Aquino support for undocumented Filipinos in US sought

President Benigno Aquino III. AP FILE PHOTO

LOS ANGELES – Filipino-American groups and immigrant rights advocates have urged President Aquino to apply for a temporary protected status (TPS) for undocumented Filipino citizens in the United States in the wake of typhoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan).

In a press conference here Wednesday (Dec. 5, Thursday, in Manila), leaders of various organizations representing Fil-Ams, lawyers, students and faith-based groups also announced a nationally coordinated effort to put pressure the US government to grant TPS to undocumented Filipinos.

TPS allows undocumented immigrants to live and work in the US if returning to their homeland would be unsafe due to conflict or national disaster. The Philippine government has yet to formally apply for TPS, a requirement for the process to begin.

Lolita Lledo, associate director of the LA-based Pilipino Workers Center (PWC) said that while the US has been providing relief assistance to the Philippines following typhoon Yolanda, “another way they can help is to limit the strain on (the country’s) resources by giving its nationals the TPS designation.”

Lledo described the TPS as a “temporary form of humanitarian aid” that would empower Filipinos here in the US to more effectively aid their home country. It would provide undocumented Filipinos protection from deportation and granted work authorization “so they can continue to send money back home.”

PWC executive director Aquilina Versoza cited the case of Haiti, which was granted TPS after the 2010 earthquake that left its capital in ruins. “That response can and should be repeated for the Philippines,” she said. Versoza estimated that 800,000 to 1 million Filipinos would be eligible for TPS.

TPS was also granted to Nicaraguans and Hondurans in the US after hurricane Mitch in 1998, to El Salvadorans in 2001 after a series of earthquakes, as well as to nationals of strife-torn Somalia, Sudan and Syria.

“We are calling upon the Aquino administration to formally request the US government to grant TPS (to Filipinos) immediately,” said a statement released at the press conference held in front of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) offices in LA.

The groups’ call has been supported by 20 senators, who recently signed a letter asking the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to grant TPS to Filipinos.

“Typhoon Haiyan has wrought unparalleled destruction and tragic loss of life in the Philippines,” the senators said in a letter to DHS Acting Secretary Rand Beers. “Victims of Typhoon Haiyan clearly meet the eligibility requirements for TPS, and we urge you to extend this designation as soon as possible.”

A “USCIS Stakeholder Update” emailed to the Washington DC-based Migrant Heritage Commission (MHC), said the DHS and other federal agencies have started reviewing requests for TPS.

Besides the 20 senators, at least 30 members of the US Congress and more than 150 national organizations, including the 13,000-strong American Immigration Lawyers Association, have supported the TPS campaign, according to lawyer Arnedo Valera, MHC co-executive director.

Several petitions supporting the campaign have produced tens of thousands of signatures, Valera added.