On July 11, 2025, Maximo Londonio, a 42-year-old lawful permanent resident, was released after being held in the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) for nearly two months. On the day of Londonio’s release, the Tanggol Migrante Network (TMN), joined by the International Association of Machinists Local 695, organized a press conference. Londonio discussed the conditions of his stay at the detention center, where he was placed in solitary confinement for 27 days.
“Kuya Max,” his wife and youngest daughter were returning from a month-long vacation in the Philippines, when he was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at Seattle Tacoma International Airport on May 15.
Londonio’s three daughters and his wife, Crystal Londonio, are all U.S. citizens. According to Londonio’s daughter, he came to the U.S. at 13-years-old. He is the family’s main provider and works in Lacey for a manufacturing company.
Londonio described his current home country, the United States, as “where I grew up, loved and raised a family.” Yet being detained, he said, was “the worst feeling.”
Shortly after his detainment by CBP, Crystal Londonio reached out to Tanggol Migrante, a grassroots network that supports Filipino migrants and families. Together, they began to advocate for his release.
Advocates and Crystal Londonio say that her husband’s detainment may have been due to nonviolent convictions he received when he was 19-years-old. Londonio had pleaded guilty to a charge of grand theft in 2002 in Santa Clara, California, then completed a seven-month sentence in county jail, plus his probation.
While in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention, Londonio had asked for assistance from the Philippine consulate. Though Deputy Consulate General Maria Paz Cortes had visited NWDC and ICE, the details of their meetings were undisclosed. She had also stated that “they have been in constant communication with the Filipino detainees,” but Londonio’s family says that they never received assistance.
“I’m disappointed… my own country didn’t fight for me…” Londonio said. “We’re here, and we will fight for every migrant, so they don’t have to go through what I went through.”
The Tanggol Migrante Network, which is comprised of Migrante USA, International Migrants Alliance (IMA) USA, NAFCON USA, Kabataan Alliance USA, and Gabriela USA, continues to fight for other detainees nationwide. Those who remain in detention include Alma Bowman, Ligaya Jensen, and Kuya “G.”
