Another Pinoy green card holder on ICE detention in Seattle released

LOS ANGELES - Another Filipino green card holder Rodante Rivera was released from the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington on June 13 following the dismissal of his deportation case, Tanggol Migrante said Sunday.

Rivera’s hearing has been scheduled later this month but there has been an outcry and the push for his early from his family and supporters because of his detention for some time, as confirmed in a phone interview with Katie Joaquin of Migrante-USA, one of the organizations in the Tanggol Migrante Network.

A delegation was at the Northwest Detention Center and celebrated the news of the release with his US citizen wife Misty, because “Rivera endured inhumane conditions inside the facility which is beyond capacity to the point where migrants are stacked upon each other,” Tanggol Migrante said.

However, the group has condemned the “isolation” of Max Londonio, another Filipino green card holder detained at the NWDC which they said is retaliatory on the part of GEO Group. Online information revealed that billion-dollar ICE contractor GEO Group, a for profit prison company under contract from 2005 to 2025 which runs day-to-day management and operation of the NWDC, reportedly one of the largest immigration detention center in the US.

Joaquin said that Londonio, who is a lead union member of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, has been profiled as gang member and thus needed to be on a higher level of security according to GEO Group. He is pinpointed leader of advocacy efforts inside the detention center which is noted for its inhumane conditions.

Londonio, who is on isolation since June 14, has been active in building communities of migrants inside the detention center, standing up for their welfare across different backgrounds and ethnicities, Joaquin said.

She added that the isolation limits Londonio contact with his wife Crystal and family, limits his recreation time, won’t have the freedom to go anywhere within the confines of the detention center thus him segregating from community he is building.

Tanggol Migrante is demanding the release of Londonio from isolation on Father’s Day and asking the Philippine Consulate as well to intervene so he could be removed from isolation and provide full legal representation, Joaquin said.

The group had learned from another Washington state-based immigrant rights group La Resistencia that ICE is scrambling to remove hundreds of migrants every night - whether to their home country or a third country.

“This is all part of Trump’s anti-migrant policies to kidnap and disappear migrants to meet the disgusting goal of 3000 ICE arrests everyday,” Tanggol Migrante said a statement as it urged Filipinos to continue to oppose these brutal attacks in communities, come together and organize to free our kababayans in detention and defend all migrants everywhere.

Both Londonio and Rivera had been arrested days apart at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport upon arrival from their Philippine vacation and had been detained together at the Border Patrol holding cell at the airport.  Londonio, who was arrested on May 15 was moved to the NWDC on May 20 while Rivera’s arrest was on May 18 and transfer on May 21.

Tanggol Migrante said that Rivera is a victim of Trump’s attack on migrants as being detained on the basis of a non-violent crime committed years ago. Immediately after his arrest at SeaTac airport, Rivera’s wife had asked the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco to intervene in any transfer, provide a welfare check and help for financial and legal assistance which were not addressed to.