Latino journalist detained by ICE says he's been 'emotionally destroyed'
Guevera, who left his homeland over 20 years ago and founded the Spanish-language news outlet MG News, was detained by ICE agents as he was reporting on a 'No Kings' protest on June 14 in the Atlanta area. The 47-year-old reporter's arrest was captured on video because he was live-streaming his news report as the incident occurred.
"I'm plainly convinced that my situation in this ICE jail is direct retaliation for my coverage,' Guevara recently told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 'I haven't committed any crimes."
After spending a month in ICE custody, Guevara has described himself as being "emotionally destroyed" by his ongoing detention.
He believes that he is being made an example of by the government to dissuade people from monitoring ICE activities.
"[T]hey want to send a message that people can't be following ICE operatives or expose what's happening," he claimed.
On June 24, the Department of Homeland Security posted on X about Guevara's situation.
Read more: Journalist Mario Guevara is still in ICE detention despite being granted bond
'Mario Guevara, a Salvadoran national, is in ICE custody because he is in our country ILLEGALLY. Guevara was arrested by Dekalb County, Georgia police for willful OBSTRUCTION after he REFUSED to comply with local police orders to move out of the middle of the street,' the post claimed. 'Following his arrest by local authorities, ICE placed a detainer on him. Following his release, he was turned over to ICE custody and has been placed in removal proceedings.'
Regarding Guevara's residence status, his lawyer has noted that Guevara has a work permit and has a pathway to citizenship through the sponsorship of his adult son, who is a U.S. citizen.
Guevara has claimed that he is only allowed to be outside of his cell for two hours a day and that he was extorted by a fellow inmate, though ICE has not confirmed his claims.
'Everyone here knows me. One person even told me that I recorded his arrest. Imagine that," Guevara said of his notoriety among his fellow inmates.
According to the journalist, his online followers have expressed that his coverage of the ongoing ICE raids is sorely missed.
"People are realizing that they have to be informed when there are raids happening on a daily basis," he said. "It fills me with joy to know that my work had an impact. But I'm paying for that with my freedom. It's a high price."
Despite the joy he gets from informing his community about the latest news, Guevara plans on putting his reporting on hold if he were to be released from detention, due to his immigration status.
"I can't put myself at risk," he said. "Unless I become a U.S. citizen, my coverage will have to change."
Read more: Periodista hispano que documenta redadas migratorias en EEUU podría ser deportado tras ser detenido
Guevara — who self-identified as being more ideologically aligned with the Republican party, in part because of his Christian values — said his detention has made him reconsider his political alignment.
'I was confident that Trump was a smart man who could help in terms of the economy of the country, and that he could help give a boost to moral values in the U.S.," Guevara acknowledged. "[B]ut when he got into power, I realized that his ideology was completely different. It was simply persecution, persecution, persecution.'
He advised Latinos in the U.S. with the ability to vote to reconsider giving support to a man who continually acts "against our community."
Guevara also expressed regrets about how he has prioritized work over family throughout his career.
"That may have been the biggest mistake of my life, because now I'm realizing that work is not more important than family. But I am no criminal," he said. "My family needs me. I'm going to fight until the end."
In a previous statement released from detention, Guevara said that being in ICE custody for a month has left him unable to support his family, including his son who has a special condition that leaves him in need of constant care and attention.
Get our Latinx Files newsletter for stories that capture the complexity of our communities.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
21 minutes ago
- New York Times
With a Single Image, U.S. Deportation Narrative Is Turned on Its Head
'No one will ever forgive me.' Those were the words Dahud Hanid Ortiz wrote in an email to an in-law after he barged into the office of a lawyer he believed was having an affair with his wife and brutally killed three people, the authorities say. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the crime. But forgiven or not, a beaming Mr. Hanid Ortiz appears in a photo released by the State Department of 10 Americans and U.S. permanent residents newly freed from a Venezuelan prison as part of a prisoner swap. At the time of the exchange, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the prisoners had been 'wrongfully detained' in Venezuela. But Mr. Hanid Ortiz has been less generous in his self-assessment, at least when it comes to his actions in Madrid, almost a decade ago. 'I am responsible for everything,' he wrote in the email to his wife's sister, the authorities in Spain said when they were seeking his extradition from Venezuela, where Mr. Hanid Ortiz, a dual U.S.-Venezuelan citizen, had fled. The killings took place in 2016. Mr. Hanid Ortiz arrived at the lawyer's office in search of a man he thought was having an affair with his wife, the Spanish authorities say. But he killed the wrong man, beating him to death along with a woman who was also in the office. He fatally stabbed another woman there. 'I did terrible things,' Mr. Hanid Ortiz, a U.S. Army veteran who was awarded a Purple Heart for injuries sustained in Iraq, said in the email. He said, 'I lost my head.' How Mr. Hanid Ortiz came to be on the plane with the other free Americans, at least some of whom had been seized by the Venezuelan government as bargaining chips, is uncertain. President Trump is better known for his vows to expel ostensible criminals from the United States, not repatriate them. The image of a convicted killer on a plane en route from Venezuela, surrounded by cheerful people waving American flags, is at best problematic for the White House. 'That runs counter to Trump's message that he's trying to purge this country of immigrants who are violent criminals,' said Jennifer Stromer-Galley, a professor at the Syracuse University's School of Information Studies. The State Department did not respond to questions about why the administration had decided to include Mr. Hanid Ortiz in the prisoner swap. It has also not said whether he is now a free man. Parin Behrooz and Julie Turkewitz contributed reporting.
Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
IRS considers eliminating non-English language tax services
Trump administration officials are considering eliminating multi-language services at the IRS, according to records obtained by The Washington Post and two people familiar with the situation, a move that would make it dramatically more difficult for non-English-speaking individuals to file their taxes. The people said the IRS is evaluating how to comply with President Donald Trump's executive order declaring English the official language of the United States — a power that some legal scholars say the president does not have. Both people spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of professional reprisal. Attorney General Pam Bondi issued guidance to federal agencies on July 14 on how to implement that order. It requires officials to release department-wide plans 'to phase out unnecessary multilingual offerings' and 'consider redirecting these funds towards research and programs that would expedite English-language acquisition and increase English-language proficiency and assimilation.' 'A shared language binds Americans together, transcending different backgrounds to create a common foundation for public discourse, government operations, and civic life, while leaving ample room for the vibrant linguistic diversity that thrives in private and community spheres,' Bondi's memo said. The United States by law does not require an official language, though Trump signed an order on March 1 declaring it 'in America's best interest for the Federal Government to designate one — and only one — official language.' 'Establishing English as the official language will not only streamline communication but also reinforce shared national values, and create a more cohesive and efficient society,' Trump's order states. In response to Bondi's guidance, Treasury Department officials wrote in emails Sunday that the IRS would need to revaluate the agency's 'Commitment to assist non-English speaking taxpayers understand their tax obligations states,' a policy that now requires it to serve 'those who lack a full command of the English language.' It may also need to review — and decide whether to cease providing — translations for more than 100 forms in Spanish and other languages, free phone and in-person translation services, the IRS's multi-language website, its Spanish-language social media accounts and programs that allow taxpayers to receive forms and notifications in the language of their choosing. Representatives from the White House and Treasury Department did not respond to requests for comment. A Justice Department representative declined to comment. It's not clear how other federal agencies are will implement Trump's order. Bondi said, in her guidance, that she was ending the federal government's Limited English Proficiency services, which dictates how agencies serve individuals for whom English is not their first language or who struggle with English comprehension. The IRS's current civil rights policy says the agency 'does not tolerate discrimination by its employees against anyone because of age, sex, color, disability, race, religion, and national origin (including limited English proficiency).' The tax service eliminated its civil rights division in April. Separately, fears among Spanish-speaking taxpayers about the IRS's collaboration with immigration enforcement officials led to steep drops in tax compliance among immigrant communities in certain parts of the country. 'Somebody is calling usually because they have a problem, and if they can't get through to someone who speaks their language, it just delays everything,' said Carlos Lopez, who runs a multilingual tax prep service in Salinas, California. 'The people who are calling the IRS are looking for help for free, most of the time because they can't afford it. So what do you do? You don't pay.' The IRS in March renewed its contract for phone interpreter services, according to two other people familiar with the matter, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of professional reprisal. Officials from the U.S. DOGE Service, the Trump administration's cost-cutting arm, had required the tax agency to review all of its expiring contracts. Senior IRS and Treasury Department officials agreed the interpreters were necessary, the people said, though the contract was renewed for only a handful of months. It is set to expire before the end of the year, one of the people said. It is unclear whether new IRS Commissioner Billy Long will continue the services. 'I believe maintaining multilingual options for how taxpayers engage the IRS is essential to the mission,' Danny Werfel, the IRS commissioner under the Biden administration, said in an interview. 'The IRS is charged with helping people and businesses meet their tax obligations. The more comprehensively the IRS does that, regardless of what language they do it in, the better the financial bottom line of our nation's government will be.' Building the IRS's multilingual capabilities was a priority of Trump's first-term IRS commissioner, Charles Rettig. The son of a German immigrant and the spouse of a native Vietnamese speaker, Rettig led the agency to provide tax-filing forms in Spanish beginning in 2021 and to translate the IRS's 20 most issued notices into Spanish, simplified and traditional Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Russian. That year, there were nearly 90 million visits to non-English pages on the IRS's website, the agency reported.
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Top GOP lawmaker demands 'soul-searching' from Dems amid anti-ICE riots targeting law enforcement
EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., introduced a resolution to condemn violence against federal immigration authorities as ICE agents have seen an increase in assaults. The resolution states that ICE and Border Patrol are "facing violent mobs of both citizens and illegal aliens who have not only repeatedly blocked, menaced, and confronted law enforcement, but also attempted to burn and kill our ICE and CBP agents as they carried out their proper and legal duties." It noted several recent incidents, including an anti-ICE attack on Independence Day at the Prarieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, as well as a Border Patrol annex facility shooting in McAllen, Texas. "This resolution represents congressional clarity through a simple question: Do we categorically condemn deadly attacks on federal immigration law enforcement? Or not? I know my Republican colleagues back our agents – it's the Democrats who need some soul-searching about what they've said to encourage and excuse violence in the months they have spent enabling criminal illegals," Issa said on the resolution co-led with fellow California Republican Rep. Ken Calvert. Assaults on ICE agents have gone up 830% since last year, according to DHS, and there's been sharp discourse on whether agents should be allowed to mask when conducting operations, as proponents are concerned about doxing of agents and their families. Issa told Fox News Digital in an interview that the anti-ICE movement seen in many blue areas, including sanctuary cities, is similar to the anti-police movement seen a few years ago. "The larger ICE movement that we're seeing now is really an organized attempt by the left once again to go after law enforcement, to go after the people that are making us safe. You know, what I've seen from this anti-ICE movement is an attempt to keep the streets dangerous with MS-13, with [Tren de Aragua]," Issa said. "As we're looking at the impact of sanctuary cities, sanctuary states, I have both in my district, what we're really looking toward really is, first of all, pushing hard to make sure the federal courts enforce the law," the Republican, who represents parts of the San Diego area, added. "And that particularly is coming into play when President Trump tries to faithfully execute the laws, and he's being pushed back by rogue judges." The congressman noted how Democrats have proposed legislation to prevent agents from wearing masks and requiring them to show identification while conducting sweeps throughout the country, which many proponents of the enforcement activity have said poses a safety risk. However, others have said it's a necessary move for government transparency. "I've heard from immigrant communities and people across Washington state about the pervasive sense of fear and alarm created when masked agents descend on a community without any visible identification, and residents have no way of knowing whether they are interacting with legitimate law enforcement," Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, said regarding the recently introduced VISIBLE Act. "Anyone being detained by law enforcement in America deserves to know who is detaining them and why." The Trump administration continues to pursue its goal of mass deportations while highlighting arrests of those with additional criminal charges and convictions. "It's really sad that the Democrats in the Senate would essentially try to undo what we've been doing for federal judges, for FISA judges, and so on, which is to protect their identity, their home locations, so that they can remain safe," Issa said. "Law enforcement is certainly accountable and nobody objects to there being some way to differentiate law enforcement officer one from two. But to ask that they be able to be identified is like asking 'Where do they live and what are their family members' names, and what schools do they go to?' The fact is, there's no real purpose in that," he continued. "And I know that my Democrat colleagues know that."
