US: Pinoys in government watchlist

A number of Filipinos are on the US government’s lookout list, although the US Embassy does not consider them as generally high-risk.

The US Embassy said about 6.4 million individuals have been placed in the lookout list following last year’s Sept. 11 terrorist attack on New York and the Pentagon.

Filipinos in general are not considered as high-risk, according to Consul General David Donahue, who said the lookout list is among the measures which the US government has taken to thwart terrorists.

Donahue said there are about eight to 12 million undocumented aliens in the US, which includes Filipinos, but that no exact figures are available.

On the other hand, First Secretary Christopher Rowan, non-immigrant visa unit chief, said there are Filipinos in the lookout data base but that he cannot reveal names.

"We have issued over 170,000 non-immigrant visas and over 30,000 immigrant visas in Manila alone since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks," he said.

The list of suspicious persons came from the National Crime Information Center, an organization within the Federal Bureau of Investigation which keeps track of people with criminal records.– Delon