AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.

We turn now to the Trump administration’s escalating attacks on press freedom. Today, the award-winning Spanish-language journalist Mario Guevara is set to be deported to El Salvador, after a federal court in Georgia denied an emergency request for a stay on his final removal order.

Guevara has lived in the United States for 20 years, gained recognition for his coverage on immigration enforcement with the outlet he founded, MG News. The ACLU said Guevara has been transferred to an ICE facility in Louisiana, where he’ll be put on a plane to El Salvador. He was not allowed to say goodbye to his wife and three children. The Trump administration refused to release him even though an immigration judge granted Guevara bond. He had authorization to live and work in the United States, had no criminal charges. Despite that, Mario Guevara spent more than 100 days in a Georgia ICE jail following his arrest in June while live-streaming a “No Kings” demonstration near Atlanta.

Police bodycam footage shows the moment Mario was arrested. He’s wearing a black press vest, his press pass, as police in riot gear swarm toward him.

MARIO GUEVARA: Officer, officer, I’m with the media, officer.

OFFICER 1: OK.

OFFICER 2: Yeah, I got him. Thank you.

MARIO GUEVARA: Let me finish the —

AMY GOODMAN: And this is part of a letter Mario Guevara wrote after 100 days in ICE detention. He wrote, quote, “If I am deported, I will leave with my head held high, because I am convinced it will be for doing my work as a journalist and not for committing crimes. That said, I will leave with a broken heart. … [M]y family, the thing I love most in life, will be separated, although all my loved ones know it has all been because of my passion for my work,” Mario Guevara wrote.

In September, his 21-year-old son Oscar, who is a U.S. citizen, spoke about his father during a press briefing with the ACLU.

OSCAR GUEVARA: We can certainly say we are heartbroken every single day that he is apart from us. My father’s absence has — has affected our family in ways that are hard to put into words. In 2021, I was — I was diagnosed with a brain tumor and suffered a stroke during — during the surgery. Through all of this, my dad has been the person who keeps me going. He drives me to my — to my medical appointments, helps me manage my care, and, most importantly, lifts me up when I feel like giving in to the pain.

AMY GOODMAN: For more, we go to Nashville, Tennessee, where we’re joined by Nora Benavidez, senior counsel and director of digital justice and civil rights at Free Press, which, alongside the Committee to Protect Journalists, the ACLU and other groups, has been advocating for Mario Guevara’s release.

Welcome back to Democracy Now!, Nora. It’s great to have you with us. Explain what exactly is happening.

NORA BENAVIDEZ: Well, it’s great to be here, Amy. Thank you so much.

You know, this case is so chilling. It’s been over 100 days that Mario was in a facility, largely in solitary confinement. His mental health declined. He had very little access to his lawyers, his family, the media. And all of it stems from the police and ICE targeting him for his work as a journalist.

And so, I think this case is meant to chill all of us. It’s part of such a troubling, broad attack on free speech and journalism, against the backdrop of seeing how militarized police and ICE are entering Chicago homes. We’ve seen the way journalists are on trial in Kentucky for trying to simply report on issues of the day. Mario’s case is really the tip of the spear, and today’s deportation is deeply troubling.

AMY GOODMAN: So, explain why it was he got arrested. He’s lived in this country for almost 20 years. Talk about his point. He said, “I wasn’t committing a crime.” Well, I mean, he was committing journalism.

NORA BENAVIDEZ: Yeah. When he was arrested, you know, he was covering a “No Kings” rally, and it was in a suburb of Atlanta. He had his press badge on. It was very obvious, his press gear. And he was live-streaming. But he was standing on a little grassy knoll. And as police approached him, video and bodycam footage show that he was not in the street. He wasn’t in the sidewalk. He was just filming. He was just doing his job as a journalist. And as he was filming, he walked backwards, approached by multiple law enforcement officers. It really felt targeted, because of that video. And they ultimately then walked him backwards into the street and said, “You’re in the sidewalk. You’re in the street, You’re obstructing traffic.”

And when he got arrested, it was by local authorities, but they dropped all charges against him. And since that, it’s now been 108 days of his having been detained by ICE. And they’ve said in their own legal pleadings, the government has exposed it is because of his journalistic work that they targeted him.

AMY GOODMAN: I mean, he — 

NORA BENAVIDEZ: They really do not want what he’s doing to expose ICE activities.

AMY GOODMAN: He has permission to live and work in the United States?

NORA BENAVIDEZ: Yes. He was here on a work visa. And he was on a path to a green card, because his son, Oscar, has, of course, U.S. citizenship. So, the government has tried to make this case an immigration case. And I always try to remind people this is a free speech case. This is a press freedom case. This is about the government not wanting reporting about what it is doing.

AMY GOODMAN: Does the decision made by the Boston Federal Judge William Young, a Reagan appointee, this scathing case — this scathing decision, his deportation coming a day after he rebuked the Trump administration’s targeting — in that case, it was of pro-Palestine international students, saying they can’t be deported for expressing their views. Could this in any way have bearing on his case? And is there anything that could stand in the way of him being deported? And what are his concerns about being deported to El Salvador?

NORA BENAVIDEZ: I mean, that’s such a big question. You know, earlier this week, as you said, a Boston judge ruled that the Trump administration has essentially engaged in a campaign to censor students — namely, students promoting Palestinian rights. And that campaign has been incredibly chilling, going after students like Mahmoud Khalil, Rümeysa Öztürk and others, simply for voicing support for Palestinian freedom and rights.

And so, seeing the way that the Trump administration has cracked down on certain speech, it really mirrors the way that Mario has also been targeted, because the government, very similarly, simply went after him for his speech, for his First Amendment rights and for exercise those. So, I hope that we are not done with this fight. Just because he may be on a plane at any moment does not mean the legal fight is over, and it certainly doesn’t mean that we are done fighting for his freedom and his ability to do his job.

AMY GOODMAN: Nora, I want to end with —

NORA BENAVIDEZ: It’s troubling.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to end with the question about why Mario fled El Salvador 20 years ago, around his work as a journalist and being persecuted.

NORA BENAVIDEZ: You know, I have goosebumps when you ask that question, because I have to say it’s so chilling now to see that he is returning to a country he fled under duress, worried about his safety. He left El Salvador over 21 years ago, coming to the United States because he wanted to do journalism. He wanted to expose what the government is doing. And he is now leaving this country shackled in handcuffs, because the government doesn’t want him to do just that. His only crime is doing his job. And so, it is — it’s a horrible thing. The jailing of journalists is the jurisdiction of dictatorships. It is a horrific circumstance that we are in.

AMY GOODMAN: Nora Benavides, I want to thank you for being with us, senior counsel and director of digital justice and civil rights at Free Press.

Up next, Oscar-winning actress Jane Fonda is relaunching her father’s free speech organization, which Henry Fonda established in 1947 to combat the rise of McCarthyism. Back in 20 seconds.

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AMY GOODMAN: “People Have the Power,” performed by Patti Smith.