Thread: DFA may help undocumented Filipino journalist

DFA may help undocumented Filipino journalist
Tuesday, July 19, 2011

THE Philippine government expressed willingness to help an award-winning Filipino journalist who recently admitted that he was able to live and work in the United States as an illegal immigrant.

However, Jose Antonio Vargas, a former Washington Post reporter, should seek assistance through the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Assistance can range from getting a pro bono lawyer or de officio counsel to arranging documentary requirements such as the issuance of travel papers and other consular services, newly-appointed DFA spokesperson Raul Hernandez told Sun.Star.

"But I learned that there is already a group in the US helping Mr. Vargas. It is the Fil-Am Legal Association Defense Association. Moreover, we want to maintain that our Philippine embassy and consulates-general are always prepared to assist Filipinos in distress," he said.

Vargas is part of the team that clinched the prestigious 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting on the Virginia Tech massacre, touted as the deadliest shooting incident by a single gunman in US history after claiming 32 lives in 2007.

In a lengthy essay ran by the New York Times last month, the 31-year-old Vargas said his grandfather purchased fraudulent documents ranging from passport to green card (proof of permanent residence in the US).

But he was only able to discover his illegal status four years after he arrived in the US at age 12, when a clerk at a driver's licensing office told him that he holds a fake green card.

Vargas, through the help of his friends, still got that license though. After that, he enrolled himself at the San Francisco State University and took internship at the Post, his future employer.

He said he decided to come out after nearly 20 years to bolster support for the proposed Dream Act, which seeks to naturalize at least two million young illegal aliens in the US.

Dream stands for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors, which aims to legitimize the stay of undocumented migrants who came to the US before age 16, provided that they have finished college or entered military service for two years.

"I grew up here. This is my home. Yet even though I think of myself as an American and consider America my country, my country doesn't think of me as one of its own," Vargas said.

The bill, which was first introduced in 2001, was re-filed in the US Congress on May after failing to get majority support from the Senate at the close of the 111th Congress in December last year.

Lobbying for support for the bill should be left to community advocacy groups, Hernandez said, since the Philippines is barred to interfere in affairs of other nations, being a signatory to the 1963 Vienna convention on diplomatic and consular relations.

There are 11 million illegal aliens in the US, of which 300,000 are Filipinos, according to the US Department of Homeland Security. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local- ... ist-167560

THE Philippine government expressed willingness to help an award-winning Filipino journalist who recently admitted that he was able to live and work in the United States as an illegal immigrant.

However, Jose Antonio Vargas, a former Washington Post reporter, should seek assistance through the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Assistance can range from getting a pro bono lawyer or de officio counsel to arranging documentary requirements such as the issuance of travel papers and other consular services, newly-appointed DFA spokesperson Raul Hernandez told Sun.Star.

Are they referring to the United States Department of Foreign Affairs? You mean to tell me that our very own government might provide assistance to this criminal, including providing a pro bono Lawyer?

This invader isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. That seems pretty clear.

Originally Posted by NoBueno

Are they referring to the United States Department of Foreign Affairs? You mean to tell me that our very own government might provide assistance to this criminal, including providing a pro bono Lawyer?

This invader isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. That seems pretty clear.

I think it's this one:
Department of Foreign Affairs
February 10th, 2011 posted by Philippines Review
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DFA, otherwise known as the DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS is “the prime agency of government responsible for the pursuit of the State’s foreign policy and the nerve center for a Foreign Service worthy of the trust and pride of every Filipino.â€

Thanks RB...it's difficult to tell anymore which side wants to aid and abet illegal invaders more; our own government or their country of origin's government.