Mario Guevara — a well-known Spanish language reporter for Mundo Hispanico for many years who more recently had established a digital news outlet called MG News — was deported from Atlanta at 4 a.m. on Oct. 3 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Mario Guevara covering immigrant rights demonstration in Georgia. (Credit: Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Guevara established his reputation as an advocate for immigrants, who like himself entered the United States fleeing unsafe conditions in their home countries — in his case El Salvador.
Members of the Georgia Detention Watch could count on Guevara to cover demonstrations in front of the ICE headquarters denouncing the conditions at Stewart Detention Center. He would report on the crowds brought to city and county meetings by the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights opposing the implementation of 287(g) agreements that turned local police into ICE agents.
Guevara’s on-the-ground reporting won him Emmy awards and an extensive network of community contacts that provided him with on-the-spot information about ICE activities. On June 14 Guevara — wearing a bright red T-shirt and his big black vest with PRESS emblazoned on it — went to a “No Kings” protest in Dekalb County, just north of the Atlanta city limits. The crowd was amassed on the sidewalk, so Mario with his video camera walked along the edge of the street to film the signs.
He was jumped by police who ignored his statement that he was with the press and charged him with three misdemeanors, including obstruction and unlawful assembly. Although those charges were dropped, ICE agents showed up at the jail and placed him in removal proceedings.
ICE fought every legal effort by Guevara’s lawyers to release him from the Folkston ICE Processing Center, a GEO Group facility located 247 miles from Atlanta near the Florida border. He was held there for over 100 days until he was transported to Louisiana and then put on a plane to El Salvador.
His wife and two U.S. born children were sent a video of him arriving in a rural area by car where he was greeted by family, including his mother. While legal efforts to return him to Atlanta are being pursued, Mario Guevara has made it clear he will continue to report on the struggles of immigrants.
As a founding member of Georgia Detention Watch, Mathiowetz is very familiar with Mario Guevara’s determined advocacy for immigrant rights.