Spanish-language journalist remains in ICE custody despite being granted bond

ATLANTA (AP) — A week after an immigration judge granted him bond, a Spanish-language journalist who was arrested while covering a protest last month remains in federal custody.

Police just outside Atlanta arrested Mario Guevara while he was covering a protest on June 14, and he was turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement several days later. He was being held at an immigration detention center in Folkston — in southeast Georgia, near the Florida border — when an immigration judge last week granted him bond.

But when his family tried to pay the $7,500 bond last week, ICE didn't accept it and he has since been shuffled between three other jails, his lawyer Giovanni Diaz said.

“We are of the opinion that there seems to be a concerted effort between different jurisdictions to keep him detained,” Diaz said.

Guevara built a large following

Guevara, 47, fled El Salvador two decades ago and drew a loyal audience as a journalist covering immigration in the Atlanta area. He worked for Mundo Hispanico, a Spanish-language newspaper, for years before starting a digital news outlet called MG News. He was livestreaming video on social media from a DeKalb County rally protesting President Donald Trump’s administration when local police arrested him.

Guevara has been authorized to work and remain in the country, Diaz said. A previous immigration case against him was administratively closed more than a decade ago, and he has a pending green card application sponsored by his adult U.S. citizen son, the lawyer said.

After Immigration Judge James Ward granted him bond, Guevara's family tried several times to pay it online but it wouldn't go through, Diaz said. They then went to pay it in person and ICE refused to accept it, he said.

“What we didn’t know was what was going on in the background,” Diaz said, explaining that they have since learned that ICE was challenging his release to the Board of Immigration Appeals and asked to put the bond order on hold while that's pending.

Moved from jail to jail to jail to jail to jail

Another of Guevara's attorneys was then told that he was being transferred to Gwinnett County, in suburban Atlanta, because there were open warrants for his arrest on traffic charges there. He was taken to the Gwinnett jail last Thursday and was released the same day on bond in that case.

Because his immigration bond had not been paid, he was taken back into ICE custody at that point, Diaz said. He was taken to Floyd County, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) northwest of Atlanta, where the county sheriff's office has an agreement to detain people for ICE.

Floyd County Jail records showed that he was in custody there until Monday. Diaz said Guevara was then moved to a federal Bureau of Prisons facility in Atlanta, where he remained on Tuesday.

The immigration judge agreed with Guevara's lawyers that the journalist is not a danger to the community, but ICE is arguing he's such a threat that he shouldn't be released, Diaz said.

“We think it's overkill,” the lawyer said. And in what Diaz characterized as a concerning development, Guevara was told while in custody in Gwinnett County that his phone was confiscated under a search warrant.

What video of Guevara's arrest shows

The video from his arrest shows Guevara wearing a bright red shirt under a protective vest with “PRESS” printed across his chest. He could be heard telling a police officer, “I'm a member of the media, officer.” He was standing on a sidewalk with other journalists, with no sign of big crowds or confrontations around him, moments before he was taken away.

DeKalb police charged Guevara with unlawful assembly, obstruction of police and being a pedestrian on or along the roadway. His lawyers worked to get him released and he was granted bond in DeKalb, but ICE had put a hold on him and he was held until they came to pick him up.

DeKalb County Solicitor-General Donna Coleman-Stribling on June 25 dismissed those charges, saying that while probable cause existed to support the arrest, there wasn’t enough evidence to support a prosecution.

“At the time of his arrest, the video evidence shows Mr. Guevara generally in compliance and does not demonstrate the intent to disregard law enforcement directives,” her office said in a news release.

Amid outcry over arrest, traffic charges filed

Guevara's arrest immediately drew widespread attention and was criticized by press freedom groups, which said he was simply doing his job.

On June 20, the Gwinnett sheriff’s office said it had secured warrants for Guevara’s arrest on charges of distracted driving, failure to obey a traffic control device and reckless driving, saying that, he had “compromised operational integrity and jeopardized the safety” of victims of a law enforcement case, investigators an Gwinnett residents.

An initial incident report says the charges stem from a May 20 incident, which it says was reported June 17 — three days after his arrest at the protest. The narrative section of the report gives no details. Diaz said people charged with traffic violations are usually charged on the spot, and it is very unusual for an officer to swear out a warrant for arrest on such a violation a month later.

"None of this is normal," Diaz said.