Ga. county drops charges against journalist arrested at ICE protest

ATLANTA, Ga. - Mario Guevara, the Salvadorian reporter arrested June 14 during an immigration protest in DeKalb County, will not face any charges at the local level.

That announcement came late Wednesday afternoon from Donna Coleman-Stribling, DeKalb County’s solicitor general.

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“After carefully reviewing the evidence, including video evidence surrounding his arrest, I have concluded that while there is probable cause to support the initial arrest, the evidence is insufficient to sustain a prosecution beyond a reasonable doubt,” Coleman-Stribling said.

Guevara was arrested while filming a protest at the intersection of Chamblee-Dunwoody and Northcrest roads. DeKalb County Police charged him with unlawful assembly, obstruction of a law enforcement officer and pedestrian on or along the roadway.

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“Given the lack of clear criminal intent by Mr. Guevara to ignore lawful commands, the case is dismissed as charged,” Coleman-Stribling said.

Eight people, including Guevara, were arrested during the protest. DeKalb law enforcement said they had “threatened public safety and disobeyed law enforcement orders.”

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Guevara was reporting via livestream at the time of the arrest and can be heard, via police bodycam, telling the arresting officer, “I’m a member of the media.”

His attorneys argue you can see in the video he was complying with officers when he was arrested.

“He was doing something that he’s done for 20-something years,” Giovanni Diaz, Guevara’s attorney, said after the arrest. “There’s a vast amount of experience he has dealing with situations like this, and he’s never had any issues. Quite the opposite.”

Guevara has been covering immigration in the U.S. for more than two decades.

After he was in county custody last week, he was released to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement due to an active detainer.

He was being held at an ICE detention center in Folkston.

It’s not clear whether that’s still the case.