

By Miriam Raftery
October 5, 2025 (Atlanta, GA) – In an action that has drawn condemnation from journalism and civil liberties organizations, the Department of Homeland Security on Friday deported Mario Guevara, an Emmy award-winning journalist, to El Salvador in retaliation for his live-streaming of ICE raids.
“The government kept Mario unlawfully detained for weeks because of his vital reporting on law enforcement activity. His deportation is a devastating and tragic outcome for a father and celebrated journalist,” said Scarlet Kim, senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Speech, Privacy, & Technology Project, in an ACLU statement. “Journalists should not have to fear government retaliation, including prolonged detention, for reporting on government activity, and showing up to work should not result in your family being torn apart. Mario’s treatment should terrify any person in this country that cares about a free press.”
Filming police is protected by the First Amendment according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which cites numerous court cases that have ruled in favor of journalists filming law enforcement activities, though the Supreme Court has not ruled on this issue.
Guevara was arrested while live-streaming a No Kings protest against President Donald Trump in June. He was charged with unlawful assembly obstruction and being a pedestrian on a roadway—charges that were all dropped by a judge, who ordered his release. But local police had turned him over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which instead detained him for 100 days despite a judge ordering his release, claiming that his past and potentially future filming of law enforcement activities presented a risk to their work. The ACLU filed for emergency relief to block his deportation, but a judge did not grant the request.
Guevara came to the U.S. in 2004 on a tourist visa and applied for asylum in 2005. He fled his native El Salvador after he was attacked and received death threats over his reporting, he told CNN. According to Reporters Without Borders, which tracks treatment of journalists worldwide, journalists regular face threats and seizure of their equipment in El Salvador. Prior to 2006, some journalists were killed and as recently as 2022, journalist Victor Barahone was detained and tortured. President Nayib Bukele “has attacked and threatened journalists critical of his government,” according to Reporters Without Borders.
“The only thing that journalists like Guevara threaten is the government’s chokehold on information it doesn’t want the public to know,” said Seith Stern, director of advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
Dozens of press freedom groups and more than 100 leading writers, journalists and scholars called for Guevara’s release. A letter signed by dozens of press freedom groups led by the Committee to Protect Journalists, written before the deportation order, said Guevara’s detention “sends a chilling message to all journalists, citizens, and residents who record law enforcement, report on government activities, and seek to report the truth. This concerns all of us as a blatant attack on the First Amendment and press freedom. Livestreaming and filming police is not a crime.”
Guevara is the founder of MG News, which covers Georgia’s Latino community and has livestreamed ICE raids to hundreds of thousands of followers. Previously during his 21 years in the U.S. legally, he worked for Mundo Hispanico, Georgia’s largest Spanish-language newspaper.
According to the ACLU, Guevara’s wife and three children were not allowed to even say goodbye to him before he was deported. His son, Oscar Guevara, suffered brain damage from a stroke and brain tumor. He has relied on his father to help him with his health issues, including driving him to medical appointments.
“Words cannot begin to describe the loss and devastation my family feels,” Oscar Guevara said, according to an ACLU press release. “My family has been torn apart for no good reason, and I can only hope that we can one day be reunited.”
Guevara arrived in El Salvador on Friday, where he spoke with journalists, CNN reported. “I feel sad, but I also feel happy to be in my homeland,” said Guevara, speaking in a country where criticizing the government can be deadly for reporters. “I mean, they didn’t execute me.”
U.S. Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia Mclaughlin, in a statement to The Hill, said DHS is “happy” that Guevara has been deported to El Salvador, adding, “If you come to our country and break our laws, we will arrest you and you will NEVER return.”
But according to the judge who threw out charges against Guevara, he broke no laws while covering the protest. A petition by the ACLU that sought to halt the deportation and free Guevara argued that the action was retaliatory and amounted to prior restraint on his future speech and reporting, also violating due process.
According to the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University, “In numerous cases, the Supreme Court has indicated that the Constitution establishes a strong presumption against such prior restraints. The founding fathers viewed the practice of prior restraint as detrimental to democracy. British common law had been interpreted to oppose licensing and other forms of prior restraint of speech and press, which served as an example during the U.S. Constitutional Convention.”
Andre Lopez-Delgado, senior attorney for the ACLU of Georgia, concludes, “Mr. Guevara’s deportation marks a sad day... where the rule of law is disregarded for a cruel and unjust policy.”
Comments
Trump...
I feel and fear ffor my hometown of Chicago due to Trump!
As I now live here in Los Angeles, just last night I canceled my roundtrip AMTRAK trip to my hometown of Chicago, where my children were born. I was prepared to spend two weeks with my sons, and enjoy the ambience of this beautiful city. It was my intention to spend some time along the lakefront near the Chess Pavillion, where I used to ride my bike. Just three years ago while visiting this beautiful city, which I personally feel is the greatest and most beautiful city in the world, I spent time on the lakefront near this chess pavillion with my son Darius, who was born in a hospital on North Kedzie. He was actually my first born in marriage. Darius was also a graduate of the Navy Boot Camp in North Chicago, where President Trump had indicated that he would deploy troops. I called AMTRAK last night and canceled my trip to Chicago. DePaul University is my alma mata, where I have so many great memories, and where former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and so many other dignitaries graduated from. I recall sitting on the 95th floor of the famed John Hancock Building looking out on Lake Michigan, while having dinner. Just down the street from the John Hancock Building is Geno's Pizza, which I personally feel has the best deep dish pizza in the world. The current Mayor of Chicago Johnson, who lives on the westside of Chicago, where I once lved, has been on TV in various news conferences decrying the invasion of Chicago by the Trump Administration. Former President Barack Obama, gave a speech years ago before he became President, as he was a dear friend of my Pastor at the time, Bishop Brazier! Of course, there is also the famed "Taste of Chicago" which is a two week food and retaurant frenzy that I used to take my children to! Also, as I was once Specification Engineer for the City of Chicago Department of Aviation at O;Hare Airport,anyone traveling out of that world class airport would see remnants of snow equipment and emergency vehicles that I was involved in the purchasing of. What Trump is doing is patently wrong and unfair! And, as far as the alleged illegal imagration that the Trump Administration is speaking of, my very best friend Rene Noriega, who was once the President of the Guatemala Chamber of Commerce in Chicago, shared many great memories while he was alive. I also understand that the Attorney General for the State of Illinois filed a lawsuit just today against the Trump Administration for their activities in my beloved hometown of Chicago!
when will
"Blackhawk" helicopters hovering over a building in Chcago!
What a scary scene to see a miltary vehicle that is used in Somali and other countries hovering over a building on the southside of Chicago, and then going into a building and arresting alleged illegal imigrants! Is that war!