Alma Bella Bowman v. Jason Streeval, Ladeon Francis, et al.
Alma Bella Bowman, a longtime Georgia resident and immigrants’ rights activist unjustly detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in March 2025, has filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia seeking her immediate release. This is the second time she has been detained by ICE—for almost four years, cumulatively—even though she has lived in Macon, Georgia, for nearly 50 years and is in all likelihood a U.S. citizen.
In her habeas petition, Alma is challenging her detention as a violation of her constitutional rights to free speech and due process, of a federal law prohibiting ICE from detaining U.S. citizens, and of ICE's own rules on when it is allowed to re-detain people and when it is required to release people who provide evidence that they are U.S. citizens.
She is represented by Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta and the Center for Constitutional Rights.
Filed
August 1, 2025
Status
Ongoing
Issues
Immigration Detention, Equal Protection, Derivative Citizenship
