No change to US travel policies for PH travelers —BI, US Customs

There have been no changes made to the United States' immigration and customs policies, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said amid online accounts of longer processes and government-mandated phone checks for travelers to the US.

In an email correspondence with GMA News Online, US Customs and Border Protection Office of Public Affairs spokesperson Tammy Melvin stated that processes to enter the United States “remain unchanged.”

“CBP continues to carry out its primary responsibilities of protecting the American people, safeguarding the nation’s borders, and enhancing economic prosperity through the facilitation of lawful trade and travel. Border security remains the agency’s top priority,” she said.

For outbound Filipino passengers bound for the United States, Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega clarified that the Bureau of Immigration have jurisdiction.

“It is our own Bureau of Immigration who is responsible… Not US authorities, who have no control over our airport immigration people,” he noted in a message to GMA News Online.

In response, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said that there were no changes to their immigration process for outbound Filipino passengers.

“No changes naman from our end so far [for outbound passengers]… We cannot comment on processes of another country's immigration processes [for incoming passengers]. This does not fall under the BI's jurisdiction,” added BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval in a message to GMA News Online.

In January 2025, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said that he was intending to meet with re-elected President Donald Trump to discuss several topics on PH-US relations, including Immigration.

"There's much that we need to discuss between the US and the Philippines in terms of the trade, in terms of defense and security and now, the new policy on immigration," Marcos told reporters on the sidelines of the inauguration of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Alternate Runway.

"Nagpauwi na yata ng ilang daan na Pilipino [It seems several hundred Filipinos have already been deported]. This is something that we have to work through and hopefully resolve. Because the Filipinos in the United States, especially, have really formed an important part already of their workforce. So let's see how we can influence policy-making in terms of immigration," he added.

As of April 2, Consul General Donna Rodriguez said that there already were 20 undocumented Filipino migrants detained and pending for deportation in the United States, following Trump’s nationwide immigration crackdown.

She further added that there were between 150,000 to 370,000 undocumented Filipino migrants in the US. — BM, GMA Integrated News