From There to Here and Back: Migration, Marriage, and Filipino American Transnational Families

In 1935 U.S. Congress passed the Filipino Repatriation Act, which offered free transportation for Filipino immigrants in the mainland willing to return to the. Amidst Filipino decolonization and exclusion, the repatriation of Filipino migrants marked the final stage of their transition from colonial subject and migrating national to undesirable alien. While focus on this period has privileged the narratives of single, unmarried Filipino men who chose to go back; attention to Filipino American couples and their families who also made this difficult decision provide a different perspective to this historical moment. By examining the experiences of Filipino American couples and families during this period, this paper looks at how the Repatriation Act brought to the fore complicated discussions about Filipino American migration, interracial marriage, and the transformations of national identities.  

Filipino American families’ decision to return to the raised the following questions: Who will pay for the passage of their non-Filipino wives? Will their children, as citizens go as well, or remain to become wards of the state? What will they do in the when they arrived? Will they become public charges of the Philippine government? Questions surrounding the Filipino American family tells us a lot about forced and voluntary migration as well as the transformations of migrant, racial, and national identities within the Filipino Diaspora. This paper seeks to explore the broader implications of the Filipino Repatriation Act beyond its legal power to exclude Filipino migrants from the American nation. This project tells the story of Filipino American couples and families across two continents who crossed the Pacific in search of a new homeland. Where and how would these multi-racial and multi-national families belong? If they didn’t belong neither here nor there, then where?