A substantial number of Filipinos were among the estimated 50,000 undocumented people rounded up by US immigration enforcement officials and have either been deported or detained.

Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez admitted that while there is no definite count of Filipinos who have already been detained or deported by the Trump administration, there are currently “quite a number of them”.



Romualdez said US immigration authorities are keeping under wraps some of the details about the detention and deportation


However, he confirmed that about 30 Filipinos have already been under the custody of the US immigration for failing to present documents supporting their stay. All are expected to be deported.

Trump had taken a hard line stance against undocumented and illegal aliens, vowing to cleanse his country of them. He had vowed to carry out unprecedented mass deportation even before he was elected back to office.

Trump’s “mass deportation” goal has also prompted immigration authorities to swiftly close the US southern border.

Aside from chasing after undocumented non-US citizens, the Trump government had suspended the asylum program and other humanitarian relief programs that his predecessor, former US President Joe Biden, had carried out.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has revealed that it has not only arrested more suspected illegal immigrants. Many of them have been placed in detention.

As of February, at least 47,600 people have filled DHS detention quarteers to full capacity.