“We find it difficult to find new jobs, especially since there has been much confusion about the rules that now apply to hiring guest workers, and as a result, prospective employers are reluctant to consider our applications,” said Raby Syed, United Workers Movement president, in his letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
He said many guest workers have business experience and skills that would allow them to support their families through small businesses.
“Some are even willing to have a barbeque or vegetable stands,” he told Variety.
Under current law, most guest workers cannot operate a business enterprise.
Ronnie Doca, United Workers Movement chairman, said many guest workers have come to them asking for an alternative livelihood opportunities to support their families.
Syed told Napolitano that guest workers have lived and worked lawfully in the CNMI for many year, some for over 20 years.
He said many of them are now struggling to sustain the needs of their families, including their children who are U.S. citizens.
“Every day we are worried about our fate and the fate of our children, and only desire the opportunity to keep our families together and to support them to the best of our abilities,” he said.
He told Napolitano that a grant of parole to guest workers would permit them to keep their families together.
“We believe this grant of parole will not only enhance our own lives and the lives of our families but also the local economy of the CNMI, and it will pose no burden to U.S. taxpayers,” he said.
“We have much to contribute to the betterment of these islands if given the opportunity to do so,” he added.
