TO closely monitor aliens in the CNMI, the Department of Labor and Immigration has begun implementing an automated screening of passport and travel documents of all passengers exiting the CNMI.
The automation process at Saipan International Airport is part of the government’s ongoing reforms in the operation and management of labor and immigration, authorities said.
“This permits a passport and document scan of each person exiting the CNMI…. The net result is the tracking of aliens from arrival to departure,” DOLI said.
Earlier, DOLI developed a system that could monitor undocumented non-resident workers.
DOLI Secretary Joaquin A. Tenorio said the department installed “border management system arrival/departure module” to monitor who among the non-residents leave or stay in the CNMI.
The majority of the CNMI’s over 69,000 population is composed of non-residents.
“This mechanism would reveal who left and who has remained in the islands,” Tenorio said.
Previously, the department was unaware of the movement of workers, he said.
DOLI at the same time intends to give all overstaying aliens the chance to become legal workers.
DOLI supports pending legislation that offers limited immunity to overstaying foreigners.
Earlier estimates showed there were about 5,000 undocumented foreign workers and illegal aliens in the CNMI.
