Free Press Condemns ICE Detention of Journalist Mario Guevara
Mario Guevara remains in ICE detention even though the charges against him have been dropped.
Facebook page for Mario Guevara
On June 14, ICE agents detained journalist Mario Guevara while he was reporting on a No Kings Day protest in Atlanta.
The Emmy-winning Spanish-language journalist — who has frequently filmed ICE and law-enforcement raids — remains in custody even though the charges against him have been dropped.
Guevara entered the United States from El Salvador on a visa in 2004 and later became a citizen. ICE arrested him on First Amendment-related charges — and he is the only journalist in custody in the United States whose arrest relates to newsgathering. He is at risk of deportation.
Trump’s attacks on the free press
This won’t be the last time the Trump administration’s actions undermine the basic, fundamental freedoms enshrined in the First Amendment. Whether it’s the arrest of student activists and journalists or the way Trump is suing news organizations for doing their jobs, we are in a precarious moment for press freedom.
Nora Benavidez, Free Press’ senior counsel and the director of digital justice and civil rights, delivered powerful comments at the Georgia statehouse at a July 22 press conference about Guevara’s detention. She joined advocates from the Committee to Protect Journalists and other organizations.
Advocates speaking out against the unjust detention of Mario Guevara
Nora’s comments are included below in their entirety:
“Thank you all so much for being here today. Senator McLaurin, thank you for hosting this press conference at the State Capitol. And thank you to Mario’s family and lawyers here today.
“You know, I thought a lot about how I might come to this event, through my work with the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, where we protect open government and free speech in Georgia. Or through my role as Senior Counsel at Free Press, where we fight for free, equitable and open connection online and offline. Or as a Latina, who has been deeply, personally appalled by the indignity and dehumanization over the last several months of people who look like me. Or as a civil rights lawyer who has known Mario Guevara for years, appreciated his presence and his unique coverage in our community.
“But the issues today bring me here in my most fundamental capacity as someone troubled by where we’re headed and the way that Mario Guevara’s case feels emblematic of this disturbing path the U.S. is on.
“Mario Guevara is not a threat to our society. Just like students from Columbia or Georgetown or Tufts, some of whom like Mahmoud Khalil were detained for over three months for exercising their free speech rights, condemning what is happening in Gaza. These students were never threats to our society.
“Just Lauren Tomasi and other journalists hit with rubber bullets and attacked with tear gas covering the protests in Los Angeles while doing their constitutionally protected job of exposing the facts and laying witness to dissent against an increasingly authoritarian administration.
“Those journalists were never a threat to our society.
“Each of these examples show us people exposing a narrative those in power don’t want said.
“None of these instances present a threat to the U.S. They’re examples of the very reasons we have a First Amendment.
“But if people like Mario Guevara are somehow cast as dangerous, that says more about the kind of nation we are becoming than it does about who Mr. Guevara is.
“That says this country has turned its back on core American principles, the principles our founders believed essential to prevent consolidation and abuse of power by a small few. Those founding fathers knew that freedom of the press and our freedom to speak, listen, think, and assemble would be essential bulwarks against overreach of government power.
“So if the exercise of those rights is now penalized simply because those in power dislike the message or the messenger, that means our basic freedoms are not free: they have become privileges, doled out for good behavior if those in power allow it.
“Where our own John Lewis would be horrified by what is happening if he were here today with us. In the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr, and the civil rights movement no less, a movement that clung to and succeeded in part because of people’s expression and protest rights.
“Let’s be clear: We are here today calling for the immediate release of Mario Guevara from custody. He has no criminal charges against him. He is in this country legally. He was arrested while doing a constitutionally protected activity, albeit one the Trump administration dislikes.
“But this is the environment Trump has created. He has disallowed journalists from the White House when he dislikes their coverage. Congress has gutted millions of dollars for public media, instead giving over $170 billion to law enforcement and border police. And even in which corporate media companies like CBS discontinue programming like the Stephen Colbert show after he spoke critically of CBS settling litigation with the administration.
“We’re living in a climate of fear and retribution, in which our community ties weaken and truth is undermined as the bedrock of our democracy. Mr. Guevara’s case is just the tip of the spear.
“So in pushing back today, we are not just calling for Mr. Guevara’s immediate release. Because the very circumstances under which we are here, more than 38 days into his disturbing detention, are daily ways that others may think twice about filming the police, or protesting, or reporting on ICE. And that’s the point.
“His detention sends a chilling message to anyone who might want to exercise their rights. And it’s a rejection of the premise this country was founded on: to give people agency, dignity, autonomy and freedom to challenge those in power.
“Looking at the pattern of targeting free speech and detaining individuals who say or do things the administration dislikes, I worry that Mario Guevara is likely not the last journalist we will see arrested, detained, and targeted for his work. That makes it all the more incumbent on everyday people, on journalists, on lawyers, on lawmakers, and other leaders to stand up for something better. This is beyond politics, it’s beyond period, it’s beyond Atlanta.
“If it’s Mario Guevara’s detention today, it may be one of us tomorrow.”