The Committee to Protect Journalists led a coalition of local and national civil society and press freedom organizations Friday in a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) expressing alarm about the detention of journalist Mario Guevara.
Guevara, an Emmy-winning, Spanish-language reporter who covers immigration on his “MGnews” Facebook page and other social media platforms, was arrested on June 14 while livestreaming a “No Kings” protest against the actions of the Trump administration in an Atlanta, Georgia suburb. According to video footage of his arrest, Guevara was wearing a press pass and clearly identified himself as a journalist to law enforcement.
Guevara was transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody after the immigration authority issued a detainer against the journalist, who has authorization to work in the United States. At the time of the letter’s publication, Guevara was being held in the Folkston ICE Processing Center.
Read the full letter here.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.