The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ripped corporate media Friday over how it reported the arrest of 58-year-old Alma Bowman, telling the Daily Caller News Foundation that labeling Bowman an “immigration activist” is dishonest.
Reports of Bowman’s detention surfaced in May, with Atlanta News First covering her arrest and outlets like the Georgia Recorder labeling her an “immigrant activist.” Bowman had been detained in March after a routine check-in at ICE’sAtlanta field office, with the outlet noting her permanent residency was revoked over a $1,200 bad check conviction.
While the outlet reported Bowman paid back the debt, her record shows four forgery charges and a 2013 narcotics charge for methamphetamine possession. According to the Macon Telegraph, she pleaded guilty in 2013 to forgery, one count of meth possession and three counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
“Alma Bowman is a seasoned criminal illegal alien who has spent decades engaging in illicit activity and victimizing Americans. Her record includes multiple felony convictions for forgery, fraud and possession of methamphetamines as well as multiple drug and weapons possession charges,” ICE told the DCNF.
“These offenses are not isolated incidents but part of a long pattern of dishonesty and exploitation,” ICE added. “Bowman’s actions have harmed individuals, businesses, and communities, yet the media ignores the actual victims impacted by this illegal alien’s crimes.”
At the time of her 2013 conviction, Bowman reportedly discovered she was a lawful permanent resident of the U.S., not a citizen. According to the Georgia Recorder, she was transferred in 2017 to federal immigration custody, where she remained until her release in 2020.
Following her time in ICE custody at the Irwin County Detention Center, Bowman became a key witness in 2020 after coming forward with claims that a doctor at the facility had been performing non-consensual gynecological procedures on immigrant women. Bowman also advocated for Congress to pass the Equal Citizenship for Children Act, which seeks to provide children born to a parent who is or has become a U.S. citizen with automatic acquisition of citizenship.
Since then, Bowman was required to attend routine check-ins at ICE’s Atlanta field office, but she was detained during one in March and sent to a detention facility in South Georgia, the outlet reported.
During her arrest, Bowman was accompanied by a family member and her lawyer, Samantha Hamilton, while supporters rallied outside in her defense.
“They said that they were going to take Alma to a separate room to get fingerprinted,” Hamilton told the outlet. “But what she says happened was that they immediately took her out of that waiting room, into the elevator and downstairs onto an SUV, where they promptly drove her to the Stewart Detention Center.”
Reports indicate Bowman’s father Lawrence Bowman was a U.S. Navy serviceman from Illinois who was stationed in the Philippines, where she was born in 1966. At age 10, Bowman and her family moved back to the U.S. and have lived in Macon, Ga., since.
Hamilton has claimed ICE is violating its own policies — specifically ICE Policy 16001.2 — which outlines procedures for handling individuals who may have a claim to U.S. citizenship, according to Newsweek.
“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,” Hamilton told Newsweek in May.
Hamilton did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
(Featured Image Media Credit: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Creative Commons/Flickr)
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