Salvadoran Journalist Mario Guevara to Be Deported from the U.S. This Friday

Mario Guevara to Be Deported

ICE transfers the journalist

Family fights against the decision

According to EFE, Salvadoran journalist Mario Guevara, detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since June, faces imminent deportation to his home country.

His family reported Thursday that he was transferred from a detention center in Georgia to an immigration jail in Louisiana, from where he is expected to be deported this Friday to El Salvador.

The confirmation came from his son, Oscar Guevara, who said on social media that the transfer had already taken place and that his father will leave on a deportation flight in the morning.

“We are devastated, but at least my dad is not dead, and that’s the only thing that gives us hope,” wrote the young man.

Family and Lawyers Insist on Stopping the Deportation

Oscar also explained that he hopes to travel soon to El Salvador to reunite with his father, although the family has not yet been able to have direct communication with him since the transfer.

The case of Mario Guevara’s deportation has become a symbol of the tension between freedom of the press and U.S. immigration policies.

The latest legal setback came Wednesday when the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals denied an emergency motion filed by his lawyers.

That motion sought to block deportation, arguing that his arrest last June while covering a protest in Georgia violated his constitutional right to report the news.

Deportation of Mario Guevara and the First Amendment

Mario Guevara deportation will be executed this Friday – PHOTO: EFE

Judges Kevin Newsom, Andrew Brasher, and Embry Kidd acknowledged in their ruling that Guevara’s work is protected under the First Amendment.

However, they determined the motion must be rejected because the journalist had not provided the proper immigration documentation to justify his legal stay.

The court’s decision allowed ICE to carry out the deportation order issued by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA).

That body had already rejected last month the petition to reopen his immigration case, which had been administratively closed in 2012 after his asylum request was denied.

BIA Denies Adjustment of Status

Mario Guevara deportation will be executed this Friday – PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK

The BIA also rejected the lawyers’ request for an immigration judge to evaluate a possible adjustment of status.

His defense argued that Guevara should qualify for that benefit because he is the father of Oscar, a U.S. citizen with a brain condition who depends on him.

The denial removed one of the last legal options to stop the journalist’s expulsion.

Mario Guevara has lived in the U.S. since 2004 and has worked as a journalist in Latino media, documenting migration issues and Hispanic communities.

Arrest During Protest Coverage in Georgia

His arrest in June happened while he was reporting on a protest by the “No Kings” movement in Georgia.

Witnesses said Mario Guevara was clearly identified as a member of the press when he was detained on minor charges.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) denounced the case as an attack on the First Amendment.

In August, the organization filed a habeas corpus petition on his behalf, seeking to stop what it described as arbitrary detention.

ACLU Denounces Arbitrary Detention

That legal mechanism protects anyone against unlawful imprisonment, but in this case, it also failed to overturn the situation.

The ACLU argues that Mario Guevara’s continued detention in an immigration jail violates fundamental principles of human rights and press freedom.

The case has drawn strong reactions among journalists and press freedom organizations, who see it as a dangerous precedent.

Defenders warn that deporting a journalist detained while carrying out his work undermines trust in constitutional protections.

Mario Guevara’s Family Holds on to Hope

Guevara’s family — his wife and three children — lament the court’s decision and the imminent forced trip to El Salvador.

They have promised, however, to continue fighting for the journalist to return legally to the United States in the future.

“This is not a definitive defeat,” assured his son Oscar on social media.

The case of Mario Guevara’s deportation highlights the complex intersection of immigration, justice, and press freedom in the United States.