THE House minority bloc members, in separate joint letters, are asking U.S. Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan and Gov. Ralph DLG Torres to “impress upon” the federal government the need to include CNMI-only permanent residents who were “inadvertently” disqualified from the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation programs.
House Minority Leader Ivan Blanco, Vice Speaker Blas Jonathan Attao, Reps. John Paul Sablan, Angel Demapan, Roy Ada, Joseph Leepan T. Guerrero, Joel Camacho, Joseph Flores, Patrick San Nicolas and Ralph Yumul signed the joint letters.
They noted the definition of “qualified alien” in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act: an alien admitted for permanent residence under Immigration and Nationality Act, an alien granted asylum under section 208 of INA, refugee admitted to the U.S. under Section 207 of INA, an alien paroled into U.S. under Section 212(d)(5) of INA for at least one year, an alien whose deportation is being withheld under Section 243(h) of INA, or whose removal is being withheld under Section 241(b)(3)of INA, an alien granted conditional entry pursuant to Section 203 (a)(7) of INA, an alien who is a Cuban or Haitian entrant as defined in Section 501(c) of the Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980, or an alien who (or whose child or parent) has been battered or subject to extreme cruelty in the U.S. and otherwise satisfies the requirements of Section 431 (c) of the Act.
They also noted that the Continued Assistance for Unemployed Workers Act included Commonwealth-Only Transitional Worker or CW-1s in the “qualified alien” definition to be eligible for PUA and FPUC.
“However, our work is not done,” the House minority bloc said.
Despite this momentous win for the CNMI community, they said, “there are still many affected workers whose immigration status has left them without necessary assistance such as CNMI long-term residents.”
Notably, the lawmakers said, “the CNMI long-term status was just created in June of 2019. When many residents who were previously parolees or CW-1s applied and were approved to be CNMI long-term residents, they lost their qualified alien status and inadvertently disqualified themselves from PUA and FPUC benefits.”
Blanco and his colleagues are asking Kilili to “impress upon your colleagues in the Congress,” and the governor to “impress upon our federal partners” the need to include affected CNMI long-term resident workers “and that such an inclusion is vital to the CNMI economy as a whole.”
“While we understand the rationale in limiting federal public benefits, it is counterintuitive and seriously fails the people who legally live and work in the CNMI,” the House minority bloc members said.
