Deportation paused for man held in WA who lost toe in ICE custody

A federal judge has temporarily barred the deportation of Greggy Sorio, a green card holder from the Philippines who experienced serious medical issues while detained for months at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma and was facing imminent removal.

U.S. District Judge Tiffany Cartwright granted a temporary restraining order Monday prohibiting Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials from removing Sorio from the country or transporting him outside of the Western District of Washington’s jurisdiction. The order expires Dec. 22, unless extended.

Sorio, 37, was set to be deported to the Philippines on Saturday night when he was pulled off the flight last minute by airline officials due to his medical condition. Still facing the threat of removal, Sorio filed a habeas corpus petition and request for a temporary restraining order in federal court Monday night.

Sorio is not challenging the deportation order, but “seeks release from custody to permit him to attend his future doctor’s appointment and receive adequate medical attention,” according to his petition.

“We’ll be spending this time now to really make sure he gets the medical attention and medical care he is desperately in need of,” said Troy Osaki, one of the legal advocates working on behalf of Sorio, in a news conference Monday night.

Filipino community activists and health care workers have in recent weeks staged protests outside the ICE facility in Tacoma against Sorio’s deportation, demanding he receive adequate medical care. They have also been calling on the Philippine Consulate to step in and better advocate for Sorio’s well-being.

For months, Sorio was anemic and passing blood in his stool before he was brought to St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma in late October, his attorney Louise Carhart said. There, doctors diagnosed him with tachycardia, ulcerative colitis and osteomyelitis, according to his petition.

Sorio also developed a bone infection so dire physicians had to amputate one of his toes. He was eventually released from the hospital in mid-November “with eleven medications and instructions to continue wound care on his amputations and return in six weeks,” according to his petition. Carhart noted Sorio now uses a wheelchair.

In early October, an immigration judge ordered Sorio to be deported, ICE records show. The agency denied Sorio’s request to stay his removal due to exceptional medical need on Saturday.

In her order, Cartwright said Sorio showed “imminent, irreparable harm” was likely to occur before attorneys for the federal government and the Northwest ICE Processing Center could respond in court to his request for a temporary restraining order.

She also found Sorio presented at least some evidence “on the merits of his claims that his lack of adequate medical care amounts to a violation of the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process clause.”

Advocates, human rights organizations and government agencies have for years called attention to poor conditions at the Tacoma detention center. People who’ve been held there report having limited access to basic hygiene supplies like soap; dirty uniforms and underwear; and long wait times for medical care. Inspections in recent years by federal agencies have also identified issues, including medical understaffing, inconsistent preventive health screenings and long-expired food.

Sorio is originally from Lingayen, Pangasinan province, and came to the U.S. on a green card in 2007, Carhart said. She said his partner and two children, all of whom are U.S. citizens, live in Alaska.

Known in the community as Kuya G — Tagalog for “Big Brother G” — Sorio had finished serving prison time in Alaska when he was arrested by ICE officials this year and transferred to the Tacoma detention center.

Sorio was arrested in 2023 and pleaded guilty to recklessly causing injury to another person the following year. He was convicted of reckless injury in 2010, reckless endangerment in 2016 and fourth-degree assault in 2017. He was also convicted of burglary in 2019, an offense that was serious enough to put him in jeopardy of losing his green card, Carhart said.

“It’s not like we were saying he wasn’t convicted of these things or there wasn’t a judicial decision … we just wanted to get him health care,” Carhart previously told the Seattle Times.