Who Is Mario Guevara?
Mario Guevara is a veteran Emmy award-winning Spanish-language journalist who has reported on community issues in the Atlanta area for more than two decades. In 2024, he founded MG News, a digital outlet with a large social media following that reaches hundreds of thousands of viewers, particularly in Latino communities. His regular livestreams cover local news, including law enforcement activities, making him a trusted voice for audiences often overlooked by mainstream outlets.
Guevara’s reporting has earned awards and recognition, and his consistent coverage of public-interest issues has established him as an essential voice in Atlanta’s media landscape.
Today, the government is holding him in prison for his journalism—claiming that livestreaming law enforcement “poses a danger to society.” But reporting in real time is not a crime; it is a core act of press freedom.
Photo by David Goldman via AP.
The Turning Point
Guevara was arrested and detained on June 14, 2025 while livestreaming a No Kings protest in DeKalb County, Georgia. At the time of his arrest, Guevara was wearing a press vest and had clearly identified himself as a member of the media, according to body cam footage.
Guevara was then held at the DeKalb County Jail.
DeKalb County officials charged Guevara with three misdemeanors– improperly entering a roadway; obstruction of law enforcement officers; and unlawful assembly– relating to his reporting.
County officials later dismissed all three charges.
See the full timeline here.
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ICE Detention & Bond Battle
After Guevara spent the weekend in jail, a DeKalb County judge ordered on June 16 that he be released on bond, but he remained in custody after ICE opened a detainer against him.
On June 17, the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Department filed three new misdemeanors against Guevara — distracted driving, reckless driving, and failure to obey a traffic device — related to livestreaming law enforcement activity in May. The charges stem from incidents that allegedly occurred on May 13 and May 20, nearly a month prior.
These charges were later dropped.
On June 18, Guevara was then transferred from DeKalb County Jail to the Folkston ICE Processing Center in southeastern Georgia.
Guevara was initially granted bond during a July 1 hearing. It was in this hearing that after the government counsel first argued that livestreaming — an activity that Guevara and many other journalists frequently engage in as part of reporting — compromises the integrity and safety of law enforcement activities.
Guevara’s family attempted to pay bond multiple times but was unable to, finding out a week later that ICE was granted a stay by the Bureau of Immigration Appeals blocking bond for him.
Guevara’s legal team filed a motion to lift the stay order granted to ICE to allow for his release from detention. A date has not been set in this hearing.
Throughout this process, Guevara would be moved between federal and state law enforcement facilities six number of times in less than a month.
Advocacy
Following news of Guevara’s arrest, a group of civil society organizations coalesced to build support for the journalist and his legal team.
CPJ wrote letters to officials in DeKalb and Gwinnett counties, urging them to investigate and drop the misdemeanor charges against Guevara. CPJ also authored two coalition letters to DHS SecretaryKristi Noem, expressing alarm over Guevara’s detention, urging her to release him from ICE custody.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, Free Press, the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, and the ACLU of Georgia organized a press conference at Georgia’s State Capitol on August July 22 to raise awareness about Guevara’s case.
On August 21, the ACLU’s national team filed a habeas corpus petition in the case, arguing that Guevara’s continued detention is retaliatory and violates his First Amendment right to free speech and press, as well as his Fifth Amendment due process rights.
In support of the habeas petition, CPJ filed a declaration of support.
Find out more about what this case means for freedom of expression in the United States