Congressman wants Donald Trump banned from the Philippines

  • Page Views 2169
  • During a speech in Portland, Maine last August 4, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump included the Philippines in a sweeping statement about “terrorist nations”.

    “We’re letting people come in from terrorist nations that shouldn’t be allowed because you can’t vet them,” Trump said. “There’s no way of vetting them. You have no idea who they are. This could be the great Trojan horse of all time.”

    He then named these countries as Afghanistan, Iraq, Morocco, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Uzbekistan, Yemen and the Philippines.

    Trump said: “We’re dealing with animals.”

     

    Responding to Trump, Philippine congressman Joey Salceda filed a bill seeking to ban Trump from entering the Philippines.

    The lawmaker from the province of Albay described Trump in his bill as “inimical to the national interest”.

    “There is no feasible basis or reasonable justification to the wholesale labeling of Filipinos as coming from a ‘terrorist state’ or that they will be a Trojan horse,” Salceda wrote in the bill.

    In 2014, 34,591 people immigrated from the Philippines to the U.S., the most recent year for which statistics are available, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

    Salceda’s call for a ban came in response to “a long line of pronouncements where [Trump] has demonstrated an unrepentantly negative, dysfunctionally nativist, aggressively adversarial attitude towards immigrants in the USA”.

    The U.S. presidential candidate cited a case in which “an immigrant from Afghanistan who later applied for and received U.S. citizenship [and] an illegal permanent resident from the Philippines were convicted for plotting to join Al Qaeda and the Taliban in order to kill as many Americans as possible”.

    He was referring to the case of two Southern California men who were convicted in 2014 of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and conspiring to kill officers and employees of the U.S. government.

    Sohiel Omar Kabir, an Afghan-born U.S. citizen, and Ralph Deleon, a legal permanent resident and citizen of the Philippines, were initially arrested two years earlier as the result of an FBI undercover operation, the news station reported.

    Trump had called immigrants the U.S.’ “Trojan horse” at least once before. “This could be a better, bigger more horrible version than the legendary Trojan horse ever was,” Trump said at a rally in St. Anselm College in New Hampshire in June.

    The Philippines is not the first country where politicians have called for banning Trump.

    Britain’s Parliament held a debate in January to discuss whether or not to ban Trump from entering the country after Trump proposed banning Muslims from entering the U.S.

     

    In the same month, a German lawmaker proposed a similar ban. Dieter Janecek, a member of the left- wing Green Party, said Trump’s “rants of hate against minorities and refugees could constitute the criminal offense of incitement of hatred,” according to CNBC.

    When it comes to Trump’s real estate deals, Philippine Presidential Commission Office Secretary Martin Andanar noted in a statement, he seems to feel more favorably about the island nation.

    “In fact, Mr. Trump has even professed his love for the Philippines during the launch of his 57-story luxury apartment in Makati,” the statement read.

    California Assembly member Rob Bonta — the first and only Fil-Am elected to the state Legislature — echoed President Barack Barack Obama’s sentiment that Trump is “unfit to serve as president.”

    “Trump’s call to restrict immigration and tourism from the Philippines doesn’t represent the America my mother believed in when she made the journey to this country decades ago. It doesn’t represent the America that my 1.5 million Filipino-American brothers and sisters in California know. And it’s definitely not the America I want my children to grow up in,” Bonta said in a statement.

    Bonta has also put out a call to action on social media to ban Trump, urging Fil-Ams to share videos and pictures with a sign that says “#BawalSiTrump”.

     

    Photo by Steve Pope/ Getty

    Share

    New Posts Recently publish post More

    • 23 November 2023
      5 days ago No comment

      GET THE LATEST ON THE FILIPINO CANADIAN COMMUNITY: JOIN “PINOY BRITISH COLUMBIA CANADA TODAY” ON FACEBOOK!

      Want to get the latest scoop on what’s going on in the Filipino Canadian community? A new Facebook community is going live, and it’s called “Pinoy British Columbia Canada Today”. “Pinoy British Columbia Canada Today” will be the go-to place for all to share information, the latest news, events, ...

    • 16 November 2023
      2 weeks ago No comment

      Canada hails release of Leila de Lima

      November 16, 2023 — Canada has welcomed the release of former Philippine senator Leila de Lima from jail. De Lima, who was a vocal critic of ex-President Rodrigo Duterte, has spent more than six years in detention due to drug-related criminal cases. A former justice secretary during the time ...

    • 09 November 2023
      3 weeks ago No comment

      Christopher de Leon bares why he accepted ‘When I Met You In Tokyo’ directorial job

      MANILA, Philippines — Veteran actor Christopher De Leon revealed why apart from being the lead actor, he accepted the role of serving the associate director of the Metro Manila Film Festival entry “When I Met You In Tokyo.” In an interview with the media, De Leon said that he ...

    • 09 November 2023
      3 weeks ago No comment

      Jose Mari Chan, Zack Tabudlo to serenade Vancouver in November 10 concerts

      Two of the biggest names in Philippine music are set to delight audiences in two separate Vancouver concerts this Friday (November 10). Christmas comes early for Filipinos as icon Jose Mari Chan and the country’s premier vocal group The CompanY are set to stage a Christmas-themed concert in North ...

    • 09 November 2023
      3 weeks ago No comment

      Catriona Gray back as backstage correspondent for Miss Universe 2023

      MANILA, Philippines — Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray is returning as a Miss Universe backstage correspondent for the pageant’s 72nd edition. Joining Gray backstage is her partner last year, Emmy award-winner and “American Ninja Warrior” co-host Zuri Hall. Television host Jeannie Mai Jenkins and another former Miss Universe Olivia ...

    %d bloggers like this: