Filipinos Who Fought for U.S. Sue for Promised Citizenship

Severino Abela, a native of the Philippines, said he joined the U.S. Army because “I really wanted to be a U.S. citizen.”

But Abela, who now lives in Cypress, has been waiting 40 years and has still not taken his oath of citizenship.

As a last resort, he and about 60 other Filipino veterans who fought for the United States during World War II filed a lawsuit against the Immigration and Naturalization Service in April. The suit claims that although the soldiers were eligible for citizenship because they enlisted in the U.S. military during World War II, the United States withdrew its naturalization examiners from the Philippines before the soldiers could fill out the necessary paper work.

Hearing Continued

The veterans filed suit to force the INS into federal court to explain why the cases are still unresolved. In a half-day hearing on Monday, Chief U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real listened to testimony from nine former soldiers as scores of other veterans, some wearing their medals, filled the courtroom and hallway outside. Real continued the hearing until Wednesday but during the proceeding swore in 12 new citizens whose applications had been approved by the INS. Some of the new citizens were veterans who had sued the INS.

“Somebody should go to Congress and pass a private bill to let them (the veterans) in,” said Michael J. Creppy, district counsel for the INS. Creppy said that despite the 40-year delay, the INS is “not lagging” in processing the veterans’ citizenship applications.

“They are applying for a benefit under an expired act, 40 years later,” argued Stephen Sholomson, general attorney for the INS. He said that some of the veterans suing the INS are ineligible because they joined the U.S. military too late or failed to apply before they left active service.

All of the men who filed suit against the INS initially served in the Philippine Armed Forces and later heeded President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s call to join the U.S. Army.

Most of 175,000 Filipinos who served the United States were naturalized after proving they had filed for citizenship before 1947. But an estimated 1,600 veterans are still trying to become citizens, according to attorneys who represent Filipino veterans.

Although the enlisted men were promised citizenship, the United States, bowing to pressure from a Filipino government that feared a loss of manpower, withdrew its naturalization examiners in October, 1945. They returned 10 months later, in August, 1946, but by then most of the soldiers were mustered out of the Army and unable to qualify for citizenship because they were no longer on active duty, according to Philip D. Abramowitz, an attorney representing the veterans.

Jose Ibarra Salcedo, president of the United Filipino American Veterans of World War II, said the group filed the suit as a “last resort.”

Salcedo, who was granted citizenship in 1982, said he formed the 500-member organization two years ago when he realized that his “comrades were still waiting” to become citizens.

“We never asked for citizenship. It was offered to us,” said Mariano Robles, who has a home in Westminster but lives most of the time out of state.

“We went to different places to get the forms and couldn’t get them,” said Robles. “After (the Philippines) independence in 1946, we were mustered out of the Army.”

Nicomedes Sabio, who served in the U.S. Army from 1946 to 1949, said, “I have already raised my hand and pledged to obey the Constitution of the United States.”

Sabio applied for citizenship in 1978 and every year files a form asking the INS to process his claim.

“I pay my taxes to Uncle Sam and Sacramento,” said Sabio, who owns apartment buildings in Los Angeles.

“It is very depressing,” said his wife, Alicia.