In a 47-page “Commonwealth’s Protocol for Implementation of U.S. Public Law 110-229 or the Consolidated Natural Resources Act,” Howard P. Willens, the governor’s special legal counsel, said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s policy requiring documented foreign workers who hold CNMI-issued labor or entry permits to secure the appropriate U.S. visa to be able to return to the commonwealth is “unnecessary, highly damaging to the commonwealth and its citizens, and unacceptable from the commonwealth’s point of view.”
“DHS has authority to waive these restrictions and should do so. Anyone who holds a CNMI-issue permit or a federally issued CNMI-only permit is not a threat to U.S. national security and should be allowed to continue employment if they leave the CNMI and return during the term of the permit,” said Willens.
The protocol will be observed once DHS takes control of the islands’ immigration system.
Willens said he and the Attorney General’s Office worked on the protocol manual “to collect our policies for reference by all concerned in both the public and private sectors in the commonwealth and by the responsible federal agencies.”
U.S. P.L. 110-229 mandates the application of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Act to the CNMI beginning on Nov. 28.
This means all local laws relevant to labor and immigration will be superseded by federal statutes.
The governor has filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Washington, D.C. challenging the labor-related provisions of the federalization law and seeks a permanent injunction of its application.
U.S. District Court of Columbia Judge Paul Friedman put under advisement the case since the last hearing took place in March.
Willens said the protocol manual covers the period before Nov. 28, 2009 and 90 days thereafter.
He said if the federal judge rules in favor of the CNMI’s contention that certain provisions in the federalization law violate the Covenant, the protocol will be adjusted.
Majority of CNMI employers chose to renew their foreign workers’ contracts for two years to buy more time for their presence amid fears that they will eventually be asked to return home.
Under the federalization law, there should be no guest workers on the islands by 2014.
In his interpretation of the law which was concurred by DHS, Willens said CNMI-issued permit holders cannot be removed or deported from the islands during the validity date.
However, they are required to secure the necessary U.S. visa, i.e. employment-related, to be able to return to the CNMI, should they decide to exit for whatever reasons.
“Implementing this policy will burden the CNMI’s economy. Some CNMI-permit holders who are citizens of visa-waiver countries, such as Japan and Korea, will be able to return to the CNMI as tourists, a status for which they do not need visas, but according to [the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services], they will be unable to resume their status as investors, workers or students,” said Willens.
USCIS later advised the local government there will be special CNMI-only visas that the U.S. Department of State will create for workers, students, investors and others holding CNMI-issued permits or federally-issued CNMI-only permits.
Further, USCIS said those who will exit for emergency purposes will be offered a parole process to allow to re-enter temporarily without a visa.
But Willens said this process is still unnecessary and burdensome.
“Persons who have been admitted to the commonwealth and exit temporarily cannot re-enter any part of the U.S. except the commonwealth using their commonwealth-issued permits. The system of using commonwealth-issued credentials for re-entry has worked very well for 30 years. There has never been an adverse incident caused by re-entry. Travel to a U.S. consulate to obtain a visa, especially in China and Russia, is very expensive,” he added.
As of last year, it was estimated the CNMI had 16,000 documented foreign workers.
