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For the past 17 years, The Filipino Express has provided the Filipino American community the best news, arts and entertainment coverage from around the United States and the Philippines.
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When freedom reigns, it's not absolute
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NEW YORK --- In the late 70's, a story became a familiar topic each time we converged in social events. It was said that Filipinos from California were moving east to the New York metropolitan area and to the mid-west for better employment opportunities.
These folks were coming here because many "teachers" in San Francisco or Los Angeles were getting aggressive at their trade so much that they couldn't stand being around them. Being young and naïve at that time, I took the story to the heart but wondered why teachers were singled out as aggressive.
It turned out these "teachers" referred to be those that were reporting overstaying Filipinos to then Immigration and Naturalization Service for an alleged minimum rate of $50 per individual. They were considered "hardworking," which, in our language meant, turo ng turo.
Today, it seems these "teachers" have been replaced by "Minutemen," a group of civilians patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona to hunt down illegal immigrants.
There is also now a national immigration and customs hotline set-up by the Homeland Security Department to accept tips about human trafficking, drug smuggling, and identity theft and has since included tips that turn in illegal immigrants.
According to a news report, there were 27,671 calls to the hotline for the period October 2003 through September 2004. Compared to the new fiscal year, the past six months has yielded some 41,500 calls.
This new initiative of Homeland Security started as a pilot program in 2003 in Arizona called Operation Predator. Its objective was to let people report incidents of sexual exploitation and child abuse through a hotline number. The hotline has since accepted to include calls about a "broad range of crimes involving U.S. immigration and customs laws."
Although callers to the hotline don't have to reveal their names, their report is recorded by an agent, which are then checked against immigration and crime data banks. In Williston, Vt., where the Law Enforcement Support operates around the clock, about 260 staff members take reports from citizens nationwide on a variety of crimes.
Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Laguna Niguel, Calif., was quoted as saying that the hotline is not primarily intended for reporting minor violations or illegal immigrants but in identifying individuals who pose a threat to national security and public safety.
In light of reported unfortunate incidents experienced by immigrants, it is quite difficult to believe such response at its face value. Recently I received a letter from a Filipino American in Rego Park in the borough of Queens who described her ordeal in having her non-driver's ID renewed at the Department of Motor Vehicles. She claims that if you don't know your rights, a bad experience could be scary and nerve-wrecking.
The problem is not the intent but the potential abuse by enforcement agency officials in implementing ICE policies, which lead to racial stereotypes and anti-immigrant sentiments.
Homeland Security is also experimenting with a supervised release program, which tracks illegal immigrants through an electronic monitoring device. Its purpose is to reduce the number of detained illegal immigrants while increasing their appearance rate at deportation hearings.
While this could be considered a better alternative than long-term confinement in detention centers, this experience could be humiliating for immigrants whose cases are under review or are seeking asylum from oppressive conditions of their country. This program treats many non-threatening immigrants like criminals.
It would also be a set back to those law-abiding immigrants who had been allowed to live and work freely as long as they checked in with immigration officials and were suddenly told they had to wear ankle bracelets.
The program is being tested in eight cities: Baltimore, Kansas City, San Francisco, Miami, Philadelphia, St. Paul, Denver and Portland, Ore. Two other cities will be added in this fiscal year.
The question is: Will New York be added in the test-site soon? That's an iffy and a scary thought to some immigrants who are still fighting off DMV for their right to have a driver's license or renewed.
These are times of uncertainty despite illegal immigrants contributing to Social Security with billions of dollars without collecting any benefit from it. According to a news report, the Social Security Administration is holding a suspense file that has $189 billion worth of wages in the 1990's.
And in the current decade, the report says that the file is growing at an average of $50 billion a year, which "generates about $6 billion to $7 billion Social Security tax revenue and about $1.5 billion in Medicare taxes."
More than likely, there are no more "teachers" around that are still working hard for the money. Either they have been replaced by volunteer Minutemen or by a government agency that has gone high-tech with its operations. Now, it's just a phone call away.
When freedom reigns, it's not absolute.
Send comments to rickyxpres@aol.com
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