Spanish-language journalist arrested while covering protest near Atlanta deported to El Salvador
Atlanta (AP)-a Spanish journalist who has been detained in Georgia since the month of the June was deported to El Salvador on Friday.
Mario Guevara, 48, was a protest on June 14 outside Atlanta. Local Police arrested him and then He took over him A few days later, US immigration and customs protection. His lawyers were fighting parallel wars in the immigrant court and the federal court systems trying to release him.
In a live video published on Facebook in the afternoon on Friday, it is seen that El Salvador is accompanied by government officials, accompanied by a vehicle and hugged a woman with a camera phone. “Hello Mom,” he said to the screen.
He looked at the sky and said, “My country, my country, my country. Thank God. I wanted to come to my country, but thank God.” He said.
A photo of a plate of Pupus, El Salvador’s cheese and other fillings filled with flat corn cakes on a restaurant published a photo on Facebook. In another article, he declared himself “ready to continue to work twice more than my country”.
The deportation of Guevara comes after the 11th US Circuit Court on Wednesday refused to stop a deportation order published by the immigration Council last month.
Since his arrest, all criminal charges against Guevara have been rejected by local prosecutors. His lawyers argued that he had been retaliated to work as a journalist and that he had silenced him by violating his constitutional rights.
Arrest and detention
He condemned Guevara’s arrest and detention journalism, freedom of press and civil freedom groups. Katherine Jacobsen described the deportation of the committee to protect journalists as a bir disturbing sign of the worsening freedom of the press under the Trump administration ”.
“It is embarrassing for the US government to deport Guevara, CPJ has documented this kind of retaliation for the first time reporting activity,” he said.
Officials of the Ministry of Internal Security constantly rejected the idea that Guevara was punished for the work and claimed to be illegal in the country.
Twenty years ago, Guevara fled El Salvador without fear and gathered a large audience as a journalist in the Atlanta region. He worked for years for Mundo Hispanico, a Spanish newspaper before he started a digital news organization MG News last year. When the police in the Dekalb district arrested him, he was broadcasting live video on social media from the “King Yok” rally, who protested the administration of President Donald Trump.
He often came to the scenes where ice or other law enforcement officers were active and he regularly showed what he saw on social media.
The video from his arrest shows that Guevara is wearing a red shirt under a protective vest with a “bass” on his chest. He heard a police officer saying, “I’m a member of the media, I am an officer.” He stood on a sidewalk with other journalists who had large crowds or no signs of conflicts.
The accusations against him in Dekalb district and the accusations filed in the neighboring Gwinnett district were rejected. An immigrant judge in July He gave him a bondHowever, the government remained in custody while appealing.
Guevara’s legal wars
In 2012, an immigrant judge rejected Guevara’s proposal to stay in the United States and objected to the decision of the Immigration Appeal Council, which heard the appeal of the decisions of the Immigration Court, but not the appeal of the prosecutors agreed to close the case. His lawyers say he has the authority to live and work in the United States for the last 13 years.
Shortly after Guevara entered the ice custody in June, the government asked the Migration Council to reopen the former immigration case. His lawyers did not oppose this movement, but they wanted the case to be sent back to the lower immigrant court, because now there is an application waiting for a visa supported by an adult US citizen’s son.
Last month, the Migration Appeal Board agreed to reopen the case, rejected Guevara’s appeal and refused to return the case to the lower immigrant court. He also ordered El Salvador to be deported and rejected the government’s appeal to the bond decision, saying that it was now controversial.
Guevara’s lawyers applied to the 11th Circuit and asked the court to stop the deportation order while he was waiting for appeal.
Guevara’s lawyers argue that the immigration committee has decided and then rejects the order of deportation by the 11th circuit is based on false information.
A A separate case was forced The constitution of Guevara’s arrest in immigrant custody and standing in a federal court. His lawyers argued that he had been punished for journalistic work and asked a judge to be released immediately and ordered him to be waiting for this case.
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Associated Press writer Elliot spagat contributed to reporting.
