By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

GOVERNOR Benigno R. Fitial says the CNMI’s Covenant agreement with the U.S. promotes self-government and self-sufficiency and wasn’t designed to give permanent residency to nonresident workers.
Fitial said his administration will not oppose federal border control for security reasons, but will never support the extension of federal immigration law to the islands.
“The Covenant guarantees self-government and self-government means we manage our own internal affairs, except foreign affairs. So in the matter of growing the economy, you don’t expect the federal government 10,000 miles away to micromanage our economy,” said Fitial said in an interview on Thursday.
The administration is scheduled to begin consultations this week with the federal government as provided by section 902 of the Covenant.
President Bush’s 902 representative is U.S. Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs David Cohen.
Fitial said he hopes the 902 talks will lead to favorable results for the CNMI.
“Everybody knows that we need the economic tools that the Covenant provided us — control of labor and immigration,” he said. “Without those tools, no more fish, right? If they are talking about homeland security issues, I agree to that and I even agree to participate in writing legislation to provide for that. But only for (border control).”
U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources staffers who were here recently indicated that long-time alien workers could be given permanent residency by the yet-to-be-drafted legislation to federalize local immigration.
But Fitial said the CNMI never agreed to such a proposal.
“The intent of our Public Law 3-66, the Nonresident Workers Act, was never to provide long-term (residency) for foreign workers. It was intended for them to come here because we needed the skills but when we have our own qualified labor force, then they have to leave,” he said.
“If the U.S. Congress is trying to play a different game, they’d better look at Public Law 3-66,” he added. “We cannot have a double standard.”
The CNMI hosts more than 27,000 foreign workers, mostly from the Philippines and China.
Most of them are paid the minimum wage rate of $3.05 an hour which was last set in 1996.