“The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the decision by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities not to comply with a federal immigration judge order that granted bail to Atlanta-based Salvadoran journalist Mario Guevara, who was originally arrested on First Amendment-related charges. Those charges were dropped on June 25. CPJ calls for Guevara’s immediate release.
Guevara’s immigration attorney, Giovanni Diaz, told CPJ that ICE has not allowed Guevara’s family to post bond and has not been given a clear explanation as to why.
The Spanish-language reporter is currently the only journalist in custody in the U.S. whose arrest was in relation to their work.
‘We are outraged that immigration authorities refused to free journalist Mario Guevara on bond after a judge ordered that he could be released yesterday,’ said CPJ U.S., Canada and Caribbean program coordinator Katherine Jacobsen. ‘By continuing to hold Guevara, officials are effectively silencing a reporter who was in the United States legally and had covered immigration stories in his Atlanta metro community for nearly 20 years. He must be released.’”
