Fitial, who will leave for Washington, D.C. on Feb. 22 to attend the winter meeting of the National Governors Association, told reporters yesterday that he will also discuss with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security the issues facing the CNMI with regards to the federalization law.
Fitial said he will meet with USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas on Feb. 23, and with CBP Commissioner Alan Bersin and ICE Director John Morton on the following days. These officials, he noted, report directly to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano.
Fitial said the issue he wants these officials to look into is the possible increase in the number of illegal aliens in the CNMI.
“The main issue actually is the illegal aliens that we will be having because of the fact that ICE cannot enforce the immigration law yet,” Fitial said.
The lack of regulations for guest workers, he added, prevents ICE from enforcing the law.
According to the governor, the Attorney General’s Office estimated that it will take “100 years” before the CNMI government can handle the problems with illegal aliens.
Fitial said it is also wrong to discourage guest workers from going to the CNMI Department of Labor since there is no federal regulation in place yet.
He said it is not true that the CNMI government no longer has jurisdiction over the nonresidents who hold umbrella permits issued by local Labor.
Fitial said the number of nonresidents who are no longer needed is increasing because the CNMI now has skilled local workers.
But Fitial said he will ask the federal authorities to extend the umbrella permits indefinitely.
“We still need skill workers and we don’t have enough skilled local workers,” he added.
Fitial said he will also follow up on the establishment of a regional center that will process EB-5 visas, a category in the federal immigration system through which a qualified foreign investor can acquire lawful permanent residence in the U.S.
He said former Commerce Secretary Michael Ada’s Integrated Professional Solutions has already submitted an application to put up the regional center here.
Fitial said an eligible investor for this category has to employ 10 U.S. citizens.
If the CNMI succeeds in bringing in 500 qualified investors, that will mean the creation of 5,000 jobs, he added.
“Where do you think we are going to get 5,000 local workers here?” Fitial asked.
