US to deport 100 more Filipinos

WASHINGTON – Between 80 and 100 Filipinos will be deported within the next few days for illegally staying in the United States, and many of them will be shackled as they are flown home aboard a Boeing 737 jet chartered by the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).

This was disclosed by Ambassador to Washington Albert del Rosario at a news conference here Monday.

This will be the second mass deportation of Filipinos from the United States this year since 63 were expelled in June. About 120 more Filipinos under detention for various offenses will also be deported as soon as legal proceedings against them are completed.

The new deportees, arrested in different parts of the United States, would be flown out of San Diego, California to Clark Field Pampanga or the Subic freeport inZambales in the next eight to 10 days.

But an INS source said the flight may leave as early as Dec. 11. Del Rosario said that he received assurances from the INS that during the flight home, the deportees — four of them women — would be treated humanely and in a manner consistent with the dignity of each individual without compromising the security of the passengers and the aircraft.

Consul Henry Bensurto would accompany the deportees on their flight home to ensure that they are treated properly.

About 70 percent of the deportees are said to have felony records such as criminal assault or drugs or sexual abuse and they will be the ones who will be shackled on the trip back home. The rest, mainly those who did not comply with a voluntary order for deportation and absconded, will be handcuffed.

All will be freed from their restraints one hour before their plane lands in the Philippines, Del Rosario said.

"In deference to the right to privacy and to preserve the dignity of our compatriots who are due for deportation, it would not be prudent for us to release their names nor to discuss the details of their cases," he added.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, the INS has redoubled its efforts in tracking down illegal aliens and deporting them, especially those with criminal records or those who have pending deportation orders against them.

Del Rosario dismissed as baseless allegations that Filipinos in the United States are being singled out for expulsion due to alleged terrorist-related profiling.

"Contrary to reports that Filipino nationals are being singled out for deportations because of the alleged links of the Philippine terrorist group Abu Sayyaf to al-Qaeda, INS statistics show that the number of Filipino deportees compared to other nationalities are very minimal," he said.

Citing INS figures, the envoy said that of the 76,861 people from 199 countries deported by INS from October 2001 to April 2002, only 334 were Filipinos.

He added that the Philippines ranked 13th in the INS deportation listing behind such countries as Mexico, Brazil, Canada, Pakistan, Colombia and Peru.

But he advised an estimated 300,000 illegal Filipinos in the United States, referred to in the vernacular as TNTs (tago ng tago) , to seriously consider returning home. And for Filipinos back home who want to come to the US on a tourist visa and then overstay, his message is: "Don’t do it."

The INS, Del Rosario added, has a current backlog of about 314,000 absconders in its databases who are due for deportation, 12,000 of whom are Filipinos.

Last year, it deported 176,984 illegal aliens, 457 of whom are Filipinos. The figures for other years are as follows: 1997:114,432 (411 Filipinos), 1998- 173,146 (508 Filipinos), 1999: 180,614 (545 Filipinos), 2000: 185,475 (491 Filipinos).