PART 1 | 'Most recruiters take advantage of Filipinos who want to work in the US and earn dollars. They make them emotionally invested in this opportunity from the start.' Read this in-depth piece by Maki Somosot.
Mairi Nunag could hardly believe her luck. After 10 years of working in local government, the 33-year-old mother of two from Bohol would finally see her American Dream come true.
“[The recruiters] called me into another room, and that is where they told me [about the rest of the fees],” she said. This new amount, which now totaled over P700,000, was something the teachers would also be required to pay for the first few years upon their arrival in America. “Our intention is to try and get as much money to satisfy that judgment as we possibly can,” said Jim Knoepp, an American immigrant rights attorney who works for the Southern Poverty Law Center in Alabama.suspending H1-B and J-1 working visas for skilled foreign professionals through the end of 2020
Eager to go abroad, many of these recruits took up special certifications that allowed them to teach in-demand subjects in the US, like special education, science, and math. WIN. The cadre of Filipino teachers in Louisiana poses with their Southern Poverty Law Center attorneys, after each teacher received about $2,000 from the million-dollar judgment stemming from Lulu Navarro's 2012 conviction.Nunag and the rest of the Louisiana teachers were also entitled to receive over P225 million in damages. But Nunag said they’ve each only received up to P100,000 so far from the judgment.
“But there’s a way to do this without having to be extortionist,” she said, referring to the longtime practice of guest worker recruitment in Western countries. In Canada, for instance, immigration consultants are typically subject to the rigorous review of a regulatory body before they can start recruiting.
“You have these highly-qualified teachers who speak English. And one of the Philippines’ biggest exports is people, right?” Knoepp said. According to the suit, UPI then paid for the Louisiana school administrators to travel to the Philippines and interview the prospective teachers firsthand.
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Part 2 | Cycle of debt: How migration business abets abuse of Pinoy teachers in USPART 2 | If they had a fighting chance of making it in the Philippines, why would teachers and other overseas Filipino workers choose to leave behind family? Read this in-depth story Maki Somosot.
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