Free Press and the Committee to Protect Journalists Lead Brief in Support of Detained Journalist Mario Guevara

WASHINGTON — On Friday, Free Press, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the Freedom of the Press Foundation, PEN America and Reporters Without Borders filed an amicus brief in support of journalist Mario Guevara’s habeas corpus petition challenging his prolonged confinement in ICE custody.

Guevara — an Emmy-winning Spanish-language reporter — has been in law-enforcement custody for more than 100 days. He was arrested on June 14 while reporting on a No Kings Day protest in the Atlanta metro area. He was in the country legally at the time of his arrest and remains in custody even though all charges against him have been dropped. He faces imminent deportation to his native El Salvador, where he could face immense risk to his safety.

In this amicus brief, the press-freedom groups argue that Guevara’s continued detention is government retribution in violation of the First Amendment. The brief also documents the profound implications of Guevara’s detention for both journalists and individuals more broadly.

“To put it plainly, law enforcement officials disliked Mr. Guevara’s reporting of their conduct, so they detained him,” the brief reads. “He cannot observe and document the issues that affect his community and the greater public at large, nor can he publish those findings. In other words, the government has succeeded in its goal of muzzling Mr. Guevara, chilling his future reporting and other journalists’ speech that might seek to expose the government’s activities.”

Nora Benavidez, Free Press’ senior counsel and director of digital justice and civil rights, said:

“The targeting, muzzling, detention and possible deportation of beloved journalist Mario Guevara is as legally unjust as it is a sign of the Trump administration’s censorship scheme to punish free speech and dissent. It’s also a blatant attack on immigrants. Immigrants founded this country and deserve the same First Amendment protections as residents who were born here. The debate about Mr. Guevara’s legal status is irrelevant; he was here in the United States legally. He is being penalized for his reporting and livestreaming of law enforcement. The facts of this case are nothing short of horrifying: He has been in detention for more than 100 days even though all charges against him have been dropped. His detention betrays our commitment to the rule of law, which we urge this court to embrace.”

Katherine Jacobsen, CPJ’s U.S., Canada and Caribbean program coordinator, said:

“The ongoing detention of journalist Mario Guevara and the government’s latest moves to deport him back to his native El Salvador is a miscarriage of justice and a crude attempt to silence a vital voice in immigration reporting. The government’s argument — that Guevara poses a danger because of his livestreaming of law-enforcement activity — creates a harmful framework for going after other journalists as well as any other individual who engages in live broadcasting.”

Background
Guevara faces imminent deportation back to his native El Salvador after the Board of Immigration Appeals reopened his 13-year-old immigration case, declining to release him on bond. An immigration judge on July 1 ordered Guevara’s release on bond, though the government argued that he should be held in detention in part because his legally protected livestreaming of law-enforcement activities allegedly created a risk to their work. The government appealed and the Board of Immigration Appeals granted a stay in the case, allowing for Guevara’s prolonged detention. On Aug. 21, the ACLU filed a habeas petition stating that Guevara is being detained primarily on the basis of his journalism, and that this continued detention is a violation of his First and Fifth Amendment rights. The Committee to Protect Journalists filed a declaration in support of the habeas petition. A decision in the habeas case is still pending.