U.S. Citizen Spent Years in ICE Custody During Trump's First Administration. She Was Detained Again

A US citizen who was detained during President Donald Trump's first administration for three years has been detained by ICE once again, officials say.

58-year-old Alma Bowman was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last March. The Atlanta resident was detained during a scheduled ICE check-in at the agency's Atlanta field office.

"She is an American citizen, and to lock her up in immigration detention is deeply offensive to her humanity, to the Constitution, and is just plain wrong," family attorney Samantha Hamilton, of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, told Newsweek.

Bowman was transferred to Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, promptly after being detained. She remained at the center, operated by private contractor CoreCivic, while her deportation proceedings were conducted by ICE.

"The rule of law has never seemed to be so meaningless," Hamilton said. "They want to remove people without respect to that person's individual circumstances, even if they may be a U.S. citizen."

Bowman's father, Lawrence Bowman, was a US citizen and a US Navy service member who was stationed in the Philippines during the Vietnam War. Though Alma was born in the Philippines, she is the daughter of a US citizen, therefore solidifying her status as a citizen.

Bowman moved to the US when she was 10, and has lived in the country ever since.

About two decades ago, Bowman's legal status was revoked by the federal government after she was criminally convicted for charges related to writing checks totaling $1,200, a debt which Bowman has since fulfilled.

She filed a citizenship claim and had regularly been checking in with ICE regarding her status all the way up until March.

Her sons, John and Chris Bowman, say their family has been deeply impacted by her detention.

"There have been a couple of times I come in her room, and it feels like I can't breathe," John Bowman told Atlanta News First.

"Alma is one of thousands of people across the world who have been born to U.S. citizens in countries where the U.S. has erected military outposts, but whom have not been recognized as U.S. citizens. The plight of 'Amerasians' has been widely studied. But in Alma's case, her father legitimated her, brought her to the U.S., and she has lived in Macon, Georgia since she was 10 years old," said Hamilton.