“Without an injunction against P.L. 110-229, the commonwealth shall become an economic ghetto dependent on periodic handouts of federal dollars for our survival and well-being,” the 55-page motion quoted Gov. Benigno R. Fitial as saying.
Judge Paul Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor to file their response and opposition to the complaint by Dec. 15.
Fitial must reply to their opposition by Jan. 16, 2009.
The defendants are expected to file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit which challenges the labor-related provisions of the federalization law.
Howard P. Willens, the governor’s special legal counsel, and three lawyers from Jenner & Block — David D. Bruin, Sharmila Sohoni and William M. Hohengarten — are representing the CNMI in the lawsuit.
Theodore W. Atkinson, a trial attorney of the District Court Section of the Office of Immigration Litigation of the U.S. Department of Justice, is representing the federal governments.
U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey and U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeffrey A. Taylor are helping Atkinson in the case.
Fitial’s 55-page preliminary injunction motion contains 400 attachments and exhibits, including the 97-page U.S. Interior Department-funded economic report that Malcolm D. McPhee & Associates and Dick Conway prepared for the governor.
This report said federalization will be disastrous for the local economy.
“Most of the foreign workers presently in the commonwealth… do not qualify for a visa under any existing federal immigration classification,” the CNMI’s motion stated. “Thus, P.L. 110-229 mandates the removal of two-thirds of the commonwealth’s existing private sector workforce, many of whom, have lived on the islands for years and have U.S. citizen children.”
