Salvadoran journalist arrested while streaming a ‘No Kings’ protest could face deportation
By Marlon Sorto, Brian Stelter and Caroll Alvarado, CNN
(CNN) — A Salvadoran journalist who built a big social media following by documenting immigration raids may be facing deportation.
Mario Guevara, who was arrested during a “No Kings” protest near Atlanta last Saturday, was transferred to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody early Wednesday morning, a spokesperson for ICE in Atlanta confirmed to CNN.
Although a state judge had granted him release without bail, ICE authorities requested that he remain detained due to his immigration status.
This led the Committee to Protect Journalists to express outrage about Guevara’s continued detention on Tuesday. ICE’s involvement, “which could lead to Guevara’s deportation, is a crude form of censorship,” said Katherine Jacobsen, the committee’s US, Canada and Caribbean program coordinator.
Guevara entered the United States in 2004 on a tourist visa after he faced death threats due to his reporting in El Salvador, according to a 2012 CNN profile of the reporter.
Giovanni Diaz, an attorney for Guevara, said during a press conference on Tuesday that the journalist had a “permit” to live and work in the United States, but did not have a permanent resident card.
In recent years, Guevara had gained a high profile in Georgia for his one-man-band approach to covering immigration enforcement.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote last month that Guevara “has made it his journalistic calling card to provide live, first-hand documentation of immigration arrests and their emotional aftermath.”
Guevara’s “MG News” outlet on Facebook has 110,000 followers; his personal account has 782,000 followers. He was live-streaming on Saturday when he captured his own arrest on video during a protest in Doraville, a city northeast of Atlanta.
The video, which was archived on Facebook, showed Guevara walking away from protests after police asked demonstrators to disperse.
As Guevara continued to walk forward, officers approached him from behind and proceeded to arrest him.
“Officer, Officer, I’m a member of the media, officer,” he was heard telling police. “Okay, let me finish. You take my phone, please — to my work. Don’t leave there, please. Thank you, officer, thank you. Can you put, please in my bag? The phone, please, it’s for my work, please.”
The livestream also captured Guevara being escorted to a police car. “But I didn’t anything wrong. Just reporting, officer, just reporting,” Guevara said a final time.
According to records from the DeKalb County jail, he was charged with improperly entering a pedestrian roadway, obstruction of law enforcement officers and unlawful assembly.
According to Zachary Gaeta, another one of the reporter’s attorneys, Guevara was clearly identifiable as a member of the media. On the live-streamed video, he is seen wearing a vest and press credentials.
“He was not protesting, he was recording,” Gaeta said in a video on Facebook.
In February post on Instagram, Guevara said he was not a US citizen nor pretended to be one, but he loved and respected the US as much as his own country. “God bless America,” he added.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Guevara’s “MG News” Facebook follower count. “MG News” has 110,000 followers.
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