He said the findings do not represent the CNMI or speak for the whole commonwealth.
He was “shocked” that no draft copy was provided to the CNMI government in advance, just like the other Government Accountability Office reports submitted to the U.S. Congress.
“The Department of Commerce would have absolutely commented on the report. The findings used in the report are inaccurate and based on highly questionable data,” he said.
Ada questioned the projections made by Interior from interviews with 10 businesses.
The report stated that based on the sample of 10 business firms with the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, the need for temporary alien workers was expected to increase by 15.9 percent between Nov. 2009 and 2014.
These business firms reported having a total of 416 alien workers employed as of Nov. 2009.
This year, the same businesses said they needed a total of 425 alien workers. They said they will need 435 alien workers in 2012 and 482 by 2014.
But Ada said these 10 select businesses do not represent the community.
He also noted that the enumeration for the headcount took place over the course of less than two weeks.
“I haven’t seen the questionnaire used in enumeration and I am curious to see if the questions were drafted in a way to illicit an objective response versus being misleading,” he said.
He said Interior’s projections tend to contradict with one another.
It is also not true that the CNMI is the U.S. sole jurisdiction that does not participate in the national unemployment program as claimed by the Interior report.
“This is inaccurate because Guam and American Samoa do not participate in the program,” Ada said.
Interior recommends the granting of improved immigration status to CNMI guest workers who have been in the commonwealth legally for at least five years.
“I am not in a position to speculate on the impacts of Interior’s recommendation, and any speculation I make would be done so on the basis of the data provided in the report, which is tremendously faulty,” Ada said.
He also did not express what his department’s position is and if he supports the recommendation.
“I think it is best if the CNMI’s position in relation to this matter is best expressed through our elected leadership,” he said.
According to Ada, he can only speak about the inaccuracies and contradictions of the report.
