No, this Spanish-language reporter won’t turn in your ex to ICE

His coverage is beamed to a social media audience that now exceeds 1 million people across Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and his own news site, MGNews.

Followers get in touch to report ICE sightings, and it is that intel that helps Guevara try to find and video the agents in action.

“They are my eyes and ears,” he said of his tipsters. “It would be impossible to do this without my followers and the trust they have in me to let me know what’s going on.”

Many times, Guevara reaches the site of immigration arrests too late, after ICE has gone.

He recently uploaded a video from Norcross depicting a sight that has become emblematic of immigration enforcement: an empty white work van, with ladders affixed to the top and scores of tools visible inside. Bystanders said ICE had, moments earlier, arrested two immigrant workers who had been riding inside.

But earlier this month, Guevara posted something more out-of-character: an exhortation for people to stop writing to ask if he would turn in acquaintances they don’t like — a request he said he gets frequently, often from people who wish to see a former romantic partner deported.

“It’s shocking, shocking,” he said. “A lot of people think I actually work with ICE and that I go around with them getting people deported.”

‘More intense than ever’

According to Guevara, rumors of him being an undercover ICE agent began circulating in 2015, when he participated in a ride-along with local police as part of a story for Mundo Hispánico about police efforts to tackle drunken driving.

Mundo Hispanico was formerly part of the media holdings of Cox Enterprises, which owns The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Mundo was sold to new owners in 2018. He left Mundo last year.

In a video of the 2015 ride-along, an officer explained to Guevara his reasons for pulling over a Latino man. When the officer told him that the man had passed a Breathalyzer exam, Guevara asked whether he had inspected the man’s license. The officer checked the license and learned it had been suspended, leading to an arrest.

Video of the interaction went viral and sparked a wave of criticism from many of Guevara’s followers, who accused him of collaborating with the authorities. Memes compared the journalist to Judas, Trump and Scar from “The Lion King.”

Guevara says he feels the aftermath of that police ride-along in the requests that still fill his inbox asking to turn people in to ICE. He acknowledges he overstepped journalistic bounds during the traffic stop.

“It’s been getting more than intense than ever,” he said of the requests.

Money disputes and unsettled debts are behind many of the messages from community members hoping to report others to ICE. Sometimes, people want someone deported over trivial matters: Recently, a man messaged Guevara hoping to report a woman who had scratched his car.

“She has a signed deportation order, but she is still in the country. I have her address and her license plate number,” the message reads.

Guevara says he also hears from many women who wish to report their former partner, sometimes over unpaid child support. Others want to report their current partners over adultery or because they are not sending money to family members back home.

“It’s crazy,” he said. “It’s people being resentful.”

Guevara says he typically does not engage with followers who reach out because they believe he collaborates with ICE. Instead, he is focusing on chronicling the local impact of the Trump administration’s stepped-up deportation campaign.

There’s more to do than ever.

Under Biden, Guevara said he received reports from the community of ICE activity in metro Atlanta one or two times per month.

“Now there’s so many texts, so many calls, people telling me that ICE is at their door or right outside their home. They send me pictures. It’s an intensity that I haven’t seen since the first Trump administration and since Obama,” he said. “The Latino community is definitely scared, and they have reason to be.”

Former State Rep. Pedro Marin was one of the first Latinos elected to the state Legislature. The 22 years he spent in office before his retirement last year make him the longest-serving Hispanic legislator in Georgia history.

He said he views Guevara as an “essential piece” of the Georgia Spanish-language media landscape.

“He’s someone who’s extremely aware of everything that is happening in the Latino community,” he said. “He has a fandom that is really incredible.

“In my years in office, we’ve had clashes on occasion. But we want the same thing, which is a Latino community that is educated and informed. And that’s what’s happening.”