Unbelievable

I thought discrimination was a thing of the past, now that America has twice elected its first AfricanAmerican President. But it seems discrimination is alive and well in America, this time directed towards everyone else. A 63-year-old Filipino grandmother, who traveled to the US to attend her daughter's wedding and visit her granddaughter, was detained, held for six hours without food and water, in a small room normally reserved for criminal interrogation. Why she was singled out despite having all the necessary documents such as a multiple entry visa valid until 2017 is anyone's guess. That's four years until it expires! She has also been to the US for thirteen times. That would indicate that she could afford it. She also had wedding gifts for her daughter and future son-in-law, which happened to be an American.

But the immigration officers at Seattle International Airport saw a different person. They saw an old Asian, obviously wanting to work in America as a caregiver. Never mind all the documents to prove otherwise, that's what they saw. But to see her as a caregiver in need of employment wasn't enough. They called her a liar, and hurled racial slurs at her. Exactly how does a 63year-old grandmother deserve such treatment form citizens of the land of the free? Pure and simple. Discrimination.

What's the point of getting a multiple entry visa if you won't be allowed to enter? How does one deduce that a person, an old person, who has traveled to the US repeatedly in the past, now seeks employment in servitude? And an ex-DBP employee at that! To top it all out, she was given the choice of being deported, or spend several days in jail. Good thing she chose to come back home, and fight her battle from here.

According to a lawyer at the Bureau of Immigration, while a country has absolute power to allow or deny entry into its borders, abuse is another thing. In this case, the way she was treated was absolutely appalling. She was treated like a criminal. If they had any suspicions about her reason for travel, why detain her without food or water for six hours? Isn't that what they do to terrorists? Unbelievable, especially coming from a country like the US.

It is just right for the grandmother to sue the immigration officials who treated her very badly. It is just right for her to file whatever complaints to whatever agency. The media has picked up this story, and rightly so. It is also noteworthy that the American embassy has not issued an official comment on the incident. But this is the same embassy with an official who shouted at locals in Makati just because they were in his way coming in to a restaurant. What exactly do they indoctrinate their diplomatic corps?

Discrimination?

‘While a country has absolute power to allow or deny entry into its borders, abuse is another thing. In this case, the way she was treated was absolutely appalling. She was treated like a criminal’