The Office of the DeKalb County Solicitor-General has dropped misdemeanor criminal charges against Mario Guevara, an influential Spanish-language reporter in metro Atlanta whose arrest at a recent protest has put him on a path to deportation.
Guevara was livestreaming a June 14 rally for immigrants’ rights when he was arrested and booked in DeKalb County Jail over his alleged behavior at the gathering, which had grown tense. Local police charged Guevara with three misdemeanors: obstruction of law enforcement, unlawful assembly and pedestrian walking on or along a roadway.
The journalist’s booking in DeKalb County Jail triggered a detainer request from federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, who picked up Guevara on June 18.
“After carefully reviewing the evidence, including video evidence surrounding his arrest, I have determined that while there was probable cause to support the initial arrest, the evidence is insufficient to sustain a prosecution beyond a reasonable doubt,” DeKalb Solicitor Donna Coleman said in a statement on Wednesday.
In Guevara’s June 14 arrest warrants, police said he had ignored orders given to the crowd to disperse and get off the road.
But the solicitor-general’s office said Guevara was “generally in compliance” of law enforcement commands and that he lacked a “clear criminal intent.”
Despite the dismissed charges, Guevara remains in custody in South Georgia’s Folkston ICE Processing Center — an immigrant jail slated to soon become the nation’s largest. He will have to fight in immigration court for his right to stay in the U.S. and ward off deportation.
Although Guevara, a Salvadoran native, has work authorization and a path to a green card through his U.S. citizen son, he still lacks permanent legal status in the country.
In 2012, a court denied Guevara’s application for asylum and ordered him deported, but the journalist went on to benefit from administrative closure, a legal procedure that allows an immigration judge to temporarily suspend removal proceedings.
The reporter still faces criminal charges from another metro Atlanta law enforcement agency.
Last week, the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office filed charges against Guevara “for distracted driving, failure to obey traffic control device, and reckless driving.” All are misdemeanors.
The Gwinnett charges are unrelated to Guevara’s June 14 arrest at the protest. They seem to be connected to Guevara’s daily routine as a reporter, which consisted of following immigration agents around in his truck while livestreaming for a mass audience on social media.
Guevara’s attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the AJC.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
