Donald Trump dances at the end of a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, October 27, 2024. Angela Weiss, AFP/FileMANILA (UPDATE) — The Philippine Embassy in the US urged Filipinos illegally staying in the country to reach out to their offices as President Donald Trump begins his administration's crackdown on illegal aliens.

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According to Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez, some 350,000 Filipinos are illegally staying in the US. 

"The major concern is those who have been here for many, many years and already have families, jobs and everything. But as I said, there are certain rights that many will have and that's why we're asking many groups from Fil-Am community that are prepared to have some good advice on how to proceed on taking a legal path. These are the people who would like to help," Romualdez told ANC's Headstart. 

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"Yung mga nandito na for 10 years, nagtatrabaho na, they have established themselves….yun meron pang pag-asa for permanent status," he added.

Trump began his second term in office with a series of announcements intended to drastically reduce the number of migrants entering the United States. He vowed to immediately halt "all illegal entry" and begin the process of deporting "millions and millions of criminal aliens."

Given Trump's directive, Romualdez admitted that illegal Filipino aliens who have had criminal records may be in danger of getting deported. 

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"I think it is those with criminal records or those who have totally ignored the idea of even filing to try to become legally here in US, those are the people na namemligro at pwedeng, they can be deported. The advice is simple, do what is correct because that is the only way you will have peace of mind," he said.

"Yung mga bagong dating dito, yung overstaying na pumunta dito as a tourist, medyo mahihirapan sila dahil they were already closing that door," Romualdez added.

According to Romualdez, Trump's first set of executive orders was expected to face some legal challenges, which may derail its implementation.

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Among them was Trump's order eliminating the automatic granting of citizenship to anyone born on US soil, a right guaranteed by the 14th Amendment of the country's constitution.

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"Marami nang nag-pa-file, they're suing that because nasa Constitution nila yan... I think it will take some time. Pagka executive order, it depends on how things go quickly," the Philippine Ambassador noted.

Meanwhile, Romualdez said the embassy is working to set a face-to-face meeting between Trump and President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. "soon."—With a report from Agence France-Presse

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