By KATE BRUMBACK, Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — Lawyers for a Spanish-language journalist who has been held in federal immigration detention since June argue in a court filing that the government is retaliating against him for his news coverage and is holding him in violation of his constitutional rights.

Local police in DeKalb County, just outside Atlanta, arrested Mario Guevara while he was covering a protest June 14, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took custody of him a few days later. He is being held in an immigration detention center in Folkston, in southeast Georgia, a five-hour drive from his family in suburban Atlanta.

A petition filed in federal court late Wednesday says the government is violating Guevara’s constitutional rights to free speech and due process. It argues that he is being punished for filming police, which is legal, and that he is being subjected to unlawful prior restraint because he’s unable to report while in custody.

The filing asks the court to order his release “so that he may rejoin his family and community and pursue his constitutionally protected journalistic activities.”

The filing names Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and top ICE officials.

“Accusations that Mario Guevara was arrested by ICE because he is a journalist are completely FALSE,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement. The Department of Justice declined to comment.

Guevara’s work as a journalist

Guevara, 47, fled his native El Salvador two decades ago because he had suffered violence and harassment there for his work as a journalist. He has continued to work as a journalist since arriving in the Atlanta area. He attracted a large following while working for years for Mundo Hispanico, a Spanish-language newspaper, before starting a digital news outlet called MG News a year ago.

He frequently arrives on the scene where ICE or other law enforcement agencies are active, often acting on tips from community members. He regularly livestreams what he’s seeing on social media.

McLaughlin, the DHS spokesperson, said Guevara was placed in deportation proceedings because he is in the country illegally.

His lawyers have said he is authorized to work and remain in the U.S. A previous immigration case against him was administratively closed more than a decade ago. He has a pending visa petition and is eligible for a green card, the court filing says.

He was livestreaming video on social media from a “No Kings” rally protesting President Donald Trump’s administration when Doraville police arrested him.

Video from his arrest shows Guevara wearing a bright red shirt under a protective vest with “PRESS” printed across his chest. He could be heard telling a police officer, “I’m a member of the media, officer.” He was standing on a sidewalk with other journalists, with no sign of big crowds or confrontations around him, moments before he was taken away.

Police charged Guevara with unlawful assembly, obstruction of police and being a pedestrian on or along the roadway. His lawyers worked to get him released and he was granted bond in DeKalb County, but ICE had put a hold on him and he was held until they came to pick him up.

DeKalb County Solicitor-General Donna Coleman-Stribling on June 25 dismissed the charges, saying video showed Guevara was “generally in compliance and does not demonstrate the intent to disregard law enforcement directives.”

The sheriff’s office in neighboring Gwinnett County announced June 20, once Guevara was already in ICE custody, that it had secured warrants against him on charges of distracted driving, failure to obey a traffic control device and reckless driving. Gwinnett County Solicitor-General Lisamarie Bristol announced July 10 that she would not pursue those charges.

An immigration judge last month set a $7,500 bond for Guevara, but that order has been put on hold while the government appeals it.

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Criticism of Guevara’s arrest and detention

His arrest and continued detention have been decried by journalism and press freedom groups, as well as by some public officials in Georgia. His adult children have been vocal in calling for his release.

“Mr. Guevara is a pillar of the Hispanic community in the Atlanta area, and his relationships with the Hispanic community, law enforcement, and civic and religious organizations allow him to serve as a bridge between various stakeholders in his community,” Wednesday’s court filing says.

The government’s arguments during his bond hearing in immigration court and subsequent filings in that case have relied “almost exclusively on Mr. Guevara’s reporting as justification for his continued detention,” the filing says.

The government’s filings detailed several occasions when Guevara had recorded or livestreamed law enforcement activities and posted videos that included undercover agents and their vehicles online, arguing that he’s a danger to the community.

His lawyers counter that livestreaming, recording and publishing videos of law enforcement activity in public — even if those videos identify officers and their vehicles — is protected by the First Amendment. They also note that all charges against Guevara had been dismissed and he hasn’t been convicted of any crimes during his two decades in the U.S.

The petition was filed in Brunswick by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Georgia, the University of Georgia law school’s First Amendment Clinic and Guevara’s individual attorneys.

By MARK KENNEDY, Associated Press

Brent Hinds, the former singer-guitarist for the Grammy-winning heavy metal band Mastodon, has died in a motorcycle accident in Atlanta, the band and authorities said. He was 51.

Hinds was killed while riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle late Wednesday night when the driver of a BMW SUV failed to yield while making a turn, according to Atlanta police. Hinds was described as “unresponsive” at the scene.

“We are heartbroken, shocked and still trying to process the loss of this creative force with whom we’ve shared so many triumphs, milestones, and the creation of music that has touched the hearts of so many,” the band said on social media.

Mastodon had three albums rise into the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart and two that topped the Rock Album chart — “Emperor of Sand” in 2017 and “Once More ’round the Sun” in 2014.

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Hinds co-founded Mastodon in 2000 with bassist Troy Sanders, guitarist Bill Kelliher and drummer Brann Dailor. Mastodon’s third studio album, 2006’s “Blood Mountain,” was their first to reach the Top 40, peaking at No. 32 on the Billboard 200.

Hinds left the band in March 2025. No reason for the departure was given. The band said they had “mutually decided to part ways,” but comments made by Hinds on Instagram indicated a rocky relationship with the members of his former band.

“We’re deeply proud of and beyond grateful for the music and history we’ve shared and we wish him nothing but success and happiness in his future endeavors,” the band said at the time.

Mastodon — which forged ferocious metal, progressive wizardry and sludge rock tendencies — earned six Grammy Award nominations, winning one in 2017 for best metal performance for “Sultan’s Curse” from the album “Emperor of Sand.”

Rolling Stone magazine listed Mastodon’s 2011 album “The Hunter” among its best off the year, saying the band had “streamlined their molten thrash into a taut thwump that doesn’t pull back one bit on their natural complexity of innate weirdness.”

Hinds was due to tour Europe later this year with Fiend Without a Face, a band that was once a side project during his years with Mastodon.

By HANNAH FINGERHUT, Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Just days before national Democrats gather for their annual summer meeting, Iowa’s state party officials on Thursday said it was a mistake for the party to have abandoned Iowa in the 2024 early nominating calendar and opened up the possibility of going rogue the next time around.

In 2022, President Joe Biden ordered a shake-up of the 2024 election calendar, moving South Carolina’s primary ahead of contests in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. The move forced Iowa Democrats to ditch the five-decade, first-in-the-nation caucus where community members publicly signal their support for a candidate, a process that was plagued with problems in 2020.

The state party’s criticism came with an open threat of defying the national party’s orders in 2028 as Iowa Democrats look to bring the once-competitive, Midwestern state back on the radar of a party questioning its values, direction and future leaders.

“It was a big mistake in the Biden calendar to know that Iowa Republicans are going first here in this state and that, as Democrats, we sat and watched all this attention and the millions of dollars being spent in the state without those kinds of resources to push back on the Republican agenda,” said Rita Hart, state party chair. “That did not help us here in Iowa and it did not help us long term for the national Democratic cause.”

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Hart said that would be reflected in her own response to the state party’s new survey, designed to solicit feedback from Democrats across the state on the priorities for 2028, including on the tradeoffs of the traditional caucus process and potential threats from the Democratic National Committee.

Officials in the traditionally four early-voting states — and many others — are readying themselves to campaign for top billing, even though it’s likely still two years before the Democratic National Committee actually solidifies the order. Iowa Democrats said Thursday that Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee, might unveil the process for states to make their 2028 pitch at next week’s biannual meetings.

Democratic officials said they expect to have preliminary conversations next week.

But Iowa’s Scott Brennan will no longer be a member of the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee, which deals with the nominating process. That leaves Iowa without a seat at the table for the first time for the better part of 25 years, Brennan said.

Brennan, former state party chair, said Iowans are “rule followers by nature” but reiterated Thursday that last cycle’s process was not fair as he conveyed his own wishes for 2028: “Full speed ahead and damn the DNC.”

Last year, Iowa Democrats held caucuses eight days before any other state’s contest, as is required by Iowa law. But Democratic voters had cast their 2024 presidential preference ballots by mail, with results released that March on Super Tuesday alongside other states.

Meanwhile, New Hampshire rebelled in 2024, holding an unsanctioned primary in January, but the DNC ultimately dropped its threat to not seat the state’s national convention delegates.

Even as the Iowa Democratic Party considers going forward with a first-in-the-nation contest once again, it will still come with logistical questions. The survey includes questions on how the party should handle issues of inclusion and accessibility for the process, which has historically required participants to be registered with the party and physically present, sometimes for hours, in the evening during the heart of the Midwest winter.

While Hart said the survey is designed to better understand Iowa Democrats’ values to guide their approach to 2028, she suggested there are “too many moving pieces” to say now how that approach will look.

For now, 2028 prospects are making visits to the historically early states, including Iowa. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz reemerged after the 2024 election loss with a town hall in Des Moines in March; Biden’s Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who performed well in the 2020 Iowa caucuses, stopped by a VoteVets Action Fund gathering in May; and Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona spoke to hundreds in eastern Iowa earlier this month.

Brennan seemed to suggest Iowa Democrats’ future is simple.

“The fact of the matter is is that Iowa law requires that we be a caucus,” he said, “and I think we intend to be a caucus.”

By CHRIS MEGERIAN and JACQUELYN MARTIN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump plans to join a Thursday evening patrol in the nation’s capital as federal authorities deploy checkpoints around the city and sometimes ask people for their immigration status after stopping them.

“I’m going to be going out tonight with the police and with the military,” the Republican president told Todd Starnes, a conservative commentator.

Trump’s presence during his controversial crackdown, which has lasted for two weeks, would be the latest show of force from the White House. Hundreds of federal agents and National Guard soldiers have surged into Washington this month, leaving some residents on edge and creating tense confrontations in the streets.

A Washington Metropolitan Police Department special operations division officer directs traffic during a checkpoint on New York Avenue in northeast Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025, (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday visited some of the troops at Union Station, showing their support while protestors chanted “free D.C.”

Although the city has historically struggled with crime, statistics show the problem was declining before Trump declared there was a crisis that required his intervention.

Immigration enforcement has been a core part of the crackdown, rattling people in some of the city’s neighborhoods. A daycare was partially closed on Thursday when staff became afraid to go to work because they heard about federal agents nearby. An administrator asked parents to keep their children at home if possible.

Other day cares have stopped taking kids on daily walks because of fears about encountering law enforcement.

Since Aug. 7, when Trump began surging federal agents into the city, there have been 630 arrests, including 251 people who are in the country illegally, according to the White House. Trump has been ratcheting up the pressure since then, seizing control of the D.C. police department on Aug. 11 and deploying more National Guard troops, mostly from Republican-led states.

Soldiers have been largely stationed in downtown areas, such as monuments on the National Mall and transit stations.

South Carolina National Guardsmen patrol at the base of the Washington Monument, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

However, federal agents are operating more widely through the city. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser acknowledged the proliferation of traffic checkpoints on Thursday.

“The surge of federal officers is allowing for different types of deployments, more frequent types of deployments, like checkpoints,” Bowser said.

Not a normal traffic stop

On Thursday morning, as Martin Romero rode through Washington’s Rock Creek Park on his way to a construction job in Virginia, he saw police on the road up ahead. He figured it was a normal traffic stop, but it wasn’t.

Martin Romero, 41, of Glen Burnie, Md., talks to the members of his work crew who are left after they were stopped by Park Police during a traffic stop near Rock Creek Park, and two of the workers in their truck were taken away by ICE, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, in Washington. “I feel desperate for my co-workers, for their families,” says Romero. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Romero, 41, said that U.S. Park Police were telling pickup trucks with company logos to pull over, reminding them that commercial vehicles weren’t allowed on park roads. They checked for licenses and insurance information, and then U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents came over.

Romero said there were two agents on one side of his truck and three on the other. He started to get nervous as the agents asked where they were from and whether they were in the country illegally.

“We just came here to work,” Romero said afterwards. “We aren’t doing anything bad.”

Two people in his truck were detained and the agents didn’t give a reason, he said. He also saw three other people taken from other vehicles.

“I feel really worried because they took two of our guys,” he said. “They wouldn’t say where they’re taking them or if they’ll be able to come back.”

Romero said he called his boss, who told him to just head home. They wouldn’t be working today.

Enrique Martinez, a supervisor at the construction company, came to the scene afterwards. He pondered whether to call families of the detained men.

“This has never happened to our company before,” Martinez said. “I’m not really sure what to do.”

Checkpoints are legal, to a point

The Supreme Court has upheld the use of law enforcement and government checkpoints for specific purposes, such as for policing the border and for identifying suspected drunk drivers.

But there are restrictions on that authority, especially when it comes to general crime control. Jeffrey Bellin, a former prosecutor in Washington and professor at Vanderbilt Law School who specializes in criminal law and procedures, said the Constitution doesn’t allow “the government to be constantly checking us and stopping to see if we’re up to any criminal activity.”

Washington Metropolitan Police Department special operations division officers arrest a person during a traffic checkpoint on New York Avenue in northeast Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

He said checkpoints for a legally justifiable purpose — like checking for drivers’ licenses and registrations — cannot be used as “subterfuge” or a pretext for stops that would otherwise not be allowed. And though the court has affirmed the use of checkpoints at the border, and even some distance away from it, to ask drivers about immigration status, Bellin said it was unlikely the authority would extend to Washington.

Anthony Michael Kreis, a professor at Georgia State College of Law, said the seemingly “arbitrary” and intrusive nature of the checkpoints in the capital could leave residents feeling aggrieved.

“Some of the things could be entirely constitutional and fine, but at the same time, the way that things are unfolding, people are suspicious — and I think for good reason,” he said.

From Los Angeles to D.C.

There are few places in the country that have been unaffected by Trump’s deportation drive, but his push into D.C. is shaping into something more sustained, similar to what has unfolded in the Los Angeles area since early June.

In Los Angeles, immigration officers — working with the Border Patrol and other federal agencies — have been a near-daily presence at Home Depots, car washes and other highly visible locations.

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In a demonstration of how enforcement has affected routines, the bishop of San Bernardino, California, formally excused parishioners of their weekly obligation to attend Mass after immigration agents detained people on two parish properties.

Immigration officials have been an unusually public presence, sending horse patrols to the city’s famed MacArthur Park and appearing outside California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s news conference last week on congressional redistricting. Authorities said an agent fired at a moving vehicle last week after the driver refused to roll down his window during an immigration stop.

The National Guard and Marines were previously in the city for weeks on an assignment to maintain order amid protests.

A federal judge blocked the administration from conducting indiscriminate immigration stops in Southern California but authorities have vowed to keep the pressure on.

Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and Ashraf Khalil in Washington and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed reporting.