Filipino facing deportation from US pulled off flight to PH after protests
Filipino green card holder Greggy Sorio, known as Kuya G | Photo from Tanggol Migrante
LOS ANGELES – A Filipino detainee, who was on board a flight to the Philippines as he faced deportation, was deplaned late Sunday night at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) after migrant rights advocates intervened, highlighting his fragile medical condition.
Greggy Valerio Sorio, a 37-year-old green card holder known as Kuya G, was transported back to the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, where his health had deteriorated after months of medical neglect, according to advocates from Tanggol Migrante Movement.
The advocates held rallies outside the detention center to protest the reported medical neglect and highlight concerns over deporting a medically fragile detainee.
Photo from Tanggol Migrante
You may like: Filipino in ICE detention faces amputation after alleged medical neglect
Their allies also held a rally in front of the home of Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez in Washington, D.C., Sunday to demand the Philippine government’s immediate intervention and support for Sorio.
The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Sunday that the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco requested to let Osorio recover from his medical condition before his deportation.
“However, the Department notes that the ICE Health Services Corps has assessed his condition and deemed him medically cleared for deportation,” the DFA said. “The Department respects this decision and recognizes the sovereign right of the United States to determine who may be allowed to remain in its territory.”
Advocates led by Tanggol Migrante refused to give up and appealed to Philippine Airlines (PAL) staff to assess Sorio’s medical condition.
“He is in no condition to fly, with his worsening ulcerative colitis, open wounds from amputation, difficulty breathing and other health conditions putting him at high risk of injury or even death mid-flight,” said Filipino American activist Noah Ajeto, who has been in constant communication with Sorio
“To send Kuya G home now would be a death sentence.”
Ajeto was one of the protesters who stood in the rain outside the detention center as Sorio, who was using crutches, was escorted to a vehicle that took him to the airport.
Minutes before departure, Sorio was removed from the plane after PAL’s medical team “deemed him medically unfit to fly,” said Ajeto, a representative of Tanggol Migrante Movement.
Officials support efforts to halt Sorio’s deportation
Meanwhile, Seattle’s Mayor-elect Katie Wilson denounced ICE for the planned deportation of Sorio “despite his precarious physical condition.”
“We must not allow this repeated and intensifying cruelty to become normalized,” Wilson wrote in her social media post. “I stand in solidarity with our immigrant communities who are under attack from the very government that should be protecting their human and civil rights.”
View this post on Instagram
Representatives Emily Randall and Pramila Jayapal are also taking steps to support efforts to halt Sorio’s deportation.
Ajeto said they will continue to mobilize support for Sorio as they received information that ICE will again deport Sorio tonight (Monday, Dec. 8).
Sorio, who is from Lingayen, Pangasinan, came to the US as a permanent resident or green-card holder in 2007. His partner and two children are US citizens. He has been detained since February this year at the Northwest Detention Center.
