But Fitial also expressed doubt that the Republican-dominated U.S. House of Representatives will pass H.R. 1466 which Sablan, is aligned with the Democrats, introduced weeks ago.
“I don’t oppose the bill. It’s the U.S. Congress that may not like the bill,” Fitial said adding that the CNMI is “nothing” in the eyes of U.S. lawmakers.
He noted that there will be 5,000 nonresidents with U.S. citizen children who will benefit from Sablan’s bill.
The members of the U.S. Congress, Fitial said, are not stupid to just give this category of nonresidents a permanent residency status.
“Arizona has been trying that for many years,” Fitial said. “The bill is going to be crucified.”
Sablan, during his town hall meeting at American Memorial Park on Wednesday night said the regulations that the Department of Homeland Security has yet to issue covers only the employed nonresidents.
“I’m going through a minefield here. So I want to do this step by step. I never promised everyone a rose garden but we are going to get it piece by piece,” he said.
Sablan told reporters after the meeting that DHS is not blind to the issues involved and he believes “we could probably avoid mass deportations come November of this year.”
The umbrella permits issued by the administration to nonresidents expire on Nov. 28, 2011.
Fitial believes the DHS regulations for the hiring of guest workers may come out next month.
During his meeting with DHS officials in Washington, D.C. last February, the governor said he “brought up a lot of issues —we discussed about non-enforcement of laws on overstayers. [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], I was told, will not move to deport overstayers because they were not given the authority to deport them without the regulations.”
