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MEDIA INTERVIEW. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. answers questions from the media in a chance interview in Cebu on January 30, 2025.
Screengrab from RTVM video
'We'll see how we can influence the policymaking in terms of immigration,' the Philippine president says
MANILA, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Thursday, January 30, that plans to meet with US President Donald Trump over his new immigration policy seen to affect the hundreds of thousands of US-based Filipinos.
While replying to a question on Trump’s order to freeze foreign aid, Marcos said in a chance media interview in Cebu: “The US has frozen aid but I will meet with President Trump because…there is much that we need to discuss between the US and Philippines in terms of trade, in terms of defense and security, and now the new policy on immigration. Nagpauwi na yata ng ilang daan na Filipino (I think hundreds of Filipinos have been sent home).”
“This is something that we have to work through and hopefully resolve because Filipinos in the US especially have formed a very important part of their workforce,” he added.
Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez earlier reported that 24 Filipinos had been recently deported and 80 more were up for deportation. However, these were cases that were tried from the Biden administration.
“We’ll see how we can influence the policymaking in terms of immigration,” Marcos said.
Marcos added that he also plans to bring up the new administration’s plans to freeze aid, and what it means for the Philippines, as well as trade and defense and security matters. No date was mentioned for the planned meeting.
The Philippines and the United States are treaty allies.
After Trump was inaugurated on January 20, the White House boasted the first of its deportation flights on social media.
Trump’s mass deportation plan, which was a highlight of his campaign, sent fears through the Filipino-American community — as even some documented immigrants felt uncertain about the future.
There are more than 4 million individuals living in the US who are Filipino nationals or of Filipino descent.
Romualdez earlier estimated some 350,000 Filipinos staying in the country illegally. He had advised undocumented Filipinos to voluntarily return to the Philippines instead of risk deportation.
Migrante USA, a human rights organization of Filipino migrants in the USA, said on Thursday that it had received reports of arrests by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and detention of at least eight Filipino workers in the Chicago suburbs, including caregivers.
“We demand the Philippine government to live up to its mandate and respond. This advice of Romualdez and [Foreign Undersecretary Eduardo] de Vega to undocumented Filipinos to just accept the situation and keep quiet is irresponsible and dangerous,” Migrante USA said. – Rappler.com
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