Journalist arrested at Ga. rally released from federal custody
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - The Salvadoran reporter who was being detained by immigration authorities has been released.
Mario Guevara was released Wednesday after being held at the U.S. Customs Immigration Enforcement processing center in Folkson, Georgia, according to federal officials.
On Tuesday, a federal immigration court judge set Guevara’s bond at $7,500.
Guevara was arrested on June 14 while covering a DeKalb County protest against President Donald Trump and his administration’s immigration enforcement operations. DeKalb police charged him with unlawful assembly, obstruction of a law enforcement officer and pedestrian on or along the roadway, charges that were dropped last week.
But Guevara is still facing charges in Gwinnett County on distracted driving, failure to obey a traffic control device and reckless driving. Gwinnett County law enforcement officials said Wednesday afternoon that Guevara is not currently in their custody.
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Guevara was being detained by ICE because he does not have permanent residency. However, his attorneys said he has a work authorization.
Guevara’s Tuesday bond hearing was overseen by James Ward, a federal immigration court judge, at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin. Guevara appeared virtually at the hearing.
Federal officials said they would appeal Guevara’s bond. Ward set a hearing date of July 31, 2025.
During Tuesday’s bond hearing, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said prosecutors relied on a 2015 Facebook post where Guevara posed with a firearm to argue that he was a danger to the public. Guevara’s lawyer objected to the post, as it was not presented as evidence.
The organization also said Ward remarked “there was a gray area between constitutionally protected speech and obstructive behavior. He noted that it was not for an immigration court to rule on that matter, but that if Guevara were to face additional charges or be convicted the court could reconsider his release.”
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Guevara has been covering immigration in the U.S. for more than two decades, according to News 12’s sister station, Telemundo Atlanta.
According to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Guevara was currently the only journalist in custody in the United States at the time.
“We are heartened to see that Mario Guevara was ordered to be released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody at his bond hearing, though we remain concerned about the arguments the prosecution made that Guevara’s work as a reporter presented a danger to the community,” said Katherine Jacobsen, CPJ’s U.S., Canada, and Caribbean program coordinator.
“The fact that Guevara was arrested while exercising his First Amendment rights as a journalist and was subsequently held for over two weeks by various law enforcement bodies sends an alarming message to the media and has effectively silenced Guevara’s coverage of his community,” Jacobsen said. “We urge law enforcement to thoroughly investigate why Guevara was arrested in the first place.”
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