Around 60 to 80 Filipinos in the U.S. facing deportation — Romualdez

Around 60 to 80 Filipinos in the United States are currently in the process of being deported, Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez said Tuesday.

According to Romualdez, at least 24 undocumented Filipinos have been deported since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January and implemented his mass deportation plan.

“Yes. The number we have is 24, but there are currently between 60 and 80 Filipinos pending in the deportation process,” he said in a television interview when asked how many Filipinos have been deported so far.

He noted that the number of Filipinos being deported is still “very small” as there are estimated 370,000 undocumented Filipino immigrants in various parts of the US.

He also said that some of the undocumented Filipinos are able to find a “legal path” due to their work history in the US.

“Some of them have work visas, but they did not renew them. For some reason, their employers did not renew their visas but since they have been here working and they are part of the workforce of the US, they have an opportunity to the legal path,” he said.

Romualdez warned those who have been illegally staying in the US, particularly those who overstayed using their tourist visas, to voluntarily return home before being deported.

“[T]hose who came here on tourist visas, that is another story. You have to seriously consider going home voluntarily because the minute you are deported, as I’ve always said, you cannot go back to the US,” he said.

One of Trump's campaign promises was to deport an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US, with a goal of expelling around 1 million undocumented immigrants per year.

Trump, who secured his second term by defeating Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris, was inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States on January 20th.