Tag Archives: Philippines

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.

…

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.

…

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

Inquirer: Filipino green card holder detained at Seattle airport after PH vacation

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Maximo ‘Max’ Londonio has been held by Customs and Border Protection since May 15

Maximo “Max” Londonio, a Filipino green card holder and father of three, has been detained at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after returning from a family vacation in the Philippines, sparking protests and renewed calls for government accountability.

Londonio, 42, who immigrated to the US at age 12 and now lives in Olympia, Washington, was taken into custody by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on May 15.

Londonio, his wife and their 12-year-old daughter were returning from their vacation in the Philippines, according to migrant rights advocacy group Tanggol Migrante. 

CBP agents reportedly detained Londonio over nonviolent offenses from his youth, despite previous uneventful travel between the US and the Philippines.

His wife, Crystal – a US citizen – described him as “dedicated,” “family-focused” and “affectionate,” and said she received little information about his whereabouts or the reasons for his detention. 

She was finally able to contact him on Tuesday and learned he had received a notice to appear before an immigration judge and would be transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center, where thousands of migrants await deportation hearings.

Filipino green card holder detained at Seattle airport after PH vacation
Maximo “Max” Londonio, a Filipino green card holder and father of three, has been detained at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

https://usa.inquirer.net/172271/filipino-green-card-holder-detained-at-seattle-airport-after-ph-vacation

Responsible Statecraft: Hegseth is taking the Army on another dead end ride to Asia

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The U.S. Army is getting ready to fight China. At least that’s how Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Army leaders are selling their new modernization initiative, announced on April 30.

Framed as an opportunity for “generational change,” the overhaul intends to “optimize” the Army’s force structure and equip its soldiers for the Indo-Pacific’s maritime terrain while divesting the heavy armored vehicles and helicopters that have been Army mainstays for a decade.

Like the Army’s past efforts to pivot to Asia, however, the initiative is likely to fail. The Army doesn’t have a game-changing or undiscovered role to play in a potential future conflict with China, and another expensive reboot isn’t going to help it find one. Instead, it’s time for the Army to face reality and double down on the narrow but essential core competencies it can already bring to the Indo-Pacific, including air defense, command and control, and sustainment.

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/hegseth-army

Explicame: Trump proposes $50 tax on every $1,000 sent in remittances

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Also billed as the Republican’s “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” and bullshit like this subtitle:

… the bill actually continues tax cuts for the wealthy on the backs of the working poor, those living hand to mouth, paycheck to paycheck. Buried starting at page 327 of 389 is a new 5% tax on remittances sent to family & friends overseas. This 5% tax is on top of the income taxes and the 15.3% (yes, the actual amount is twice the deduction that appears on your check stubs!) social security and medicare taxes that the sender has already paid, plus 2-4% in currency exchange fees.

Amidst the buzz surrounding the ambitious fiscal plan revealed by Republicans this week, a particular proposal has flown under the radar yet holds the potential to severely impact millions of workers and their families both within and outside the United States: a new tax on remittances sent abroad, costing up to $50 each month.

This initiative is part of the ‘ways and means bills,’ as termed by lawmakers aligned with President Donald Trump. The legislative package seeks to extend and expand tax exemptions implemented during his first term while introducing a series of public spending cuts. However, among the numerous provisions, the remittance tax stands out for its immediate and silent social impact.

The proposal specifically calls for a 5% tax on remittances sent from the United States. This levy would fall on the sender, meaning the worker in the U.S. who sends money to their home country to support loved ones, with an amount of $50 for every $1,000 sent.

With this tax, a monthly transfer of $300 could cost the worker an additional $15 in taxes, a figure that may seem small in macroeconomic terms but represents a significant expense for households living paycheck to paycheck.

Trump proposes $50 tax on every $1,000 sent in remittances
In a sweeping fiscal plan unveiled by Republicans, a proposed tax on remittances could significantly impact millions of workers and their families.

https://www.explica.me/en/News/Trump-proposes-50-tax-on-every-1000-sent-in-remittances-20250516-0016.html

GOP’s “big beautiful bill” would tax payments that many immigrants send back home
The bill would impose a 5% tax on remittance payments, with exceptions for most transfers made by U.S. citizens.

https://www.marketplace.org/story/2025/05/14/gops-big-beautiful-bill-would-tax-payments-that-many-immigrants-send-back-home

Apparently there are a few Republicans who think the bill is not so big and beautiful.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5304927-trump-agenda-shaky-congress

Associated Press: Trump’s plan to accept free Air Force One replacement from Qatar raises ethical and security worries

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For President Donald Trump, accepting a free Air Force One replacement from Qatar is a no-brainer.

“I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer,” the Republican told reporters on Monday. “I could be a stupid person and say, ‘No, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane.’”

Critics of the plan worry that the move threatens to turn a global symbol of American power into an airborne collection of ethical, legal, security and counterintelligence concerns.

…

But security is the primary concern when it comes to presidential travel. The current Air Force One planes were built from scratch near the end of the Cold War. They are hardened against the effects of a nuclear blast and include a range of security features, such as anti-missile countermeasures and an onboard operating room. They are also equipped with air-to-air refueling capabilities for contingencies, though it has never been utilized with a president on board.

A former U.S. official briefed on the Air Force One replacement project said that while it would be possible to add some features to the Qatari jet, there was no way to add the full suite of capabilities to the plane on a tight timetable.

Trump’s plan to accept free Air Force One replacement from Qatar raises ethical and security worries
For President Donald Trump, accepting a free Air Force One replacement from Qatar is a no-brainer. But Trump’s plan threatens to turn a global symbol of American power into an airborne collection of ethical, legal, security and counterintelligence concerns.

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-qatar-air-force-one-2ef13d87b71185bde547abe6840b098c

CNBC: Trump administration ‘looking at’ suspending habeas corpus for migrants, Stephen [“Goebbels”] Miller says

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  • Senior White House advisor Stephen [“Goebbels”] Miller said that the Trump administration is “actively looking at” suspending the writ of habeas corpus, the right to challenge a person’s detention by the government, for migrants.
  • [“Goebbels”] Miller was answering a reporter who asked about President Donald Trump entertaining the idea of suspending the writ to deal with illegal immigration into the United States.
  • The writ has only been suspended four times since the U.S. Constitution was adopted, and in all but one case, Congress first authorized that action.
  • [“Goebbels”] Miller spoke hours after a federal judge in Vermont ordered the release of Tufts University student Rumeysa Öztürk from the custody of U.S. immigration authorities. She had challenged her detention with a habeas writ.

White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen [“Goebbels”] Miller said Friday that the Trump administration is “actively looking at” suspending the writ of habeas corpus — the constitutional right to challenge in court the legality of a person’s detention by the government — for migrants.

[“Goebbels”] Miller’s comment came in response to a White House reporter who asked about President Donald Trump entertaining the idea of suspending the writ to deal with the problem of illegal immigration into the United States.

Asked when that might happen, [“Goebbels”] Miller responded: “The Constitution is clear, and that, of course, is the supreme law of the land, that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in time of invasion.”

“So, I would say that’s an option we’re actively looking at,” he said.

This comes a day or two after the release of Rumeysa Öztürk, who was detained for 45 days by ICE for writing an op-ed column in a newspaper, never charged with nor convicted of any crime:

[“Goebbels”] Miller spoke hours after a federal judge in Vermont ordered the release of Tufts University student Rumeysa Öztürk from the custody of U.S. immigration authorities.

Öztürk, who had been imprisoned for 45 days after the Trump administration revoked the Turkish citizen’s student visa based on an assessment that she “may undermine U.S. foreign policy by crearting a hostile environment for Jewish students and indicating support for a designated terrorist organization.”

Öztürk challenged her detention with a petition for writ of habeas corpus, which noted that she “has not been charged with any crime,” and which argued that her “arrest and detention are designed to punish her speech and chill the speech of others.”

Trump administration ‘looking at’ suspending habeas corpus for migrants, Stephen Miller says
Multiple court cases challenging the Trump administrations effort to deport undocumented immigrants from the U.S. are based on habeas claims.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/09/trump-deportation-habeas-corpus-miller.html