United Workers Movement, NMI president Rabby Syed said they need the support of the local people.
His group will also hold a welcome rally in August during the visit of a U.S. congressional delegation.
Syed said it is important to seek the support of the local community because “we want to maintain they are our friends, and the friends of our children.”
“We need to get the support from the local community to give us improved immigration status,” he added.
He is confident that the local community will understand the plight of long-term guest workers who already consider the CNMI their home.
The meetings will be held every 15 days in different villages on Saipan.
The first will be held at the Kagman Community Center, Syed said.
The guest workers will also ask Gov. Benigno R. Fitial to support their request for an improved immigration status.
Human rights advocate Wendy Doromal told the guest workers that during the May 19 hearing conducted by the U.S. House Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife, the overwhelming majority of those who submitted testimony opposed any further delay in the implementation of the federalization law, or the Department of the Interior’s report to Congress making recommendations on the status of the foreign workers in the CNMI.
“CNMI residents, non-residents, legislators, attorneys, business owners, advocates, and others are now publicly standing behind the permanent residency and a pathway to citizenship,” Doromal said. “I believe we are finally at a point when the question has changed from ‘if it will happen’ to when it will happen,” the former Rota teacher added.
