ATLANTA — The American Civil Liberties Union reports that Emmy Award-winning journalist Mario Guevara faces imminent deportation after more than 100 days in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.
According to the ACLU, Guevara’s legal team has filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order to block his removal and secure his release. The filing came after the Board of Immigration Appeals issued a ruling authorizing his deportation.
The ACLU says Guevara’s detention is a retaliatory act tied to his work as a journalist, specifically livestreaming law enforcement activity and ICE raids. The organization argues that his detention violates First Amendment protections and rests on incorrect reasoning regarding a 2012 bond payment.
The group said the BIA’s decision was based on the claim that Guevara failed to pay an immigration bond in 2012, which his attorneys found to be inaccurate and contradicted by ICE’s own records.
“Mario Guevara’s deportation would be a devastating outcome for a journalist who’s been wrongfully detained for over 100 days in gross violation of his First Amendment rights,” said Scarlet Kim, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. Kim added that the BIA’s decision is “wrong on the facts” and that journalists should not have to fear government retaliation for their reporting.
The ACLU said the BIA denied Guevara’s bond release on Sept. 19 despite an immigration judge previously granting it. The denial prompted the Board to reopen a case that was closed more than a decade ago.
That case revealed that Guevara had received authorization to work in the United States. The BIA argued that a 2012 removal order restricted the court’s authority to release him, the ACLU said. Guevara’s legal team countered that the Board’s reasoning ignores clear evidence, pointing out that ICE’s own records show he complied with bond requirements.
Andrea Young, executive director of the ACLU of Georgia, said, “Mr. Guevara’s arrest, over 100-day detention, and the effort to deport him all point to an erosion of the civil rights of all Georgians, particularly journalists whose work is a foundation of democracy.” She urged the courts to reverse what she described as a “terrible injustice.”
The ACLU said Guevara’s lawyers filed the restraining order motion to stop his deportation while his habeas corpus petition proceeds in federal court. The group warned he could be deported before the habeas case is resolved unless the court intervenes, which could strip the court of jurisdiction. The motion also requests his immediate release, citing constitutional violations.
The ACLU said the habeas petition, filed in August in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, is backed by a coalition including the ACLU, the ACLU of Georgia, the University of Georgia School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic, Garland, Samuel & Loeb, P.C., and Diaz & Gaeta Law, LLC. The petition argues his detention is unlawful retaliation for exercising protected speech and violates his First Amendment, Fifth Amendment and due process rights.
The ACLU emphasized that the case of Guevara v. Francis raises important questions about press freedom in the United States. The organization said the outcome will determine whether a journalist can be detained and deported for livestreaming government operations.
“We are urgently fighting for his release and to prevent his imminent deportation,” the ACLU said.
The group concluded that Guevara’s case highlights broader risks faced by journalists, immigrants and advocates who document law enforcement activities. Silencing voices like Guevara’s, the ACLU said, threatens constitutional protections, accountability and transparency.
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