MANILA — Members of the Filipino community in Washington state in the US are calling on the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco to lay out concrete steps it is taking to assist Filipinos facing deportation and other immigration issues.

In an open letter, Migrante Seattle and Migrante sa University of Washington Medical Center said it would bring these issues to the consulate general’s outreach activity in Washington state this weekend.

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“Within the past few months, there has been an increase in the number of Filipino migrants detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Washington state has one of the largest detention centers in the country, and Filipinos here know intimately the inhumane conditions of these facilities,” they said.

They said detained Filipinos they visited “reported little to no response from the Philippine Consulate” and had only been given “empty promises or redundant advice to hire legal support after weeks of voicemails.”

The groups said they would press the consulate general to give concrete steps on assisting Filipinos already detained as well as those who have been deported or repatriated.

“What is the plan to reach out to all registered OFWs, Filipino nationals, and their families here in [Washington State] to inform them of their rights and what the [consulate general] can do to support them?“

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FILIPINOS ADVISED TO STAY 'LOW KEY', LEGALIZE STAY

Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez said in January that the US had deported 24 Filipinos by then, with around 80 more set to be sent back to the Philippines.

The Department of Foreign Affairs that month also advised Filipinos in the United States to stay “low key” and work on legalizing their stay to avoid deportation amid the Trump administration’s fresh crackdown on illegal migrants.

“‘Yung mga overstaying Filipinos… maybe it is best to be low profile and not join rallies,” Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo De Vega said in a news forum then.

The Philippine Embassy in the United States also put up 24/7 hotlines for Filipinos and stressed that all Filipinos in the US have rights regardless of their immigration status.

The deportations were initially thought to target undocumented foreign nationals in the US but has also led to the detention and repatriation of nationals there legally.

“Our overseas compatriots, the Philippines’ ‘new heroes’, deserve timely, meaningful, and concrete support from our government,” Migrante Seattle and Migrante sa University of Washington Medical Center said in their open letter.

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“The Philippine government does not get to force us to carry the Philippine economy and then turn their backs on us in our time of need,” they also said.

“What we in Migrante want from our consulate and government is simple. We want to ensure the well-being, rights, and welfare of our kababayan, especially those who are trafficked and in detention, are seriously and diligently addressed,” they also said.

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