New charges filed against Spanish-language journalist amid ICE detention

Immigration reporter Mario Guevara, currently in federal custody and facing possible deportation, was charged June 17 with three additional misdemeanors for traffic violations that allegedly occurred more than a month before his mid-June arrest at a protest near Atlanta.

Guevara, a Salvadoran journalist who has lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years, was arrested during a “No Kings” protest against President Donald Trump in Chamblee, Georgia. The demonstration coincided with a military parade attended by Trump in Washington, D.C., marking the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army.

Guevara was livestreaming the protest to over a million followers when Doraville police arrested him. At the time, he was wearing a press vest and helmet and repeatedly identified himself as a journalist. He was later charged with obstruction, unlawful assembly and walking on a roadway.

On June 18, Guevara was transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody after federal immigration officials placed a detainer on him. Guevara, who lacks permanent legal status, has work authorization and a potential path to a green card through his U.S.-citizen son.

The Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office then filed three new misdemeanor charges — distracted driving, reckless driving and failure to obey a traffic control device — against Guevara. The new charges appear to stem from an incident 31 days earlier, when he was reportedly livestreaming immigration enforcement activity while driving.

The incidents listed in the warrants happened on May 13 and May 20, but the warrants weren’t taken out against Guevara until June 17, his attorney Giovanni Diaz said in a video news update posted to the social platform Facebook.

“We’ve only been able to see the warrants. We’re trying to get a little more information,” Diaz said in Spanish. “I think the timing, to a lot of people, is a bit concerning. I’ll allow other folks to speculate about that.”

Diaz did not return U.S. Press Freedom Tracker requests for comment.

In a statement provided to the Gwinnett Daily Post, the sheriff’s office claimed Guevara “compromised operational integrity” and “jeopardized the safety of victims of the case, investigators, and Gwinnett County residents” during an unrelated investigation.

A spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office denied a Tracker request for the arrest warrants, stating that they are still active and an investigation is ongoing.

In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution this spring, Guevara reflected on the risks of his reporting: “My lawyers are asking me to tone it down, to not be so aggressive,” he said. “I’m acting as if I were a citizen … but I’m not scared.”

In response to mounting public scrutiny, the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement on social media June 20 denying that Guevara’s detention was related to his journalism.

“This El Salvador national is in ICE custody because he entered the country illegally in 2004,” the agency said. “He was arrested for willful obstruction after refusing lawful orders.”

In 2012, an immigration court denied Guevara’s asylum application and issued a deportation order. That case was later administratively closed — a discretionary decision that paused removal proceedings. He built his reputation covering immigration enforcement in Georgia for Mundo Hispanico before founding his own outlet, MGNews.

The Committee to Protect Journalists called for Guevara’s release and for removal proceedings to be dropped in a June 20 letter with a coalition of local and national civil society and media groups (including Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the Tracker is a project). The letter warned that his continued detention raises serious press freedom concerns.

“If Guevara’s case proceeds, it would represent a grim erosion of both freedom of the press and the rule of law,” the letter stated. “Journalists who are not U.S. citizens could be at risk of deportation solely because local law enforcement filed misdemeanor charges against them in retaliation for reporting without those charges ever being tried in court.”