The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is closing the comment period for the transitional worker program regulations on Jan. 8 — Saturday, local time.
Close to 200 people and entities submitted comments as of yesterday.
DHS will consider the comments before drafting the final regulations.
The chamber said the CW-1 status “benefits neither employers nor employees.”
“The rule proposes a system that extends uncertainty with respect to the availability of an adequate labor force, ignores to a great degree the current labor needs of the commonwealth, and imposes severe limitations on the ability of employees to freely transfer jobs [and the ability of employers to hire from an existing labor pool],” Chamber president Jim Arenovski said in his written comment to DHS’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The CW-1 status is for CNMI foreign workers, like hotel employees, who are not eligible for U.S.-based employment programs.
Arenovski said some employers are particularly concerned about the status of dancers, domestic helpers, hospitality workers, waitresses and other club and restaurant workers.
DHS considers these jobs as “known paths to exploitation and abuse.”
“To prohibit…the hiring of restaurant waitresses, would have a ruinous effect on the commonwealth’s tourism industry,” said Arenovski.
“The appropriate manner to address concerns about prostitution or human trafficking would be to close down the particular businesses engaged in illegal activity — not to make conclusive assertions about entire classes of workers, the majority of whom are not engaged in illegal activities,” he added.
He suggested that DHS introduce multiple-entry CW visas which could be obtained with convenience rather than have the foreign workers apply for those from their home countries.
“One possible option…would be for DHS to issue ‘authorization for entry’ documentation using its parole authority for workers needing to exit and reenter the commonwealth during the term of his or her CW status,” he said.
Further, the chamber proposes a federally administered CNMI-only H-visa program exempted from the numerical limitations in the U.S. be considered.
Arenovski said this is identical to the federal H-visa program, but will not allow entry from the commonwealth to Guam or other areas of the United States.
