A journalist based out of Georgia is facing imminent deportation after livestreaming a protest.
This, according to press freedom advocates in Arizona and across the country, is a “chilling message” for journalists.
The 48-year-old Salvadoran national headed up MG News, a Spanish language news outlet in Atlanta. Guevara livestreamed the June “No Kings” protest against Trump when local police arrested him. He has been in detention for more than three months.
Reportedly, ICE previously said Guevara is in the country illegally and thus subject to removal.
An immigration board recently issued a final removal order based only on failing to pay an immigration bond 13 years ago. Guevara’s lawyers say he is in the country legally and the allegation is false via a letter to a federal judge in Georgia after providing proof of Guevara’s payment and the bond’s subsequent cancellation.
According to the New York Times, the lawyers for the journalist who has now been in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement since June asked a federal judge on Tuesday for a temporary restraining order to block his deportation, which they said was “imminent.”
Press freedom groups, the ACLU, First Amendment advocates and civil liberties activists say the detention of Mr. Guevara, who is originally from El Salvador, is another example of the federal government’s trampling on independent journalism and coverage that the administration viewed as unflattering.
In an emergency request made on Tuesday, Mr. Guevara’s lawyers asked Judge Benjamin W. Cheesbro of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia to release Mr. Guevara, while the immigration case is decided. They also sought a court order barring federal authorities from removing him from the country until his status is settled.
Arizona ACLU and ACLU national along with press freedom advocates are reaching out to Americans for help with signatures to ICE in an “all hands-on-deck” moment against the attacks on the free and open press.
“We can’t allow the Trump administration to blatantly retaliate against a journalist for his lawful reporting.”
