[Mind the Gap] United by migration, divided by Trump

Filipinos in America have dimension however not cohesion; numbers however not leverage; ardour however not political route

The fracture within the Filipino diaspora has by no means been extra pronounced than in 2025, when Donald Trump managed to amplify outdated divisions within the Filipino group with the identical power and ferocity with which he divided America itself.

On one facet are nearly all of Filipino voters who nonetheless imagine within the democratic and welcoming beliefs of America, a rustic constructed on the blood and sweat of immigrants, authorized or in any other case.

They stand in stark distinction to the Pinoy MAGAs who cheer Trump when he says he plans to “completely pause migration from all Third World nations” just like the Philippines, and deport anybody he finds “non-compatible with Western Civilization.” Like me, who speaks English in a thick Tagalog, with a tinge of Kapampangan, accent. Or me who nonetheless sprinkles each sentence with ano: “Anak, get me the ano, there, the ano… the rubber sneakers.” I’m virtually a strolling ICE goal for sounding “international.”

How ought to a US citizen like me take it when Trump floats the opportunity of stripping naturalized immigrants of citizenship? Ought to my Fb posts be “Solely Me” in case the unsuitable individual screenshot my criticism of Trump and his MAGAverse to snitch me to Kash Patel? Filipinos, just like the Afghans, are solely a tragedy or a political assertion away from being focused by Trump and his minions.

Of the estimated 2.14 million Filipino voters within the US in 2024, solely a fourth to a 3rd lean Republican. The bulk, roughly two-thirds, establish with or lean towards the Democratic Get together. 

However the Pinoy MAGAs have one thing the remaining don’t: Trump as their loudest and most validating megaphone, echoing their resentments, soothing their anxieties, and giving their worry a political dwelling.

Constructing these partitions

By not leaping the fence, these Pinoy MAGAs are with Trump in constructing his partitions. What kills me is a lot of them got here from being “TNTs” themselves earlier than they received whiter than white — not as a result of they dye their hair blonde with hydrogen peroxide or whiten their pores and skin with glutathione, however as a result of they’ve internalized a racial hierarchy by which proximity to whiteness appears like security. They embrace Charlie Kirk on the fantasy of belonging to a nativist campaign that was by no means meant to incorporate them within the first place.

The irony is that the very insurance policies Trump advocates goal a lot of them, like ending household reunification — a pathway to citizenship for Filipino immigrants for generations. In the meantime, these petitioned who received in after ready for 20 years — simply to attend for one more 5 years to use for citizenship — are actually in limbo as naturalization interviews and oath taking ceremonies are being cancelled. 

Even inexperienced card holders married to US residents are being arrested throughout their adjustment standing and citizenship interviews at ICE workplaces for “technicalities” like overstayed visas or a previous elimination order that was forgiven by way of the marriage-based immigration course of.

For mixed-status households, the monetary burden is a expensive barrier at the same time as they cope with the trauma of their US-born kids, who’re residents, being left behind if one mother or father is deported. Relying on the complexity of the case, the fee to legalize one TNT member of the family ranges from $4,000 to over $15,000, together with the $2,775 price to the US Citizenship and Immigration Companies (USCIS), however principally lawyer’s charges for obligatory waivers. 

Of the estimated 4.6 million sturdy Filipino inhabitants, roughly 294,000 are undocumented — principally those that overstayed their vacationer or employment visas or “jumped ship” — who often work in caregiving, dwelling well being, or home assist, many paid in excessive subminimum wages. 

A documented caregiver might earn about $25 per hour, with advantages, however a TNT caregiver can obtain as little as $4.17 per hour – paid beneath the desk, with no advantages at the same time as sufferers are charged as much as $500 a day. Fil-Am care properties homeowners justify this wage theft as “giving somebody an opportunity,” magnifying their false feeling of generosity by offering free board and lodging for live-in staff they successfully deal with as indentured servants on a 24/7 responsibility, remoted, threatened with being reported, and stripped of any bargaining energy.

Disunited we fall

Our fragmentation is institutionalized in 1000’s of competing Fil-Am associations – barrio, metropolis and regional teams, alumni associations, civic and parish golf equipment, and to high all of them, nationwide federations of federations — all claiming to talk for the group, but not often working collectively. There is no such thing as a single Filipino American political agenda, no sustained coalition, no constant bloc vote. As they are saying, the one time you’d see Filipinos appearing as one is in a line dance.

Even when we’re the earliest to reach in America, in 1587, representing the third largest Asian immigrant group, we’re the least politically represented. Examine that to newcomers just like the Indian People who’ve elected governors, members of Congress, and despatched Kamala Harris, of Indian and Jamaican descent, to run for president. Or Vietnamese People, who, regardless of being a smaller group, have elected a number of Congress members and native officers in cities the place they’re predominant in California, Washington and Texas. Against this, we stay politically scattered. Now we have dimension however not cohesion; numbers however not leverage; ardour however not political route.

Unity received’t come from pretending we agree on politics, we received’t. It received’t come from forcing everybody into one ideology, we are able to’t. However nobody else will battle for our rights, uplift essentially the most weak amongst us and form our future as immigrants besides Filipinos themselves. – Rappler.com

Oscar Quiambao is a former reporter for the The Philippine Every day Inquirer who now lives in San Francisco.