Navy vet’s daughter remains in ICE detention despite US citizenship claims

A Filipino woman has been detained at a Georgia immigration facility since March after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested her during a routine check-in, despite her family’s assertion that she is a U.S. citizen.

Alma Bowman, 58, was arrested by ICE on March 26 during a scheduled appointment at the Atlanta Field Office, where she reportedly came in a wheelchair accompanied by her children and legal representatives. ICE then moved her that day to Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, run by private contractor CoreCivic, and began deportation proceedings to the Philippines.

Bowman’s father, Lawrence Bowman, served in the U.S. Navy and was stationed in the Philippines during the Vietnam War. She was born there in 1966 before her family relocated to the U.S. when she was 10. She has resided in Macon, Georgia, for almost five decades. Federal authorities reportedly revoked her permanent residency after a criminal conviction two decades ago for check fraud involving $1,200, which she repaid.

Bowman was previously detained by ICE for nearly three years from 2017 to 2020 — during the first Trump administration — and testified about unauthorized medical procedures at the now-shuttered Irwin County Detention Center.

Now, her sons John and Chris describe severe family trauma. “There have been a couple of times I come in her room, and it feels like I can’t breathe,” John told Atlanta News First. She instructed them to sell her action figure collection if deported. “I couldn’t do it,” Chris added. “It would feel like giving up on her.”

U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) calls the detention illegal. “She’s an American citizen,” he said. “The fact that one of her parents was an American means that she is an American.” Meanwhile, family attorney Samantha Hamilton of the Asian Americans Advancing Justice argues ICE violated Policy 16001.2, which prohibits detaining potential U.S. citizens.