Did you arrive in the US before January 1, 2021?

 “Our immigration policy should be based in compassion and a desire to help the other.”

—Ilhan Omar

 

By Alex P. Vidal 

 

HERE’S “good” news for those who arrived in the United States before January 1, 2021 and have lost their legal status after overstaying their temporary visitor’s visa.

The date is so important because so many of our non-immigrant friends who left the U.S. before the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) hullabaloo and intended to go back but failed because of the pandemic-induced restrictions and travel bans last year, have been burning the lines trying to get the latest updates from us here in New York City on the Biden administration’s much-publicized “amnesty” program for undocumented immigrants.

The “magic” date turns out to be January 1, 2021 in as far as who can be qualified and who can not is concerned.

The latest is that Democrats in the House of Representatives have introduced a comprehensive immigration reform bill crafted around the priorities President Joseph Biden articulated on his first day in office, including a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the US, including Filipinos known as “TNT” (Tago Ng Tago).

The centerpiece of the bill is reportedly a provision that would allow undocumented immigrants to obtain legal status and, eventually, citizenship.

The process would take at least eight years. To qualify, immigrants would have had to be physically present in the US on or before January 1, 2021, unless granted a waiver on humanitarian grounds.

 

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Known as the US Citizenship Act of 2021, the long-anticipated bill, presented on February 18, would mark the most sweeping reform of the US immigration system since 1986, if passed.

It would also be a rebuke of former President Donald Trump’s nativist agenda.

The centerpiece of the bill is an eight-year path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who arrived in the US prior to January 1, 2021. 

It also includes provisions that would address the underlying causes of migration, expand the number of available visas and green cards, invest in technology and infrastructure at ports of entry on the border, remove obstacles to asylum, and shore up protections for immigrant workers.

Nicole Narea, who broke the news for Vox, disclosed that 

“noticeably absent from the bill are provisions that would promote the kind of border security and interior enforcement measures that Republicans have long sought.”

“For example,” Narea  explained, “previous Republican proposals would have boosted funding for the construction of the border wall, made it a crime to be present in the US without authorization, and required children to be indefinitely detained together with their parents while they faced deportation proceedings.”

Some Republicans have reportedly warned the bill would “return to the radical left-wing policies that will incentivize illegal immigration and promote an unending flood of foreign nationals into the United States.”

“But Democrats have so far been reluctant to say they are willing to bargain with Republicans on beefing up border security beyond modernizing ports of entry or narrowing the bill’s legalization provisions,” Narea emphasized.

Initially, immigrants would be able to obtain a work permit and travel abroad with the assurance that they would be permitted to reenter the US. 

 

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After five years, they could apply for a green card if they pass background checks and pay taxes. 

Immigrants covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and Temporary Protected Status, as well as farmworkers, would be able to apply for green cards immediately, however.

After holding their green card for three years and passing additional background checks, they could apply for US citizenship.

Narea explained further: “The impact of such legislation cannot be overestimated: It could potentially bring millions of people out of the shadows.”

Among other reforms to the legal immigration system, the bill notably includes a provision to prevent presidents from issuing categorial bans on immigration.

It would also reportedly remove barriers to family-based immigration, including lengthy visa backlogs and employment-based green cards, which have been relatively inaccessible for workers in lower-wage industries.

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

 

‘No to legal status for 11 million illega immigrants’

“My fellow Americans, we are and always will be a nation of immigrants. We were strangers once, too.”

—Barack Obama

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

NOT all Filipinos in America are enthusiastic and supportive of U.S. President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s plan to grant legal status to an estimated 11 million undocumented aliens or illegal immigrants, including some Pinoy TNTs (“Tago Nag Tago”) now living in the United States.

“Bad timing yan. Marami ang walang trabaho ngayon sa Amerika dahil sa pandemic. Paano naman ang mga citizens na walang trabaho kung idadagdag pa ang mga illegal immigrants sa labor market? (It’s bad timing. Many American citizens nowadays are unemployed because of pandemic. What will happen to these unemployed citizens if the illegal immigrants will be added in the labor market?),” protested Eduardo, 63, former branch manager of a remittance company in Malolos, Bulacan, who lives in Jackson Heights, Queens in New York City.

“Pasikat lang yan si (President Joseph) Biden. Hindi siya susuportahan ng mga Republicans sa isyu na yan. Dapat e propose nia yan sa huling taon ng term nia. Hindi naman ito urgent eh. (President Biden only wanted to look good, but the Republicans will not support him on this issue. He should have proposed this in the last year of his term since this isn’t an urgent matter),” quipped Ruben, 70, a retired commercial inter-state truck driver, who lives in the same New York City neighborhood.

 

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“Napaka unfair naman yan sa mga may papel na at matagal na nagbabayad ng tax dito. Bigla na lang magka papel sila eh karamihan sa kanila mga lasinggero naman at tamad mag trabaho. Dumaan muna sila sa proseso. Huwag yung short cut lang.(It is so unfair for those who are legal residents who have been paying taxes. Many of these illegal immigrants are drunkard and lazy. They should go through the process first and not to short cut their way here),” bewailed Arnulfo, 62, an independent contractor from Corona, Queens.

“Hindi naman maipasa kaagad yan. Dadaan pa yan sa congreso at doon palang marami ang kokontra diyan. Majority nga ang mga Democrats sa congreso pero hindi naman sila lahat papayag diyan. Sa social security lang at health services magka problema na. (The bill will not be passed immediately as many lawmakers will oppose it. Although the Democrats control the congress, not all of them will favor it as it will cause problems to the social security and health services),” enthused Albert, 49, a hospital worker who acquired his citizenship in 2016.

Democrats control the House of Representatives, but by a narrower margin than in the previous Congress.

The challenges in the divided Senate are already on display as Democrats and Republicans negotiate the terms of their power-sharing agreement. 

These reactions from pessimistic and downbeat Filipino-Americans in our community here came a day after President Biden made the opening salvo in his first day in office on January 20: an immigration bill he said he would introduce in Congress that would open a path to citizenship for roughly 11 million people living in the country illegally.

 

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The Biden administration described its package as “a common-sense approach to modernizing and restoring humanity to the immigration system after four years of President Trump’s systematic crackdown on both legal and illegal immigration.”

The U.S. Citizenship Act, which Mr. Biden sent to Capitol Hill on Inauguration Day, offers an eight-year road map to citizenship for the estimated 11 million immigrants in the United States without legal status.

If approved, it would prioritize three categories of people to immediately receive green cards: farm workers, those with temporary protected status and beneficiaries of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known as “Dreamers,” who were brought to the U.S. as children.

To qualify, immigrants must have entered the U.S. no later than Jan. 1, with some exceptions.

Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s top Republican, reportedly sought assurances that the Senate will retain the filibuster.

Another Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas tweeted earlier before Biden was sworn in that the new president was “wasting no time trying to enact his radical immigration agenda.”

Cotton called the bill “total amnesty” with “no regard for the health or security of Americans, and zero enforcement.”

Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who was involved in bipartisan immigration reform talks in 2013 before ultimately abandoning the effort, called Mr. Biden’s bill a “non-starter” in a statement this week.

Republican Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin said he had “reached out to half a dozen Republicans on immigration and they’ve been open to the conversation.”

Democrats could have more success with narrower immigration measures tied to must-pass spending bills or pandemic relief packages than trying to attract Republican support for a broad bill, said Frank Sharry, executive director of the pro-immigrant America’s Voice.

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

Papers to prepare for Biden’s ‘amnesty’ for all Pinoy TNTs

“Every single immigrant we have, undocumented or documented, is a future American. That's just the truth of it.”

—Junot Diaz

 

By Alex P. Vidal 

 

I HAVE written this in the past and I am writing this again: Filipinos with expired temporary visitor’s visa, among other expired non-immigrant visas and passports who have been staying in the United States as TNT (“Tago Ng Tago”) along with some 11 million undocumented immigrants from other countries, should prepare for a possible amnesty program under the Biden-Harris administration.

This has been “long-overdue” and was first championed by former President Barack Obama, but failed after the Republican-dominated congress did not support him.  

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., who defeated President Donald Trump, 302-232, in the November 3 election, had promised to undertake comprehensive immigration changes even during the campaign period.

The Democratic Party former vice president who will assume as the United States’s 46^th president noontime on January 20, 2021, has said that on his first day as president he will produce comprehensive immigration legislation that creates a pathway to citizenship for 11 million migrants living in the U.S. illegally. 

It would also provide a pathway to citizenship for people commonly known as DREAMers, many of them Filipinos, who are part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Mr. Biden has additionally pledged to make the DACA program permanent on his first day in office, a move that comes after years of Trump administration attempts to rescind the program.

 

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The 78-year-old President-elect is also expected to stop family separation at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The president-elect has vowed to stop the practice of separating immigrant families trying to enter the U.S. from Mexico. 

On Day 1 as president, Mr. Biden has said he plans to pass an executive order establishing a task force focused on reuniting children and parents separated at the border.

Within the first 100 days of his administration, Biden says he wants to reform the U.S. asylum system and the treatment of people at the border with Mexico, specifically calling for a stop to the Trump administration's Migrant Protection Protocols as well as to the policy of "metering" asylum cases.

The president-elect also pledges to take away funding toward continued construction of a wall along the southern U.S. border. 

But Mr. Biden says he wouldn't take down parts of the wall that have already been built.

The president-elect's immigration plan also would increase government supervision over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as Customs and Border Protection, calling for the need to hold personnel "accountable for inhumane treatment." 

This comes as a whistleblower complaint was filed in September concerning medical conditions at a Georgia immigrant detention center.

 

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DOCUMENTS TO PREPARE. According to prominent immigration lawyer Michael J. Gurfinkel, who happened to share our optimism about the amnesty program for undocumented immigrants under the Biden-Harris administration, Pinoy TNTs should prepare the following papers: 

1. Your current, unexpired passport and the passport you originally entered the US on.

2. Entry documents, such as your entry visa and I-94. If you entered the US under a different/assumed name, that would still be considered an “entry.”

3. Identity documents, including your birth certificate, state ID or driver’s license. If you have US citizen children, their US birth certificates or proof of immigration status.

4. Docs showing your continuous presence in the US from the date you arrived until the present. 

Previous amnesties required people to demonstrate they were in the US before a certain date, and remained in the US continuously since then. 

There are lists of the types of documents USCIS would accept to document your continuous presence in the US.

5. Documents on your US immigration history, including all petitions filed for you, applications, other filings, denials, records of any deportation/removal proceedings, etc. 

It is important to obtain these documents, to determine and evaluate a person’s current immigration status and to determine if any of the reforms or proposals could apply to them.

If the person no longer has their records (they threw them out, moved and lost track of them, etc.), there are ways to obtain their complete immigration file from DHS.

6. Documents relating to any criminal matters. Were you ever charged, arrested, tried or pled guilty to any crime? It’s important to determine what those crimes were and the effect they would have on a person’s immigration status and eligibility. 

Sometimes, a conviction for a particular crime would make a person ineligible for immigration benefits, even if there are reforms or amnesties. 

Sometimes it’s possible to go back to state court and have the criminal matter or sentence modified to lessen the immigration consequences.

“These documents are useful not only in connection with possible future immigration reforms and changes, but are important when applying for current immigration benefits as well,” Gurfinkel wrote in his website.

“That’s why a person should already consult with an attorney in preparation for possible reforms (just like a person might go to a doctor for a ‘checkup’ in connection with a possible future surgery). It doesn’t mean you’re going to be ‘operated on’ right now, just like you would not be filing right now. But it is best to already gather appropriate documents and determine eligibility and possible issues/problems in your case in preparation for these reforms.”

(The author, who is now based in New York City, was a former editor of two dailies in Iloilo, Philippines)

 

 

Filipino ‘TNTs’: Biden is our last hope

“We are a country where people of all backgrounds, all nations of origin, all languages, all religions, all races, can make a home. America was built by immigrants.” —Hillary Clinton

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

EXCITED by the prospect that some 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States might soon be given a pathway to permanent residency and eventually American citizenship, some Filipino TNTs (“Tago Ng Tago”) in New York City with expired visa and passports have started to connect with the Philippine Consulate.

Ruel, 42, a bar tender in Woodhaven, Queens, disclosed his appointment with the Philippine Consulate on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan “has been confirmed on December 8, 2020.”

The RP Consulate, now headed by Consul General Peronila P. Garcia, has required an appointment starting June, 29, 2020 for the following services: Assistance to Nationals (ATN), Legalization/Notarials, Overseas Voting Registration, Passport Application and Pick Up, Travel Document, and SSS.

“At last, I was able to get a slot after several attempts (online),” averred Ruel, a former employee of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Cagayan de Oro City in the Philippines.  

Ruel and three other fellow TNTs—Marlon, 54; Rosendo, 37; Michael, 48, have been trying to book for an appointment with the RP Consulate online since August to renew their passports which expired in 2018.

 

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Michael was lucky to pick a slot on December 18, 2020, while Marlon and Rosendo couldn’t get an appointment as of November 9 due to the volume of applicants online.

They were inspired by a “tip” from an employee of a Latino immigration law office in Jackson Heights that “President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. might help illegal immigrants become U.S. citizens through legislation.” 

Mr. Biden had vowed to “send a bill to congress” to help the illegal immigrants saying he was confident to clinch a bipartisan support from the senate, which is expected to be dominated by the Republicans.

The tipster exhorted them to also “start paying your taxes (even if they are undocumented).” In case of amnesty, those who pay taxes and with valid passports might be given the priority, according to the tipster.

“(President-elect) Biden is our last hope,” beamed Ruel, a father of two, who overstayed his visitor’s visa in 2014. “I miss my family (in the Philippines) and I hope I can go home soon.”

Ruel, Marlon, Rosendo, and Michael said they are excited and confident to secure their new passports by January 2021 “before the inauguration of (President-elect) Biden.” 

More than 40 million people living in the U.S. today were born in another country, accounting for about one-fifth of the world’s migrants, according to Abby Budiman of Pew Research Center.

The population of immigrants is also very diverse, with just about every country in the world represented among U.S. immigrants.

The U.S. foreign-born population reached a record 44.8 million in 2018. Since 1965, Budiman explained, when U.S. immigration laws replaced a national quota system, the number of immigrants living in the U.S. has more than quadrupled. 

 

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“Immigrants today account for 13.7 percent of the U.S. population, nearly triple the share (4.8 percent) in 1970,” Budiman added. “However, today’s immigrant share remains below the record 14.8 percent share in 1890, when 9.2 million immigrants lived in the U.S.”

Not all lawful permanent residents choose to pursue U.S. citizenship. Those who wish to do so may apply after meeting certain requirements, including having lived in the U.S. for five years. 

In fiscal year 2019, about 800,000 immigrants reportedly applied for naturalization. 

The number of naturalization applications has reportedly climbed in recent years, though the annual totals remain below the 1.4 million applications filed in 2007.

“Generally, most immigrants eligible for naturalization apply to become citizens. However, Mexican lawful immigrants have the lowest naturalization rate overall,” Budiman disclosed. 

Language and personal barriers, lack of interest and financial barriers are among the top reasons for choosing not to naturalize cited by Mexican-born green card holders, according to a 2015 Pew Research Center survey.

The same survey showed Mexico is the top origin country of the U.S. immigrant population. In 2018, roughly 11.2 million immigrants living in the U.S. were from there, accounting for 25 percent of all U.S. immigrants. The next largest origin groups were those from China (6 percent), India (6 percent), the Philippines (4 percent) and El Salvador (3 percent).

By region of birth, immigrants from Asia combined accounted for 28 percent of all immigrants, close to the share of immigrants from Mexico (25 percent). 

Other regions make up smaller shares: Europe, Canada and other North America (13 percent), the Caribbean (10 percent), Central America (8 percent), South America (7 percent), the Middle East and North Africa (4 percent) and sub-Saharan Africa (5 percent).

(The author, who is now based in New York City, is a former editor of two dailies in Iloilo, Philippines)

 

Pinoy workers ‘fearful’ of a Trump win invest in jewelry

“Will the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewelry.”

—John Lennon

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

FEARING their being “TNTs” (Tago Ng Tago) will again be reopened in heated anti-illegal immigration crackdowns once President Donald Trump will be reelected in the November 3 U.S. Presidential Election, some Filipino workers have started placing “hard-earned” money into a “safe investment”: gold jewelry.

“It’s fine if (Democratic Party candidate Joseph) Biden will win. We know he won’t run after the undocumented aliens. But if President Trump will be reelected, the ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) will once again chase us like rats,” feared Richie, 44, a dishwasher in an Asian restaurant in Queens, New York City.

ICE has mission to protect America from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration that threaten national security and public safety.

Richie, a former bible scholar in Lumban, Laguna, converted some of the cash he earned since working “under-the-table” in 2016 into a box of gold jewelry.

“If I will be deported (if President Trump would be reelected), at least all my hard-earned money are secured in my body,” Riche said in jest.

He went on a shopping spree and chalked up a total of $18,000 (P880,000) worth of gold necklaces, bracelets, and rings in August and September in at least three modest borough pawnshops.

 

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Richie emptied his savings and sent the cash to his family in the Philippines a month before Mr. Trump, 74, will attempt to win a pandemic-laced reelection bid against a 77-year-old challenger penciled to lead the Democratic Party juggernaut and change the political atmosphere in America based on the recent polls.

“I always think two steps ahead,” gushed Richie, a psychology graduate before becoming a part-time pastor in Laguna. “President Trump will be more motivated and emboldened to hunt down the illegal immigrants once he will be reelected like what he did during his win in 2016. It’s a promise he made to his base during the campaign.”

Armando, 51, of Murcia City, Negros Occidental, cajoled Richie to “secure your money” by investing in jewelry since Richie couldn’t open a bank account.   

Armando left the Philippines nine years ago and is now a TNT like Richie.

He wears an 18-k gold necklace worth $6,000 (P294,000) and owns three other 22-k gold necklaces he kept in his apartment. 

Armando purchased the jewelry from his earnings while working as a “bodega” chief in a private warehouse in Flushing. 

“If I will be deported, at least I have money to start a small business (in the Philippines),” said Armando, who grew up outside the neighborhood of Murcia public market.

 

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Armando and Richie were able to convince another friend, a 46-year-old former public school teacher in Digos in Mindanao, who now works as a caregiver, to also dabble in jewelry investment.

The former school teacher targeted a white gold necklace worth $2,400 (P118,000) for his “first investment.”

“This is a good start,” he hissed.

Armando, Richie, and the former school teacher, were among the overstaying aliens who had been “alerted” in February 2017, or three months after Mr. Trump’s conquest of Hillary Clinton, where the newly elected Republican president had made a pre-election promise to deport illegal immigrants if he won the race to the White House.

Only those with criminal records, however, were nabbed during a series of ICE raids conducted mostly in Jackson Heights and Roosevelt Avenue where Richie and hundreds of TNTs were staying and working.

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