“U.S. P.L. 110-229 charged certain federal departments and agencies with tasks and responsibilities. A year has passed and what did these departments do to gather statistics and data needed to ‘make a recommendation about the status’ of the guest workers? Nothing? They need to do their jobs. They have time,” said Doromal, a former Rota teacher who is now based in Florida.
She said Interior can coordinate with Department of Homeland Security and conduct a registration, hire a private firm, or coordinate with other agencies to determine the numbers of nonresidents in the CNMI, including the U.S. citizen children, the length of time they lived and worked, and other needed information
A delay is not necessary, Doromal said, as it will only prolong the uncertainty and instability of the guest workers and their families.
“They must get this done. We are not talking about 100,000,000 people, or 1,000,000 people, or even 20,000 people.”
Doromal said she was struck by the statement of Gov. Benigno R. Fitial that nonresident guest workers came to CNMI to work and should remain as guest workers.
“He did not support a pathway to citizenship for long-term guest workers. He said the workers came to the CNMI work and they should remain as guest workers. He does not support granting them status,” she said.
The Fitial administration has filed a federal lawsuit under the guise that federalization will eliminate foreign workers and adversely impact the CNMI’s economy, Doromal said.
She said there’s an opportunity to keep the foreign workers and stabilize the workforce by granting the long-term foreign workers status, which the governor opposes.
She said the lawsuit and the promotion of further delays aim to maintain the system under which guest workers are “disenfranchised, disposable and denied of rights.”
“This is a system that allows for the theft of labor as proved by the millions of dollars in unpaid judgments,” she added.
Press Secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. said the governor’s position reflects the views of the majority of the CNMI’s electorate.
It also reflects the majority viewpoint on the mainland United States, he added.
American citizenship, or even U.S. permanent residency, “is so precious and sacred that it should not be easily granted without appropriate justification and careful review and analysis,” he said.
Reyes said the governor’s testimony only states that “we should wait for the study required by the law to be presented to Congress no later than May 8, 2010.”
The governor stands by his testimony and the deadline contained in the law, Reyes added.
The governor supports a study on the status of nonresident workers under the federalization law, he said.
The governor, he added, supports a relatively free market for labor.
He said the market should dictate what skills and abilities are needed to support the local economy, not politics.
“The blanket granting of U.S. citizenship or permanent residency may not best serve the CNMI’s market need or demand for labor, especially as the economy evolves. Of course, workers have rights and are protected by local and federal labor laws. Foreign workers, however, may not necessarily have an inalienable right to U.S. citizenship in order to remain in an economy if their particular skill sets are not in high demand,” he said.
