[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 40 (Thursday, March 8, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E485-E486]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PERSONAL EXPLANATION
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HON. TOM UDALL
of new mexico
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Mr. UDALL of New Mexico. Madam Speaker, on March 13th I was
unavoidably detained and missed rollcall vote numbers 121 and 122.
Rollcall vote 121 was final passage of House Resolution 98, honoring
the life and achievements of the late Dr. John Garang de Mabior, and
had I been present, I would have voted, ``aye.'' Rollcall vote 122 was
final passage of House Resolution 149, supporting the goals of
International Women's Day, and had I been present, I would have voted,
``aye.''
THE POTENTIAL IMPACT OF H.R. 1287: FILIPINO VETERANS FAMILY
REUNIFICATION ACT
______
HON. MAZIE K. HIRONO
of hawaii
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Ms. HIRONO. Madam Speaker, on the first of this month, I reintroduced
the Filipino Veterans Family Reunification Act (H.R. 1287), which will
provide for the expedited reunification of the families of our Filipino
World War II veterans.
This body has many times heard accounts of the bravery of the
Filipino veterans: how they fought shoulder to shoulder with American
servicemen; how they sacrificed for the same just cause. For too long,
we have ignored the promise we made to those men to provide benefits
and care equal to that provided to our own soldiers.
As the House prepares for debate on comprehensive immigration reform,
let us remember the broken promises made to our Filipino World War II
veterans and provide for a meaningful way to make amends by expediting
the immigration petitions of their sons and daughters.
I would like to submit into the Congressional Record an article that
recently appeared in the Washington Post that humanizes the intent of
my bill.
[From the Washington Post, Mar. 4, 2007]
Hope for Amends to Filipino Immigrants
(By N.C. Aizenman)
Amid the wrangling over immigration reform, virtually
everyone in Congress appears to agree on one point: Filipino-
born veterans who fought alongside U.S. troops during World
War II deserve a break.
Denied the right to immigrate to the United States until
1990, they came hoping that their children could follow them
here later, just as other groups have done. But the adult
children have been required to wait twice as long--up to 16
years--as anyone else. With the veterans often too old and
sick to travel home, many have died while waiting to be
reunited with their families.
Now, after several longtime backers have risen to key
positions in Congress, Filipino American advocates are
hopeful that legislation will be pushed through to exempt the
veterans' children from the immigration delay. They also are
optimistic about a potentially more controversial bill that
would grant Filipino veterans military pensions.
About 5,000 veterans in the United States would stand to
benefit from a change in immigration provisions, and an
additional 10,000 in the Philippines could be eligible for
pensions.
To many in the 2-million-strong Filipino American
community, the issue represents a chance to cement their
political identity in a nation where they have long felt
invisible, even though Filipinos rank second, behind
Mexicans, in the number of immigrants living in the United
States.
``Historically, we Filipinos have always been looked down
on as your little brown brothers--as these acquiescent people
who would just accept anything Uncle Sam would do to them,''
said Jon Melegrito, communications director of the National
Federation of Filipino American Associations. ``This is about
asserting who we are as a people and how we served this
country. . . . It's a call to action to stop acting like
colonial slaves and to start acting like first-class
citizens.''
The effort builds on an association with the United States
that dates to 1898, when the United States acquired the
Philippines from Spain after winning the Spanish-American
War.
Laws and discriminatory practices against all Asian
immigrants kept Filipino numbers in the United States low
through the first half of the 1900s. But in the Philippines,
many residents were taught English and raised to think of
themselves as something akin to Americans.
Celestino Almeda, 90, a veteran who lives in Alexandria,
remembered that the director of his elementary school in
Manila led students in a pledge of allegiance to the American
flag every morning.
``We also celebrated all the holidays: Washington's
birthday, Armistice Day,'' Almeda said. ``In our mind, it was
like America was our mother country.''
When Japan invaded the Philippines in 1941, more than
200,000 Filipinos joined Americans in waging a fierce
resistance, enduring such horrors as the Bataan Death March
and the grueling guerrilla campaign that followed.
Technically, the Filipino fighters were under overall U.S.
command. But within months of the Allied victory, Congress
stripped most of them of their rights as foreign veterans of
U.S. forces--including the opportunity to become U.S.
citizens--on the grounds that the Philippines was about to be
granted independence.
Even so, the Philippines continued its close affiliation
with the United States. Thousands of Filipinos joined the
U.S. Navy, which until recently had major bases there. By
1970, there were more Filipinos in the U.S. Navy than in the
Philippine Navy.
And, after 1965, when Congress repealed the nationality
quota system that had practically prohibited Asians from
immigrating, hundreds of thousands of Filipinos streamed in.
Ranging from unskilled workers and nannies to nurses and
professionals who came in on occupational preference visas,
the new arrivals immediately formed social, cultural and
professional organizations. Before long, they were rising to
prominent positions in government, unions and the military.
Several won elected office, including in Prince George's
County, where a sizable community settled.
Yet when it came to turning their clout into political
activism on behalf of Filipino American causes, many of the
immigrants hesitated, said Bing Cardenas Branigin, 50, a
former regional chairman of the Filipino American federation.
``There was this sense that you shouldn't make trouble,
that you shouldn't contradict the government,'' she said.
``You should just pay your taxes and send your kids to school
and keep quiet.''
That began to change in the mid-1970s when anger spread
over the repressive policies of the Filipino president,
Ferdinand
[[Page E486]]
Marcos. As much as their opposition to Marcos galvanized the
Filipino American community, it also caused rifts with those
who supported Marcos.
After Marcos was ousted, community leaders looked to
refocus their newfound energy on a more unifying issue. The
fight for veterans' equity was a natural choice.
Since then, the veterans have won some of the benefits they
lost after the war. Most notably, in 1990, Congress granted
Filipino World War II veterans the same opportunity to
naturalize offered to all other foreign nationals who served
in the U.S. armed forces.
But the Filipino veterans remain ineligible for a military
pension, forcing many of the more than 24,000 elderly
veterans who became U.S. citizens after 1990 to live off food
stamps and Supplemental Security Income payments.
Joaquin Tejada, 84, a former guerrilla fighter who survived
two years resisting the Japanese from jungle hideouts, said
he now struggles to get by with his $545 monthly SSI check.
The rent for the two-bedroom apartment he shares with another
Filipino World War II veteran in Columbia Heights takes $275.
``By the end of the month, it's hard to buy even basic
food,'' said Tejada, who proudly sported an American flag tie
during an interview.
Then there is the l6-year wait veterans face if they wish
to bring over their adult children, an unintended consequence
of the 1965 law lifting the quotas that had prevented most
Asians from immigrating.
In their place, Congress introduced a complicated system
meant to offer every country the same number of family
reunification visas. But because Filipino applicants far
outnumber the yearly slots allotted to them, they face the
longest delays--22 years to sponsor an adult brother or
sister, for instance, compared with 11 years for applicants
of most other nationalities.
Candida Romulo, 72, said she and her husband, Bayani, a
veteran who became a lawyer in Manila, would not have
naturalized and moved to Oxon Hill had they known that the
wait to sponsor their grown children would be so long.
``We did it because we wanted to give them the
opportunities of living in this country. It was going to be
our gift to them,'' Romulo said during an interview in a
living room crammed with photographs of her four children.
Soon after the couple's arrival, Bayani developed a medical
condition requiring frequent dialysis, making visits to the
Philippines impossible. Because of their pending residency
applications, his children were unable to get visas to visit
him.
When Bayani suffered a severe stroke in September, his
eldest son wasn't able to relay his final words to his father
over the phone before he died.
``The receiver couldn't reach his bed in the ICU,'' Candida
Romulo said. ``So I told my husband, `Your son says that he
loves you very much and that he's so proud that you are his
father.' My husband couldn't speak, but I could tell that he
understood, because there were tears in his eyes.''
Now Romulo worries that her son may never gain entry to the
United States, because if a sponsor dies while the visa
application is pending, there is a chance that the
application will be annulled.
But she said she is still praying that Congress will pass
the legislation for the sake of those veterans who remain
alive.
``If that happens, I know my husband will be very happy
about it, even if he is already in heaven,'' she said.
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