A senior official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) yesterday advised undocumented and overstaying Filipinos in the United States to “keep a low profile” and work to legalize their stay as the Trump administration tightens immigration policies.
“Our advice is to keep as low a profile as possible and work for your legalization,” Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo Jose De Vega said in a news forum even as he assured Filipinos that the DFA will extend aid to those who will reach out to the Philippine Embassy or the consulates in the US.
He noted that President Donald Trump said he can work with Democrats about illegal aliens who are not “criminals and terrorists.”
“That means they will make legal means to encourage these productive overstaying aliens to be totally legalized. So, take advantage of that,” he added.
De Vega noted that all Filipinos, even if undocumented, traveled to the US with at least a visa in their possession.
“Everyone had a visa, it might just have expired. No one crossed without at least one document,” he said.
De Vega also said it is “almost impossible” that the estimated 300,000 Filipino illegals in the US could be deported by the end of the Trump administration.
During the first Trump presidency, De Vega said the US deported “only a few hundred or less” undocumented Filipinos every month, much less than the number during the Obama administration.
“Let’s see if by six months it balloons to thousands then there really is an increase. Let’s not conclude until we see the data in six to eight months,” he said.
He reiterated that the government is ready to respond should this planned mass deportation impact Filipinos.
He added that the government could easily tap the DFA Assistance-to-Nationals fund and the Department of Migrant Workers’ Aksyon (Agarang Kalinga at Saklolo para sa mga OFW na Nangangailangan) Fund.