Migrante International stands with migrants and oppressed peoples around the world who must all confront the second presidency of Donald Trump. The resurgence of Trump’s fascist agenda is a serious threat to our peoples already struggling under worsening economic and political conditions. In the United States, Trump plans on waging large-scale racist crackdowns and attacks on migrants regardless of status. The rights of workers, women, the LGBTQ+, and oppressed peoples in the US are under grave peril. The incoming US government will be as unashamed as the current Biden administration in funding and arming the Zionist occupation in Palestine. In a vain attempt to cement declining American hegemony, the returning war criminal and fascist Trump will continue to carry out US militarist plans to breed more tension, crises, and wars in more countries around the world, including the Philippines.
Filipino migrants across the globe and their families back home face immense challenges under a second Trump presidency in the US. Cases of labor exploitation, illegal recruitment, and human trafficking of Filipino migrants in the US continue to pile up with no sign of justice nor protections from the US and Philippine governments. We continue to call for the release of Ligaya Jensen, Dhenmark Francisco, and Jovi Esperanza, Filipinos wrongfully detained by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). With the backdrop of US economic stagnation, Trump and his anti-migrant agenda will make the lives of our community very difficult if we do not fight back together.
Among the first to congratulate and kowtow to Trump upon his electoral victory was none other than Philippine President Marcos Jr. In touting his continued puppetry as an “unshakeable alliance”, Marcos Jr. is signaling to the Filipino people that he has every intention to maintain America’s vice grip over our people. It does not matter to Marcos that OFWs are under threat of widespread crackdown and deportation. In compliance with US dictates that our country keeps exporting cheap Filipino labor for their profits, Marcos will continue to prioritize US interests over the people’s welfare so that America will keep him in power.
It is to the advantage of Trump that Marcos keeps the Philippine economy entangled with the US. Through America’s unequal economic, trade, and debt policies, millions of Filipinos are kept poor and unemployed. The imperialist Trump government will continue to coerce us to look for more stable livelihoods in countries like the US while scapegoating and attacking our communities for their economic decline. US domination strips Filipino migrants of dignities in every step of their sick cycle of forced migration.
Rather than protect our migrants, Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Romualdez “advised” up to 309,000 undocumented Filipinos to deport themselves back to the homeland before American state forces get to them. In this respect, the Philippine government is cracking down on vulnerable OFWs on behalf of Trump and ICE. How can us migrants trust claims by the Philippine government that it is “ready to assist undocumented Filipinos” in the US? Through their consulates in the US, the same government is shutting OFW stakeholders out of any and all meetings on undocumented Filipinos. Now that overseas worker deployment is at 7,500 Filipinos per day, the Philippine government is doubling down on its mass export of cheap labor instead of providing us badly needed protections. Instead of calling for self-deportations, the Philippine government should provide all forms of social services to overseas Filipinos regardless of their documentation status.
Back home, a second Donald Trump presidency also spells worsening US militarism in the Philippines. In violation of our national sovereignty, the Philippines is once again rife with US military sites, war games, troop deployments, and heavy weapons placements. As he has done in his first term, the returning war criminal Trump will continue ramping up the presence and aggressive posturing of American military forces. We cannot stand idly as the US drags our homeland into their warmongering with China. Filipino migrants want to come home to a country that is truly independent and in peace, not a nation in ruins. We call on the Philippine government to end its American subservience and end the unequal treaties that give America license to turn our country into a battleground. Marcos must put an end to EDCA, VFA, and the so-called Mutual Defense Treaty.
In defiance of serious dangers from an openly anti-migrant and fascist US government, Migrante International and its member organizations in the US and around the world vow to keep waging brave struggles in defense of our fellow migrant workers and our homeland. We must dare to wage campaigns to unite our communities against US imperialism under Trump. Let us build deeper unities with exploited Filipinos at home and around the world towards our genuine alternative to migrant exploitation and neglect, racist crackdowns, and US domination. Together and towards our liberation, we can make Trump and his puppet Marcos pay for their oppression of our people.
Stop crackdowns on migrants!
No to EDCA! US troops, out now!
Imperyalismo, ibagsak!