Leading Press-Freedom Groups Demand Immediate Release of Journalist Mario Guevara

WASHINGTON — On Monday, a coalition of more than two-dozen leading press-freedom groups called for the immediate release of reporter Mario Guevara.

Guevara — an Emmy-winning Spanish-language reporter who covers immigration — has been in law-enforcement custody for 100 days. He was arrested on June 14 while reporting on a #NoKings 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 persecution.

“In a healthy democracy, a free press is essential. That freedom is under threat in the United States today,” the press-freedom groups said in a statement that is being released alongside the launch of freedomformario.com, a web resource that calls attention to Guevara’s plight. “The government’s prolonged detention of Guevara sends a chilling message to all journalists, citizens, and residents who record law enforcement, report on government activities, and seek to report the truth. This concerns all of us as a blatant attack on the First Amendment and press freedom. Livestreaming and filming police is not a crime.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists and Free Press led the statement and created the web resource. Other signers of the statement include Amnesty International USA, the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, the National Press Photographers Association, the National Writers Union, PEN America, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Society of Professional Journalists and the Southern Center for Human Rights, among others. 

The full statement is available here.

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

“The news about Mario Guevara hasn’t reached as many folks as the story of Jimmy Kimmel being taken off the air last week. These attacks are all part of one big ugly authoritarian assault on freedom. Guevara’s imprisonment marks one of the longest periods a journalist has ever been detained in the United States. He’s the only known journalist currently behind bars in the U.S. for his reporting. 

“Former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin explained ‘there is freedom of speech but I cannot guarantee freedom after speech.’ Trump embodies this ethos. He wants to crush independent journalism and any news outlets that dare to hold him accountable. But the beauty of democracy is opposition, debate and inquiry — all hallmarks of a truly free and independent press. 

“The government’s prolonged detention of Guevara sends a chilling message to all journalists, citizens and residents who record law enforcement, report on government activities and seek to report the truth. That’s why these leading press-freedom groups are calling for his immediate release from ICE custody.”

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 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 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.