On December 21, Greggy Sorio, an ailing Filipino migrant and detainee at the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) in Tacoma, was finally allowed to visit a doctor from outside the detention center. This came after months of alleged medical neglect from the private, for-profit corporation GEO Group, which owns and operates the NWDC on behalf of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). However, Sorio had to wait to visit a hospital until after Christmas. And even after his request was granted on December 26, he was still not admitted to St. Joseph Hospital. Instead, he was simply given pain medication and sent back to the detention center.
Noah Ajeto, chairperson of grassroots organization Migrante Southcenter, which is also part of the Tanggol Migrante (Defend Migrants) Alliance, speculated that “it’s like they’re waiting for him to experience something so severe… given ICE’s handling of him with the medical neglect and abuse, it’s just very worrying.”
According to the health records that Sorio’s lawyer submitted to ICE earlier in December, he suffered from “worsening internal bleeding, bone infection that required a toe amputation, trouble breathing, and dependency on a wheelchair.”
“His doctors say that without proper treatment, his ulcerative colitis could develop into colon cancer,” said Sorio’s lawyer. “His thumb is experiencing the same symptoms when he had to have his toe amputated.”
Sorio was almost boarded on a deportation flight on the night of December 7, 2025, were it not for the tireless advocacy of his supporters. Philippine Airlines staff deemed him “unfit to fly” based on their medical assessment, according to a December 14 article on the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Filipino migrants across Washington state fear the ramp-up of arrests and deportations under Trump
Sorio, also known as Kuya G (Kuya is a Filipino term for “older brother”), is only one of several Filipino migrants recently detained by ICE.
President Trump’s anti-immigration policies and ramp-up of arrests have left Filipino communities across Washington state and the rest of the U.S. reeling in terror. Filipino migrants across the state expressed fear of traveling, regardless of their own immigration status. Several Filipino migrants interviewed for this article requested anonymity due to fear of being targeted by ICE.
One respondent shared: “My family has chosen not to travel to the Philippines for the last year out of fear of being picked up, despite being naturalized citizens.” In February, Lewelyn Dixon, a lawful permanent resident in Seattle, was taken aside by Customs and Border protection (CBP) at Sea-Tac airport and arrested upon her return from the Philippines. Dixon had an embezzlement conviction on her record from 2001, for which she was fined and served a sentence of 30 days in a halfway house. Other Filipino migrants were also detained upon their return from vacation in the Philippines or elsewhere abroad, such as Maximo Londonio and Sonny Lasquite.
A long history of anti-Filipino rhetoric and criminalization
Indeed, while arrests have ramped up and the rhetoric against undocumented immigrants has worsened, one Filipino migrant interviewed for this article noted that this is only the latest in a long tradition of anti-immigrant, and particularly anti-Filipino sentiment. “We have seen this history of discrimination and illegal actions since the early 1900s, it proves that we don’t learn from our past mistakes, and that lack of education has perpetuated racism.”
In 1906, after the Spanish–American War and U.S. colonization of the Philippines, American sugar plantation owners brought in the first Filipinos to work on their fields in the then-territory of Hawai‘i. From there, some Filipinos moved on to work the farmlands of the West Coast and canneries of Alaska, laying down the groundwork of Filipino migration to the U.S.
But rather than be welcomed for doing the hard farmwork that no one else wanted to do, Filipinos were met with suspicion and even hostility. Jonathan Okamura, Professor Emeritus of Ethnic Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, studied how Filipinos came to be stereotyped as criminals and dangerous foreign entities. This heightened tension peaked with a wave of anti-Filipino riots that spanned across the West Coast in the 1920s and 1930s. While the most famous were the Watsonville riots of 1930 in California, the first anti-Filipino riots in the U.S. actually occurred in Yakima Valley back in 1927. Back then, Filipinos were portrayed in mainstream discourse as uncivilized, criminal savages stealing jobs from hard-working Americans.
Much of that rhetoric continues today. In 2024, Trump and the Republican party ran on a platform of anti-immigration, with calls to “stop the migrant invasion,” “stop the migrant crime epidemic,” and “carry out the largest deportation operation in American history.”
Christmas amidst the dehumanization of migrants
Upon assuming power, Trump made good on his promises. H.R. 1, also known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” cut funding for social safety net programs, while at the same time drastically increasing the budget for ICE. According to an analysis from the Brennan Center, ICE has been given $28.7 billion this fiscal year alone, nearly triple its entire budget for fiscal year 2024. This has translated to an increased rate of ICE arrests, nearly doubling from 22 arrests per 100,000 residents nationwide during the first half of 2025, to 40 arrests per 100,000 residents nationwide during the second half of 2025. As of November 30, 2025, ICE has detained 65,735 individuals all over the country.
This increase in arrests has resulted in many detention centers being at, or even over capacity, including the NWDC. According to Ajeto, the GEO Group gets paid by the number of detainees they are holding per day. “[S]o just by having people stay in this detention center, they’re making money,” Ajeto said. “So when you have people like Kuya G that has significant health problems that warrant certain treatment or hospitalization, they take the cheapest routes to addressing those problems.”
A report by the University of Washington’s Center for Human Rights reviewed 3,240 pages of written grievances from NWDC inmates alleging poor health standards, poor sanitation of food and laundry, medical neglect, and use of force and even chemical agents. Accounts from former detainees such as Ate Michelle and decorated veteran Muhammad Zahid Chaudry support these allegations.
In response to this seemingly inhumane treatment of migrants, Filipino migrants interviewed for this article have called these actions “horrendous and totally unjustified,” in the words of one respondent. Another respondent characterized them as “illegal actions taken by a fascist government that uses lies to defy laws.”
Despite allegedly inhumane conditions inside NWDC, Ajeto shared that detainees came together to weather Christmas while detained. “The detainees did what they can to break bread with each other, to celebrate with each other, because they can’t with their families and loved ones,” Ajeto said “So, during the holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, we fundraised to build up their commissary so they can buy items, make things, and celebrate together.”
No relief from the Philippine consulate
Green card holders are permanent residents of the U.S., but they are still also citizens of their home countries. As such, they often rely on their home country’s consulates in the U.S. for some of their needs. In recent months, Filipino detainees have criticized the Philippine consulate and the Philippine government for a lack of support or protection, both of which seem to take a hands-off approach. In March 2025, Jose Manuel Romualdez, the current Ambassador of the Philippines to the U.S.who is also related to the incumbent President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., issued a warning to Filipino green card holders stating that “the U.S. government can ‘revoke’ anyone’s green card and that holding one is ‘not a right.’” He has also urged undocumented Filipinos to self-deport.
Ajeto alleges that instead of working for the interests of its constituents, the Philippine consulate has instead colluded with ICE. “Every time that we have pushed our demands and say this person is not medically fit to fly, they basically just affirm ICE’s medical analysis,” Ajeto said. “They’ve stated that ‘this is what ICE has said. We trust what they’re saying,’ and then all of the medical testimonies that we’re really able to gather from dozens of people are just totally disregarded. They have no interest in stopping this deportation.”
Meesh Vergara, chairperson of Malaya Movement Seattle, echoed this. “Kuya G is a liability to both the GEO Group and the Philippine consulate, and he’s costing them money,” Vergara said. “We saw how the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco, specifically their Assistance to Nationals Officer Bernice Catherine Santayana was able to help process and expedite the documentation that was needed to finalize Kuya G’s deportation at the airport, but that’s the same documentation that he was requesting months before so he could file for a stay of removal and postpone his deportation so that he could get proper medical treatment and be hospitalized.”
Migrant advocates such as Ajeto and Vergara allege that the Philippine Consulate has consistently failed to advocate for the rights of Filipinos being detained. In Kuya G’s case, he noted that the Consulate has been slow to respond to his needs, and quick to cooperate with ICE, even handing his travel documents over to ICE authorities despite being aware of his life-threatening condition. Filipino residents of Washington state are dissatisfied with the Consulate. One stated that “any county of origin should have interest in the well being of their citizens.” Another thought that “The Consulate should strongly denounce this and work with state governments to oppose this.” Still another one doubts that anything will get done, given the Philippine’s current relationship with (and dependency to) the U.S.
Local and state government response
Left without help from the Philippine government, Filipino migrants are looking to local and state governments for support. Some headway is being made, with U.S. Rep.Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) calling for an investigation of ICE detention centers and contracts, and earlier in December 2025, she, alongside Rep. Adam Smith (WA-09), introduced legislation to end inhumane conditions in immigration detention centers.
But Filipino residents think more can be done. One respondent stated that “our local government should vigorously denounce this undemocratic action and oppose it effectively.” Another suggested they do this through “calls for amnesty and non-cooperation of law enforcement with ICE and Homeland Security.” Another believes a stronger response is needed. “Arrest federal workers [who] are not following the current state and federal laws that protect citizens, and enforce military code that does not allow military use on American civilians,” they said. In the meantime, another respondent suggested that “the local [government] should work with USCIS to help immigration courts hearing the cases to expedite the process.”
The community comes together
In the meantime, grassroots community organizations such as the Tanggol Migrante Movement are working to protect and support Filipino detainees. One respondent said “I applaud them for making waves when our consulate and local government wouldn’t speak up about the detainees.”
On International Migrants Day, recently marked on a rainy December 18, 2025, formerly detained Filipinos, their family members, close friends, and loved ones came together outside NWDC and publicly launched Families of Filipinos in Detention (FFIND), an aid organization “united to organize for the release of our loved ones and fellow kabayan (compatriots) from the horrific and inhuman conditions of the detention system and stand up to the fascist attacks on migrant communities.” Their work echoes the enduring struggle that generations of Filipino migrants in the past fought and stood up against to assert their right to work, live, and take care of their families in the U.S. “This is a very huge landmark for our mass movement,” said Ajeto. Vergara agrees: “FFIND shows that these are Filipinos in the diaspora who, despite the hardships, have really found it in themselves and in each other to fight for our kababayan and ultimately fight for their right to be safe wherever they find their homes to be.”
To learn more about the Tanggol Migrante Movement (Defend Migrants Alliance) or to be involved, go to https://www.tanggolmigrante.org. If you need help, please call their hotline: (415) 320-7823.
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Tawagan: (415) 320-7823.
Adrian Alarilla, PhD, is a program evaluator, writer, researcher, and filmmaker. Born and raised in the Philippines, he is currently based south of in Seattle, and has a PhD in History from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Besides contributing to the International Examiner, he is an associate with Alaska-based consulting firm Stellar Group, and has worked with Tribal, governmental, and nongovernmental agencies in Alaska, Hawaiʻi, and the Pacific Islands.
