Family, advocacy groups call on ICE to free detained Atlanta reporter

Katherine Guevara spent years watching her father, Mario Guevara, help others through his work as a reporter.

Zoom in: Her father chased stories that mattered to Atlanta's Hispanic residents, not for recognition, but because journalism was a form of service, she said.

• "For more than 20 years, I have witnessed his unwavering dedication and selfless commitment to serving the community," she said.
• But for the last 41 days, Mario Guevara has been unable to pursue leads since his June 14 arrest while covering a protest against immigration enforcement tactics in DeKalb County.

Why it matters: Guevara, a native of El Salvador who faces deportation from the country, is the only journalist in the U.S. currently detained after an arrest in connection with his work as a reporter, said Katherine Jacobsen, a program coordinator for Committee to Protect Journalists.

• "This case ... sends a clear, chilling message to reporters, especially those in this country who are not U.S. citizens, that they too could very well find themselves at risk in the same way Mario has," Jacobsen said during a press conference Tuesday.

The latest: Guevara's daughter and son, Oscar, were joined by their father's attorney, Democratic state lawmakers and other advocacy organizations calling for the reporter's release from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention.

• State Sen. Josh McLaurin (D-Sandy Springs) said Tuesday the constitutional right to freedom of speech and the press isn't about whether "you agree with someone's opinions [or] the substance of their reporting."
• "It's about their right to collect information and disseminate that information to communities who rely on it to make deliberative, informed decisions about their democracy," he said.

What they're saying: Nora Benavidez, a member of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, said Guevara's case is "emblematic of the disturbing path that the United States is on."

• "If the exercise of those rights is now penalized like it is with Mario Guevara simply because those in power dislike the message or the messenger, that means that our basic freedoms are not free."

Catch up quick: Guevara, a prominent Spanish-speaking journalist who runs the independent media outlet MG News, was charged with obstruction, pedestrian walking in or along a roadway and unlawful assembly while covering a protest on Chamblee Tucker Road.

• Federal immigration officials placed a hold on his detention at the DeKalb County Jail, meaning they would take him into custody once he was released from the facility.
• He was released from the DeKalb County Jail on June 18, but the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office charged him with misdemeanor traffic offenses stemming from an incident that happened about a month before his arrest.
• Both DeKalb and Gwinnett counties dropped charges against Guevara, but his attorney Giovanni Diaz said his client's phone was seized by the Gwinnett sheriff's office when they executed a search warrant.
• An immigration judge has ordered Guevara released on a $7,500 bond, but the federal government has appealed that ruling, meaning he remains at the immigration detention facility in Folkston.

What's next: Diaz said the firm will continue working to get Guevara released from ICE's custody.

• He also said his office will file a motion to recover his client's cellphone.