Immigration personnel, led by their director Melvin Grey and his deputy Tony Sablan, met with House members in the House chamber on Friday morning to discuss the employees’ concerns.
Speaking on behalf of the Immigration personnel, Maj. Vince Lizama told lawmakers that even though 68 local families will be affected by federalization, “no one from the administration and the Legislature [until today] approached us [and asked us] how are we going to fight it.”
He added, “Give us options. What do you have for us?”
According to Lizama, “Some of us can retire, but I’ve been [with the division] for18 years and all I can get [when I retire] is $600-$800 a month. It’s really sad.” Some Immigration personnel, he added, have 60-day contracts and are getting $13,000 a year.
He reminded lawmakers that nonresident “contract workers didn’t vote for you — we did. [And] we have a lot of ideas. The air-con is broken you bring masons to fix it. Good luck. Local Immigration is not broken. We secure our borders, we welcome our visitors — we’re doing our job.”
Rep. David M. Apatang, R-Saipan, has introduced a bill, H.B. 16-168, to “provide the lateral transfer of…Immigration personnel to other agencies or departments” of the CNMI government.
But Lizama asked lawmakers, “Can the government afford our lateral transfer? What happens to us after this fiscal year? Furlough?”
Grey, in an interview, said morale at his division is “pretty bad.”
The solution, he added, “is with the feds — they’re in charge, but they’re not giving us anything to work on. They’re not telling us what’s possible. They’ve done nothing to accommodate our concerns.”
No reply
Grey told House members that he has questions that federal authorities have yet to answer.
Communicating with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, he added, “has been a negative experience on my part. It’s very disappointing. They have no interest in negotiations. We won’t even get an advanced copy of the [federalization law’s implementing] regs. We’re willing to work with them during the transition period but they haven’t told us anything.”
Rep. Diego T. Benavente, R-Saipan and chairman of the House Committee on U.S. and Foreign Relations, said “we shouldn’t be surprised that we’re not getting any response from the feds. The administration sued them.”
He said the newly created legislative task force on federalization will include Grey’s questions and concerns in the resolution lawmakers will submit to federal officials.
But Grey, who worked for the federal immigration system for 26 years, doesn’t believe that the governor’s lawsuit is the reason for the federal government’s “silence.”
Rep. Tina Sablan, Ind.-Saipan, noted that “just because they haven’t responded doesn’t mean they won’t.”
“I hope so,” Grey replied, “but all indications are they won’t.”
He added, “We asked the feds two years ago to train our local staff. Guam and Hawaii were willing to do it, but they told us we had to ask [the] San Francisco [office] which told us they [had to ask] D.C. No response [from D.C.] Australia is willing to help train our staff, but our own country won’t even respond to our request.”
FY 2009 budget
Rep. Victor B. Hocog, Ind.-Rota and the acting chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said the fiscal year 2009 budget will provide funding for the transfer of displaced Immigration employees.
“But,” he added, “they will be subject to civil service rules — their pay will be commensurate to what their new jobs will be. If they want to retire, we’ll ensure that they get their retirement benefits.”
Rep. Rosemond B. Santos, R-Saipan, said she and her colleagues sympathize with the Immigration personnel, and advised them to be patient and hopeful.
“We will help where we can,” she added.
Rep. Francisco S. Dela Cruz, Covenant-Saipan, said the legislative task force will bring the Immigration employees’ concerns to the federal government.
“We’re concerned about the plight of our Immigration personnel,” he added. “We understand we’re pressed for time. The task force will work diligently.”
Rep. Ramon A. Tebuteb, R-Saipan, asked Grey, “What has the administration done to address these concerns?”
Grey reiterated that the problem lies with the federal government’s “unresponsiveness.”
“Their mind is already pre-set,” he said.
Shoot down
Rep. Ray N. Yumul, R-Saipan and a member of the U.S. Army Reserve, said: “If this is how [the feds] will play the game, then I will be willing to shoot down federal requests for [access to CNMI] land or water. I’ve friends who were granted waivers to join the military, but to be told that they can’t accommodate our own [Immigration personnel] — that’s ridiculous.”
Speaker Arnold I. Palacios, R-Saipan, said the House will ask the U.S. Department of the Interior to “help us open a line of communications” with U.S. Homeland Security.
“We want to be optimistic,” Deputy Immigration Director Tony Sablan said. “But the fact remains: we’re faced with a hiring process that have no consideration for our local employees. We’re six months away [from federalization] and no one is telling us about the transition process. The feds indicated that they will re-structure the airport’s departure and arrival areas, but they haven’t told us what will happen to us. This is an example of what happens when we lose control. It’s the same thing with the marine monument proposal. It’s about control. Our Covenant was supposed to give us self-government,” which, he added, will be taken away by federalization.
According to Tony Sablan, local Immigration personnel “will be left out there, in limbo — they’ve families to feed and careers to worry about. No one can tell me that they can’t do their job.”
He thanked Rep. Ralph DLG. Torres, R-Saipan, for inviting them to a meeting with the House members.
Vice Speaker Joseph P. Deleon Guerrero, R-Saipan, assured the Immigration personnel that “we’re willing to hear your ideas.”
Barely coping
Representative Sablan, in an interview after the meeting, said the anxiety felt by the Immigration staff “is felt by everyone in the government.”
But she said the government, which is barely coping with its financial problems, must not “promise jobs we cannot guarantee.”
She doesn’t believe that the CNMI government can afford the lateral transfer of the Immigration personnel.
“The government has so many obligations and is facing enormous fiscal challenges, and I don’t think that [the governor’s] lawsuit helps. It may have something to do with why the feds are non-responsive,” she said. “We have sour relations with the feds because of the administration’s approach. It has failed us.”
