by Alfred Acenas (EBC Hawaii-Pacific)
Eagle News Service
HONOLULU, Hawaii (Eagle News) – Three US senators and two congressmen reintroduced the Filipino Veterans Family Reunification Act on Wednesday, May 19, which would speed up the visa processing for children of Filipino World War II veterans.
U.S. Senators Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), along with Representatives Ed Case (D-Hawaii) and Don Young (R-Alaska), stressed the importance of this act for Filipino veterans of the war.
Despite the heroic service and sacrifice of more than 260,000 Filipinos who fought under the American flag during World War II, those who survived were made ineligible for benefits granted to other war veterans when Congress passed the Rescission Acts in 1946.
In 1990, President George H.W. Bush granted U.S. citizenship to about 26,000 Filipino nationals in recognition of their service to the United States during World War II. However, this new benefit did not confer citizenship or residency to the veterans’ children, who remained separated from their parents. Due to a resulting visa backlog, some Filipino applicants had to wait nearly 20 years before their applications were even considered.
-Righting a historic wrong-
“Filipino and American service members fought side by side during World War II. As a grateful nation, we should do everything we can to reunite Filipino soldiers with their children,” Senator Hirono stressed. “The Filipino Veterans Family Reunification Act rights a historic wrong and keeps our nation’s promise to honor Filipino veterans’ service to the United States.”
Senator Murkowski noted how “most of the Filipino veterans that served America during WWII are now in their 80s and 90s,” making this “legislation more timely than ever.”
“Reuniting mothers and fathers with their children, who have been separated for far too long is about more than just a humanitarian gesture. It is about doing what is right and fair for all the veterans who served under the American flag,” Murkowski said.
-Long overdue-
Hawaii Rep. Ed Case welcomed the Senate version of the bill introduced by Senator Hirono, also of Hawaii. He noted that since he first pursued the family reunification of Filipino veterans in 2003, “there has been frustratingly slow but steady progress toward this long-overdue need.”
He said “Senator Hirono’s 2016 initiative under which the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services created the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Program” was a “temporary administrative fix which allows these veterans to request parole for their children or siblings under which they can live in the U.S. pending processing of their permanent resident applications.”
Marita Etcubanez, the Director of Strategic Initiatives at Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC), applauded the senators and congressmen who reintroduced the bill. She said that this is the year to get the bill passed so that the family members of Filipino war veterans could be finally be reunited with the military heroes.
“Filipino World War II veterans served this country with distinction and waited far too long to be rewarded with U.S. citizenship, which meant that their adult children had to get in the back of a decades long line,” noted Etcubanez.
“We applaud Senators Hirono, Murkowski, and Sullivan and Representatives Case and Young in leading this bipartisan bill to remove barriers that keep these military heroes separated from their family members. 2021 is the year to get this bill past the finish line.”
The legislation is also co-sponsored by Senators Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut), Cory Booker (New Jersey), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Maria Cantwell (Washington), Catherine Cortez-Masto (Nevada), Tammy Duckworth (Illinois), Dianne Feinstein (California), Kirsten Gillibrand (New York), Jacky Rosen (Nevada), Bernie Sanders (Vermont), Brian Schatz (Hawaii), and Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts).
In 2016, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services began implementation of the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole (FWVP) program to reunite veterans and their surviving spouses with adult children and certain other relatives. However, the new program was limited and provided no guarantee that these veterans could reunite with their loved ones.
In 2019, President Donald Trump announced his intention to terminate FWVP and, in December 2020, published the final steps to end the program.
Last February, Congressman Case led a bicameral delegation in sending a letter to President Joe Biden, urging his new administration to rescind the said termination efforts and renew the FWVP.
(Eagle News Service)