A 76-year-old man with advanced prostate cancer has been detained by federal immigration officials for more than two months, causing him to miss several critical treatments, relatives and advocates said Monday. Loreto Javar, of Fife, Washington, has been held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma since he was taken into custody on June 23 during an interview for his U.S. citizenship application in Tukwila. The green card holder originally from the Philippines was detained despite several serious ailments, including stage 4 prostate cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to his daughter, Daisy Javar.
"I want him out today," Javar, 52, told Newsweek following a hearing Monday during which an immigration judge granted an extension in her father's case to September 20. But the delay will cause Javar to miss another appointment for his ongoing cancer treatment. Federal officials have also complicated his recovery with sporadic mealtimes while in custody, his daughter alleged.
"It's always late," she said. "He's getting medication and he needs to be eating on time. But the medications have been given on time, luckily." Javar said federal immigration officials detained her father during what had been expected to be a routine citizenship interview, alleging that he had been entrapped prior to his arrest.
"I think so, I really think so," she said. "They know already that he's coming ... it's true, now I'm thinking about that." Javar declined to discuss further details of what led to her father's ongoing detention, but court documents cited Monday by the Seattle Times indicate federal officials allege he was involved in an altercation in the 1970s in the Philippines that left one person dead. He told immigration officials during his arrest that he had served roughly three years in jail in the Philippines before being released on parole, the outlet reported.
"I just want them to treat people humanely," Javar told Newsweek. "It's inhumane how they treat people when they just grab them everywhere." Moe Cinco, an organizer for the Tanggol Migrante Movement, a grassroots organization advocating for Javar's immediate release, said the ailing elderly man will miss his third oncology appointment following Monday's extension. "He's been languishing in the detention center and separated from his cancer treatment," Cinco told Newsweek.
"And his next one is September 4, so we're really trying to get him released by then." The group is also calling on Philippine consulate officials in Seattle to immediately intervene on Javar's behalf and advocate for his release. Consulate officials have not responded to repeated requests for help by Javar's family, Cinco said. "The consulate has a duty to protect their national," he said.
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