MANILA (AsiaNews/Agencies): The Philippine Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said it was ready to assist 370,000 undocumented Filipinos living in the United States who might be deported following the election of Donald Trump as the new president.
The department is set to help with financial aid and job placement, but is also considering the possibility of sending workers to other countries, in particular Croatia, Slovenia, Germany, Hungary, and Japan.
According to Rappler, in order to meet its commitment, the Philippine government would have to find 18.5 billion pesos (over US$5 million) to ensure proper assistance for all.
Between 2014 and 2024, about 10,600 Filipinos were expelled from the US (a thousand per year on average), including some 3,500 during Trump’s first term in office [2017-2021].
The Philippine ambassador to the United States, Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez, issued an advisory urging undocumented Filipinos to leave the country voluntarily.
The department is set to help with financial aid and job placement, but is also considering the possibility of sending workers to other countries, in particular Croatia, Slovenia, Germany, Hungary, and Japan
Most Filipinos in the US are granted a regular work visa, but once it expires, many prefer to stay, often working illegally.
Undocumented migrants in the United States do not come only from Latin America. The latest data (2022) indicates that about 1.7 million out of 11 million are from Asia.
More than half are from India and China, followed by the Philippines, South Korea, Vietnam, Pakistan, Nepal, Thailand, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. In 2023-2024, 1,100 Indians were deported out of an estimated population at 725,000 undocumented Indian immigrants in 2022.
Unlike official immigration figures, data from US courts are more up-to-date. These show that applications by Indians for asylum jumped by 855 per cent between 2021 and 2023 (mostly from Gujarat), from 4,330 to 41,330.
As we celebrate the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines. The Chaplaincy to Filipino Migrants organises an on-line talk every Tuesday at 9.00pm. You can join us at:
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Last year, Indians represented the fifth-largest contingent of defensive asylum seekers after Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia, and Nicaragua. They were also the fifth-largest group to be granted asylum after Afghanistan, China, Venezuela, and El Salvador.
Between the autumn 2023 and spring 2024, more than 56,000 Chinese migrants crossed into the United States. In 2022, an estimated 375,000 undocumented Chinese lived in the United States, a figure that has probably increased due to China’s recent economic woes
Defensive cases involve individuals living in the United States without appropriate papers, or caught while trying to enter the country illegally. Affirmative asylum cases are initiated by the individuals themselves.
Between the autumn 2023 and spring 2024, more than 56,000 Chinese migrants crossed into the United States. In 2022, an estimated 375,000 undocumented Chinese lived in the United States, a figure that has probably increased due to China’s recent economic woes.
Between 2011 and 2022 alone, irregular Chinese immigration rose by more than 15 per cent (compared to 70.6 per cent for India) following a well-known route that takes migrants by plane from China to Ecuador and by road to the United States. In fact, some 13,000 Chinese arrived in Latin America in 2022, rising to 45,000 in 2023.
An estimate 110,000 undocumented South Koreans also lived in the United States in 2022, but their situation is completely different from that of economic migrants.
More than half are from India and China, followed by the Philippines, South Korea, Vietnam, Pakistan, Nepal, Thailand, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh
Many were adopted by US couples between the end of the Korean War in 1953 and the late 1980s, when South Korea was still ruled by a military dictatorship and adoptions took place without certifying that the children were orphans.
Amid a legislative vacuum, these children were never granted citizenship. In 2000 a law was approved that automatically naturalised children given up for adoption, but only if they were under 18-years-old, which excluded many South Korean-born children.
Presently, some 20 per cent of South Korean-born adults adopted in the last 60 years face deportation, people like Adam Crapser, who was forced to leave the United States in 2016, without any knowledge of Korean language and culture, and with two American children.
The legal battle he launched against the South Korean government in 2019 should reach a conclusion next January; meanwhile, it has brought to light the plight of hundreds of adoptees whose origins have been faked or concealed.
