The law’s new implementation date is Nov. 28, 2009.
Kaipat said Gov. Benigno R. Fitial asked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for the 180-day extension because he believed that the CNMI would be harmed if the implementation took effect on June 1, 2009.
“The commonwealth has an excellent record with respect to its immigration functions, and the U.S. will need to have all its processes fully in place in order to take over those functions successfully,” she told Variety.
She said the governor firmly believes that the functions exercised by the CNMI Labor Department are part of the self-government guaranteed by the Covenant.
Last September, the governor sued the U.S. government over the federalization law.
After the 180-day extension was announced by DHS, the U.S. Department of Justice asked the federal court to dismiss the governor’s lawsuit, saying the delay in the implementation of the federalization law made the CNMI’s motion for a preliminary injunction moot.
