FBANC Members: Public Comment Needed to Keep Filipino WWII Veteran Parole (FWVP) Program

Feb 9

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has proposed to end the Filipino WWII Veteran Parole (FWVP) Program. On January 22, 2021, FBANC submitted public comment and released a statement, entreating USCIS to retain the program.

The public can submit comment for USCIS to consider before finalizing its proposed regulation. FBANC urges its members to submit public comment to preserve a hard-fought program aimed to reunite our aging veterans with their loved ones.

Why Is Submitting Public Comment Important?

According to the Federal Register, the official journal of the federal government that contains the proposed change in regulation:

If the rulemaking record contains persuasive new data or policy arguments, or poses difficult questions or criticisms, the agency may decide to terminate the rulemaking. Or, the agency may decide to continue the rulemaking but change aspects of the rule to reflect these new issues.

Federal Register: A Guide to the Rulemaking Process (emphasis added). As of the date and time of this email, only 14 comments have been submitted, a number of which support FWVP's termination. Your voice is needed to help save the program! The deadline to submit a comment is in a couple of days--February 26, 2021.

How Do I Submit Public Comment?

Click HERE to access USCIS's public notice in the Federal Register

Click the green "Submit My Formal Comment"
Enter your comment and information
Click "Submit Comment"

Don't Know What to Write? Here's a Template!

I respectfully urge U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to retain the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole program (FWVP) of 2016.

More than 260,000 Filipinos fought for the United States during WWII, incentivized with the promise of U.S. citizenship and full veteran benefits.1 Thousands of Filipinos were held as prisoners of war (POWs) and/or died during the war, most infamously during the Bataan Death March.2 However, when the war ended, the U.S. government did not fulfill the promise to all Filipinos who served under the U.S. flag.3 It was only until 1990—over 45 years later and after hard-fought advocacy efforts—did the U.S. government grant citizenship for the remaining and surviving 26,000 Filipino veterans on U.S. soil.4

But, the Immigration Act of 1990 did not honor all that was promised to our soldiers. Among the veteran benefits that the U.S. government rescinded in 1946 and ignored in 1990 include the reunification of veterans with their families abroad.5 The passage of the FWVP in 2016 finally provided recourse. FWVP most importantly allows eligible family members to reunite, support, and care for aging or dying Filipino WWII veterans.

I submit this public comment in hopes that USCIS will retain a long-awaited and hard-fought program for the remaining 2,000 to 6,000 Filipino WWII veterans. Thousands have already perished, hence missing the opportunity to benefit from the FWVP. Please honor a promise unfulfilled for the few still among us.

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1 Press Release, Senator Mazie Hirona, Hirono, Case, Murkowski, Young Reintroduce Bicameral Legislation to Reunite Filipino World War II Veterans with Their Families (May 22, 2019); Satoshi Nakano, Nation, Nationalism and Citizenship in the Filipino World War II Veterans Equity Movement, HITOTSHBASHI JOURNAL OF SOCIAL STUDIES, 33-53 (Dec. 2000); U.S. DEP’T OF INTERIOR, FINDING A PATH FORWARD ASIAN AMERICAN PACIFIC ISLANDER NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARKS THEME STUDY (2017).

2 Michael Norman & Elizabeth Norman, Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath (2009).

3 See Recession Act of 1946 (38 U.S.C. § 107); Olegario v. United States, 629 F.2d 204, 209-11 (2d Cir. 1980).

4 U.S. DEP’T OF INTERIOR, FINDING A PATH FORWARD ASIAN AMERICAN PACIFIC ISLANDER NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARKS THEME STUDY (2017); Immigration Act of 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-649, 104 Stat. 4985.

5 See War Brides Act of 1945, Pub. L. 79-272, 59 Stat. 659.