10,000 Filipinos affected by Trump’s new immigration policy

Manila — The Philippine government on Wednesday told Filipinos in the U.S. to brace for deportation after President Donald Trump cancelled an amnesty for undocumented immigrants relative to Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals or DACA. He announced on Tuesday that he is revoking the DACA program and gave the US Congress up to March 5, 2018 to come up with a law that would prevent the deportation of as many as 800,000 under the program, mostly from Latin America and about 10,000 from the Philippines.

“We will authorize with certain limitations the use of the Assistance to Nationals Fund and the Legal Assistance Fund to assist immigration-related cases such as those arising from the decision of President Trump to revoke the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals or DACA,” said Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alan Peter Cayetano. The Secretary was hoping that a legislative solution by US Congress can be found by March deadline. He warned, however, that those affected shoud likewise prepare for the worse. Chargé d’Affaires Patrick Chuasoto of the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C. said , ““The DACA program provides temporary legal status that allows qualified undocumented immigrant children from the Philippines and other countries to stay, study and work in the US,” Chuasoto said. There are 300,000 of 3.4 million Filipinos in the US that are undocumented.

The 2012 executive order on DACA program was issued by then President Barak Obama and was envisioned to protect undocumented immigrant children from deportation. The program does not lead to US citizenship but renewable every two years.