Editor’s Note: The following article was originally published by Sophia Qureshi from 285 South on September 19th, 2025.
The Board of Immigration Appeals has closed the case of imprisoned Atlanta-based journalist Mario Guevara and ordered his deportation, according to a report from The Guardian. He “could be put on a deportation plane at any moment,” according to the ACLU, who is filing an emergency petition for his release from detention. The news of the deportation order was confirmed to 285 South by his son, Oscar Guevara.
The ruling will come as a bitter blow to Mario, his family, and his supporters. Just two days before the deportation order, Mario had called 285 South from inside the Folkston ICE Processing Center. He said he had been feeling positive about his prospects. “I have to continue fighting. I have to keep my faith in God, just waiting for the time. The process is slow.”
“Hopefully I will be out in the next one month, two months…”
On June 14, Mario was covering a Stop ICE protest in DeKalb County when police arrested him and charged him with unlawful assembly, obstruction of police, and being a pedestrian on or along the roadway. Those charges were eventually dropped, but by that time Mario—who was born in El Salvador and has been in the U.S. for more than two decades—had already been transferred to ICE custody. Gwinnett County surfaced charges against Mario for distracted and reckless driving, and failure to obey a traffic device In late June. In July, the Gwinnett County Solicitor-General said she would not prosecute those charges.
Press freedom and advocacy groups including the Committee to Protect Journalists, the ACLU, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta, as well as local and state officials have raised the alarm on his case. An immigration judge ruled in July that he could be released on a $7,500 bond – but that was appealed by the federal government. His son Oscar had launched a GoFundMe to help support the family’s finances; he’s been doing his best to run his dad’s news outlet MG News, without him. Over 17,000 people have signed a petition demanding his release.
Mario has spent nearly 70 days in the segregation unit in Folkston, where he said he was confined to a small cell for 22 hours a day, and where he had nightmares and panic attacks, he said. He was allowed outside for two hours a day. “Even when they took you outside, you couldn’t see any people. You were just in a solitary cage,” he told 285 South.
After being moved into general population two weeks ago, he told 285 South he felt better. “It is bringing more hope because the light of the sun more, I have people to talk to,” he said.
At nearly 100 days in detention, Mario is the only journalist to ever be detained by ICE, and the fifth longest jailed journalist in U.S. history. His lawyers say he has a work permit and was in the process of applying for a green card – and that he’s being punished for his work as a journalist, reporting on ICE arrests and raids in the Atlanta area. In July, Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin maintained that they were detaining him because “Mario Guevara is in the country illegally.”
Mario had been receiving the updates on his case and on the news from his kids, who have been reading him stories over the phone while he’s been in detention. “Basically they are my eyes [to the] outside.”
On Wednesday, before the deportation order came through, Mario said that seeing the birds flying overhead the Folkston facility had been giving him hope.
“Sometimes I prefer to go outside, to sit by myself, watching the sky, eating, and also watching a lot of birds. A lot of birds are coming outside… every day, every day… I really like to see animals in freedom]…different birds, maybe three types of birds…They are coming. I’m pretty sure they are outside right now waiting for me.
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