By Irfan Shariff
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
A green card holder known only as “Ate Michelle” was released from the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) on April 30 after a three-hour immigration hearing ended with a cancellation of her removal order, allowing her to remain in the U.S.
The decision came as nearly 200 supporters rallied outside the Tacoma facility, demanding her release. Among them was a caravan of more than 40 people who traveled from Oregon, according to Johnny Aniceto of Migrante Seattle and Tanggol Migrante.
“Ate” means “big sister” in Tagalog. “It’s just the name we’ve been giving her. She is very private,” said Aniceto. Michelle had been in custody since Feb. 12 when she arrived at San Francisco International Airport from a trip to the Philippines. Michelle is a resident of California and a single mother of three, including a 13-year-old daughter in the U.S. She also suffers from chronic medical concerns.
Tanggol Migrante is a “loose network of organizations” and translates as Defend Migrants, Aniceto said. Tanggol’s campaign seeks to build a network that organizes services, education, and alliance work to defend Filipinos in the U.S. Aniceto is a member of immigrant-rights organization Migrante Seattle and on the steering committee of Tanggol.
Tanggol also named April 30 a “national day of action” and is calling on the Philippines to step up and defend Filipino nationals from the attacks of the Trump administration.
“This is a victory for the people and not the Philippine government, who has done nothing to support Michelle. They willfully neglected her.”
Michelle was transferred to NWDC due to overcrowding at another detention center. NWDC, which has a 1,575-bed capacity, is not any better. Aniceto has heard reports of overcrowding concerns which included cases of two inmates per bed, as well as undercooked and irregular meals and lack of medical services.
An April 10 post on the organization La Resistencia’s Instagram account claims that nurses had not been attending to detainees in about 40 days.
“That’s part of the reason it was so important to get Michelle out,” said Aniceto. “She has very severe medical conditions. She could’ve died.”
Two detainees died last year, he said.
A statement from Tanggol read: “Michelle and others have been unable to eat and sleep properly. She was denied her medications and access to a doctor, despite being pre-diabetic and having a benign brain tumor which causes her chronic, intense pain, hair loss, and rapid weight loss.”
Aniceto said that advocates go to the detention center daily for visitation hours and provide commissary funds so detainees can make outgoing calls.
“It’s very expensive to make phone calls.”
Another Filipino woman, Lewellyn Dixon, fondly known as “Aunty Lynn,” is still being held at NWDC. Tanggol and rallyers were able to move her hearing date up by two months to May 29.
It was Aunty Lynn who informed Aniceto and Tanggol about Michelle’s case. Lynn is a green card holder of 50 years and works at the University of Washington.
Michelle, who has resided in the U.S. since 1996, has had nonviolent convictions against her but those have since been expunged, according to Aniceto.
“Details of her convictions were all small offenses and were things that she was tricked into doing. It still shows up in the immigration system. That’s what’s happening in the Trump administration.”
“What we really wanted to convey is that Ambassador Romualdez needs to do his job and diplomatically advocate for his nationals,” he said.
According to Aniceto, the Philippines government has a 1.2 billion peso fund to assist Filipino nationals in cases like Lynn and Michelle. Releasing aid from this fund can take upwards of six weeks.
To hear more about Migrante Seattle’s response to the Philippine government, visit: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIKGW7SBoM9/.