What the Story Is

On June 14, a journalist named Mario Guevara stepped out into the street—Chamblee Tucker Road in Doraville, Georgia, north of Atlanta. Guevara, who is forty-eight, wore a red polo, jeans, and sporty sunglasses, black-rimmed with lenses tinted greenish-blue. He also had on a black helmet and press vest, indicating himself plainly as a reporter. In 2024, Guevara had started MG News, a digital outlet, and before that he’d worked for Mundo Hispánico, a local Spanish-language newspaper. Since 2004, when he arrived in the United States, he had been covering immigration for Spanish speakers in the Atlanta metropolitan area. He’d left El Salvador because he had received death threats for his journalism.

That day in June, hundreds of people were gathered for a “No Kings” rally against President Donald Trump. Above them was a bright blue sky dappled with puffy clouds. Guevara was on the ground, livestreaming. Police officers were also there, in riot gear, body cameras on. “Keep an eye on the guy in the red shirt,” one said to his colleagues. “If he gets to the road, lock his ass up.”

You’ve likely heard what happened next. Police approached Guevara from one side, holding shields. He backed away; his feet touched pavement. The other men leaped forward. “Officer, officer, I’m a member of the media, officer,” Guevara said. He was charged with obstructing law enforcement, assembling unlawfully, and being a pedestrian walking on a road. DeKalb County decided not to pursue the charges, but he was taken into the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (The Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office also booked him for traffic-related violations; those charges were dropped, too.) At the time of his arrest, he had been legally authorized to work in the US and had a path to obtaining a green card. “If I am deported, I will leave with my head held high, because I am convinced it will be for doing my work as a journalist and not for committing crimes,” he wrote from jail. “That said, I will leave with a broken heart and my dignity tarnished.” He remained in ICE detention for more than a hundred days, during which time he celebrated his birthday. Then he was deported.