Journalist Mario Guevara Deported to El Salvador

Mario Guevara, an Emmy-winning Spanish-language journalist known for livestreaming immigration raids, was arrested June 14 while covering an anti-ICE protest in DeKalb County; local charges were later dropped. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement placed him in removal proceedings and held him for more than 100 days despite an immigration judge granting bond amid disputes over paperwork and a long-running deportation order. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied his emergency request for a stay, and federal authorities flew him to El Salvador early Friday. Upon arrival he held a press conference in Olocuilta, reunited with his mother, said he had lost weight and bore marks from handcuffs, and reported that half his family remains in the United States with one child en route to join him. The Committee to Protect Journalists and the ACLU condemned the deportation as targeting his reporting and warned it poses a threat to press freedom; Guevara said he is ready to continue his work from El Salvador.