Fitial said while in Washington, D.C. last month, he discussed with ICE officials his concerns about the increasing number of illegal aliens in the CNMI.
These are nonresidents who no longer have working permits but are still here, he added.
Fitial said the CNMI government knows who these illegal aliens are.
There are over 2,000 of them but this number is increasing, the governor added.
There may be about 3,000 illegal aliens in the CNMI now, he said.
According to the governor, overstaying aliens are creating problems.
Previously, he said, when the CNMI still controlled immigration, whenever a local would qualify for a position held by a nonresident worker, the alien would be repatriated.
“But how can we repatriate them if ICE will not enforce the law?” Fitial asked.
But he said ICE enforcement and removal operation executive associate director Gary Mead assured him that federal law will be enforced in the CNMI.
ICE, Fitial noted, is doing a very good job in deporting aliens who commit crimes, “but they are not doing anything about the overstaying aliens.”
Mead, the governor said, is now dealing with the AGO on a daily basis. Some of the things they are discussing may not be for public consumption, Fitial added, but these have something to do with “illegals.”
The governor said there is also law against harboring illegal aliens.
Fitial at the same time said the U.S. Department of Labor and not U.S. Homeland Security will decide whether to extend or not the guest workers’ umbrella permits.
He said he requested U.S. Labor to extend for another five years the umbrella permits originally issued by CNMI Labor
These permits will expire on Nov. 28 this year.
Fitial said U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis is the only one authorized by law to extend the transition period in the implementation of federal immigration law.
If the transition period is extended that means the umbrella permits can be extended, too, Fitial added.
He said federal officials told him that “they are working on it.”
