“The CNMI would like to benefit from six more months of Chinese and Russian tourist visits,” Press Secretary Charles P. Reyes said yesterday in an e-mail. “The CNMI also wants more time to allow [the U.S. Department of Homeland Security] to put security measures in place that may allow more reasonable access to Russian and Chinese tourists in the future.”
Reyes noted that the CNMI Legislature, Congressman Gregorio C. Sablan, the CNMI business community, Guam’s private and public sector leaders are all asking for a delay as provided for by the federalization law itself.
The U.S. Congressional Hispanic Caucus, as announced by Sablan in a media release, is likewise supporting the delay.
“DHS may be underfunded and may need more time to establish an effective program for the CNMI,” Reyes said.
“Let’s be clear,” he added. “This new federal immigration program represents a massive disruption for the CNMI economy and all parties agree that we would be prudent to proceed carefully and cautiously, so as to minimize adverse impacts, which are expected. And getting back to [the] analogy [of the condemned man], yes, some firing squad victims may value an additional 180 days of life.”
The office of Sablan, for its part, said the congressional delegate “isn’t trying to prolong the inevitable federalization.”
“The problem [is] if [the federalization law] goes into effect in June [and] it’s going to be implemented poorly. If DHS is going to completely overhaul the NMI’s immigration laws, they should do it well.”
The governor has sued the U.S. government over the federalization law.
