Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez. Gabriel P. Lalu/ INQUIRER.net file photo
Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez is confident that Filipino migrants will be safe once President-elect Donald Trump enforces his campaign promise to conduct an unprecedented mass deportation of undocumented foreigners.
Romualdez told the Inquirer on Wednesday that most of the 200,000 undocumented Filipinos in the United States have already filed petitions for permanent residency status.
“In other words, they’re not illegal persons and besides, the Filipinos and the Filipino-Americans in the United States have a very good image (and are given) a very high regard. Most Americans appreciate the Filipino-American community here in the United States, that’s why I’m very proud of them,” Romualdez said in a phone interview.
READ: Trump’s mass deportation plan – and who wants to stop him
There are 4.3 million documented Filipinos in the United States and Romualdez said he is confident that Trump will not target them.
“We’re known for our nurses and our doctors are very much appreciated, so I don’t think they will be considered to be the bad kind of immigrants or illegal immigrants that I think (Trump) was alluding to or accusing as criminals,” Romualdez added.
Trump, during his bid for another shot at the White House, often made pronouncements of his plans to deport millions of immigrants once he becomes President again.
READ: What’s next for Fil-Am family petitions if Trump wins?
According to his running mate and Vice President-elect James David Vance, their incoming administration will deport about a million immigrants every year.
Should Filipinos in the United States be included in the mass deportation plan, geopolitical analyst and De La Salle University lecturer on international studies Don McLain Gill told the Inquirer that this can strain Washington’s people-to-people ties with Manila.
Challenging
“I believe that a uniform collective approach [to] mass deportation will be toned down once he sits down. Because right now, these are statements, right? So it’s a lot more challenging to operationalize them in real-time,” he noted.
Gill said that what Trump is more likely to do is slow down the immigration process or delay and limit family plans, which will affect aspiring overseas Filipino workers and eventually disturb relations between the two countries.
The Department of Foreign Affairs on Thursday congratulated Washington for the successful conclusion of its election that saw the defeat of Vice President and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
“The Philippines reaffirms its commitment to continue working with the United States to advance Philippines-US relations,” Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo said in a statement.
“I look forward to working with our counterparts in bringing our alliance to even greater heights under the administration of President-elect Donald Trump,” Manalo concluded.