Click to expand Image Immigration Customs Enforcement processing center which consists of East and West wings, located in Adelanto, California on May 18, 2025. © 2025 Getty Images The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on September 21 detained Mark Mabasa, the 40-year old son of slain Philippine journalist Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa, who was shot to death in Metro Manila in October 2022. Mark Mabasa had received death threats in the Philippines following the murder of his father and had sought asylum in the US.Mabasa is being held at the Adelantado ICE processing center in California according to ICE’s website. He is scheduled for a hearing today, according to his uncle, Roy Mabasa, which falls on the eve of the fourth anniversary of Percy Lapid’s killing.The uncle told Human Rights Watch that his nephew went to the US in February 2023 and holds work authorization. Mark is a musician and performed in a show in Chicago earlier in September and was detained by ICE after he returned home to Los Angeles.The Philippine consulate in Los Angeles has carried out a welfare visit to check on Mark at the request of his family. The Philippine Ambassador to the United States, Jose Manuel Romualdez, told Human Rights Watch that the consulate is coordinating with the lawyers of the Mabasa family.The man allegedly responsible for the killing of Percy Lapid is Gerald Bantag, the former chief of Philippine corrections, who remains at large. Percy Lapid’s case is among 12 journalist killings in the Philippines in the four years since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office.The United Nations Human Rights Committee has stated that detaining an asylum seeker “in the absence of particular reasons specific to the individual, such as an individualized likelihood of absconding, a danger of crimes against others, or a risk of acts against national security” is arbitrary.Unless the US government can demonstrate lawful grounds for detention, authorities should release Mark Mabasa and ensure that his asylum application is examined fairly.