More than 25,000 undocumented Filipinos deported from US over past 25 years

FILE PHOTO (Photo from Ethnic Media Services)

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Over the past 25 years, 25,300 undocumented Filipinos have been deported from the United States, according to statistics compiled by researchers using the Freedom of Information Act to obtain the numbers from the US Department of Homeland Security.

Of this number, approximately 3,300 have been charged as felons, 3,700 have been charged with other crimes and 723 have crossed the border without inspection.

Twelve have been charged with national security violations and one Filipino has been charged with terrorism.

The number of undocumented Filipinos deported for the past 25 years represent only about .02 percent of the total removal cases within that period.

Currently, there are 1,218 Filipinos facing removal out of the total 3.7 million ongoing cases. Most of them come from California, Illinois, New York and New Jersey.

Of this number, 185 are facing serious charges. The rest – more than two-thirds of Filipinos facing deportation proceedings – have overstayed their visas.

Going by historical numbers, one-third of Filipinos in removal proceedings will receive deportation orders. About one-tenth will voluntarily depart.

One-third will win their cases outright, and about a quarter will have their cases dismissed for reasons ranging from insufficient government paperwork, prosecutorial discretion to drop the case or out-of-the box relief, such as marriage to a citizen or having a US citizen adult child in the military.

America is a country where the constitution guarantees due process under the law, so there are layers of  appeals in such cases.

I get that people are scared, but no matter how you run the numbers, the US government cannot deport all the undocumented immigrants within our lifetime, and not within one presidency.

These immigrants can fight their cases. I have multiple cases dating from the 1990s. Removal is not fast, and without prioritization, President-elect Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan will actually backfire.

Putting 20 million people into a system that can only handle 200,000 new cases and 100,000 deportations per year? The math doesn’t work.

Undocumented immigrants should be prepared, not scared.

A good case will still win and a bad case will still lose no matter who sits in the White House.

It’s the borderline cases with complications that can go either way depending on government discretion.

For those seeking a pathway out of the shadows, the most important thing to do is tell the truth. They don’t need to volunteer information not asked for, but they must answer all questions truthfully.

Misrepresentation of facts can permanently block their path to legal status and kill their American dreams.

Jath Shao is a Filipino American immigration lawyer who helps people achieve their American dreams. A native of Binondo, the world’s oldest Chinatown, he now lives in Cleveland with his wife, son, and their dog, who like Jath, was born in Manila and came to the US as an immigrant. Visit shaolawfirm.com or follow @attorneyjath on social media to learn more about US immigration.

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