A Spanish-language journalist who built a mass following on social media by documenting Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids will now have to fight his own deportation battle after being taken into custody by federal authorities early Wednesday.
Mario Guevara’s case has drawn widespread attention since he livestreamed his own arrest at a protest on Saturday outside Atlanta.
An international nonprofit that defends the rights of journalists said it knows of no other reporters in the U.S. who have been similarly taken into ICE custody amid the ongoing Trump immigration crackdown.
In a statement, Katherine Jacobsen of the Committee to Protect Journalists said Guevara’s case “signals a frightening erosion of press freedom in the U.S.”
Online records show that Guevara was released from the DeKalb County Jail, where he was detained following his arrest at the protest, at 7:35 a.m. Wednesday.
In a statement, metro Atlanta-based ICE spokesperson Lindsay Williams said Guevara “was encountered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers after he was arrested … for willful obstruction.”
It is not clear where Guevara is being held.
A local judge granted Guevara a bond Monday, but the journalist remained in detention because ICE had issued a detainer, formally requesting the DeKalb jail hold Guevara for at least 48 more hours to give immigration agents time to pick him up.
At a news conference Tuesday, Giovanni Diaz, one of Guevara’s attorneys, said that if his client was taken into ICE custody he would likely spend some time at the agency’s downtown field office before being transferred to one of two South Georgia immigrant jails: the Stewart Detention Center or the Folkston ICE Processing Center.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Diaz added that Georgia’s immigrant detention facilities are “overwhelmed.”
“People are sleeping on the floor. Some detention centers don’t have enough food,” he said. “My job is to try to get people out of those hellholes. So, it’s not fun. If anybody could handle it and be in good spirits, it’s Mario. … I think somebody like him who’s faith-driven and mission-driven is somebody who’s prepared to handle whatever those conditions may be.”
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists on Wednesday called for Guevara’s immediate release.
“Arresting a journalist for filming public police activity is a violation of the First Amendment and undermines the essential role of the press in holding government accountable,” NAHJ President Dunia Elvir said. “It sends a dangerous message that journalists — especially those covering immigrant communities — can be targeted and criminalized simply for doing their jobs.”
At the Tuesday news conference in Cobb County, Guevara’s daughter — Katherine Guevara, 27 — said it was “terrifying” to learn that ICE was targeting her father.
“We’ve always been very, very close. And I just couldn’t believe it,” she said.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Local police charged Mario Guevara with three misdemeanors: obstruction of law enforcement, unlawful assembly and pedestrian walking on or along a roadway.
In arrest warrants obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Doraville police said the journalist ignored repeated instructions to stay off the street and to leave the site of the protest after it had been declared an unlawful assembly.
According to police, Guevara was part of a large group walking on Chamblee Tucker Road toward I-285. The group tried to physically push past law enforcement officers but were stopped, police said.
Officers then herded the group to a Kroger parking lot and ordered them to disperse, the arrest warrant reads.
“Instead, (Guevara) reentered the roadway, trying to livestream the event on his phone. When told to go back, (Guevara) did so, but then again entered the roadway and filmed the event,” the warrant said.
In Diaz’s view, Guevara’s livestream shows him acting compliant and respectful around law enforcement.
“He didn’t do anything illegal. The only thing he was doing was documenting the police’s actions. So, why was he arrested?” he said at Tuesday’s news conference.
Police body camera footage obtainedWednesday by the AJC shows police warning Guevara to get off Chamblee Tucker Road, where he was filming, and get on the sidewalk.
“Last warning, sir, get out of the road,” can be heard around the 2:20 p.m. mark.
Guevara complied but jolted back to the road moments later when what looks like a tear gas canister detonated near him. At least one other person, a photographer, also stepped on the roadway at that moment, and Guevara can be seen trying to shield his face.
“Red shirt, red shirt,” the arresting officer said while pointing out Guevara to his colleagues.
At around 2:30 p.m., as soon as Guevara stepped back on the road, the officer ran toward him and arrested him. The word “press” can be read on Guevara’s vest in the footage as he was handcuffed.
“Officer, officer, I’m a member of the media,” Guevara can be heard saying.
Minutes later, while he placed Guevara in the back of a police car, the arresting officer told him, “You were warned multiple times to not get on the road. That’s why you are getting arrested.”
“But I was recording, officer,” Guevara answered.
Diaz said that although Guevara has work authorization and a path to a green card through his U.S. citizen son, he still lacks permanent legal status in the country.
In 2012, a court denied Guevara’s application for asylum and ordered him deported, but the journalist went on to benefit from administrative closure, a legal procedure that allows an immigration judge to temporarily suspend removal proceedings.
— AJC Staff Writer Taylor Croft contributed to this report
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