Atlanta journalist Mario Guevara deported Friday
Mario Guevara, the Atlanta-based Spanish-language journalist who was arrested covering an anti-Trump protest, has been deported to El Salvador Friday morning at 4 a.m., according to Katherine Jacobsen with the Committee to Protect Journalists.
This came after the U.S. Court of Appeals rejected Mario Guevaraβs ask to remain in the U.S. as his attorneys said he fears retribution in El Salvador for his media coverage.
βWeβre not in the best spirits, but like I said earlier, heβs alive, and when this sadness passes, I know we [the family] will rise up and this time stronger. Weβll have higher spirits than ever,β he added.
Mario Guevara was arrested in June during a βNo Kingsβ protest in DeKalb County. Heβs from El Salvador and entered the U.S. legally in 2004.
He was transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention after his arrest, even though his charges were dropped. An immigration judge ruled he could be released from detention on bond, but the federal government appealed.
Guevara had applied for asylum in 2005 and was denied, but appealed that decision. That appeal went unresolved and was administratively closed until 2025. He was in the process of getting a green card through his U.S. citizen son.
After his arrest, the Department of Homeland Security reopened the unresolved asylum appeal and denied it. Guevara asked the U.S. Court of Appeals to temporarily pause his deportation, but that was denied Wednesday.
The court indicated in its decision that while Guevara was within his First Amendment rights to report on the protest, he did not have the proper paperwork filed at the right time to stay in the U.S.
βTaken as a one-off, you could write off the case of Mario Guevara as an immigration issue, that someone might not have had all of their immigration paperwork lined up,β said Jacobsen, who serves as the U.S., Canada, and Caribbean program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists.
βBut I donβt think that thatβs what the case is actually about. I think what we saw in this case is a really concerted effort from the government to try and deport a journalist who was very well known in the Atlanta Metro community, especially in Spanish language communities, and to curtail the ability of other reporters to go out with confidence that they could cover and live stream police activity without fear of retaliation government,β she added. βThatβs what this case is about.β
CPJ reports Guevara has been the only journalist in prison or ICE detention in the U.S. this year.