Immigration or How We Ended Up In Michigan

I showed tourism pictures of Cebu to some of my co-workers. All glossy and beautiful. The first questions asked are: "Why did you leave? What are you doing in Michigan?"

The short answer is "My Mom is from here. She was born in Tennessee Street in Detroit, on December 14, 1926."

I have seen the house. It was in a neighborhood where I worked with Habitat for Humanity for a couple of years. The City of Detroit actually gave me a Certificate of Appreciation this year for "Dedication and Commitment to Revitalize the Community" - sad, to say the city is in disrepair and need a lot of help.

Lolo Emilio - I have never met him but, I understand he was quiet a guy although very sickly - more about this later - took Lola Bette and his kids to Catmon a couple of times. The depression came with the hard financial times on the second trip.

Lola Bette was pregnant with Auntie Geline. She stayed in Catmon, where Auntie was born. Then, the Tydings McDuffie Law was passed by the US congress. The migration status of Filipinos was changed from unlimited free entry for Filipinos to a quota of 50 Filipinos allowed per year.

There were three factors driving the law and change: 1 - Filipino leadership were pushing for independence. 2 - The US economy was not doing very well and did not want shoulder the financial burden of administering the Philippines. 3 - The Filipino labor force in the US was growing quickly - then all of a sudden jobs became scarce so to appease labor demands they had to get rid of Filipino workers.

For Lola Bette and Auntie Geline - it was a hopeless situation although Mom and Uncle Junior were both US citizens. The whole family was split and splintered. I listened and watched Lola cry many nights because of the separation. She never saw Lolo Emilio ever again. Auntie Geline never met her father. My mother never saw her father alive again. Our family suffered emotional, financial, psychological and spiritual consequencies because of this.

The importance of knowing the laws and being politically active was driven home to me once I learned this story. It deepened my political understanding that real flesh and blood people are affected by government laws and policies. I am currently very active in the Immigration Reform and Immigrant and Refugee Rights!