Pinoy airport screeners in US may lose jobs

WASHINGTON — Some 2,000 Filipino Green Card holders may lose their jobs as airport screeners on Nov. 19 under a new law reserving such posts for United States citizens only.

"It is unfair that a US military soldier standing armed with high-tech weapons behind an airport screener at a US airport does not have to be a US citizen, but an unarmed airport screener has to be one," said Philippine-born lawyer Rodel Rodis.

"In the global war against terrorism, in which the Philippines is a firm ally of the US, there should be no discrimination based on citizenship," Rodis added.

President Arroyo may be drawn into the controversy when she arrives in San Francisco on her way back to the Philippines from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Mexico.

At a scheduled meeting with Mrs. Arroyo on Oct. 29, Filipino-American community leaders plan to ask her to request US President George Bush to protect the jobs of Filipino airport screeners and press for health care benefits for Filipino World War II veterans who fought side by side with American troops in the Pacific war.

In the San Francisco Bay Area alone, the percentage of immigrant screeners is as high as 80-90 percent, 800 of whom are Filipinos. Many of these Filipino airport screeners are college graduates.

Following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington last year, the US Congress passed a law creating the Transportation Security Administration and charged it with providing federal security screeners at 429 major US airports by Nov. 19 this year. The TSA was also tasked with installing scanners to examine all checked baggage by Dec. 31.

Under the new law, airport scanners must be US citizens with at least a high school diploma or equivalency degree. They must be proficient in English and pass a basic skills and aptitude test.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) have filed a petition challenging the new citizenship requirement for airport screeners.

"Discriminating against non-citizen airport screeners will not make us safer or more secure," ACLU Northern California legal director Alan Schlosser said. "In fact, it will certainly decrease air travel security by eliminating much of the experienced and trained workforce. We cannot allow the tragic events of Sept. 11 to be used as an excuse to scapegoat immigrants – something that has occurred at the moments of crisis in our nation’s history," Schlosser said.

Rodis, Northern California chairman of NaFFAA, said a motion filed by the US government to dismiss the ACLU-NaFFAA petition is pending before US District Judge Robert Takasugi.

The judge has asked the parties to consider whether a Senate bill jointly sponsored by California Sen. Dianne Fenstein (Democrat) and Arizona Sen. John McCain (Republican) will render the plaintiff’s petition moot. The Fenstein-McCain bill seeks to allow current airport screeners who have pending naturalization petitions to be eligible to apply as federal airport screeners.

The federal takeover of airport screening, previously done by employees of private companies under contracts worth $1.6 billion, is supposed to improve security because of the better training given to the federal airport screeners.

But lawyers for ethnic groups say citizenship is not a factor in airport safety. Moreover, the immigrants who stand to lose their jobs are experienced, qualified permanent resident screeners.