Knowledge and truths are spread around the world thanks to journalists. They share stories of people who are struggling, of protests, but also of acts of kindness.
Journalists around the world must possess a certain curiosity and courage to uncover the stories that don’t want to be uncovered. The information they give has been a steady flow for the past hundreds of years.
However, that source of information threatens to be diminished as politicians act more on controlling the media to their favor.
Journalist Mario Guevara has been reporting in Atlanta for his own digital news organization MGMNews for over 20 years. Guevara was known for reporting on immigration crackdowns and police actions, but after all those years, he finally reached a wall on June 14, 2025 after reporting on a No Kings protest. In the middle of broadcasting the protest, Guevara was arrested by the local police and detained.
He spent 111 days in immigration detention, held in five different prisons before getting deported to El Salvador on Oct. 3, 2025.
Guevara was stripped of his First Amendment rights that are supposed to protect everyone in the U.S. He was unable to report freely, showing all journalists that they no longer have absolute freedom of the press.
He was not the only one who was unfairly treated by the U.S. government. Nashville journalist Estefany Rodríguez met a similar fate when reporting on the actions of ICE.
On March 4, Rodríguez looked outside to see ICE agents surrounding her car. She was arrested on the terms of her tourist visa having expired, making her an “illegal alien” in the eyes of the U.S. government.
However, the day before her arrest, Rodríguez reported on four immigration related arrests, which makes her arrest all the more questionable.
Years prior, when she first moved to the United States from Colombia, she received a work permit, allowing her to work for Nashville Noticias. On top of that, Rodríguez married a U.S. citizen and applied for a green card just this past January.
“She did everything right when it comes to legal immigration,” Executive Director of RSF (Reporters Without Borders) Clayton Weimers said to the media. ICE claimed that Rodriguez missed two mandatory immigration appointments and posed a flight risk. Rodríguez’s lawyer also accused ICE of arresting her without a warrant. Although ICE denies this, the warrant they have produced publicly does not match the one they presented in court.
Rodríguez is still being held in a detention facility while the RSF and others call for her release, questioning the legality of her arrest.
These two cases have one thing in common—journalists who were detained after reporting on ICE.
The U.S. government put both of these journalists into custody when their news wasn’t in the government’s favor. They found a way to control what news that comes out. This method, though, is unconstitutional and violates the First Amendment right.
Additionally, a policy implemented in October required all Pentagon reporters to sign a document agreeing that any information gathered must be approved before it is released. If someone didn’t sign it, they would be barred from daily access to the building.
The Pentagon said that with this policy, they were trying to protect the leaking of sensitive information by Defense Department employees.
However, this policy violates not only the First Amendment, but also the Fifth, the right to due process.
On Mar. 20, U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman blocked the policy, ruling it unconstitutional.
The U.S. government consistently violates the constitution signed 238 years ago. These violations need to stop. They need to stop trying to control the media just because it isn’t in their favor.
Reporters need protection. They need the world’s attention and support. They need us.
We need to fight alongside Guevara, Rodríguez, and all the other journalists pushing for a free press. We cannot stand idly by while the U.S. government stomps down any news they want to keep from us.
We need to fight for the truth.
