Alexa Liacko is a community journalist for CBS News Atlanta. She is passionate about telling impactful stories that highlight solution-makers and people spreading joy throughout Georgia.
Journalist Mario Guevara has vowed to continue his work reporting despite his deportation to El Salvador following his arrest while covering a protest in Georgia.
Guevara landed in the South American country early Friday morning, just days after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that his deportation could go forward.
Speaking to CBS News Atlanta on Monday, Guevara said he was grateful to be out of ICE custody, but that the separation from his family has left him devastated.
"I was in jail 110 days, and now finally I'm not a prisoner anymore. I'm free, but I am away from my family. I am here, working in the area, trying to think about my situation," Guevara said. "I have a second chance to be better, obviously, because I miss my family. I miss the United States."
While in custody, Guevara said he was placed in solitary confinement for 22 hours a day. He said he lost weight and sank into a depression.
"In my mind, I believed the U.S. government is trying to destroy me. I have a lot of nightmares," he said. "In my cell, I have the light on all day, 24 hours. I never know exactly what is the time until I ask someone. It's something horrible."
He said when he was deported, he was given only his bulletproof vest, helmet, watch, and belt before being placed on the plane.
"The last minute before I left the plane in El Salvador airport, I turn around and I tell the officer, 'You deport me not for being a criminal. You deport me for being a journalist because I was working when you arrested me. I was working. You don't caught me committing a crime. I was working as a journalist,'" he said.
Over the weekend, Guevara livestreamed his reunion with his two sons, who had not been able to say goodbye to him before he was removed from the United States.
Guevara acknowledged that the reunion was only temporary and that some members of his family remained in the United States and could only talk to him online.
Now his family must decide whether to leave everything they've grown up accustomed to behind to join their father in El Salvador or stay apart from him.
"They destroyed my family," Guevara said. "We are separated."
While he waits for the future, Guevara says he will work telling stories in El Salvador, talking to others who were also deported. He posted photos of multiple suitcases filled with cameras and other equipment to continue his MG News channel. The employees of the channel will also continue to report on issues affecting metro Atlanta.
"The journalistic work continues,"
he said.
Police in DeKalb County arrested Guevara while he was livestreaming a "No Kings" rally protesting President Trump's administration on June 14, charging him with obstructing police, unlawful assembly, and improperly entering a roadway.
Within days, prosecutors dismissed the charges. The Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office then took out warrants charging Guevara with reckless driving and other counts, but the county's solicitor's office declined to prosecute the case.
ICE took custody of Guevara a few days after his arrest and refused to release him. He was moved to the Folkston ICE Processing Center, where he remained in detention until his move to Louisiana and deportation.
An immigration judge granted Guevara a $7,500 bond in July. The government then filed a stay, claiming that his reporting on law enforcement activity was dangerous, citing a 2012 ruling denying Guevara's application for asylum. Guevara had appealed that ruling to the Board of Immigration Appeals, which hears appeals of immigration court rulings, but that appeal had not been decided when prosecutors agreed to administratively close the case.
In September, the Board of Immigration reopened the immigration case and dismissed his appeal. Attorneys for Guevara and the ACLU have argued that the board based its ruling on incorrect information and that his deportation should not have been ordered.
The Court of Appeals found that Guevara did have the First Amendment right to report on the protest, but had not filed the proper paperwork to apply for permanent residency, meaning that he could be removed from the country.
Despite the deportation, Guevara is hopeful that he will be able to come back to the United States legally in the next few years.
"I think it's a mistake. An injustice, yes, but it's a mistake, and I hope to return soon,"
he said.