She said less than 1 percent of the CNMI population participated in the series of hearings conducted by the local senators on Interior’s recommendation.
But the former Rota teacher said she will encourage guest workers to attend the hearing tonight starting at 6 p.m. at the Kagman Community Center and submit their testimony.
“I hope others, including other guest worker groups, faith-based organizations, and individuals will follow the lead of the United Workers Movement by attending the final hearing and/or submitting written testimony,” she said in an e-mail interview.
Doromal said when people live and work in a community for as many years as most of the foreign workers have lived and worked in the CNMI, they are already an integral part of the community “even if those in power continue to suppress their rights and treat them as second class citizens.”
“As contributing and vital members of the community, the alien workers deserve to have their voices heard. They too are the ‘people’ of the CNMI,” she said.
The voices of the nonresidents have already been heard through the petitions and letters sent to members of Congress and other U.S. officials over the last several years and through testimony and reports submitted on their behalf, Doromal said.
She said she will write a new report that will be submitted to congressional committees and U.S. officials concerning improved status for guest workers.
“The disingenuous letter that the governor sent to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the nonfactual and inappropriate response to [Interior’s] report that elected officials have publicly voiced or penned in ‘resolutions’ does nothing to lend credibility to the CNMI’s message,” she said.
These elected officials and candidates claimed that the CNMI was not consulted regarding the report, but facts showed otherwise, she said.
“They can repeat that lie 100 times, and maybe some people who don’t research will believe it, but no matter how many times it is repeated, it remains untrue,” she added.
Doromal said the Fitial administration not only ignored opportunities to consult with Interior, but it refused to share data and statistics.
Those actions, she added, have already sent a “powerful message” to the U.S. Congress.
When the CNMI people voted to become a part of the U.S. family, they voted not just for privileges and rights but to follow federal law, too, she said.
According to Doromal, the CNMI leaders have no right to choose what laws they will follow or to attempt to preempt federal law with local law.
“I also find it unacceptable that so many ‘leaders’ use the argument of indigenous rights to mask their xenophobia,” she said.
It was the CNMI’s elected leaders who endorsed and legislated the local system that brought in so many foreigners that the indigenous population became a minority in their islands, she added.
“When they had control over that system, they defended it and disregarded that they were a minority.
“Now that there is a possibility that the foreign workers who have endured being abused, cheated and disenfranchised for years and even decades, may finally have some political and social rights, they object,” she said.
