Filipino-American activist Alma Bowman paused to take a breath 10 minutes into her speech about her 40-month stay in the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Ga., less than two hours south of Mercer's campus. The 59-year-old mother of two works alongside activist groups in Georgia to fight for the rights of migrants and undocumented residents after spending four years in the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency's custody. Bowman is one of 132,000 people awaiting immigration hearings in Georgia, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a non-profit data collection service . When her deportation order was filed in 2020, the service shows there were less than 50,000 open cases in the state. “No matter what, I'm gonna keep fighting human rights violations,” Bowman said to the group gathered in Stetson Hall on March 27. More than 20 people sat as Bowman told her stories about men sleeping on cell floors, pregnant women complaining of hunger, and detainees with diabetes battling high-salt diets. Mercer Filipino Student Association President Sophia Petallar ‘26 organized the event with Bowman to educate the Mercer community on iss
