IN SUPPORT OF TPS FOR PH
LOS ANGELES – With affirmative votes across the board, the Los Angeles City Council passed a resolution on Wednesday, April 2, to express “support of legislation and/or administrative action to grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Philippine nationals to prevent their deportation while their country recovers from Super Typhoon Haiyan.”
Authored by District 13 Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell, the resolution received affirmative votes from all but two city councilmembers.
According to an O’Farrell aide, Councilmembers Tom LaBonge (CD 4) and Bernard Parks (CD 8) were absent during the city council meeting.
Councilmember Parks told Asian Journal via email that he also supports the resolution “as it is consistent with prior positions on similar issues that the council has taken.”
LaBonge, according to his staff, was excused from council because he was at the Parks Commission Hearing at the Expo Center.
According to Communications Deputy Brenda Gonzalez, LaBonge fully supports O’Farrell’s resolution as he seconded it on March 21, when O’Farrell first introduced it to the council.
“I am truly pleased to see this pass,” LaBonge told Asian Journal via email.
“It’s very affirming and validating that the city cares about this issue,” O’Farrell said of the city council’s passage of the resolution.
Councilmember O’Farrell represents the district in LA where Historic Filipinotown is located and where there is also a significant Filipino population. O’Farrell said that that the city government is “here to help long-term.”
At the council chamber, before the councilmembers cast their votes, O’Farrell said that it would be “irresponsible to deport Filipinos back to [the Philippines], which has limited resources after Haiyan delivered such a devastating blow.”
He said that the resolution puts Los Angeles on record and shows that the city stands with the Filipino community in urging the federal government to issue TPS to Filipino nationals, regardless of immigration status. This, O’Farrell added, allows Filipinos here in the US to assist in recovery efforts.
“We have the [Filipino] constituency here, and we have to represent that constituency. As I said on the council floor, this represents all that is good in the American spirit. And this is the right thing to do. It’s unquestionable [that] it’s the right thing to do, and it’s something we must do,” O’Farrell later said.
The councilmember also lauded the Pilipino Workers Center (PWC) — a local community group serving Filipinos — for spearheading the TPS campaign in Los Angeles.
PWC Executive Director Aquilina Soriano-Versoza told Asian Journal that the passage of the resolution makes a significant impact towards the campaign push for the granting of TPS, especially now that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is expected to issue its decision soon.
It has now been more than three months since the Philippine government submitted its official request for TPS for PH in December.
“This resolution is important for continuing to build the critical mass that really shows them [the DHS] that there is support across the nation, [from] both sides of the aisle in congress, faith groups, student groups, and the larger American community,” Versoza said to Asian Journal.
The resolution comes at the heels of LA City Mayor Eric Garcetti’s own action to support the TPS for PH campaign. On March 26, Garcetti wrote a letter to DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, urging him to designate the Philippines as a country for which TPS can be granted to eligible nationals.
Versoza also said that the resolution helps keep the issue of TPS and the typhoon in people’s minds because “it’s easy to forget what’s happening across the world.”
Versoza also said that the momentum built by the resolution also “keeps the pressure on DHS to let them know just how critical this issue is.”
“This is a critical moment. We’ve been building up support across the nation. Right now, DHS is in the position wherein they can actual make a decision because they’ve gone through the process of getting the State [Department’s] recommendation. So it’s really in their hands now,” Versoza said.
Aside from the Filipino group, PWC, other community organizations also joined in the Relief 2 Recovery national campaign to push for TPS for PH.
One of those groups is Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles (Advancing Justice – LA), an LA-based nonprofit that serves Asian Americans in a wide range of social issues, including immigration, legal representation, and advocating for inclusive health care coverage.
Anthony Ng, a Filipino who works for Advancing Justice – LA, said that the diversity of the groups that support TPS for PH shows that the impact of Haiyan is not limited to only the Filipino community, but to other ethnic communities as well.
“It’s a human impact. We understand [the impact] on people’s lives. I think that’s why so many diverse groups jumped on this coalition. Advancing Justice for one, we jumped onto this because we understand the importance of it within the Filipino community and the greater API community as well,” Ng said.
Currently, the State Department has already submitted its recommendation to DHS. However, they are still waiting for the recommendation from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
“According to sources, USCIS has not officially given their recommendation yet to DHS. Although it seems that their position is already clear to DHS, that it didn’t seem that there was no opposition to it [TPS]. While they [USCIS] haven’t done the formal recommendation, we still feel that DHS could actually make a decision already,” Versoza said.
Timetable wise, Versoza said that although DHS representative said that their department understands the weight of the issue, the DHS still wouldn’t divulge any details about when the decision will come out.
“For us, we know that they can make a decision any time now. And we’re looking at… they’re probably going to make a decision before President Obama goes to the Philippines. That’s our estimate. But it’s really our guess,” Versoza added.
President Obama is expected to visit the Philippines in April as part of a series of state visits to Asian allies, including Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia. According to the White House, this trip is part of Obama’s commitment to increasing US engagement in the Asia-Pacific region.
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Weekend April 5-8, 2014 Sec A pg.1)
