Press freedom under threat: Journalist Mario Guevara faces deportation from US

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published 2 months ago |  CPJ News Alert

NEW YORK—The Committee to Protect Journalists and Free Press express outrage that journalist Mario Guevara faces imminent deportation back to his native El Salvador after the Board of Immigration Appeals on Friday reopened his 13-year-old immigration case, declining to release him on bond. 

“We are outraged that journalist Mario Guevara was initially detained for almost 100 days because the government believes that livestreaming law enforcement poses a danger to their operations,” said CPJ US, Canada, and Caribbean Program Coordinator Katherine Jacobsen. “This latest move allows the government to circumvent addressing the reason why Guevara was detained, in retaliation for his journalism. Instead, authorities are using the very real threat of deportation to remove a reporter from the country simply for doing his job and covering the news.” 

“Deportation without due process—that would be the new normal set by Mario Guevara’s removal from the United States,” Nora Benavidez, senior counsel at Free Press, explained. “Horrific and lawless, this is the environment the​ Trump administration created to promote a singular approved narrative, remove critical news coverage for communities, and chill journalists’ freedom should they dare hold power to account. Mr. Guevara’s case is happening live, with breaking updates occurring under a sealed case shrouded in secrecy, upon which his removal and ability to report depend​.”

In the Board of Immigration Appeals’ September 19 order, the board noted that it denied Guevara’s ability to remand the immigration case to an immigration judge for a green card, for which he is eligible through his U.S. citizen son. 

An immigration court on July 1 ordered Guevara’s release on bond, though the government argued that he should be held in detention in part because his work as a journalist—livestreaming of law enforcement activities—created a risk to their work. The government appealed and was granted a stay on the case by the Board of Immigration Appeals, allowing for Guevara’s prolonged detention.  

The American Civil Liberties Union on August 21 filed a habeas petition stating that Guevara is being detained primarily based on his journalism, and this continued detention is a violation of his First and Fifth Amendment rights. CPJ filed a declaration in support of the habeas petition. A decision in the habeas case is still pending. 

Guevara—an Emmy-winning, Spanish-language reporter who covers immigration— has been in law enforcement custody for almost 100 days since being arrested while reporting at a June 14 protest in the Atlanta metro area. He has been transferred between local authorities and ICE detention, and has been held in Georgia’s Folkston ICE Processing Center, though he is not facing any charges and was in the country legally at the time of his arrest. 

Photo caption: Mario Guevara has been in law enforcement custody for almost 100 days since being arrested while reporting at a June 14 protest in the Atlanta metro area. (Screenshot: Fox 5 Atlanta/YouTube)