Saipan Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Richard A. Pierce said the “prolonged delay…only illustrates what a costly drag the entire transitional period will be on our economy and on the businesses that support it. Businesses cannot budget and future investment is already at a standstill partly because of this delay. Who can operate this way?”
He said the chamber knows the principal reason for the delay and what the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is under DHS, has done to further that delay.
Valid arguments and comments have forced USCIS to reconsider specifics of the regulations, which illustrates the need to permanently fix the problems through legislation, Pierce added.
“Time is money, but this is getting ridiculous,” he said.
Longtime Saipan resident and businessman Charles Jordan said the delay “is bad. The federal government should have thought about this before they passed the law to take over immigration. I don’t think that they know how to handle the situation here. I just think they don’t know what to do with this.”
He said it’s terrible for the economy because businesses could not make plans. “It’s really tough. It’s tough for the workers too.”
Pacific Islands Club director of sales and marketing Kanae Quinn said the delay is certainly disappointing as it was a self-imposed deadline by DHS.
“The uncertainty of employment past Nov. 2011 affects everyone — the employer, employee and their family members. It’s a continuous waiting game as the CNMI braces for the final regulations and unfortunately, our [human resources] department is unable to start preparing for the onslaught of questions and inevitable paperwork that is sure to affect 50 percent of our staff.”
