MANILA — Following U.S. President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigrants, concerned Filipino migrants denounced the ‘dehumanizing’ and ‘negligent’ conditions inside detention facilities of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as well as the lack of support from the Philippine government amidst the worsening cases of raids and arrests.

Crackdown on undocumented immigrants

Last January 29, President Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into law. It mandates the federal detention of illegal immigrants accused of theft, burglary, assaulting a law enforcement officer, and any crime that causes death or serious bodily injury.

Unfortunately, reports state that only 52% of the arrests made by ICE in the last couple of days were considered “criminal arrests,” while the rest appear to be nonviolent offenders or people who have not committed any criminal offense other than crossing the border illegally. 

Filipino advocates of Tanggol Migrante Network, a broad coalition of organizations in the US to ensure the defense of the Filipino community against the ongoing attacks against migrants, held a virtual press conference on February 5 to discuss the state of Filipino migrants in the US.

Community organizers in Chicago said that there is a critical urgency to develop networks to support migrant communities since the city had become “ground zero” for mass deportations.

The network added that a recent raid of a care home in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois included six Filipino caregivers, all of whom were detained and deported within 24 hours.

National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON USA) President Nerissa Allegretti said that the arrests were expedited with no warrants given, just how Trump wanted. “We want the Filipino government to take action. There’s a lot of nice reports from the newspapers. Compared to what we’re doing right now, there’s a disparity…I expect more from the Philippine government while we face this situation.”

“It is the responsibility of the Republic of the Philippines to take care of our kababayans who are deported back home,” Allegretti said, highlighting how migrants have been a big help in keeping the Philippine economy afloat through OFW remittances.

The press conference came a day after Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega stated that no undocumented Filipinos have been arrested under the Trump administration. However, information from the network showed how the recent deportees had already brought the total number of Filipinos deported under Trump to over 30 within his first two weeks in office.

Lester Ramos of Migrante USA said that they have been coordinating with Migrante International for instances where migrants are deported back to the Philippines. He also outlined the organization’s effort to help many overseas Filipinos and their families who have been neglected by the Philippine government.

“None of us should live in fear of being undocumented, if only we had better living wages in the Philippines,” he said.

Recently, overseas Filipino workers launched a worldwide campaign to call for a sound family living wage in the Philippines as a way to address the issues faced by migrant workers abroad.

Read: Overseas Filipino workers bat for ‘sound family living wage’ in the Philippines 

Neglect of the PH government

A testimony of Ligaya Jensen, a Filipino migrant who has been unjustly detained by ICE for over six years, was shared during the virtual conference. Ligaya is currently in Eloy Detention Center in Arizona, and is facing imminent deportation.

Through a phone call, Ligaya was able to share how there is an existing climate of anxiety that detainees face under the Trump administration.

“Every single day people are scared that their name will be called. We need to have some kind of empathy for our experiences, and know we are human beings too,” said Ligaya.

She also stated how people in ICE detention facilities are being held in tortuous conditions. Because of the massive number of arrests, space inside ICE detention facilities had reached 109% capacity with the agency holding close to 42,000 migrant detainees despite having only 38,521 bed capacity. 

Despite the Philippines having one of the largest overseas workers population in the world, the Marcos administration does nothing to protect Filipinos abroad, with Ligaya stating that the Philippine consulate has never visited her, checked on her, or provided her any form of support in her six years of detention despite having reached out to the consulate multiple of times.

“With the backdrop of US economic stagnation, Trump and his anti-migrant agenda will make the lives of our community very difficult if we do not fight back together,” said Migrante Interational in their statement.

“We continue to call for the release of Ligaya Jensen, Dhenmark Francisco, and Jovi Esperanza, Filipinos wrongfully detained by the US ICE,” Migrante said. (RTS, DAA)