WASHINGTON D.C. Only about third of eligible undocumented Filipinos have availed of deportation protection, reflecting a pattern that showed Asian immigrants were less likely than Latinos to apply for deferred action.

While Latinos have signed for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program in large numbers, Asian immigrants have not.

According to a report by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), just 24 percent of eligible Korean, 26 percent of eligible Filipinos and 28 percent of eligible Indians applied between 2012 and 2014.

In contrast 68 percent of eligible Hondurans, 62 percent of eligible Mexicans and 61 percent of eligible Peruvians applied.

Some fear Asians might become even more reluctant to apply after a federal judge in Texas blocked President Obama’s executive action to expand DACA.

“I’ve seen fear and confusion,” said California Rep. Judy Chu, adding that some Asian  immigrants are wary of sharing personal information with the government and have doubts about whether the program will last.

The President announced last November that he was expanding his signature immigration initiative to include deportation protections for a broader group of childhood arrivals, as well as up to 4 million immigrant parents of US-born children.

“We need to reach out and demystify the stigma,” said Mee Moua, executive director of the DC-based group Asian Americans Advancing Justice.

Asians “don’t feel the threat of deportation as acutely” as Latinos, who are deported at a higher rate, observed Tom Wong, a professor at University of California-San Diego.

And some Asian immigrants may have other forms of relief available to them. “It may be a rational and conscious choice not to apply because the benefits do not outweigh the cost,” he added.

Aquilina Soriano, executive director of Filipino Workers Center, noted that Asian immigrants have less experience participating in past immigration relief programs. Mexican nationals were the primary beneficiaries of the 1986 amnesty bill, and Hondurans and Salvadorans have enjoyed a special immigration benefit called Temporary Protected Status for more than a decade.

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(Courtesy of Manila Mail, February 16-28, 2015)