Fil-Am detainee sues ICE, says detention unconstitutional

NEW YORK — Alma Bowman, a 58-year-old Filipino American resident of Macon, Georgia, is suing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, alleging her detention is unconstitutional.

Bowman, who was born in the Philippines in 1966 and immigrated to the United States at age 10, filed a federal habeas petition last Friday seeking immediate release. She has been held for more than five months following her March 2025 detention in Atlanta during an ICE check-in.

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58-year old Fil-Am mother Alma Bowman – wheelchair-bound, a US citizen and key witness in the ICE forced hysterectomy case – stands outside the Atlanta ICE field office on March 26, 2025, just before being detained again, despite decades of official records attesting to her citizenship. Photo by Samantha Hamilton

Bowman’s legal team, which includes Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta and the Center for Constitutional Rights, argues her detention violates constitutional due process and ICE’s own policies regarding US citizens.

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“No matter what color, no matter what race, what language you speak, we’re all the same. We’re all human,” Bowman said in a statement. 

A day before her detention, Alma Bowman, lifelong Sonic the Hedgehog fan, visits a Sonic pop-up cafe with her son John in Atlanta. Photo by John Bowman

“We shouldn’t have to be separated from our families. We need to be treated equally. Family separation is terrible. And to me, it seems like it’s ICE’s main goal. When I get out of here, and I pray to God I get released to my children, I pray to God that one day, there won’t be no ICE.”

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According to her lawyers, prevailing law at the time of Bowman’s birth renders her an American citizen.

Her late father was a US Navy serviceman stationed in the Philippines, where he met Bowman’s Filipina mother. Despite her lengthy residence and deep family ties in the United States, questions over her citizenship have persisted for years.

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Bowman’s immigration difficulties began nearly two decades ago after a conviction for issuing a bad check in the amount of $1,200 – a sum she has since repaid. Following that conviction, she lost her permanent residency and became subject to removal proceedings, an ordeal that has led to three separate periods of detention.

She was detained from 2017 to 2020, and again beginning March 26, 2025, when she was taken into custody at a routine check-in while accompanied by her two children and legal counsel.

Advocating for immigrant women detainees

During her first detention at Irwin County Detention Center, Bowman – already an advocate for immigrant women – became a whistleblower, exposing abuse by facility medical staff.

She was released in December 2020 under supervision and continued her annual check-ins until her latest detention, at which point she was transferred to Stewart Detention Center, a facility operated by CoreCivic.

Bowman has now spent five months at Stewart, where she continues to assist other women with navigating the immigration system and to campaign for the Equal Citizenship for Children Act.

Her attorneys state that ICE has provided “no explanation for the sudden change” in her treatment or any evidence to challenge her citizenship claim. They cite ICE Policy 16001.2, which prohibits civil immigration detention for individuals with plausible US citizenship claims.

Fil-Am detentions

Bowman’s case shines a light on a growing trend of Filipino Americans facing detention. 

Recent cases include Lewelyn Dixon, a longtime Washington resident released in May after nearly three months in ICE custody, and Maximo “Kuya Max” Londonio, detained and released in Seattle earlier this summer. Both cases have drawn national focus to the risks facing even lawful, longstanding residents under current immigration rules.

“As someone whose late father honorably served the country and who has spent nearly her entire life in the US, Alma should not be behind bars or separated from her family,” said Samantha Hamilton, staff attorney at Advancing Justice-Atlanta. “We are fighting not just for Alma’s freedom but for the rights of all immigrants wrongly detained by the government.”

Bowman’s campaign for release is supported by advocacy groups including Malaya Movement USA, GABRIELA USA, Tanggol Migrante Network, and BAYAN USA. Her case has also attracted the attention of Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), who stated, “She’s an American citizen. That has been clearly established.”

Immigration officials have 21 days to respond to the habeas petition filed on Bowman’s behalf.

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