“The CNMI has no more authority on June 1, so there’s no need for our people to be at the airport — no need for processing officers,” he said.
Grey said as a contract worker, he will be jobless after June 1 because the federal government cannot hire him.
Grey is a retired federal immigration officer.
When asked if local immigration officers will continue to assist in the regular operations at the airport if there’s going to be a transition period, Grey said, “What for? We don’t have the authority.”
He said there’s a transition period but it does not include the local immigration office at the job site.
Grey said they have asked the federal government to retain local immigration personnel, but the “feds are not absorbing them.”
Of the 68 CNMI immigration employees, 37 were automatically eliminated from being considered due to the age requirement. Only 28 were qualified to take the examination.
Of those qualified only 50 percent passed the test and only 14 will go through the hiring process, Grey sad.
Not all of the 14 will be hired by the federal government, he added.
Grey said the federal hiring process is extremely competitive and includes a videotaped interview, medical and physical examinations and a background test.
He said he feels sorry for the local immigration personnel who will lose their jobs.
Given the financial situation of the CNMI government, their prospect of getting a new job “doesn’t look hopeful right now,” Grey said.
Last week, the Senate adopted a joint resolution requesting Congressional Delegate Gregorio C. Sablan to ask the Department of Homeland Security to prioritize locals when hiring federal immigration officers for the CNMI.
Grey said he opposes federalization because he knows what will happen once CNMI loses control over its immigration and labor policies.
“Nobody wins. Everybody loses,” he said.
Federalization, he added, is bad for CNMI and “now what’s happening is what the governor has been saying all along.”
