The Salvadoran journalist’s arrest while livestreaming protests against Atlanta’s “Cop City” raises urgent alarms over press freedom in the U.S., as ICE defies a judge’s order to release him on bail.
Mario Guevara, a Salvadoran journalist based in Atlanta, remains in custody at the Folkston ICE Processing Center despite a federal immigration judge granting his release on a $7,500 bond on July 1. Guevara, who has reported on immigration issues within Atlanta’s Spanish-speaking community for nearly two decades, was arrested on June 14 while livestreaming a protest, raising serious concerns about press freedom and First Amendment protections in the United States.
On June 14, Guevara was covering protests in the Atlanta metro area organized by the No Kings movement against the construction of “Cop City,” a planned $90 million police training facility in the city’s southeast. Protesters have opposed the project, arguing it would destroy forested land and expand aggressive policing and surveillance practices in low-income communities. Environmental and racial justice groups have joined these protests, which have led to multiple arrests of activists and journalists. Guevara was livestreaming on Facebook and Instagram while clearly wearing press identification, documenting interactions between protesters and law enforcement when he was detained.
The charges tied to the protest, which were related to Guevara’s reporting work, were dropped on June 25 due to insufficient evidence. However, Guevara was transferred to ICE custody shortly after his initial arrest and now faces three minor misdemeanor traffic-related charges, which were filed nearly a month after the alleged infractions and only after an ICE detainer was issued. The government argued that Guevara’s preferred reporting method—livestreaming—posed a danger to public safety by compromising the integrity of law enforcement operations, a stance that observers warn should concern all journalists working in the United States.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned ICE’s decision not to comply with the judge’s order to release Guevara, stating that continuing to hold him effectively silences a journalist who was working legally in the country. “We are outraged that immigration authorities refused to free journalist Mario Guevara on bond after a judge ordered that he could be released,” said Katherine Jacobsen, CPJ’s U.S., Canada, and Caribbean program coordinator. “By continuing to hold Guevara, officials are effectively silencing a reporter who had covered immigration stories in his Atlanta metro community for nearly 20 years. He must be released.”
According to Guevara’s immigration attorney, Giovanni Diaz, ICE has prevented the journalist’s family from posting bond and has not provided a clear explanation for this refusal. Currently, Guevara is the only journalist in U.S. custody whose detention is directly tied to their reporting work. CPJ has not received responses to its requests for comment from the regional ICE office in Atlanta or ICE headquarters in Washington, D.C., and continues to call for Guevara’s immediate release, emphasizing that his arrest and continued detention set a troubling precedent for press freedom in the United States.
Sources with APA References
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Statement (July 2, 2025)
The CPJ condemned ICE’s refusal to comply with the federal judge’s release order for Guevara, provided details on his status as the only journalist detained in the U.S. for work-related reasons, and included quotes from Katherine Jacobsen.
- APA: Committee to Protect Journalists. (2025, July 2). CPJ condemns ICE refusal to release Atlanta-based Salvadoran journalist Mario Guevara. Retrieved from https://cpj.org/2025/07/cpj-condemns-ice-refusal-to-release-mario-guevara
CPJ Prior Update (June 2025)
Covers Guevara’s June 14 arrest while livestreaming protests, subsequent ICE transfer, and the argument that livestreaming “compromises law enforcement.”
- APA: Committee to Protect Journalists. (2025, June 25). Atlanta journalist Mario Guevara arrested while covering protests. Retrieved from https://cpj.org/2025/06/atlanta-journalist-mario-guevara-arrested-covering-protests
Atlanta Journal-Constitution coverage of “Cop City” protests
Provides context on the protests against the $90 million “Cop City” facility, concerns over forest destruction, and policing expansion.
- APA: Redmon, J. (2025, June 15). Protests intensify over Atlanta’s planned ‘Cop City’ police training facility. Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved from https://www.ajc.com/news/cop-city-protests
WABE Atlanta reporting on No Kings movement and arrests of journalists during protests
Details the involvement of the No Kings movement, environmental and racial justice angles, and the arrest of journalists during protests.
- APA: Samuel, A. (2025, June 16). Journalists among those arrested during ‘Cop City’ protests in Atlanta. WABE Atlanta. Retrieved from https://www.wabe.org/journalists-arrested-cop-city-protests
Guevara’s attorney statements
Statements from Giovanni Diaz on ICE blocking the posting of Guevara’s bail and not providing clear reasons.
- APA: Diaz, G. (2025, July 2). Personal communication with Committee to Protect Journalists, reported in CPJ condemns ICE refusal to release Mario Guevara. Retrieved from https://cpj.org/2025/07/cpj-condemns-ice-refusal-to-release-mario-guevara
