Marcos is in Washington for a three-day state visit culminating in high-stakes trade and security talks with Trump on Tuesday. He and his entourage were met by more than 100 protesters on Sunday and Monday, gathered outside both the White House and Blair House, where the Philippine delegation has been staying.
Demonstrators accused the president of ignoring urgent immigration issues, including raids, detentions and deportations of Filipino workers, while making time to court US defence officials and business leaders.
“It is inexcusable that he would not make time to visit his own citizens while we are faced with immigration crackdowns, rights violations in detention centres, looming taxes on remittances and many more attacks on migrant communities under the Trump presidency,” Andan Bagoyo, chairman of Bayan USA, a progressive alliance of Filipino organisations, told This Week in Asia.
The United States is home to the world’s largest Filipino diaspora, with 4.1 million people of Filipino descent as of 2022. Nearly half are immigrants. But no meetings with community representatives have been scheduled during Marcos’ visit, which began on Sunday.
According to Philippine foreign affairs officials, the president’s itinerary simply did not allow for it, as “it’s a very short visit”.
