Trump Immigration Plans Would Hit Hawaii's Filipino Families Hard

During his first year in office, President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked what he calls “chain migration,” a term that loosely refers to any legal immigration based on family ties to a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.

In Trump’s telling, chain migration — a bedrock of the U.S. immigration system for decades — poses an untenable risk to the national security. He has called it “a total disaster” and has even linked it to a December terrorist attack inside a New York City subway station.

In Hawaii, Trump’s disdain for this type of immigration has a particular resonance: The state is home to hundreds of thousands of Filipino immigrants who — along with Mexicans, Dominicans and Chinese — heavily rely on family-based immigration.

Among them is Victor Gonzales, a 46-year-old who moved to Hawaii in 2011.

Read more: http://www.civilbeat.org/2018/01/trump-immigration-plans-would-hit-hawaiis-filipino-families-hard/