A reporter for Georgia's largest Spanish-language newspaper is facing deportation after a judge denied his application for asylum.

But Mario Guevara argues he and his family will be in grave danger if they return to their native El Salvador. The reporter for Mundo Hispanico and his family came to Georgia in 2004.

Guevara says he had to flee because he said he had been beaten and repeatedly harassed by leftist groups in late 2003. He says the groups threatened him because he worked for a conservative newspaper with close ties to the party in power at the time.

An immigration judge last month denied his request for asylum and ordered him, his wife and his daughter to leave the country within 60 days. Guevara's lawyer plans to appeal the ruling.

Tags: Georgia, immigration, deportation, Mario Guervara