Hispanic journalist faces deportation after arrest covering ‘No Kings’ protest

For two decades, Atlanta journalist Mario Guevara has chronicled the city’s vibrant Latino community, its cultural events as well as its clashes with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Now, after his arrest at a “No Kings” protest Saturday, June 14, Guevara could soon meet the fate of so many people he has covered: deportation.

ICE filed a legal document called a detainer against the reporter, asking the jail in an Atlanta suburb to hold Guevara until officers can transfer him to a federal detention center. From there, he could be sent back to his native El Salvador.

1 million followers

Guevara, 47, fled El Salvador in 2004 after leftist paramilitary groups threatened him over his reporting, according to The Guardian. In Atlanta, he worked for two Spanish-language media organizations before creating his own news site, MG News, last year. He reportedly has more than 1 million followers.

Even though he is not a legal resident, Guevara has a work permit, his lawyer, Giovanni Diaz, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Details about his entry into the United States are not clear, but Guevara could eventually obtain a green card through his son, a U.S. citizen, Diaz said.

In recent months, Guevara has frequently shown up as ICE officers arrest migrants, who are in the country illegally, at their homes or workplaces. He told the Atlanta newspaper he often receives texts or telephone calls from people who say ICE is at their door.

“The Latino community is definitely scared,” he said, “and they have reason to be.”

‘Let me finish’

On Saturday, Guevara livestreamed a protest against the Trump administration’s immigration policies in Doraville, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta with a large Hispanic population. He wore a helmet and a vest identifying him as “PRESS,” and video he posted to Facebook shows him backing away from a police officer wearing riot gear as two other officers approach from behind to take him into custody. 

“Let me finish,” Guevara says as his camera goes out of focus.

He was charged with obstruction of law enforcement officers, unlawful assembly, and improperly entering a roadway as a pedestrian, according to a police report.

Guevara has not responded to the charges. His lawyer asked a judge to set bond before learning that ICE had told the jail to continue to hold Guevara.

‘Tone it down’

Guevara had become so ubiquitous at ICE raids that some people thought he was secretly working for the agency, he told the Atlanta newspaper earlier this year.

Now, his lawyer said, he will have to fight to keep ICE from returning him to El Salvador.

“You can imagine with this administration,” Diaz, the lawyer, said, “they always reserve the right to put an ICE hold on anybody that is technically not a legal permanent resident, regardless of whether or not they have work authorization.”

Guevara acknowledged earlier this year that his work was increasingly placing him in peril. “My lawyers are asking me to tone it down, to not be so aggressive,” he said.

But, he added, “I’m not scared.”