Free Alma Bowman
Atlanta, GA – 58-year-old Filipina activist Alma Bowman was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after a check-in at the Atlanta facility. Separated from lawyers and her family at the start of the check-in, abused by staff in the ICE office, and detained without medication, Bowman is yet another instance of deportation being used as a tool to repress immigrants.
Bowman was originally detained by ICE for three years at the infamous Irwin County Detention Center. She later blew the whistle on forced hysterectomies at the detention center, resulting in it being shut down.
Julie Jamora, an organizer with Malaya and the Justice for Alma Bowman (J4AB) campaign said, “She witnessed and experienced grave human rights violations while detained at the Irwin County detention center. Witnessed migrant women getting unnecessary and forced gynecological procedures, was at the center of a congressional investigation against this doctor. She highlights the everyday inhuman experiences of migrants while in detention.”
While she was released from ICE detention in 2020, Bowman continued to be a victim of the racist immigration system. She was forced to have check-ins with ICE, requiring her to drive nearly two hours from her home in Macon, Georgia on a regular basis. Despite being out of custody, Bowman was constantly terrorized by ICE, oftentimes not sure if she would be separated from her children.
Bowman’s detention is the latest in a series of ICE detentions and deportations used to target politically active immigrants and migrants, like what we’ve seen with pro-Palestine student protesters such as Mahmoud Khalil at Columbia University and Badar Khan Suri at Georgetown University. Both were labeled as political threats and targeted by the White House, showing that reactionary forces will employ any means to attempt to silence our movements.
Malaya is currently organizing a call-in to the Philippines Embassy to demand they take action for Alma Bowman and push for her release due to her chronic health conditions and the unjustness of her detention. The Consulate of the Philippines in Atlanta can be reached at: (404) 442-5667.