A Spanish-language journalist has been held in jail for more than a week after a judge granted him bond.
Mario Guevara, founder and journalist for MG News, is being held on unlawful assembly, obstruction of police and being a pedestrian on or along the roadway charges after recording a June 14 protest in the metro Atlanta area against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Guevara, 47, has been shuffled through three detention sites despite Immigration Judge James Ward’s decision to grant him bond on July 1, according to The Associated Press.
Guevara’s family, per the AP, has attempted to pay his $7,500 bond with ICE three times including online and in person. But all attempts have been denied.
DeKalb County Solicitor-General Donna Coleman-Stribling also dismissed the three charges brought by Dekalb County police on June 25.
Coleman-Stribling said probable cause existed to support Guevara’s arrest but there wasn’t enough evidence to support a prosecution.
Still, the journalist has been shifted from jails in Gwinnett County and Floyd County before eventually being transported to a federal Bureau of Prisons facility in Atlanta, according Guevara’s lawyer.
“None of this is normal,” his lawyer, Giovanni Diaz, told the AP.
Guevara was held in Gwinnett on traffic charges, which he ultimately paid bond for and was released the same day, AP reported.
However, officials in Floyd County, 65 miles northwest of Atlanta, held him for ICE in accordance with an agreement to uphold federal detainers.
Diaz now says ICE is challenging Guevara’s release to the Board of Immigration Appeals and requested to put a hold on the bond order while awaiting a new ruling.
Guevara was standing on a sidewalk videotaping when he was approached by law enforcement at the June protest. He was wearing a sign that identified him as “PRESS.”
“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,” Coleman-Stribling’s office said of his behavior in a news release per AP.
However, a spokesperson for ICE said Guevara did not comply with requests from law enforcement and is in the country illegally.
“On June 14, Mario Guevera, an illegal alien from El Salvador, was arrested by Doraville Police Department for willful obstruction after he refused to comply with local police orders to move out of the middle of the street,” Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, told The Hill.
“Following his arrest by local authorities, ICE placed a detainer on him since he is in the country illegally.”
Guevara’s lawyer, Diaz, says he’s authorized to live and work in the country while awaiting approval for a green card to be sponsored by his adult son who is a U.S. citizen, AP reported.
