Any moment now, my father, Mario Guevara, could be sent to El Salvador. Already, he has been held for over 100 days in five different facilities, and I risk losing him from the country as you read this article.
My father is a prominent Atlanta journalist who runs his own, independent Spanish media outlet, MG News, where he livestreams major Georgia news.
Unfortunately, his coverage of law enforcement and ICE raids caught up to him at a “No Kings” protest over the summer. Local police arrested him while he was recording law enforcement alongside other journalists. Since then, prosecutors have dropped criminal charges related to his coverage of the protest and we have tried to pay bond multiple times. Regardless, for over 100 days, he’s been detained by ICE.
In the past week, the Board of Immigration Appeals has reopened my dad’s 13-year-old immigration case, which had been settled. And in an order we received Tuesday night, the BIA ordered my father be removed, asserting that his previous voluntary departure order was dissolved without bond payment.
This simply isn’t the case.
In 2012, the Board of Immigration Appeals granted my father voluntary departure, meaning he could leave the country on his own within 60 days on the basis of paying bond. Though he paid, he appealed to the board and landed on an agreement with the government that he could stay with work authorization, which my father had until the BIA reopened his case last week. He had never been issued a final removal order until Tuesday.
My father’s vocation is journalism. He is a storyteller, a truth-seeker, a man who believed — and still believes — that people deserve to know what’s happening in their communities, in their governments, and in the world around them. He is neither a threat nor a criminal.
As my father has been transferred from facility to facility, my siblings and I have tried to follow him wherever he goes. He has been transferred five times in total, from DeKalb County now to Folkston ICE Processing Center, nearly five hours away from us. We would make the drive anywhere and any day.
In detention, my father has not always been safe. He was placed in solitary confinement. Known for his journalism, even by others inside, he has had inmates take photos of him and threaten to hurt him should my family not pay $60 a day. What else could we do? We paid.
Since then, I have stepped up at MG News and overseen the team in his absence. But we run the risk of bankruptcy, and it hasn’t been easy, as I rely on my father.
In 2021, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor and suffered a stroke during a related surgery. My dad has been the person who kept me going during recovery. He drove me to my medical appointments, helped me manage my care and, most importantly, lifted me up when I felt like giving in to the pain. Without him here, I feel like part of me is missing. His absence has made my recovery harder, and my life emptier.
My mother, who has always been so strong, cannot sleep at night without him. My sister tries to stay brave, but I see her break down crying when she thinks no one is watching. My little brother, who is only 14, doesn’t talk about it, but I know how deeply it hurts him to go through high school without his dad by his side.
I do my best to support them, but I am still sick myself; my pain is frequently overwhelming. My dad has always held our family together. I feel like we are adrift without him, and no matter how hard I try, I cannot fill the space he left behind. I need my dad home — not only for my health, but for our family’s survival.
But I can’t give up hope. My father does not deserve to be in detention, separated from his family. This fight is not over. I will continue to fight for my father, for his freedom, and the freedom of all those who ask the hard questions, who tell the stories some people would rather keep hidden, who hold power to account.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
