TWO years after the United States enacted a law federalizing the Northern Marianas’ immigration system, the U.S. Department of the Interior recommended to Congress to confer U.S. citizenship or long-term permanent status thousands of documented foreign national workers who have worked for at least five years on the islands despite protest from the local administration.
Interior Assistant Secretary for Insular Areas Tony Babauta hand-delivered on Friday afternoon his office’s official recommendation to Congress as part of the mandates of U.S. Public Law 110-229 or the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008 to Lt. Governor Eloy Inos who appeared on behalf of Governor Benigno R. Fitial who failed to attend the meeting due to family matters.
“Consistent with the goals of comprehensive immigration reform, we recommend that Congress consider permitting alien workers who have lawfully resided in the CNMI for a minimum of five years to apply for long-term status under the immigration and nationality laws of the United States,” reads a portion of the Interior’s report to Congress.
Interior recommended three possibilities whereby Congress could grant aliens in the CNMI long-term status.
These include: conferring them U.S. citizenship by act of Congress; conferring them permanent resident status leading to U.S. citizenship, with the five-year minimum residence spent anywhere in the U.S. and its territories; or conferring them permanent resident status leading to U.S. citizenship, with the five-year minimum residence spent in the CNMI.
Additionally, Interior is asking Congress to explore granting NMI aliens a special status similar to that of the citizens of the Freely Associated States who are privileged to live, work and study anywhere in the U.S. and its territories or limit their presence to the CNMI only.
Inos made it very clear that if Congress is to grant permanent resident status to long-term migrant workers in the CNMI, it should enable them to go to the United States to protect the local workforce from competing with them.
“If such status would have been given to deserving nonresident workers, they should be given under the normal course of what’s allowed under the U.S. naturalization law, for eventual track-in to U.S. citizenship. So, in other words, it should not be limited to the CNMI. And again the reason for that is we want to acknowledge these folks in helping our economy and one way to show that is to work with your office to give them that status,” said Inos.
“At the same time by allowing that flexibility our local people would not be choked with their presence here. So that’s a mutually beneficial (action),” he added.
Babauta said Congress had demonstrated its legislative power to grant nonimmigrant workers an improved status in the past in the case of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“Precedent for Congress granting long-term status to nonimmigrant workers was set by Public Law 92-271 (1982) when Congress, citing its special responsibility and authority with respect to territories and the establishment of immigration policy granted the opportunity to apply for U.S. permanent residence to more than 20,000 legal, long-time (more than seven years continuous residency), alien workers in the U.S. Virgin Islands,” he said.
The visiting Interior official said the gesture was bestowed to alien workers in recognition of their contribution to the U.S. Virgin Islands’ economic, social and cultural development.
“There may be some similarities between the alien workers’ situation in the CNMI and that of the Virgin Islands per P.L. 97-271,” said Babauta who was the chief of staff of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Insular Areas, Oceans and Wildlife prior to his appointment to the Interior.
Babauta, however, stressed it would be up to Congress how fast to act on their recommendation.
Congress must introduce and pass legislation to lawfully improve the status of long-term migrant workers in the CNMI.
Alien workers still needed
Based on information that the U.S. Federal Labor Ombudsman’s Office gathered, there are 20,859 aliens in the CNMI.
“On Dec. 9, 2009, given the lack of a DHS registration and the refusal of the CNMI government to provide access to its Border Management System and Labor and Immigration Identification System, the Ombudsman’s office commenced counting the number of aliens present in the CNMI in order to provide the most accurate data for this report,” the Interior’s report to Congress stated.
A total of 122 pages of data were gathered by the Ombudsman with the help of major businesses, the Catholic Diocese of Chalan Kanoa, the Philippine Consulate General, the Japanese Consulate, the Korean Association, the Palauan Consulate, the Japanese Consulate and the leaders of alien workers’ groups such as the United Workers Group.
Of close to 21,000 aliens in the CNMI, 16,304 are workers. Their number, however, could be more if the population of undocumented workers is included.
“This number probably underestimates the true number of aliens because many of those present in the CNMI without legal status probably chose not to register,” Interior’s report to Congress which was submitted last Thursday, Washington time, reads.
Only 548 are categorized as alien business owners and investors and 2,933 are registered as immediate relatives of aliens and U.S. Citizens. The alien student population is 869.
The report said 15,816 of the alien population have spent five years or more in the CNMI; 2,221 have worked on the islands between three to five years; 819 for less than six months, and 24 have undeclared work period.
Between 2009 and 2014, businesses estimate they would need more aliens for their operations.
“Assuming that the sample of 10 firms is representative, business for the whole of the CNMI would expect their demand for temporary alien workers to increase 15.9 percent between 2009 and 2014,” the Interior’s report said.
“The main reason for this apparently optimistic expectation is that most businesses in the CNMI consider the current period to be the bottom of the current business cycle, which, from its previous peak in 1997, has seen one of the sharpest losses among the Pacific’s small economies,” it added.
Resentment
With Inos were some members of the Cabinet and the Legislature who expressed their resentment and resistance with the Interior’s favorable recommendation for the long-term migrant workers.
While Inos is pushing for a U.S.-wide permanent residency for the migrants, others expressed disappointment over the favorable endorsement of the Interior to grant them improved immigration status.
Vice Speaker Felicidad Ogumoro, Covenant-Saipan, said there was no proper consultation made before the Interior made its recommendations.
Further, she said there was no consideration about the situation of the indigenous people.
“What about the indigenous people, where does that one fall,” she asked.
Deputy Labor Secretary Cinta Kaipat, for her part, expressed concern that there were not enough consultations made to the local government and its people before the recommendations were made.
“I don’t think you have spent any time at all listening to the indigenous people,” she said and added that Interior’s report is premature at best.
“Our people here are in need of jobs,” she added and noted that improving the status of long-term guest workers would mean the local workforce would be competing with them for job opportunities.
