Kara, who is also the president of the local Bar Association, said federalization will wipe out the legal status of some “very vulnerable alien populations” in the CNMI: immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, permanent residents and Freely Associated States citizens; CNMI permanent residents; widows and widowers of U.S. citizens and the permanent residents; and immediate relatives of American Samoans.
A former acting attorney general and legal counsel to the House, the governor and the lt. governor, Kara expressed concern about the lack of sufficient public information on the effect of federalization on the various categories of nonresidents who are legally living and working in the commonwealth.
She said that she and her husband and law partner, immigration attorney Bruce Mailman, have been conducting formal and informal seminars for foreign contract workers, their employers, and human resource managers about the effects of U.S. Public Law 110-229 — the federalization law — on the various elements of the CNMI work force.
Mailman and Kara have been developing strategies to allow alien workers and immediate relatives to maximize their chances of continuing employment after June 1, 2009, when federalization’s transition period starts.
Kara wrote a letter to the Department of Homeland Security outlining some of these concerns.
Members of some of the alien population may be eligible for U.S. permanent residency, but many will not, Kara said.
Because the number of persons in each of these categories is relatively small by U.S. standards, she said it is uncertain that federal authorities will provide for them in the regulations that will implement the federalization law.
In her letter to Homeland Security District Director David G. Gulick, Kara said there is great number of aliens married to U.S. citizens who have never applied to become U.S, permanent residents.
Under the federalization law, it appears that these aliens will be out of status once the transition period starts on June 1, Kara said.
She asked Homeland Security to provide some form of allowance for the orderly transition of as many individuals as possible from CNMI immediate relative to lawful permanent resident status.
Many surviving immediate relatives of deceased U.S. citizens, Kara added, may not qualify for permanent residence although some of them may have U.S. citizen children who can petition for them.
These widows or widowers, she noted, are typically older individuals, long-time CNMI residents and full-fledged members of the community.
Other categories of persons who will be adversely affected by federalization are the alien immediate relatives of Freely Associated States citizens and CNMI permanent residents. It is likely, Kara said, that most of them will not qualify for U.S. permanent residence. They will have no equivalent U.S. visa status when their current entry permits expire after June 1, 2009, she added. They will need to convert to a U.S visa status, if available, or depart the Commonwealth.
Kara and Mailman are available to give seminars, as a community service, to church groups and foreign worker groups regarding these issues. If you would like to schedule a seminar for your group, contact the Law Offices of Mailman & Kara, LLC at 233-0081or fax 233-0090
