The illegal entrants work low-paying jobs that Americans won’t take. With their TNT (tago nang tago) status, they are often abused by employers. They own no cars or credit cards. Astoundingly, however, they are able to send to the folks back home the bulk of overseas worker remittances to the Philippines.
Filipinos in America, including the illegal immigrants, account for $4.5 million of the $7 million transmitted through banks each year by overseas workers. The Bangko Sentral estimates that half of the $4-$5 million sent via personal courier also comes from Fil-Ams, again including the TNTs. This issue of money makes amnesty for them practicable for the US economy.
"Let’s face it, the US government can’t afford tosearch for, arrest and deport five million people,"California Fil-Am leader Manny Tiangha says. "It’s simply too expensive." Even with a conservative budget of $2,000 for each case, the US government would need $10 billion to send them all back to Manila.
It’s also physically impossible. US immigration officials can’t pin down the 50,000 or so identified illegal entrants, much more the five million others. There have been four planeloads of deportees in recent months, but those were of meek ones who chose to fight it out in court but lost. By their name, TNTs are adept at eluding detection.
Conversely, Tiangha asserts, the US economy would gain from granting amnesty to the illegal immigrants. An alumnus of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, Tiangha says legalizing them would flush them from the underground. They would start getting better jobs commensurate to their college degrees. ("They are among the best and the brightest in the Philippines," Tiangha says, "check out their resumes.") Then they’d open bank accounts, buy houses and stuff, pay taxes. The ripple effect could modestly spur a US economy now in doldrums.
Amnesty is a word uttered with great care in US officialdom. Congress, on prodding by the White House, had granted one in 1988, thus legalizing the stay of millions of immigrants, most of them Asians. But the illegal entries remained uncurbed, prompting officials to review if it was the result of amnesty or plain ineptitude.
President Vicente Fox of Mexico also is advocating softer terms for 20 million illegal entrants of the 40 million Central Americans in the US. Winning in 2000 on a campaign platform of getting a fair shake for Mexican emigrants, he immediately opened talks with US President George W. Bush for easier ways to remit their incomes to families back home. One out of every five Mexicans depends on the total $14.5 billion sent by kindly kin who’ve sneaked through the border. Mexico’s remittance income is bigger than its tourism and direct foreign investments, and second only to oil. Fox’s next step naturally was to egg the White House to explore ways for a general amnesty. Security concerns following the 9/11 terror attacks botched up the talks, however. Almost immediately the US shut its southern borders and clamped down on hundreds of Chicanos. US policy shifted from softening on immigrants to blocking illegal crossings.
Fox and Bush agreed last week in Bangkok, Thailand, during the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference summit, to resume the talks. They’ve come to realize that the stricter border patrols and inspections have not curbed illegal entries. Proof: Mexican foreign remittances increased steadily to $14 billion in 2002 from $9 billion in 2000. Initially, the two leaders will review how the project of former California governor Gray Davis fared in allowing Mexican illegal immigrants to secure driver’s licenses.
The Philippine government has long been lobbying for better benefits for veterans who fought under the US Armed Forces during World War II. But it’s unlikely it will follow Fox’s lead in exacting better terms for compatriots. A succession of administrations have come under severe criticism for encouraging emigration for foreign-currency remittances, instead of firing up the domestic economy for new jobs. At most, it will encourage dual citizenship under a new law in order to entice investments from Fil-Ams.
Tiangha believes that Philippine government help is unnecessary to push for amnesty for Filipino illegal immigrants. He says Fil-Am associations instead should work for it – on the issue of human rights. Despite a perceptible swing to the right by Washington in the wake of 9/11, Americans remain sensitive to giving individuals a fair shake. Immigration officers this week simultaneously raided dozens of Wal-Mart giant stores in 21 states, flushing out hundreds of illegal immigrants working as janitors and warehousemen. The operation wasn’t so much to arrest the workers than to expose how job subcontractors underpay them $2 per hour when the minimum wage is $5.40.
Problem with Tiangha’s proposition is that Filipinos in America, partly because of their great numbers in illegal immigrants, are disunited. Of the 7.5 million, two million are in California and another two million are in New York-New Jersey, regions where they forcefully can influence US official policy. But they don’t because they prefer to look not at Filipinos in general but at clans and regions.
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