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| Mario Guevara hugged on arrival in El Salvador |
The U.S. deported Emmy Award-winning journalist Mario Guevara, 48, to El Salvador on Friday, months after his arrest while livestreaming a protest in Georgia.
A federal appeals court rejected his bid to halt the deportation earlier that week, despite objections from human rights and press freedom advocates.
Guevara arrived in El Salvador around 4 a.m., stepping out of a Salvadoran Border Patrol truck. Surrounded by reporters, he tearfully addressed the media, saying, “This isn’t how I wanted to return to my homeland, but here I am.” His outlet, MG News, livestreamed the moment to tens of thousands on Facebook, as a reporter promptly handed him a microphone. He had left El Salvador over 20 years ago.