Filipino dad released from ICE detention in time for Father’s Day

Rodante Rivera (center with back jacket) poses with Tanggol Migrante members in Washington state Friday after his release from the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. Photo from Tanggol Migrante/Instagram

LOS ANGELES – Another Filipino green card holder, Rodante Rivera, has been released from the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) in Tacoma, Washington, following the dismissal of his deportation case.

Migrant rights advocates from Tanggol Migrante were at the NWDC when Rivera was released Friday – just before Father’s Day – and celebrated the news of his release with his wife Misty, who is a US citizen.

“Rivera endured inhumane conditions inside the facility which is beyond capacity to the point where migrants are stacked upon each other,” Tanggol Migrante said.

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Rivera’s court hearing, scheduled later this month, was held earlier following a public outcry and the push for his immediate release from his family and supporters, said Katie Joaquin of Migrante-USA, which is part of the Tanggol Migrante Network.

While the group celebrated Rivera’s release, they denounced the “isolation” of Max Londonio, another Filipino green card holder who remains detained at the NWDC, which they described as “retaliatory on the part of GEO Group.”

Online information has revealed that billion-dollar ICE contractor and for-profit prison company GEO Group runs the day-to-day operation of the NWDC, one of the largest immigration detention centers in the US.

“While Tanggol Migrante celebrates the recent release of one Filipino father, Rodante Rivera, detainees such as Maximo “Kuya Max” Londonio, a Filipino permanent resident green card holder and loving husband and father of three, continue to be threatened with deportation and family separation,” Tanggol Migrante said in a press release.

“On June 14, Kuya Max was unjustly and incorrectly profiled and sent to a higher level of security and segregation. His isolation and transfer to a higher level is an act of retaliation and violation of his basic human rights due to Kuya Max constantly standing up for his and others’ rights.”

Londonio and Rivera had been arrested days apart at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport upon arrival from their Philippine vacation and had been detained together at the Border Patrol holding cell at the airport.

Londonio, who was detained on May 15, was moved to the NWDC on May 20 while Rivera was arrested on May 18 and transferred to the detention facility on May 21.

In a phone interview, Joaquin said that Londonio, who is a lead union member of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, has been “profiled” and thus needed to be segregated based on a higher level of security. He has been identified as a leader of advocacy efforts inside the detention center, which has been the subject of complaints for alleged inhumane conditions.

Londonio, in isolation since June 14, had been active in building communities of migrants inside the detention center, standing up for their welfare across different backgrounds and ethnicities, Joaquin said.

She added that the isolation has limited Londonio’s contact with his family and his recreation time at the detention center.

Tanggol Migrante has demanded the immediate release of Londonio and asked the Philippine Consulate to intervene so he could be removed from isolation and provided full legal representation, Joaquin said.

In a recent Tanggol Migrante forum, Londonio’s wife, Crystal, expressed frustration over the response from the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco.

“It is frustrating when you look to leadership, no matter what side of the country you are looking, you are looking to leadership for guidance, for assistance, for resources, for response and instead, it’s always delayed, one step behind you,” Crystal said.

She complained that she gets calls from staff trying to get updates when they have the ability to get information on their own. “I am still trying to manage things from the outside, trying to manage the mental health of our three children, I have to get through everyday which is a challenge, and it is always a new challenge,” she added.

Meanwhile, Tanggol Migrante said they have been informed by another Washington state-based immigrant rights group, La Resistencia, that ICE is scrambling to remove hundreds of migrants every night – moving them to either their home country or a third country.

The group has urged Filipinos to continue to oppose “these brutal attacks” in communities and to “come together and organize to free our kababayans in detention and defend all migrants.”