In a four-page brief, the law firm Jenner & Block and the governor’s special legal counsel Howard P. Willens said the delay “sharpens the commonwealth’s entitlement to injunctive relief.”
They said because the date of implementation has been fixed to Nov. 28, the CNMI should be granted relief.
They said the economic disaster scenario facing the CNMI once it loses control over its immigration system is not speculative.
They cited the Blanchette case whereby a federal court held that a plaintiff “does not have to await the consummation of threatened injury to obtain preventive relief. If the injury is certainly impending, that is enough.”
The U.S. DOJ, which represents the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security and Labor, is asking the court to dismiss the case mainly on grounds that it is not ripe for litigation and that the action lacks standing as it wasn’t brought forth by the CNMI’s attorney general.
In a statement, the governor’s office said the preliminary injunction is still needed because there are still ambiguities on how the CNMI’s need for foreign labor force could be met.
According to the brief, the immigration restrictions that will be imposed by the federalization law are “irreconcilable with meaningful local self-government as guaranteed by the Covenant.”
