His deportation stalled, ailing Pinoy held by ICE clings to hope
An ailing Filipino green card holder detained by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Washington is counting on Philippine authorities to stop his deportation after a US federal court gave him a two-week reprieve for medical treatment.
According to Tanggol Migrante Movement, Judge Tiffany Cartwright of the district court for the Western District of Washington granted the temporary restraining order (TRO) sought by 37-year-old Gregorio Sorio and his lawyers, deferring his scheduled deportation for two weeks “until he is medically stable.”
Sorio has developed ulcerative colitis, which could worsen into colon cancer if left untreated, while in the custody of ICE authorities at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington. He has been detained in the facility since March this year.
The TRO, which was handed down on Dec. 8, will remain in effect until Dec. 22. With the two-week window, Sorio urged the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), through the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco, to intervene and stop his deportation altogether.
No real help at all
“The consulate said that they did their job, but they never really helped me at all. They never advocated for me. And they could stop me being deported if they really advocated for me,” Sorio said in a video message recorded on Dec. 7, the day he was supposed to be flown back.
“Instead of the Philippine Consulate teaming up with me and us to help me because I’m a Filipino citizen, they never did that,” he added.
A resident in the United States for nearly 20 years, Sorio noted that the consulate handed his travel documents over to ICE authorities despite being aware of his life-threatening condition.
Sorio was supposed to take a Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight to Manila on Dec. 7 from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport but he was removed from the plane at the last minute after airline officers deemed him “unfit to fly” based on their medical assessment.
“I’ve been in medical neglect for five months. It’s just kinda not right when the medical people here (at the ICE detention) cleared me to travel when they’re the ones who have been doing the medical neglect on me,” he stressed.
11 days left
“I have 11 days left of medication, which is, if they send me back to the Philippines, I am not gonna be well and I might die over there because I wouldn’t have my medication and I just started my treatment,” Sorio stressed, noting that he is also still on a wheelchair after undergoing multiple surgeries, including toe amputation due to an infection.
The DFA had yet to respond as of Saturday night to the Inquirer’s request for comment. In earlier statements, it stressed that it had provided legal support to Sorio and that it would do the same for other Filipinos abroad who face similar issues.
“The Consulate General has previously and repeatedly conveyed requests for humanitarian consideration to allow him to substantially recover from his medical condition prior to 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 in a statement last week.
The foreign office also stressed it had to “recognize the sovereign right of the (US) to determine who may be allowed to remain in its territory, “ as well as the immigration court’s decision ordering Sorio’s deportation.
‘Fearmongering’
For the Tanggol Migrante Movement, who is helping Sorio on his case, the widespread deportation of migrants is a “fear mongering tactic” by the Trump administration.
“We are seeing an uptick of migrants who have served their time long ago, contributing to society and have not been flagged since, now being under the scrutiny of the Trump administration … so there’s not really a rhyme or reason besides the fact that this administration has a very antimigrant policy,” Andan Bonifacio, chair of Bayan USA, one of the groups making up Tanggol.
“For us, we all fight for (Sorio’s) right to … stay in Seattle, or back to the Philippines, on his own terms, not just based on what ICE or what the consulate decides they want to do for him,” Bonifacio said.
Protests vs ICI
Meanwhile, the Defends Migrants Alliance, a broad coalition of grassroots organizations in the United States, is holding a weeklong demonstration that began on Dec. 10 and will end on Dec. 18 to assert migrant rights and call for their safety and well-being.
It was held in time for the observance of International Human Rights Day every Dec. 10 and International Migrants Day on Dec. 18.
More protests are set being held in Southern California, San Francisco, Washington DC, Seattle to demand accountability from ICE and the US Customs and Border Protection amid reports of neglect and other human rights violations against migrants.
