Journalist Mario Guevara’s imprisonment by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (Ice) ended with deportation to El Salvador on Friday, his family announced on social media.
Guevara has been a media mainstay in the Atlanta area for about 20 years, after fleeing El Salvador to escape leftwing militias in 2004. Though he has a work permit and two of his children are American citizens, he has operated under the “administrative closure” of deportation orders for much of that time.
Immigration officials put him on a plane at 4am on Friday morning, family members said.
Immigration officials reopened the deportation case after his arrest on petty charges that were almost immediately dismissed while livestreaming “No Kings Day” protests in June. His imprisonment is among the longest for any reporter arrested in connection with their work as a journalist in United States history.
“This is the latest in a series of measures from this administration that really cut at the core of media freedoms,” said Katherine Jacobsen, the US, Canada and Caribbean program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
His arrest and deportation is more than an immigration issue, she said, given the extraordinary legal processes used by Trump administration officials to maintain his detention and force his deportation. “In reality, when we look at the whole picture and everything … it really is a threat to journalists and rights in this country.”
Guevara’s defenders at CPJ, PEN America, Reporters Without Borders, the ACLU and the media and democracy group Free Press filed a brief on Wednesday with a federal appeals court, arguing that Guevara’s detention creates a “widespread and profound” chilling effect against free speech and journalistic practices, especially filming law enforcement activity.
Katherine Guevara, Mario’s daughter, said he had been nervously awaiting the final word for days, keeping in touch with regular phone calls to his family and attorneys. The ordeal has been challenging for her and her siblings, one of which requires special care after an accident. Mario Guevara has never been apart from his family for long, she said.
“I mean, I’m surviving, but it’s been a really difficult time,” she said. “You’re just expected to continue your life and come to work and follow your routine.”
The arrest has affected the family’s financial resources. While Guevara has a popular Facebook page – more than 1 million people were watching his livestream of protests at the moment of his arrest – some sponsorships have been paused while he has been imprisoned. Guevara has penned missives from inside the immigration detention center in Folkston, Georgia, dictating his observations over the phone from inside a jail cell. But it does not substitute for the roving reporting on immigration enforcement that drew an audience of millions.
“Throughout the course of Guevara’s time in custody, the government put forward arguments saying that he was being held because his livestreaming activity as a reporter posed a danger to law enforcement activity,” Jacobsen said. “These are the kind of kind of tactics that we see frequently in in other countries overseas, and I think it’s time for Americans to realize that these kind of bureaucratic methods of going after journalists and civil society actors are being used here.”
CPJ is tracking other legal cases involving journalists, such as the misdemeanor conviction yesterday of a student journalist in Kentucky who had been charged with failing to disperse while covering a protest. Charges like this have historically been unusual, given the necessity for reporters to be physically present while covering demonstrations.
“This is not something that we usually see in this country. Other journalists in Chicago and Los Angeles have been assaulted by law enforcement while covering protests or being in immigration court. This is not normal and should be of great concern.”
