Uncertainty. That is the immediate impact of a series of orders issued by President Donald Trump. The orders, signed on Jan. 27, 2017, have two immediate effects: An effective ban on Muslims from visiting or living in the United States, and a crackdown on illegal immigrants.
The ban on Muslims, for 90 days, is supposed to cover Muslims from only seven Muslim majority countries—Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen. It also suspends processing of refugees for 120 days. Trump, though, did not include in the ban countries where his companies do or did business—Saudi Arabia (the source of 15 of 19 9/11terrorists; the assassinated Osama bin Laden was a Saudi elite), Egypt, and Indonesia.
The crackdown on illegal immigrants—known among Filipinos as tago-nang-tago (TNTs)—sends jitters among some 300,000 (probably more) Filipinos overstaying in the US.
Being undocumented, many TNTs are confined to low-paying jobs as babysitters, housemaids, gasoline boys, busboys, and as mistresses of natural-born American men (who titillate them with the possibility of becoming the legal wife of an American citizen. But the man and the woman must prove they have been living as husband and wife for a minimum of two years before the woman is given a green card. During the wait, the hapless women must render sexual service and/or pay outright extortion).
While campaigning for president, Trump said he would target between two million and three million so-called criminal immigrants. Most of the illegals are not a burden to the local economy. In California, most of the over three-million undocumented aliens are estimated to make up 10 percent of its work force and contribute $130 billion to the Golden State’s economy.
To be sure, Trump is not the only anti-illegal immigration president. Barack Obama was No.1. Between 2009 and 2015, The Economist reports, Obama deported an average of 360,000 a year.
The Filipino TNTs in the US should not worry that much, though. In California, where most of the Filipinos are, a TNT is given due process or court hearing before being deported and that usually takes years. The backlog of immigration cases is 500,000 as of July, according to The Economist. Also, Trump has frozen hiring of federal workers. The immigration ban will likely create 10,000 border patrol positions.
I believe Trump as president has the right to protect his country and its citizens from an invasion by terrorists. As leader of the most powerful nation on earth, he has awesome arsenal and options to enforce his views.
Meanwhile, the new US ambassador to the Philippines, Sung Kim, justified Trump’s actions. “This is only a very important matter of dealing with security concerns. This is not racism, this is not unfair prejudice. This is driven by our legitimate security needs and concerns,” he told a luncheon of the Makati Business Club yesterday. The US, he noted, is not the only country having the dilemma of making itself as open as possible while at the same time, making itself as safe as possible for its citizens. A Californian, Kim said he himself was an immigrant while Trump’s grandfather was a (German) immigrant.
In his MBC speech, Kim dwelled on the economic importance of US-Philippine relations.
He implied that the US is actually the biggest revenue maker and biggest employer in the Philippines. The US has something to do with the three biggest dollar earners of the Philippines—semiconductor exports, business process outsourcing, and overseas remittances of overseas Filipinos.
Of $51.36-billion exports from January to November 2016, $18 billion came from semiconductors which has 37 companies, the largest of which is Texas Instruments, the single largest Philippine exporter. The BPO industry employs more than one million and generates $22 billion in revenues of which 70 percent is generated from clients in the US. The single largest employer in the Philippines, Convergys, is an American company.
OFW remittances amount to $26 billion yearly. One third of that money comes from the US.
Ambassador Kim noted that doing business in the Philippines can be challenging. Among more than 150 countries surveyed, the Philippines ranks 99th (or poor) in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index.
It take 28 days to start a business in the Philippines. Compare that with 19 days in Malaysia and three days in Singapore.
Kim allays fears of Filipinos about not getting US visitor or immigrant visas. Last year, the US Embassy in Manila processed more 220,000 Filipino visa applicants. “We are working hard every day to make that process even more efficient and more comfortable for Filipino visa applicants and are totally committed to this effort,” he said.
As to America’s periodic crackdowns against immigrants, legal or not, well, the motto is: Weather, weather lang ’yan. Trump should be good only for four years as president, if not shorter.