Immigration Call to Action

by Connie Triggiano

These days, the Filipinos’ very own hallowed virtue of “damayan,” or “helping each other,” is being tested — it is summoning each Filipino American to live up to damayan’s profound calling amidst the threat of widespread deportation of the undocumented in the US — some 370,000 of them being Filipinos, according to Migration Policy Institute.  The same source disclosed there are approximately 18,000 of them in mixed-status Filipino homes affected in Illinois alone.

We are called to  ACT NOW, NOT LATER.  Hauling out of undocumented people begins on Monday, January 20, 2025, and IT STARTS IN CHICAGO!   
We invite you to join our conversation about the threats of Trump’s policy on immigrants, how they will affect our community, and what we can do to protect our community. Please email info@rizalcenter.org if you are interested in joining this conversation. 

We propose to hold the meeting sometime in mid-January. The agenda includes how to prepare to safeguard our community, especially the young, the elderly, the sick, and the disabled, in cases of deportation; what outreach and organizing need to build; and sharing participants’ concerns. 

The imminent threat of breaking up families is already causing unprecedented panic among immigrant communities. Palpable fear among vulnerable residents is triggering anxiety and many forms of psychological impairments, especially those who may have been caught in illegal immigration orbit in one way or another.

Let us assist in preventing the uprooting of Filipino immigrant roots in our communities.  Remember that both Chicago and the entire state of Illinois are sanctuary jurisdictions with policies in place:  local authorities will not ask about immigration status nor disclose the same to authorities.  Chicago assures that only those deemed clear threats to national security and public safety may be apprehended.

For a sweeping view of the plight of the undocumented, read the flanker story on this issue by Connie C. Triggiano.

Connie Triggiano is currently Board Secretary of Circa-Pintig, a Chicago community theater organization. She works as Academic and English tutor assisting foreign students to pass IELTS, TOEFL, Celpic, ESL and other English exams to gain admission to universities in English speaking countries. She also trains greencard holders to pass US citizenship exams and interview. She worked for many years as Vice-President of  Chicago-based Leo Burnett Advertising in its Manila office where she managed the advertising accounts of the country’s biggest brands: Procter & Gamble, Pepsi Cola International, BPI, Vicks, Wyeth and Cathay Pacific. She edited a travel newspaper in Singapore and taught college freshmen in a local university. Connie graduated with a BA degree, major in English, from the University of San Francisco in California while working as an information officer for a United Way agency. She took up MS in Advertising at the Asian Institute for the Development of Advertising, UST Graduate School.