THE government on Thursday vowed to help the Filipinos who will be affected by the possible revocation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allows undocumented immigrant children to stay legally in the United States.
An estimated 10,000 Filipinos could be deported as a result of Washington’s decision, the Foreign Affairs Department said.
“The Department of Foreign Affairs is closely coordinating with the Filipino community in the United States following President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would revoke the DACA program allowing undocumented immigrant children to stay legally in the US,” Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said.
“We will provide assistance to the Filipinos who may end up getting deported as a result of Washington’s decision,” he said.
The DACA program was covered by an executive order issued by President Barack Obama in 2012. It was envisioned to protect undocumented immigrant children from deportation.
Chargé d’Affaires Patrick Chuasoto of the Philippine Embassy in Washington, DC, said that while the program does not lead to US citizenship, it is renewable every two years.
About 310,000 of the 3.4-million Filipinos in the US are undocumented.
