforcement actions without fear of retaliation.”
Bodycam video shows Guevara standing in shade at the top of a grass incline leading to the parking lot, the sidewalk and the street behind him. An officer or agent calls to him and tells him from a distance that he was warned multiple times to stay on the sidewalk. Guevara doesn’t respond.
A helmeted officer with a shield walks toward him and Guevara backs up, stepping off the curb and into the street. Seconds later, agents or officers rush in to grab him. “Officer, officer,” Guevara is heard saying. “I’m a member of the media, officer.”
Guevara can be seen submitting to the arrest, being handcuffed and asking the officers to please get his phone, which he says is for work. He thanks an officer who picks it up for him. When he is being put into the law enforcement vehicle, an officer says, “You were warned multiple times not to get in the road, that’s why you are being arrested.”
Guevara can be heard saying he didn’t go (on the road), mentioning the word “reporting” to the officer.
