(NEW YORK)– More than 100 leading writers, journalists, and scholars have signed onto a letter, sent Tuesday, urging the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to immediately release journalist Mario Guevara. Guevara has been held in ICE custody in Georgia for more than 100 days—the only journalist currently detained in the United States for his reporting—and now faces imminent deportation.
Addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, the letter describes Guevara’s detention as “a direct attack on the First Amendment and freedom of expression.” The letter’s signatories call for his immediate release and warn that holding a journalist in custody for the content of their reporting is “more commonly associated with authoritarianism than with a nation that has historically prided itself on upholding free speech.”
Organized by PEN America in collaboration with the Committee to Protect Journalists and Free Press, the letter’s signatories include Arundhati Roy, Burhan Sönmez, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, David Remnick, Francisco Goldman, Jim Acosta, Judy Blume, Julianne Moore, Orhan Pamuk, Philip Gourevitch, Sandra Cisneros, Steven Pinker, Valeria Luiselli, and Wajahat Ali.
Guevara, an Emmy-winning reporter, has worked for more than two decades covering immigrant and Latino communities in the United States. He was arrested in June while reporting on a protest, though all criminal charges were dismissed. Despite an immigration judge granting him release on bond and his having had a clear path to obtaining a green card through his U.S. citizen son, federal authorities have kept him in detention and are seeking his deportation, arguing that his reporting of law enforcement activity poses risks to undercover operations and community safety. But the First Amendment protects filming of police in public places and the government’s own legal filings show that Mr. Guevara’s continued detention is predicated on his protected First Amendment reporting activity.
“Mario Guevara was reporting on a protest when he was grabbed off the streets of Atlanta,” said Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf, PEN America’s interim co-CEO and chief program officer, literary programming. “To detain him or any journalist for doing their job chills every independent voice in this country and undermines the First Amendment. His detention is unjust and un-American. Release him now.”
“Mario Guevara’s prolonged detention is a symptom of the continued erosion of press freedom in the United States,” said Jose Zamora, Regional Director, Américas, Committee to Protect Journalists. “Authorities claim his livestreaming endangered law enforcement, but his activity is protected under the First Amendment. Guevara must be released without delay, and the First Amendment must be respected.”
“Thank you to the more than 100 authors, writers, and journalists who are standing in solidarity with Mario Guevara,” said Craig Aaron, co-CEO of Free Press. “Writers inspire us to be better and that is the very thing our government needs now. History will not reflect well on the government’s prolonged and unconstitutional detention of Mario Guevara. The call for his release is spreading. Let’s fight for his freedom with ours.”
The letter comes amid escalating federal pressure on free and independent journalism in the U.S., from costly lawsuits against major news outlets and publishers, to threats of pulling broadcast licenses over the content of programming, to demands that Pentagon reporters sign restrictive pledges that seek to limit what they can publish. Guevara’s threatened deportation also comes at a time when, according to a recent New York Times poll, Americans think the Trump administration has gone too far with these attacks on the free press.
Signatories of Tuesday’s letter warn that these actions represent a campaign to silence reporting that scrutinizes those in power and threatens to erode the United States’ credibility promoting a free press globally.
“By escalating from threats and legal harassment to the outright detention of a journalist,” the letter states, “the United States is veering towards autocracy.”
About PEN America
PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible. Learn more at pen.org.
About The Committee to Protect Journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide. It defends the right of journalists to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal.
About Free Press
Free Press believes that positive social change, racial justice and meaningful engagement in public life require equitable access to technology, diverse and independent ownership of media platforms, and journalism that holds leaders accountable and tells people what’s actually happening in their communities.
Contact: Malka Margolies, [email protected], 929-383-1856
The Honorable Kristi Noem
Secretary of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528
Todd Lyons
Acting Director, Immigration and Customs Enforcement
500 12th St. SW
Washington, DC 20536
Sept. 30, 2025
Dear Secretary Noem and Acting Director Lyons,
We, the undersigned, write to express our grave concern over the detention of and lack of due process for journalist Mario Guevara, the only journalist currently held in custody in the United States for his work. His continued detention of more than 100 days represents a direct attack on the First Amendment and freedom of expression. Together, we urge you to release Mario Guevara immediately, and ensure that free speech in the United States is protected, respected, and defended.
Guevara is a journalist whose reporting illuminates the experiences of immigrant and Latino communities, bringing coverage to the public that is vital for understanding our society. His detention is not the result of any criminal wrongdoing, but stems directly from his reporting on law enforcement activities that he has live streamed or published. While he was initially arrested for stepping into a street while covering a June protest, all criminal charges against him were dismissed. Despite an immigration judge granting his release on bond and despite his clear path to residency through his U.S. citizen son, federal authorities kept him in detention and moved to deport him. Guevara has been in the United States for more than 20 years, providing urgent news coverage to the Latino community.
To treat his case as a matter of immigration enforcement is to obscure the essential truth: Mario Guevara is being punished for his reporting. Holding a journalist in custody for the content of their reporting is more commonly associated with authoritarianism than with a nation that has historically prided itself on upholding free speech.
The implications of Guevara’s detention extend far beyond his personal liberty, as the United States risks eroding its credibility in promoting press freedom globally. For decades, the United States has condemned the detention of journalists in countries that crack down on press freedom, including Turkey, Russia, China, and Iran, and has called on governments to release reporters jailed for exercising their rights. Yet today, by detaining Guevara, the United States mirrors the tactics it has long criticized abroad: suppressing reporting that challenges those in power, intimidating journalists, and chilling public debate.
Guevara’s detention is part of a broader, coordinated campaign of intimidation against journalists and the press in the United States. In recent weeks, we have seen broadcasters pressured to pull content critical of the administration, publishers threatened or sued with costly lawsuits designed to silence reporting, and the government demanding that journalists sign a “pledge” that attempts to severely restrict their reporting. By escalating from threats and legal harassment to the outright detention of a journalist, the United States is veering toward autocracy.
We urge you to act immediately to release Mario Guevara. His detention is unjust, indefensible, and incompatible with American values. We call on your administration to reaffirm publicly the independence of the press and to guarantee that those who report on government policy can do so without fear of arrest, deportation, or retaliation. The health of American democracy—and the credibility of the United States on the world stage—depends on it.
Sincerely,
Aatish Taseer
Ahmed Naji
Alan Murray
Amitava Kumar
Amy Tan
Andrew Solomon
Ariel Dorfman
Art Spiegelman
Arundhati Roy
Ashley Hope Pérez
Astra Taylor
Ayelet Waldman
Brandy Zadrozny
Brian Karem
Burhan Sönmez
Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC
Charles Whitaker
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Colm Tóibín
Daniel Alarcón
Daniel Handler
Daniel Kraus
Daniel Margolies
Dave Eggers
David Henry Hwang
David Remnick
Dinaw Mengestu
Erwin Chemerinsky
Esmeralda Santiago
Francine Prose
Francisco Goldman
Gary Shteyngart
George Chidi
George M. Johnson
George Packer
George Saunders
Geraldine Fabrikant
Harry Gamboa Jr.
Héctor Tobar
Ibram X. Kendi
Jacob Weisberg
James Hannaham
James Thackara
Jason Stanley
Jay McInerney
Jeff Sharlet
Jelani Cobb
Jennifer Egan
Jennifer Finney Boylan
Jessica Hagedorn
Jim Acosta
Jodi Picoult
Jodie Ginsberg
John Cusack
John Green
John Langan
Jonathan Blitzer
Jonathan Franzen
Jonathan Klein
Jon Williams
Jorie Graham
Judith Butler
Judy Blume
Julianne Moore
Julie Taymor
Junot Díaz
Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
Kate Manning
Kati Marton
Khaled Hosseini
Kim A. Snyder
Krystyna Poray Goddu
Laurie Halse Anderson
Luis Alberto Urrea
Lydia Davis
Margaret Sullivan
Maria Teresa Ronderos
Marie Arana
Marisa Kabas
Mark Whitaker
Mary Morris
Michael Massing
Michael Pietsch
Molly Crabapple
Monika Bauerlein
Nadine Strossen
Naomi Oreskes
Nat Cassidy
Nina Jankowicz
Nora Roberts
Orhan Pamuk
Patricia McCormick
Patrick Radden Keefe
Paul Tremblay
Peter Godwin
Phil Klay
Philip Gourevitch
Raj Haldar
Rebecca Solnit
Reza Aslan
Robert Pinsky
Roger Widmann
Roula Khalaf
Roxanne Donovan
Sandra Cisneros
Sara Gran
Sarah Langan
Scott Frank
Sebastian Junger
Sheila Coronel
Siri Hustvedt
Stacey Abrams
Stacy Schiff
Steven Pinker
Susan Choi
Tobias Wolff
Valeria Luiselli
Wajahat Ali
This letter has been organized by PEN America, in collaboration with the Committee to Protect Journalists and Free Press. Learn more about Mario’s case at www.freedomformario.com.
