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Seattle media is so busy advocating for a green card holder being detained at Sea-Tac Airport by federal officials that they’re not telling us what his “older, non-violent convictions” are actually for. Perhaps because the answer could tell us why he caught the federal government’s attention.

Maximo Londonio was returning from a family vacation in the Philippines, where he’s from, when he was detained for administrative proceedings by Customs and Border Protection. This is not the first time he’s been held up at the airport, though it’s the longest. He’s been detained since May 15, and the family is, understandably, concerned and distraught. His wife, Crystal, is a U.S. citizen, and Maximo is a green card holder.

“He’s respectable,” Crystal said through tears at a press conference this week. “He’s hard-working. He’s family-oriented. And he’s loving. He’s not violent.”

Seattle media outlets have taken her word for it, advocating for his release with favorable coverage of the family’s cause. But there’s been a stunning lack of curiosity on a key detail that would likely explain why Maximo was detained: his criminal history.

Two convictions for green card holder

Maximo has two convictions, according to Tanggol Migrante Network WA, a community group advocating for his release. For some reason, Seattle media outlets haven’t been curious enough to tell us what the convictions were for. They simply dismiss them as decades-old and “non-violent,” as if that absolves Maximo of consequences or scrutiny.

viewers learn of Maximo’s “two non-violent convictions from over 20 years ago,” one minute and 48 seconds into a two-minute report, after they set him up as a victim of a cruel immigration system. There are other similar television examples.

Is no television reporter interested in what the “old, non-violent convictions” are for? Were these non-violent misdemeanors or non-violent felonies? Shouldn’t the convictions actually matter? Non-violent felonies, for example, can run the gamut of first-degree theft, money laundering, and possession of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

If reporters were interested in pursuing these details, they’d at least reveal that they inquired and didn’t get an answer. However, they gloss over the specifics because their interest in the case is not about presenting objective news but picking sides.

The crimes matter

reported “nonviolent convictions from more than two decades ago, when he was a young adult, that were resolved,” though it eventually got into some details deep into the article.

Maximo pleaded guilty to grand theft and was sentenced to seven months in Santa Clara County jail. It remains unclear what the second conviction is for. The Tanggol Migrante Network WA did not respond to a question from “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH, but there may be a hint in a statement from CBP.

“Lawful permanent residency for foreign citizens in the United States is a privilege. Under federal immigration law, lawful permanent residents convicted of offenses considered to be crimes involving moral turpitude, can legally lose their status and be removed. CIMTs include crimes such as grand theft and use and/or distribution of controlled substances,” a statement read.

Maximo was let down by the people propping him up

CBP is, of course, correct: lawful permanent residency is a privilege that is given to foreign citizens who respect our laws. I don’t know if the details of Maximo’s case warrant his continued protected status. I trust the system will decide. But Maximo was let down by the very people propping him up.

Two convictions, nonviolent or violent, should have led to consequences sooner than 2025. Donald Trump wasn’t president during the first convictions, and this is a president who takes a harder line approach on immigration, precisely because of inaction from others.

Don’t like the hardline approach? You should have said something when our border was virtually wide open under President Joe Biden, instead of pretending there was no crisis. Maximo might not have caught anyone’s attention if this country didn’t ignore the border as millions of unvetted foreign nationals came here illegally as the media joined Biden in turning a blind eye.

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3 p.m.-7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason Rantz on ,Ìý,Ìý, and .