Hope for TNTs

HONOLULU—The US Senate recently passed (68-32) the much-debated immigration bill, which gives hope to hundreds of thousands of Filipino TNTs and millions of undocumented immigrants in America.

The ambitious bill intends to overhaul the outdated US immigration system by creating a “path to citizenship” for some 11 million illegal aliens, while enforcing tough measures to secure America’s borders, especially with Mexico.

This is only the “first base” for the bill, which still has to pass through the House of Representatives whose Republican majority has held a consistently hard line on illegal immigration issues.  The House will have its own version of the bill.

But it gives some hope to the legions of Filipino TNTs, the term used for illegals from the Philippines on the run. It’s shorthand for “tago nang tago,” or always hiding with no permanent address.

No one knows exactly how many TNTs are in the United States, but the reputable Pew Research Center estimates that there may be close to 250,000. They are concentrated in big cities in the states of California, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Illinois, Arizona, Florida, Texas and Washington. They are also now gravitating to nontraditional destinations of Filipinos like the states of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.

Although Hawaii has the highest percentage of Filipinos in the whole United States, there are not that many TNTs because it is a small state. It’s much easier to get lost in the woodwork in huge cities like New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Miami than in, say, Honolulu or Kahului on Maui.

Still the Pew Center estimates that there are some 30,000 undocumented Filipinos in Hawaii—about 4.6 percent of the state’s workforce, not an insignificant number.  This is the main reason the Hawaii congressional delegation, like US Sen. Mazie Hirono, the first woman-immigrant senator of Japanese ancestry, and US Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, a fourth-generation Japanese-American, are strongly supportive of the bill and its plan to institute reforms.

Recent immigrants to Hawaii, the great “melting pot” of the Pacific, come not only from the Philippines but also from China, Korea, Southeast Asia, Micronesia and other Pacific islands, and Latin America.

But as much as the bill, if it becomes a law, holds some promise for the teeming illegals in this country, the envisioned “path” will not be easy. To qualify for naturalization, undocumented aliens must apply for a new Registered Provisional Immigrant Status, pay a fine or fee or any back taxes, pass a background check, and not have a “disqualifying” criminal record.  This is only one requirement of the proposed law.

I think that many TNTs, given these stringent conditions, would rather remain in the shadows than be “found out”  and later targeted for deportation. They cannot just submit themselves willingly without risking being unmasked. Even when there were previous amnesty options, many TNTs were afraid to come forward for fear of opening themselves to deeper scrutiny. The fear factor is hard to overcome, and they will continue to live in the shadows until they find a way to legitimize themselves by, first of all, finding a competent lawyer to represent them.

But for others who have nothing criminal to hide, or who were children brought to the United States and raised here illegally through no fault of their own, submitting themselves to the test is the way to go.  What can they lose?

This recalls the classic case of the Philippine-born undocumented journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, who has won a Pulitzer Prize for his reports. He was a child when his parents sent him to California to stay with his grandparents.  When he turned 16 and wanted to get a driver’s license, it was discovered that he had been staying in the United States illegally!

Instead of disappearing in the dark like the other TNTs, Vargas fought his case in the courts and became a leader of the movement for drastic immigration reform. He was featured on the cover of Time magazine, along with others like him, who came to the United States unwittingly.

“We are also American” is their mantra. The new bill, while not perfect, promises a new beginning in reforming the US immigration system that has long been broken and is discriminatory and unjust to various sectors of American society.

Belinda A. Aquino is professor emeritus at the University of Hawaii at Manoa where she was professor of political science and Asian studies and founding director of the Center for Philippine Studies.