According to Cing, the Democratic Party’s congressional delegate candidate, he will tell his fellow Democrats, California Congressman George Miller and Guam Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo, to help ensure that CNMI Labor and Immigration personnel will not be jobless when the federalization law takes effect next year.
“They should also not lose their time of service as members of the Retirement Fund,” he added.
Cing noted that the Fitial administration appears “lost in this federalization issue.”
He added, “I agree with [former] Gov. Froilan C. Tenorio — there’s nothing else we can do now. We ratified the Covenant and the Covenant says the feds can take over immigration. Instead of fighting the feds we should be working with them to ensure that our people can get the help they need in a time of crisis.”
The governor wants to take the U.S. government to court to prevent the implementation of the federalization law.
Cing said the extension of federal immigration law to the islands is based on the strategic needs of the U.S.
“9/11 changed everything,” he added, referring to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. “Border security is a major concern now for the feds.”
The governor’s special legal advisor, Howard P. Willens, told lawmakers that CNMI Labor and Immigration employees will lose their jobs when the federalization law is implemented in June 2009.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security jobs, he added, require U.S.-based training which will not be available until June 2009.
But some CNMI officials said other local agencies can “absorb” the Labor and Immigration personnel who will be “displaced” by federalization.
