By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

VISITING U.S. Senate staff member Allen Stayman says Washington, D.C. feels that it is time for the U.S. to take over border control in the Northern Marianas while allowing the islands to have a guest workers program.
Asked what will happen to CNMI guest workers if local immigration is federalized, Stayman said: “The guest workers will continue to come and go but it will be handled by federal officials in cooperation with local officials. Right now, the federal government does not have a role in how the guest workers’ program is operated.”
According to Stayman, “We recognize the CNMI economy is dependent upon alien workers and that has to be accommodated. The national government has laws and procedure that controls who comes and who goes across the border and, generally, that should be handled by the national government. I don’t know of any country in the world that delegates control of border to local jurisdictions.”
He added, “The economic situation has changed quite a bit here in the (Northern) Marianas and we’re here to find out what the plans of the local government to deal with the changing economic conditions are. Those changes will also affect some of the workforce and population issues so we’re interested in finding out what the plans of the local government are in dealing with workers who might be laid off and other elements of the population which may need to be repatriated. Finally, immigration is part of a bigger picture. We are asking people, in meetings with them, for their ideas about issues and elements that need to be considered as Congress develops legislation with respect to immigration.”
Stayman said there is still no definite plan on how the U.S. Senate bill they will draft will address the issue of guest workers here.
“The economy is in a delicate stage and we don’t want anything that will unnecessarily aggravate that but at the same time the federal government has some interests that it wants to pursue so we have to work together in partnership, which is, after all, what the Covenant is all about,” Stayman told the local media during yesterday’s press briefing.