By Carolyn Bick
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Every day, thousands upon thousands of people travel through SeaTac Airport. Some are coming home to be greeted by the warm embraces of those who love them. Others are making the sometimes-long trek to other countries to visit loved ones and set foot on what may have been the soil of their birth or their parents’ and grandparents’ birth.
But just below the feet of all these travelers, there are people who may not return home, or see their loved ones for a very, very long time—if ever again.
All the way at the end of the international arrivals terminal on the first floor of SeaTac Airport, near the bus stop, is where United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) holds people CBP agents have detained.
Two of the people who have recently been detained there are legal green card holders, both men from the Philippines. Their names are Maximo “Max” Londonio and Rodante “Dante” Rivera.
Londonio, 42, has lived in the United States since he was 12 years old. He worked for Crown Cork & Seal Company in Lacey for five years, and is currently a lead union member of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) Local Lodge 695, part of IAM Union District 160.
Londonio has been detained since May 15 at 11 a.m. He had previous nonviolent convictions from when he was a young adult, but had since satisfied the requirements for the resolution of those convictions. Allegedly, these resolved nonviolent convictions are what caused agents to flag him for detention. His green card is current and has not been revoked.
Rivera is 44 years old. Jo Faralan of Tanggol Migrant Network (TMN) told the Northwest Asian Weekly that TMN had just gotten some information about Rivera from his wife on the morning of May 20, and was still putting together information. However, Faralan said that Rivera’s convictions were almost a decade old, and, like Londonio’s, Rivera’s convictions had been resolved.
TMN is a Filipino immigrant defense and rights network that is working to, among other things, support both Londonio’s and Rivera’s family, as well as the family of Lewelyn Dixon, the Filipino green card holder who has been detained since March. Dixon was detained for a more-than-20-year-old nonviolent offense.
Though both men have been in U.S. agents’ custody for longer than 48 hours, neither man’s name appeared in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)’s online detainee tracking system, which states it can be used to locate individuals held by ICE or those who have been in CBP custody for over 48 hours.
Despite being detained for five days prior, Londonio’s name appeared only on May 20, sometime between the beginning of the day and shortly before 5 p.m., when the Northwest Asian Weekly spoke with Faralan.
Though Londonio is now listed as being held in the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) in Tacoma, he should have already been listed as being in CBP custody at SeaTac Airport by 11 a.m. on May 17, according to DHS’s own site.
Furthermore, Faralan said that TMN had to call to get the information that Londonio had been transported sometime between May 19 and May 20 to the NWDC from SeaTac Airport. His family was not notified, and would therefore have had no idea where he was.
Though to TMN’s best knowledge, Rivera was detained on May 18, his name still has yet to appear on DHS’s website.
Screenshot of the DHS website on May 21, 2025 at 1:43pm showing that Rivera’s name has not been added, despite reports that he was detained on May 18.
CBP has before been called “a black box,” and it has been alleged that CBP has denied people it has detained to call anyone at all, even an attorney. Faralan told the Northwest Asian Weekly that neither man had been able to contact his family outside one brief phone call each. Both men called their wives.
So it was a surprise to Londonio’s wife, when she got a second phone call from him.
Londonio called Crystal Londonio, right after TMN’s news conference, during a May 19 TMN rally for his release right outside SeaTac Airport.
Tanggol Migrante Network holds a rally for Max Londonio outside SeaTac Airport on May 19, 2025. (Photo courtesy of Tanggol Migrante Network.)
Tanggol Migrante Network holds a rally for Max Londonio outside SeaTac Airport on May 19, 2025. (Photo courtesy of Tanggol Migrante Network.)
Save for the single five-minute phone call two days into her husband’s detention at SeaTac Airport, Crystal Londonio had not heard a single word from him for four days. That five-minute phone call on the second day, Faralan said, was to “help with passing along logistical information about their finances, and to tell her that he loves her.”
During the 10-minute phone call on May 19, Londonio told his wife and listeners about the conditions he had been subjected to. Sometimes, he said, CBP agents forgot to feed him. He would have to ask for food—and when he didn’t want to eat the Cup-A-Noodle instant ramen they brought him, they made him pay for food at SeaTac Airport.
“He also had to request to take a shower. He requested a toothbrush, because when they detained him, he only had his backpack, which had a pair of sweatpants, his documents, but no toiletries,” Faralan said. “He wasn’t expecting to be detained for that long. It really is vile and gross neglect of basic human decency and rights, happening all while an airport continues to just go on with its own travel.”
Furthermore, Faralan said, four days is a long time to be held in CBP custody. The longest usual time, Faralan said, is three days. And what made matters even worse was that the CBP agent whom Faralan, Crystal Londonio, and other TMN members spoke with that day had no idea that Londonio had been held for that long.
When Faralan and other TMN members questioned the agent about why or how he would not know such things, he said that everything was “compartmentalized for security.”
Sometime after the rally, U.S. agents transported Londonio to the NWDC.
Faralan said that, according to both Dixon and Ate Michele, a legal green card holder recently freed from detention in the NWDC, the detention center is already overcrowded, and people who have been detained inside face similar conditions as Londonio described—including agents forgetting to feed those they have detained.
Faralan told the Northwest Asian Weekly that TMN managed to get in contact with Port of Seattle Commissioner Toshiko Hasegawa, who said that she had no idea that Londonio had been detained. Faralan said that Hasegawa also told TMN that she asked the Port of Seattle chief of police, Mike Villa, whether CBP had told him anything, and that he had said no.
“The different entities do not talk to each other,” Faralan said. She explained that ports of entry, like airports or land borders, are “the places where our rights can really be violated, especially if we don’t know them, and can lead to very dangerous situations.”
CBP said in a statement that “federal privacy restrictions prohibit CBP from discussing specifics of most traveler’s admissibility inspection,” but that it could confirm Londonio’s and Rivera’s detentions, and that “[l]awful permanent residency for foreign citizens in the United States is a privilege.”
“Under federal immigration law, lawful permanent residents convicted of offenses considered to be crimes involving moral turpitude [CIMTs], can legally lose their status and be removed,” CBP said. “CIMTs include crimes such as grand theft and use and/or distribution of controlled substances.”
In response to questions regarding Londonio’s detention at the NWDC and ICE-specific questions, ICE said that the Northwest Asian Weekly should direct questions to CBP. ICE did not respond to the Northwest Asian Weekly’s follow-up stating that it was asking questions ICE could answer.
Hasegawa and her office did not comment directly to the Northwest Asian Weekly, but Port spokesperson Chris Guizlo pointed the Northwest Asian Weekly to a statement Hasegawa had posted on her social media about Londonio’s detention.
“This week, we learned—through our community, not through official channels—that a lawful permanent resident arriving at SEA Airport was detained by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for five days,” Hasegawa wrote. “That is surprising and deeply concerning.”
“As the governing body of the Port, we do not have jurisdiction over CBP operations or access to federal detention facilities,” she continued. “We are not notified when someone is detained, and we cannot intervene in immigration enforcement decisions. Still, we believe in accountability, and we will continue to ask questions on behalf of the public.”
Guizlo told the Northwest Asian Weekly that he also confirmed with Villa that “Port of Seattle Police is not notified when CBP detains an individual, as they have no role in the international arrivals process. That is all CBP’s jurisdiction.”
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs held a news conference at SeaTac Airport on May 20 to honor the first Southeast Asian families’ arrival to the state at the airport 50 years ago, which Hasegawa also attended. According to Hobbs’ office, they were unaware that, at the same time and location, two immigrants were being held in CBP custody.
“We had no knowledge of the detentions at SeaTac airport and find it unsettling and unfortunate that the circumstances coincided with our commemoration of the start of a formative period in Washington’s history,” Hobbs’ office said. “Yesterday’s event commemorated their arrival at the very gate they walked through 50 years ago to begin their life anew in the United States. … We were proud to have welcomed our new neighbors then and continue to celebrate their contributions to our state.”
Rivera may still be in CBP custody and may still be awaiting transportation to the NWDC.
TMN will hold a rally for Londonio and Rivera on May 23 at the NWDC, as part of a coordinated Day of Action across the United States, where TMN groups will rally at Philippine consulates in different U.S. cities. The rally at the NWDC will be held from 4 p.m.–6 p.m.
On May 29 at 12:30 p.m., TMN will hold a rally for Dixon outside the NWDC, where Dixon will have her court hearing.