SOME people say we shouldn’t invest too much emotion in the outcome of the United States election, which was won by a convicted felon, Donald J. Trump. Some even arrogantly cite the fact that only those with business interests in the US should have a say, and people like me who don’t even earn US dollars should shut up.

Beyond this condescending tone, mostly coming from ecstatic Trump supporters who have forgotten to practice what they preach, in that they too invest too much emotion in the outcome of the election, albeit differently, there is the issue of how lacking these people are brilliant.

There are many ways in which the outcome of the US election and the elevation of Donald Trump to the presidency, with all the levers of government firmly under his control, from the Senate to the Supreme Court and even the House of Representatives, control of which is still in play, will have serious implications for Philippines and Filipinos.

In 2022, there were approximately 4.1 million people of Filipino ancestry living in the United States, representing approximately 17% of the entire Asian American population. Whether we like it or not, their fate would have significant implications for the Philippines. And such a fate hangs in the balance and is in serious danger if we rely on the stated political intent of Trump and his MAGA Republican henchmen.

Trump and MAGA Republicans have openly declared war on immigration, an issue that many analysts point to as one of the big factors in the former president’s unexpected and shocking victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump and his team have promised there will be mass deportation of illegal and undocumented immigrants. While most would typically think of Latinos who crossed the border into Mexico illegally, we cannot ignore the fact that such a policy move would also affect undocumented Filipinos, numbering approximately 300,000 to 400,000, according to the latest estimates . No less than the Philippine Ambassador to the US, Jose Romualdez, has advised these undocumented Filipinos to leave voluntarily before Trump takes office on January 20, 2025, to avoid deportation. This is at least to preserve for them the option to reapply for immigration to the US in the future, an option that will no longer be available if they are deported.

It is expected, however, that Trump will make the process of legal migration even stricter and more difficult. There are even hints in Project 2025, which is the controversial plan for Trump’s second presidency, that applicants to migrate to the US should take ideological tests, and only those who will have the predisposition that aligns with the MAGA ideology would be permissive.

And yet, most Filipinos who voted for Trump seem to have this sense of protection that emanates from the belief that the threat only applies to undocumented illegals, which includes many Filipinos. These are people who would have no sympathy for Filipinos who ironically would probably be in the shoes they or their family and friends wore. They pride themselves on having undergone a process, even if for some of them, that process would have involved entering as tourists and engaging in sham or purchased marriages with American citizens for a fee just to obtain a green card or initially enter the graduate school and then engaging in post-doctoral training and employment, effectively renouncing their contractual obligations back in the Philippines. They navigated the nooks and crannies of the US immigration system, including hiring immigration attorneys, just to gain legal status and obtain the much-coveted green card as proof of permanent residency as their path to the American dream.

These are people who were lucky enough to predate Donald Trump and now look down on those who would want to follow the same paths they did, except that the latter group had the misfortune of be overtaken by a Trump election victory and now have to pay. the price. It’s heartbreaking to see fellow Filipinos losing every iota of ‘kapwa’ and ‘awa’ to their hapless ‘kababayans’. There is no feeling of sympathy and magnanimity. Some of these people are probably also the ones who call other Filipinos to the immigration authorities.

And yet, some of these former Filipino citizens who are now naturalized US citizens may not even be safe from Trump and his MAGA horde. Enshrined in Project 2025 and asserted by no less than Stephen Miller, a key Trump official, it is a plan for those who are naturalized but have proven to have acquired their US citizenship through fraudulent means. They would be denaturalized by having their status as naturalized citizens revoked and would also be subject to deportation proceedings. This would affect many Filipinos who entered into fraudulent marriages and bought to obtain permanent residency status. Since this is a predominant way for Filipinos to obtain green cards, it makes all naturalized US citizens of Filipino ancestry vulnerable to investigations by immigration authorities. And this may become another place where Filipinos would yell at other Filipinos.

This will also have serious implications for the children of couples who are unlucky enough to be denaturalized. In May 2023, Trump promised to end birthright citizenship, in which a child born in the US automatically becomes a US citizen even if both parents are not US citizens. The policy proposal argues that to receive automatic citizenship, at least one parent should be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident. In addition to having implications for the children of non-Filipinos with legal status, such as graduate students and those on work visas, it is unclear whether this would apply retroactively to children of couples who would have acquired citizenship or permanent resident status by fraudulent means.

Clearly, the impending Trump presidency will have serious repercussions for Filipino migrants in the US.