Officials say Loreto Javar failed to disclose a Philippines conviction from the 1970s when he applied for his 1995 visa
Loreto Javar, a 76-year-old Filipino permanent US resident with stage four prostate cancer, is reportedly being held at the Northwest ICE processing center in Tacoma, Washington, after federal immigration agents detained him during his citizenship interview in Tukwila, Washington, in June, according to The Guardian. Javar, who moved to the United States in 1995 and lives with his wife and daughter, was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in January. The Seattle Times reported the case, citing court documents it reviewed and interviews with Javar’s daughter and an ICE spokesperson.
ICE says Javar is ineligible to remain in the United States because he failed to disclose a criminal conviction in the Philippines when he originally applied for a visa to move to the US in 1995 and join his father, who was already living in the country as a US citizen. In a statement to the Seattle Times, an ICE spokesperson said the disclosure would have made Javar ineligible to enter the US at the time of his original application. “He is therefore ineligible to remain in the United States now,” the spokesperson said.
According to court documents reviewed by the Seattle Times, federal officials allege that Javar was involved in an altercation in the Philippines in the 1970s that left one person dead. Javar told officials at the time of his arrest in June that he had served about three years in jail in the Philippines before being released on parole, according to the documents.
Javar’s daughter, Daisy Javar, said her father had never told his family about the conviction before his detention by ICE. She said he has no criminal history in the United States and has renewed his green card several times without issue since moving to the US more than 30 years ago, including most recently in December. “He’s been following all the rules, paying his taxes, everything,” she told the Seattle Times. She also said Javar, a retired hotel worker, applied for US citizenship in November 2025, and that he obtained police clearance from the Philippines’ National Bureau of Investigation as part of securing his US visa at the time.
The Seattle Times reported that Javar is prescribed two oral medications, as well as other medications for conditions including high blood pressure. Daisy Javar said her father’s meals in detention were often delivered late, with lunch sometimes not served until 6pm and dinner at midnight, and that the delays complicated his medication schedule.
An online petition organized by the Filipino migrant advocacy group Tanggol Migrante Movement calling for Javar’s release says that before his detention he was actively receiving treatment for his stage four prostate cancer, but that the treatment was interrupted once he was taken into ICE custody. “So far, he has missed two oncology appointments that occur on the 4th of every month and has recently developed a blood clot in his stomach,” the petition states. According to the petition, the Seattle Philippine Consulate visited Javar and “promised to help him and provide him with $300 for his commissary, but they have yet to fulfill that promise.” The petition also accuses the Philippine government and its consulate of repeatedly failing to protect nationals who face detention, exploitation, abuse or deportation.
The case comes amid the Trump administration’s broader deportation enforcement. The president and his allies said the effort would mainly target “violent criminals” and the “worst of the worst.” An analysis by The Guardian of government records found that the vast majority of people who entered deportation proceedings for the first time during the first year of Trump’s second presidency had no criminal conviction. A poll taken by PBS News, National Public Radio and Marist after immigration agents killed US citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis in January found that Americans largely disapproved of ICE, the pollsters said, with 62% of those surveyed saying they believed ICE had gone too far in enforcing the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.