Journalist Guevara Detained Despite Dropped Charges

Mario Guevara, a Salvadoran Emmy Award-winning journalist based in Georgia with over 750,000 followers, remains detained after being arrested while covering an anti-ICE protest near Atlanta, despite an immigration judge granting him bond. Local criminal charges against Guevara were dropped for lack of evidence, and video footage showed him in general compliance with police orders while clearly identified as a journalist. ICE has refused his family's attempts to pay his $7,500 bond, transferred him between multiple detention centers, and is appealing his release to the Board of Immigration Appeals while requesting a hold on the bond order. Guevara, who has legal status in the U.S. and a pending green card application, claims his detention is in retaliation for his reporting. Press freedom groups and lawyers have criticized the continued detention as a violation of due process and journalists' rights. The case has attracted international attention and calls for intervention.