Alma Bowman was successfully released from detention at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia on November 26. The court upheld the petition for habeas corpus filed by her lawyers, asserting that her detention by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) violated her rights. She was imprisoned for eight months in the ICE facility.

Bowman gained her freedom with the help of her lawyers from Asian American Advancing Justice-Atlanta and the Center for Constitutional Rights, as well as the sustained campaign of “Justice for Alma Bowman.” The campaign was launched by Malaya Movement USA and its Georgia chapter, Tanggol Migrante Movement, National Defend Migrant Workers Campaign, Gabriela USA, International Women’s Alliance, and the Filipino community.

Bowman has been a US resident for over five decades. Her father is American and her mother is Filipino. As an American offspring, she should have been recognized as a US citizen under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) of 1952.

Although she has been released, her fight is not yet over as she continues to assert that she is an American citizen. According to Tanggol Migrante Movement and Defend Migrant Alliance, Bowman’s ordeal shows that the Trump regime’s anti-migrant policies can detain anyone.

“While this is a major victory for Alma’s family and friends, we will continue to fight for true freedom… for the victims of violent anti-migrant policies in the US,” Tanggol Migrante Movement’s June Colcol of said.