Most of the locals who testified, however, said current federal law already allows qualified aliens to seek improved immigration status.
The public hearing was conducted by the Senate Committee on Federal Relations and Independent Agencies which has drafted a recommendation on the future status of CNMI nonresidents that will be submitted to the U.S. Congress.
Congress has to pass a law to implement the Senate recommendation. Last year, the U.S. Department of the Interior submitted its own improved status recommendation to Congress, which has yet to act on it. Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan said he doubts if U.S. lawmakers would act on the CNMI Senate recommendation.
On Thursday evening, close to 30 individuals and representatives of various organizations spoke to the Senate panel during the three-hour public hearing at the fully guarded multi-purpose center in Susupe.
Each person was given five minutes to deliver testimony and a drop box was placed on a table for those who wanted to submit their written comments.
Prior to the hearing, which started at 6 p.m., some 200 nonresidents, including their children, marched from Kilili Beach toward the multi-purpose center, carrying banners and placards. They also waved green flags and had green ribbons pinned to their shirts, signifying their desire for a “green card,” or permanent U.S. residency.
Department of Public Safety personnel secured the multi-purpose center and police officers inspected the belongings of every individual who entered the building where they had to register. A police officer with a K-9 was also posted in the area.
All the 280 seats inside the center were occupied. The marchers remained outside the building and listened to the proceedings which were heard through a loudspeaker.
The United Workers Movement, the Marianas Advocates for Humanitarian Affairs, or MAHAL, and the Human Dignity Movement reiterated their request for improved immigration status that includes a pathway to U.S. citizenship.
“Give us the freedom to contribute our best and for the betterment of the community,” MAHAL stated in its testimony. “The sense of belonging will give us the power, the ability to dedicate our lives to participate fully in the enhancement of the economy….”
The Dekada Movement expressed support for the granting of an “immediate stable status” for nonresident workers before Nov. 2011, when their umbrella permits expire.
Dekada said nonresidents who were in the CNMI with a legal status on Nov. 27, 2009 should be allowed to continue to stay and work legally here for five more years.
Dekada said all nonresidents with uncollected awarded claims should be eligible for U.S. visas and allowed to petition for adjustment of status.
Moreover,Dekada said, “all aliens legally resident in the CNMI for at least 10 years as of May 8, 2008 should be eligible to self-petition for green card and adjustment of status with fees waived.”
Aliens who had been in the CNMI legally for 15 years as of May 8, 2008 should be eligible to apply for naturalization under the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act, Dekada added.
The United Workers Movement reiterated its opposition to the Senate committee’s recommendation that nonresidents who have been in the commonwealth legally since 1998 should be given CNMI residency status.
The group submitted its petition — which calls for the granting of green cards to qualified nonresidents — with 682 signatures from nonresident workers and supporters in addition to the 7,000 signatures gathered since last year.
Former Speaker and CNMI Descents for Self-Government and Indigenous Rights adviser Oscar C. Rasa told the Senate committee that most aliens currently in the commonwealth do not need special legislation in order to have a pathway to improved status.
He said federal law allows any alien who has a U.S. citizen family member to apply for a green card.
Federal law also allows any qualified employer to apply for a green card for an alien employee, Rasa added.
Former Rep. Tina Sablan spoke in favor of granting improved status to long-term guest workers, while Conrad J. Ocampo, a guest workers for 12 years in the CNMI who is now a U.S. permanent resident, said nonresident workers will not leave the islands after gaining improved status.
He said he worked in the U.S. but “chose to return here because my family, relatives and beloved local and ‘kababayan’ friends are here.”
He added, “These guest workers, just like me, have their roots here already and will opt to stay when given improved status. So your fear of losing the guest workers when given improved status is baseless.”
Jess Pangelinan, a local musician and one of the leaders of the senior citizens at the Aging Center, said giving improved status to nonresident workers will relegate the indigenous people to a minority status in their own land.
But he said he supports the Senate recommendation of granting CNMI residency to qualified nonresidents.
Hazel Marie Doctor, 19, a freshman student of Northern Marianas College, acknowledged that locals fear that they will be marginalized if nonresidents are granted improved status.
But, she added, “there is nothing to fear. We are not asking for an immediate U.S. citizenship, but we are asking for something as minimal as permanent residency so that my parents and the many other guest workers can visit their relatives in their own countries and still come back to the CNMI without hesitation.”
A Chinese man, who struggled to express himself in English, said he has two children born here and has lived on Saipan for 17 years already.
He said he has no choice but to go back to China if he can’t get a green card. “But it’s not good for my children,” he added.
Ramon B. Camacho, Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council chairman, echoed Rasa and said there is no need to “reinvent the textbook process, procedure, and requirement in the present pathway to U.S. citizenship as it presently exists….”
He urged the committee to consider an approach that balances the interests of the business community, which employs mostly nonresident workers, and the rights of the indigenous population.
Camacho supports the continuation and extension of the umbrella work permit “notwithstanding its imperfections.”
John Oliver Gonzales, Joeten-Kiyu Public Library executive director, said his father, who was born in the Philippines and is now a U.S. citizen, came to Saipan to work.
He said his father never protested, never held placards and “disrespected” the island but went through the legal process to obtain U.S. citizenship.
“The United States has divided us…and continues to divide us — enough; we must protect self-government,” he said.
Former Senate legal counsel Steve Woodruff said the Senate recommendation is unacceptable and useless.
He said there are 16,000 to 20,000 guest workers in the CNMI but still no federal regulation for their hiring even though their umbrella permit is expiring in Nov. 2011.
“What the CNMI needs is an immediate status for people that were here legally on Nov. 27, 2009,” he said.
Former Speaker Pedro R. Guerrero said like the indigenous people of the Northern Marianas, nonresident workers, should go through the process to get U.S. citizenship.
The committee’s chairman, Senate Vice President Jude U. Hofschneider, R-Tinian, asked Department of Labor administrative hearing officer Barry Hirshbein about the effect on the workforce if nonresidents are given CNMI residency status.
Hirshbein said he could not provide substantial data but promised to provide the information at a later time.
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial is opposed to granting improved status to nonresidents but he said he will ask the federal government to extend their umbrella permits “indefinitely.”
