Updated Aug. 21, 2025
The Georgia First Amendment Foundation has joined the Committee to Protect Journalists and a coalition of local and national advocates calling for the release of Georgia journalist Mario Guevara and protection of journalists’ rights to gather news without government interference.
>>> “We’re living in a climate of fear and retribution,” GFAF board member Nora Benavidez says about Guevara’s continued detention. See the headlines.
Guevara is an Emmy-award winning Spanish language reporter who was arrested June 14 while covering a “No Kings” protest in metro Atlanta. Local authorities charged Guevara with entering a roadway, obstruction of law enforcement officers and unlawful assembly. He was detained despite wearing a vest clearly marked “PRESS.”
GFAF signed onto a June 20 letter raising the alarm about Guevara’s arrest and detention. “The Georgia First Amendment Foundation board joined the coalition signing the letter to express our dismay to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that a working journalist could face deportation for simply exercising his First Amendment rights while reporting on an event of great public interest,” said Sarah Brewerton-Palmer, the foundation’s president.
On July 1, an immigration judge in Georgia granted bail and ordered Guevara’s release, yet he remains in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and faces deportation.
On August 20, counsel for Guevara filed a federal habeas petition seeking his immediate release on the grounds that his continued detention constitutes retaliation for his reporting and a prior restraint on his continued speech and newsgathering in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments. According to the petition, Guevara is the only journalist in the country being detained because of his reporting. The petition asserts that the government is explicit in its court filings that they are continuing to hold Guevara because he has exercised his First Amendment right to record public officials, specifically law enforcement officers, while they are carrying out their official duties in public. The longer Guevara remains in custody the greater the chilling effect on him and other journalists, particularly noncitizens, who want to report on the actions of government officials.
Guevara, a Salvadoran journalist, has lived in the United States for 20 years, has work authorization in the country and is on a path to obtaining a green card.
