Tag Archives: Philippines

Inquirer: 4 more Filipino cruise ship workers deported in US immigration raid

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More than 100 Filipinos have been removed from various cruise ships this year, says the Pilipino Workers Center of Southern California

Four more Filipino seafarers were removed from the Carnival Sunshine cruise line and deported when it docked in Norfolk, Virginia, on Sunday, according to a worker advocacy group.

In a memo sent to supporters on Sunday, Pilipino Workers Center of Southern California (PWC) Executive Director Aquilina Soriano Versoza said they were “worried that again there will be no due process and the revocation of their visas with no evidence, charges or convictions and that they will be quickly deported.”

On Monday, Versoza said the four workers have already been deported, bringing the total number of Filipinos removed from Carnival Sunshine to 28.

Versoza said more than 100 Filipino workers have been removed from various cruise ships this year.

The latest CBP raid took place as the Philippine Senate started to investigate the reported unjust deportation of Filipino cruise ship workers.

On June 28, CBP officers raided Carnival Sunshine while it was docked at the port of Norfolk, Virginia. During the raid, several Filipino workers – all with valid 10-year visas – were removed from the ship, deported and banned from re-entry to the United States for 10 years.

An investigation conducted by the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) revealed that the deported seafarers, who were accused of consuming child pornography, were not given due process.

The Filipino workers were not informed of their right to consular representation as stated in Article 36 of the Vienna Convention, Olalia said as he presented the agency’s findings during the Senate committee on migrant workers’ inquiry into the reported unjust deportations.

The Consulate of the Philippines was not even informed that the seafarers were detained, interviewed and deported, Olalia added.

On Sunday, PWC reached out to Congressman Bobby Scott, Senator Tim Kaine, the Philippine Embassy and Carnival Cruise for assistance to the affected workers, including a restaurant steward, laundry attendant, deck department staff and a 3rd officer, according to Versoza.

“We have had some success that there hadn’t been any more deportations from the Carnival Sunshine until now, and the Philippines held a Senate hearing on these deportations and are now providing some financial assistance to those already deported,” said Versoza, who was on her way to the Philippines to seek assistance for the deported Filipinos.

“But of course that is not enough. We must get the seafarers’ visas reinstated and stop these deportations now.”

4 more Filipino cruise ship workers deported in US immigration raid
Four more Filipino seafarers were removed from the Carnival Sunshine cruise line and deported when it docked in Norfolk, Virginia.

https://usa.inquirer.net/177431/4-more-filipino-cruise-ship-workers-deported-in-us-immigration-raid

Inquirer: Filipino workers removed from cruise ship in US immigration raid

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The workers, sent back to the Philippines, are banned from re-entry to the United States for 10 years

At least 18 Filipino workers “were forcibly removed in handcuffs” from a cruise ship at the Port of Norfolk in Virginia recently, sent back to the Philippines and banned from re-entry to the United States for 10 years, Filipino American community leaders said Saturday.

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) removed the Filipino workers, all with valid 10-year visas, from the Carnival Sunshine cruise line, the Pilipino Workers Center (PWC) and the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) said in a joint statement.

The workers, who have not been charged or found guilty of any crime, were removed “in an alarming escalation of unjust immigration practices,” the PWC and NaFFAA said.

“These crew members are dedicated parents and spouses with exemplary backgrounds, having passed rigorous background checks to obtain their work visas,” they said.

“Their abrupt removal, accompanied by the cancellation of their visas and a shocking 10-year ban from re-entry, has inflicted deep humiliation, plunging their families into dire financial straits.”

The CBP confirmed an ongoing operation but did not provide details, according to a USA Today report. Other cruise lines affected include Viking and Pearl Seas Cruises.

The crew members had valid work visas and were previously cleared to work in the US, the report said.

As the Carnival Sunshine is set to dock again in Norfolk this Sunday, the remaining crew members “are left in fear of being the next victims of these aggressive actions,” the PWC and NaFFAA added.

The Fil-Am groups said the workplace raids reflect “a disturbing national trend that has seen other crew members deported under similar false pretenses, despite their valid visas and lack of criminal charges.”

“Community members are outraged by this blatant mistreatment of Filipino workers and are demanding accountability from Customs and Border Patrol, Carnival Corporate and the Philippine Embassy to safeguard the rights and well-being of Filipino and other cruise ship seafarers,” the groups said.

PWC, NaFFAA, immigration advocates and faith-based leaders will hold a press conference on Sunday.

Filipino workers removed from cruise ship in US immigration raid
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has removed several Filipino cruise ship workers from the Carnival Sunshine cruise line.

https://usa.inquirer.net/175811/filipino-workers-removed-from-cruise-ship-in-us-immigration-raid

Guardian: Ice arrests of US military veterans and their relatives are on the rise: ‘a country that I fought for’

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As Trump urges more deportations, veterans are seeing their parents, children and even themselves detained

The son of an American citizen and military veteran – but who has no citizenship to any country – was deported from the US to Jamaica in late May.

Jermaine Thomas’s deportation, recently reported on by the Austin Chronicle, is one of a growing number of immigration cases involving military service members’ relatives or even veterans themselves who have been ensnared in the Trump administration’s mass deportation program.

As the Chronicle reported, Thomas was born on a US army base in Germany to an American citizen father, who was originally born in Jamaica and is now dead. Thomas does not have US, German or Jamaican citizenship – but Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agency deported him anyway to Jamaica, a country in which he had never set foot.

Thomas had spent two-and-a-half months incarcerated while waiting for an update on his case. He was previously at the center of a case brought before the US supreme court regarding his unique legal status.

The federal government argued that Thomas – who had previously received a deportation order – was not a citizen simply because he was born on a US army base, and it used prior criminal convictions to buttress the case against him. He petitioned for a review of the order, but the supreme court denied him, finding his father “did not meet the physical presence requirement of the [law] in force at the time of Thomas’s birth”.

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In another recent case, the wife of another Marine Corps veteran was detained by Ice despite still breastfeeding her three-month-old daughter. According to the Associated Press, the veteran’s wife had been going through a process to obtain legal residency.

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In March, Ice officials arrested the daughter of a US veteran who had been fighting a legal battle regarding her status. Alma Bowman, 58, was taken into custody by Ice during a check-in at the Atlanta field office, despite her having lived in the US since she was 10 years old.

Bowman was born in the Philippines during the Vietnam war, to a US navy service member from Illinois stationed there. She had lived in Georgia for almost 50 years. Her permanent residency was revoked following a minor criminal conviction from 20 years ago, leading her to continue a legal battle to obtain citizenship in the US.

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In another recent case, a US army veteran and green-card holder left on his own to South Korea. His deportation order was due to charges related to drug possession and an issue with drug addiction after being wounded in combat in the 1980s, for which he earned the prestigious Purple Heart citation.

“I can’t believe this is happening in America,” Sae Joon Park, who had held legal permanent residency, told National Public Radio. “That blows me away – like, [it is] a country that I fought for.”

Ice arrests of US military veterans and their relatives are on the rise: ‘a country that I fought for’
As Trump urges more deportations, veterans are seeing their parents, children and even themselves detained

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/28/us-military-veterans-detained-trump

Associated Press: US resumes visas for foreign students but demands access to social media accounts

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The U.S. State Department said Wednesday it is restarting the suspended process for foreigners applying for student visas but all applicants will now be required to unlock their social media accounts for government review.

The department said consular officers will be on the lookout for posts and messages that could be deemed hostile to the United States, its government, culture, institutions or founding principles.

… or which might otherwise annoy our pathetic thin-skinned Grifter-in-Chief.

Currently only about half of social-media users have public profiles, and even then they may choose to limit access on a post-by-post basis.

This will not work to our advantage in the long run.

US resumes visas for foreign students but demands access to social media accounts

https://apnews.com/article/student-visas-trump-social-media-6632a2c585245edcd6a63594345dd8c7

KCAU Sioux City: Woman, 64, in US legally for 50 years is detained by ICE for 3 months

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A 64-year-old woman, a legal permanent resident of the United States for the last 50 years, was held in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for three months, according to multiple media reports.  

Lewelyn Dixon, a lab technician at the University of Washington, was arrested at Seattle-Tacoma Airport and taken to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, according to reporting by Oregon Public Broadcasting.  

A Filipino green-card holder, Dixon has been in the U.S. since she was 14 and was detained after returning from a trip to the Philippines in late February. 

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In Dixon’s case, what caught the attention of U.S. Customs and Border Protection was likely a 25-year-old embezzlement conviction, attorney Benjamin Osorio told the outlet.  

In 2000, Dixon pleaded guilty to stealing $6,460 from Washington Mutual Bank, where she worked as a vault teller and operations supervisor. She was ordered to spend 30 days in a halfway house and pay restitution, both of which she has completed. 

Woman, 64, in US legally for 50 years is detained by ICE for 3 months
She was detained after returning from a trip to the Philippines in late February.

https://www.siouxlandproud.com/news/national-news/woman-64-in-us-legally-for-50-years-is-detained-by-ice-for-3-months

Newsweek: Green card holder in US for 50 years “in distress” as she faces deportation

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A green card holder who has lived in the United States for five decades is set to appear before an immigration judge in Seattle on Thursday in an effort to avoid deportation.

Lewelyn Dixon, known as “Auntie Lyn,” has spent the last three months in immigration detention after being stopped by federal agents after returning from a trip.

“She has been in distress trying to figure out what to say to the judge and how to explain why she deserves to stay in America, the only home she’s truly known since she was a child. The pressure is immense,” Her niece Melania Madriaga told Hawaii News Now.

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Dixon’s attorney, Benjamin Osorio, previously told Newsweek that the current issue stems from a single conviction dating back to 2001. According to Osorio, the conviction was for a nonviolent embezzlement offense, for which Dixon was sentenced to 30 days in a halfway house and fined $6,400. She was never required to serve time in jail or prison.

Green card holder in US for 50 years “in distress” as she faces deportation
Green card holder Lewelyn Dixon will appear before an immigration judge in Seattle on Thursday in an effort to avoid deportation.

https://www.newsweek.com/lewelyn-dixon-green-card-holder-immigration-hearing-2078436

Newsweek: Veteran’s daughter living in US 48 years locked up by ICE

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President Donald Trump‘s immigration enforcers have reportedly arrested the daughter of a U.S. veteran.

Alma Bowman, 58, was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in March during a scheduled check-in at its Atlanta field office, according to Atlanta News First. She has been living in the country since she was 10 years old.

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Her father, Lawrence Bowman, a U.S. Navy service member from Illinois, was stationed in the Philippines during the Vietnam War. Alma Bowman was born in the Philippines in 1966, and her family relocated to the United States a decade later. She has lived in Macon, Georgia, for almost 50 years.

Certain legal provisions allow for the extension of citizenship to family members of individuals who have served in the U.S. military.

Veteran’s daughter living in US 48 years locked up by ICE
Certain legal provisions allow for extending citizenship to family members of individuals who have served in the U.S. military.

https://www.newsweek.com/alma-bowman-veteran-daughter-detained-ice-immigration-2077893

AsAmNews: Green card holders face extra scrutiny and detention at airports

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U.S. Customs and Border Patrol is warning travelers this summer holding green cards that they could face detention when traveling through airports.

There’s been much concern following reports that ICE agents have detained individuals returning to the U.S. from the Philippines.

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“As part of CBP’s national security mission, officers routinely determine the admissibility of foreign nationals using longstanding U.S. immigration law,” CBP said in a statement to the Inquirer. “Lawful permanent residents convicted of offenses considered to be crimes involving moral turpitude, including aggravated felonies, can legally lose their status and be removed. Crimes involving moral turpitude include offenses such as grand theft and the use or distribution of controlled substances.”

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A Homeland Security commercial running on both radio and TV features Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem proclaiming that under President Trump, the United States has been made safer as murderers and rapists are being deported.

However, its apparent nonviolent offenders are also being caught into this dragnet despite their legal immigration status. Protesters deemed acting against the interest of the Trump administration’s U.S. policy are also being deported.

Green card holders face extra scrutiny and detention at airports – AsAmNews
Filipino green card holders returning from Philippines are being apprehended by immigration agents at the airport for non-violent past criminal offenses.
Green card holders face extra scrutiny and detention at airports

Talking Points Memo: The ‘Invasion’ Invention: The Far Right’s Long Legal Battle to Make Immigrants the Enemy

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The Trump administration is using the claim that immigrants have “invaded” the country to justify possibly suspending habeas corpus, part of the constitutional right to due process. A faction of the far right has been building this case for years.

When top Trump adviser Stephen Miller threatened on May 9 that the administration is “actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus in response to an “invasion” from undocumented immigrants, he was operating on a fringe legal theory that a right-wing faction has been working to legitimize for more than a decade.

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Hard-liners have referred to immigrants as “invaders” as long as the U.S. has had immigration. By 2022, invasion rhetoric, which had previously been relegated to white nationalist circles, had become such a staple of Republican campaign ads that most of the public agreed an invasion of the U.S. via the southern border was underway.

Now, however, the claim that the U.S. is under invasion has become the legal linchpin of President Donald Trump’s sweeping anti-immigrant campaign.

The claim is Trump’s central justification for invoking the Alien Enemies Act to deport roughly 140 Venezuelans to CECOT, the Salvadoran megaprison, without due process. (The administration cited different legal authority for the remaining deportees.) The Trump administration contends they are members of a gang, Tren de Aragua, that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is directing to infiltrate and operate in the United States. Lawyers and families of many of the deportees have presented evidence the prisoners are not even members of Tren de Aragua.

The contention is also the throughline of Trump’s day one executive order “Protecting the American People Against Invasion.” That document calls for the expansion of immigration removal proceedings without court hearings and for legal attacks against sanctuary jurisdictions, places that refuse to commit local resources to immigration enforcement.

So far, no court has bought the idea that the U.S. is truly under invasion….

And therein lies the problem: The Trump regime is off pursuing an unconstitutional tangent to solve a problem that is improperly framed as an “invasion”.

It’s a long well-researched article. Please click on the link below and read the entire article.

The ‘Invasion’ Invention: The Far Right’s Long Legal Battle to Make Immigrants the Enemy
This article first appeared at ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign…

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/the-invasion-invention-the-far-rights-long-legal-battle-to-make-immigrants-the-enemy

Rolling Stone: Trump Allegedly Violates Court Order, Sends Asian Immigrants to South Sudan

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The administration reportedly deported two men from Myanmar and Vietnam to war-torn South Sudan

After an appeals court declined to remove an injunction aimed at barring Donald Trump’s administration from deporting noncitizens to “third-party countries” – a country that is not their country of origin – without due process, and without giving them chance to raise concerns of persecution, torture, and death, the government allegedly violated that court order days later.

Two men, who are originally from Myanmar and Vietnam and were being held in U.S. immigration custody, were deported to war-torn South Sudan, according their lawyers, Politico reported. Their lawyers said they received the a notice of the deportation plan on Monday evening and that by Tuesday morning, they were on a plane with 10 other deportees.

Earlier this month, as Rolling Stone reported, the Trump administration was preparing to use a military plane to fly immigrants to Libya before Judge Brian Murphy clarified that doing so would violate his court order. Lawyers with the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, and Human Rights warned that “Laotian, Vietnamese, and Philippine” immigrants, who are being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Texas, were “being prepared for removal to Libya, a county notorious for its human rights violations, especially with respect to migrant residents.”

Lawyers for the Burmese man, per Politico, said he was originally scheduled to be on a flight to Libya, before the plan was abandoned amid media and legal scrutiny. The attorneys also said that the man, identified as N.M. in court papers, received notification about the deportation to South Sudan only in English, violating Judge Murphy’s previous order due to N.M.’s limited English proficiency.

Sudan and South Sudan are on the U.S. Department of States “do not travel” advisory list, yet King Donald and his cronies are using it for third-country deportations.

Trump Allegedly Violates Court Order, Sends Asian Immigrants to South Sudan
Two men, who are originally from Myanmar and Vietnam and were being held in U.S. immigration custody, were reportedly deported to war-torn South Sudan.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-sends-asian-immigrants-south-sudan-violates-court-1235344357