by Maya Homan, Georgia Recorder, [This article first appeared in the Georgia Recorder, republished with permission]

July 22, 2025

Lawyers, free speech advocates and family members gathered Tuesday at Georgia’s state Capitol in Atlanta to advocate for Mario Guevara, an Emmy-award winning Spanish-language journalist who has remained in federal custody more than a month after his arrest at a metro Atlanta protest.

Guevara, who was known for his immigration reporting, was covering a protest against the Trump administration’s immigration policies when he was arrested in DeKalb County on June 14. DeKalb County police initially charged him with improperly entering a roadway, obstruction of law enforcement officers and unlawful assembly, all of which are misdemeanor offenses. He was later charged with three additional misdemeanors from the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office for distracted driving, failure to obey a traffic control device, and reckless driving. All six charges have since been dropped, according to the Associated Press.

An immigrant from El Salvador, Guevara has been a resident of the U.S. for more than 20 years and is authorized to work in this country. However, the misdemeanor charges after his arrest allowed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to place a detainer on him, paving the way for a potential deportation. He was transferred into ICE custody three days after his initial arrest and has remained there ever since. 

He is currently being held at the Folkston ICE Processing Center in South Georgia, according to his attorney, Giovanni Diaz. The facility, which currently holds just over 1,100 beds, is set to become the largest immigrant detention facility in the United States.

While Guevara is physically unharmed, Diaz said his experience in federal custody has shaken him.

“He’s an incredibly positive person, he leans on his faith and his family, and he continues to do that while in detention,” Diaz said. “But I think there’s certain things that have him shaken to his core.”

At Tuesday’s press conference, two of Guevara’s children spoke out on behalf of their father, who they say has dedicated his life to informing Atlanta’s Hispanic community. Guevara spent years working for the Spanish-language newspaper Mundo Hispanico before founding his own digital news outlet, MG News, about one year ago.

“Since he’s been detained, our family has felt an emptiness that we cannot begin to fill,” said Guevara’s daughter, Katherine Guevara. “My mom is exhausted. My brothers and I feel like we’re stuck in a nightmare.”

“This is not just about one journalist,” she continued. “This is about what kind of country we want to be. If a government can punish a reporter for doing his job, what message does that send? What protections are left for the rest of us?”

Guevara’s son Oscar echoed her sentiments, saying that his father’s work “wasn’t just a job, it was a calling, and now he’s being punished for answering that call.”

“My dad has been a legal resident of the U.S. for more than 20 years,” he added. “He pays taxes, he’s followed the law. He raised a family here, and yet, despite having no charges against him, he’s sitting in a cell as if he’s a threat, all because he was doing his job.”

Guevara’s arrest and subsequent transfer into ICE custody has gained national attention, prompting an outcry from First Amendment advocates in Georgia who have pushed for his release.

“Mario Guevara’s case feels emblematic of the disturbing path that the United States is on,” said civil rights and free speech lawyer Nora Benavidez, linking Guevara’s case to those of Mahmoud Khalil and Rümeysa Öztürk, two immigrants who were detained by ICE agents after speaking out in support of Palestine.

“If the exercise of [First Amendment] rights is now penalized like it is with Mario Guevara, simply because those in power dislike the message or the messenger, that means that our basic freedoms are not free,” Benavidez said. “They have become privileges doled out for good behavior if those in power allow it.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has disputed First Amendment advocates’ characterization of Guevara’s arrest.

“Accusations that Mario Guevara was arrested by ICE because he is a journalist are completely untrue,” the DHS said in a post on the social media site X, adding “this El Salvador national is in ICE custody because he entered the country illegally in 2004.”

Guevara fled his home country of El Salvador in 2004 after facing violence due to his reporting and applied for asylum. Though an immigration judge rejected his asylum application in 2012, Diaz told the Associated Press that the case was ultimately resolved, with Guevara receiving authorization to continue working in the U.S. He currently has a pending green card application sponsored by his son, who is a U.S. citizen.

Though Guevara was granted bond by an immigration judge three weeks ago, he remained in custody after ICE appealed the ruling. Guevara’s lawyers said they are optimistic that the Board of Immigration Appeals will eventually allow him to be released on bail, and that they will continue to prepare for the next stage of his case.

Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jill Nolin for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com.