‘They are so heartless’

“My folks came to U.S. as immigrants, aliens, and became citizens. I was born in Boston, a citizen, went to Hollywood and became an alien.”

—Leonard Nimoy

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

SOME Filipinos in a community in Queens, New York City who support the proposed measure by the Biden administration to give legal status to an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants, including some Filipino TNTs (“Tago Ng Tago”) in the United States, have blasted their fellow Filipinos who earlier deplored President Joseph Biden’s proposal.

“They are so heartless,” boomed Federico Catindig, 48, a nursing assistant from Tanauan, Batangas who became a U.S. citizen in 2015. “Hindi na sila nahiya kapwa nila Pinoy dina downgrade nila (they have no shame at all. They downgraded their fellow Filipinos)!”

He was referring to the Filipino-Americans who questioned the Biden administration’s plan to pave the path to citizenship for the immigrants who are here in the U.S. illegally.

Catindig said some of the 11 million illegal immigrants who will be benefited if Congress will soon tackle and approve the measure before being signed by Mr. Biden to become a law, are his friends and compatriots.

Most of those 11 million were Latinos and Asians, it was learned.

“They (Pinoy illegal immigrants) are not drunkards and lazy contrary to what those heartless Fil-Ams had alleged. In fact, they are some of the most productive and talented Pinoys here in the US; and, by the way, they have been paying their taxes even if they didn’t have the green cards yet,” Catindig said.  

 

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“They (fellow Pinoys who spoke harshly against Mr. Biden’s immigration plan) are so cruel and motivated only by envy,” Bacolod-born Jeprey Libdan (not his real name), 43, a part-timer construction worker who overstayed his temporary visitor’s visa since 2013, said in vernacular.

“They think we are like useless people who decided to stay in the U.S. for no reason at all. They disregard the fact the we also have families to feed in the Philippines. We work hard and are also willing to pay taxes that’s why we want to legalize our status.”

Simproniano “Bebot” Recate, a born again Christian who assists illegal immigrants obtain temporary shelters and part-time jobs in Long Island, said “it’s too premature” to criticize Mr. Biden’s proposed immigration reform “because it is still a proposed bill and was not even debated yet in Congress.”

“They (fellow Pinoy critics) claim that walang trabaho ngayon sa Amerika dahil sa pandemic at hindi dapat e legalize ang mga 11 million immigrants dahil maraming citizens ang walang trabaho. Bakit nakakasiguro ba sila na kung maging batas na ang bill na pino-propose ni President Biden, may pandemic pa sa Amerika?” asked Recate, a former accountant in Makati, Metro Manila.

“Paano kung matapos na ang pandemic at bumalik na sa normal ang ekonomiya ng Amerika? (What if the pandemic will disappear and the U.S. economy will be back to normal?)”

The citizenship process in Mr. Biden’s plan would reportedly take as little as three years for some people, eight years for others. 

 

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It would reportedly make it easier for certain workers to stay in the U.S. temporarily or permanently, provide development aid to Central American nations in hopes of reducing immigration and move toward bolstering border screening technology.

Under the immigration bill that President Biden was expected to send to Congress, known as the U.S. Citizenship Act, undocumented immigrants would be given an eight-year path to citizenship if they pass background checks and prove they have paid taxes.

Andres Oppenheimer of the Miami Herald wrote the issue “would be anathema for Republican anti-immigration zealots. 

But here are the reasons why Biden may succeed, according to Oppemheimer: 

“First, Biden will enjoy a big advantage over former President Obama on immigration issues, because public opinion has changed in recent years. Polls show that most Americans may be ready for more pro-immigrant policies.

“Perhaps it’s because Americans have grown tired of former President Trump’s and Fox News’ constant demonization of undocumented immigrants. Or maybe enough Americans have been shocked by the Trump administration’s cruelty when they saw pictures of immigrant children kept in cages or learned about the separation of babies from their migrant parents.”

A Gallup Poll reportedly showed that Americans’ support for pro-immigration policies is at its highest level in half a century.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)