In an exclusive interview with Nick Valencia News, Mario Guevara’s daughter reveals her family’s resignation over his deportation order. Press freedom advocates warn his case sends a chilling message to journalists across America.
By Nick Valencia | September 21, 2025
ATLANTA — By Sunday afternoon, Katherine Guevara no longer sounded like a daughter fighting for her father’s freedom. She spoke instead like someone preparing for a scenario their family never wanted to accept. A judge has ordered Mario Guevara to be deported from the United States.
“They can basically just take him whenever,” she told Nick Valencia News on her way to visit her father in detention. “It’s clear they want him to go.”
On Friday, an immigration judge reopened Guevara’s 15-year-old asylum case. The court ruled that conditions in El Salvador had changed since 2010, making his claim of fear “no longer valid.”
With that, the judge ordered voluntary departure — a ruling that under normal circumstances would give him 60 days to leave the U.S. on his own. But because Guevara has been locked in ICE custody for nearly 100 days, his family says those protections no longer apply. He could be put on a plane at any moment.
Late Sunday morning, Katherine was on her way to see him in ICE custody — perhaps one last time.
“We’re just relying on the federal judge [for a stay], but the chances aren’t very good,” she said.
Attorneys with the ACLU are preparing an emergency stay, hoping to freeze the deportation order long enough for Guevara to be released and spend time with his family before leaving the country.
Even that, Katherine admitted, would be only a reprieve, not salvation.
Retaliation Against Journalism
To press advocates, the stakes go beyond one family. The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) condemned the ruling as retaliation against Guevara’s work documenting ICE raids, protests, and immigrant life.
“The justification offered — that his reporting, including livestreaming law enforcement activity, posed a ‘risk’ — is nothing more than retaliation against his journalism,” SPJ said. “Deporting him under these circumstances would undermine the First Amendment, erode public trust and set a dangerous precedent for all who believe in a free press.”
Resignation, Not Hope
Mario Guevara’s asylum case had been denied, appealed, and administratively closed years ago. Its sudden revival stunned the family. His daughter Katherine described the process as less about justice than about strategy.
“So much had to go wrong for it to end up in this place,” she said. “They just don’t want him here.”
Since his arrest June 14, Guevara has been detained without a criminal history, and with a valid work authorization. But neither he nor his family talk about winning anymore. Instead, they talk about being worn down, about dignity, about an ending they can’t control.
“He just doesn’t want to be detained anymore,” Katherine said. “I think he’s ready to get out, one way or another.”
The ruling has left the Guevaras fractured and without a clear path forward. Katherine, a DACA recipient, cannot leave the country without losing her status. Her mother may choose to return to El Salvador with her younger brother. Another sibling who is an American citizen is undecided.
“We just don’t know what we’re going to do,” Katherine said flatly. “I can’t really do anything. I would just stay here.”
