Raul Valino, Jan 31, 2007

LOS ANGELES – Filipino Americans listened to the state-of-the-union address of President George W. Bush on Jan. 24 with baited breath as he promised overstaying guests an immigration law that is “without animosity” but “also without amnesty.”

San Diego, Calif., resident Sonny Delasin, father of the first Filipina golf champion in the U.S., considered the immigration policy of Bush as “the next good thing that can happen” to Filipino workers to stay in the country and work here.

“I had been there and I know how difficult it is for an illegal to eke out a decent living when you do not have the papers,” he said. Delasin, a former golf instructor, is now a restaurant operator in San Diego.

“Now, the so-called illegals will no longer be under the mercy of unscrupulous businessmen who take advantage of their current illegal status by paying them rates way below the minimum wage. And there are thousands out there being taken advantage of, believe you me. I used to be one of them years ago,” he said.

However, Marc Castro, owner of the Golden Acres Staffing Services in La Crescenta, remained bothered. He said the policy that is “without animosity but also without amnesty” could boomerang because it would be like a Sword of Damocles hanging over the head of Filipino illegal migrants.

Castro believed that an amnesty should be the next step to reforming America’s immigration laws. Without amnesty, an illegal worker stands to expose himself to the threat of deportation once his guest worker’s visa expires.

“Besides,” Castro mused, “all of us, including the Europeans who settled in America when it was still populated by Native Americans, were practically illegal immigrants.”

That being the case, Castro insisted the American government should not deprive non-American workers of the right to work and to live in peace. “Without the illegals,” he exclaimed, “where would America be?”

To lawyer Carina Castañeda, a former board member of the Southern California Philippine American Bar Association based in Los Angeles, Bush’s state-of-the-union address was especially crucial for the president since the polls are showing his popularity to be at its lowest level since President Richard Nixon’s after Watergate.

“Convictions run deep in this Capitol when it comes to immigration. Let us have a serious, civil and conclusive debate – so that you can pass and I can sign the comprehensive immigration reform into law,” said Bush in his speech.

Castañeda acknowledged that the area of immigration “is an area where the president might have more friends in the Democratic Party than his own.”

The Senate recently passed the comprehensive immigration reform act that provided a guest worker program and a path to citizenship for the undocumented already living in the United States.

With the Democrats holding power in Congress, it is very likely that a comprehensive immigration reform will be passed and signed into law, Castañeda surmised. She said that would be the greatest domestic policy achievement of the Bush administration.

It will be the first step to a humane and long-term policy for addressing the plight of the undocumented inhabitants of this country.

Another lawyer, Alex Facundo, a retired government employee who just bought a four-bedroom house in Tamecula in Southern California had this to say, “Now, the lawyers would become busier, particularly those immigration lawyers. So lawyers would benefit from this new policy as more and more people come out into the open and sign up to obtain legal status to work here legally.”

“There are millions of Asians and Hispanics who have been waiting for this to happen, ending their misery of being illegal and therefore now getting the full benefits open only to those who are properly documented,” Facundo said.

Lino Raymundo and wife Virginia, retirees from San Bruno, Calif., said the proposed guest worker program is a step in the right direction.

“Thousands of undocumented immigrant workers now in the U.S. will greatly benefit from this policy, thus ending their illegal status in one bold stroke,” they stressed.

“For one,” the Raymundos explained, “it will once and for all eliminate their illegal status as people will come out in the open to sign up and obtain the legal status so that they can work here legally. By becoming legal and therefore legitimate, they will now demand a more reasonable rate at par with the minimum wage prescribed by law.”

Ted Alvarez, entrepreneur in the Bay Area with expanding nursing care homes in Arizona’s retirement communities, said, “It’s good for both business and government. Now, operating companies here can file claims for tax credits for what they are actually paying for the so-called undocumented workers. On the other hand, the disclosure will enable the government to collect more taxes.”

( it seems they have illegals working for them at this company. I wonder if ICE knows about it.)

In his speech, Bush argued for an immigration system “with laws that are fair and borders that are secure.”

“We should establish a legal and orderly path for foreign workers to enter our country to work on a temporary basis. We need to resolve the status of the illegal immigrants who are already in our country without animosity and without amnesty,” he said.

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