Atlanta journalist Mario Guevara on Wednesday filed a legal challenge to his continued imprisonment by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), arguing it is retaliatory, aimed at silencing his reporting about ICE activities, and violates his constitutional rights.
ICE is currently holding Guevara at the Folkston ICE Processing Center in South Georgia. As of Aug. 21, he has been imprisoned for 68 days, making him the fifth-longest jailed journalist in US history.
“The government’s continuing detention of Mr. Guevara on the basis of his journalism is intended to silence him, prevent him from reporting in the future, and retaliate against him for his past speech and reporting, in violation of the First Amendment,” says the habeas corpus petition. This kind of lawsuit is a way for people to sue the government over their imprisonment.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of Georgia, the University of Georgia Law School’s First Amendment Clinic and legendary Atlanta criminal defense attorney Don Samuel have joined Guevara’s attorneys at Diaz & Gaeta to represent him for the detention challenge.
Guevara was arrested by local police in DeKalb County on June 14, while livestreaming a “No Kings Day” protest against President Donald Trump and ICE. The DeKalb Sheriff’s Office handed him over to ICE on June 18. Guevara, a Salvadoran national, has lived in the United States for over 20 years. He is legally authorized to work here and is awaiting a green card.
A federal immigration judge granted Guevara bond on July 1, after Dekalb dropped the misdemeanor charges (obstruction and improperly entering a roadway) for lack of evidence. But ICE challenged the bond order and Guevara remains locked up, pending a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals.
Guevara’s habeas lawsuit accuses ICE of violating his constitutional rights to free speech and due process, arguing that his continued imprisonment “has no legitimate objective and is punitive.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists filed a declaration of support on Thursday, raising urgent concerns over the implications of Guevara’s case for press freedom.
“A central tenet of a free society — as distinguished from a police state — is the freedom of journalists to report what they observe while traveling or standing in publicly accessible, outdoor spaces like streets, sidewalks, and parking lots,” said the global press freedom group’s declaration.
“Suppressing basic news gathering is a defining feature of repressive regimes, where independent reporting is treated as a threat,” it added.
Guevara’s initial DeKalb arrest and subsequent ICE detention have been widely condemned by First Amendment experts, press freedom groups, and members of the Georgia legislature.
Just one day before ICE took custody of Guevara from DeKalb, the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office, in an unusual move, filed additional misdemeanor traffic charges against him on June 17 for reckless driving, running a stoplight, and unlawful use of a wireless device. Gwinnett prosecutors later dismissed the charges, which stemmed from a May 20 incident, when Guevara was reporting on law enforcement activity.
But Georgia Recorder reported Thursday that the GwinnettSheriff’s Office actively collaborated with ICE to advance a narrative that Guevara’s reporting was a danger to the community. The news outlet obtained public records that show ICE’s primary objection to releasing him on bond was “rooted in how he reports on law enforcement.”
That argument failed to convince a federal immigration judge at Guevara’s July 1 bond hearing, but even so, he remains in ICE custody.