The indictment against a Spanish -speaking journalist, who covered a protest in Metro Atlanta at the beginning of this month, was dropped, even though it is still exposed to potential deportation.
Mario Guevara, who originally comes from El Salvador, was arrested in a protest on June 14 to demonstrate the immigration policy of the Trump government. He was charged with the illegal assembly, the disability of a law enforcement officer and the inappropriate entry into a street, all of which are all offenses.
The Attorney General of Dekalb County, Generaldonna Coleman-Striumling, announced on Wednesday that her office had rejected this charge.
A review of the video evidence showed that Guevara generally corresponded to the guidelines of law enforcement authorities in the protest and did not seem to intend to ignore one of these guidelines, as can be seen from a press release from the Coleman-Stribling office.
“After I have carefully checked the evidence, including video evidence for his arrest, that there was probably a reason to support the initial arrest, but the evidence is not sufficient to maintain a criminal prosecution without any doubt,” she said in a statement.
Guevara wore a vest that marked him as a member of the press when he was arrested. He can also be heard on his livestream of the protest, which identifies himself as a law enforcement reporter.
Guevara's arrest and detention alarmed First Amendment Defenders. The committee to protect journalists and other free press representatives sent A letter At US secretary for home protection, Kristi Noem asked her to facilitate Guevara's release.
Guevara has been living in the USA for about 20 years. The Atlanta Journal Constitution Has reported This Guevara has a work permit and the ability to get a green card through his son, who is a US citizen, but Guevara has no permanent legal status here.
He is currently captured in the folkston immigration and customer enforcement processing center in South Georgia.
“This El Salvador member is in ice custody because he entered the country illegally in 2004,” said Tricia McLaughlin, deputy secretary for public affairs by the US Ministry of Homeland, in a statement.
In the same explanation, McLaughlin encouraged everyone illegally to “take control of his departure”. The Trump administration offers people $ 1,000 and a free flight according to self-report.
Guevara's lawyer did not respond to a message that was looking for a comment on Thursday. But the lawyer Giovanni Díaz told Atlanta Civic Circle That he is optimistic, Guevara will secure a bond if he occurs in front of a federal immigration judge for a hearing for Tuesday.
Diaz also informed Atlanta Civic Circle that he tries to have rejected additional charges in Gwinnett County. Guevara was accused of followed there for a distracting, failure, failure, a traffic control device and ruthless driving there while filming for ice activities. Fox 5 Atlanta.
Guevara was one of 29 people who were arrested on June 14th in the protest by Dekalb County.
The CEO of Dekalb County, Lorraine Cochran-Johnson, published the results from an internal review of dealing with the protest. She noticed that the protest of one in three that day in Dekalb County was kept as Thousands of Georgians It turned out that for “No Kings” events of the protest in which Guevara and others were arrested was not connected to the national movement.
“We heard of residents last week, especially members of our immigrant community who are injured, angry and frightened,” said Cochran-Johnson in a statement. “I would like to acknowledge this pain. The right to protest, pronounce and be treated with dignity. In Dekalb County we remain deeply committed to these values.”
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