Sablan voiced his concern that there is no visa available for IRs, immediate relatives of U.S. citizens in the Northern Marianas, at the annual meeting of island governors, members of Congress, and senior level federal officials at the Interior Department.
He called for the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security to start working together to make sure there are visas available to keep children, spouses, and parents of U.S. citizens together in the CNMI, even if the relatives are not U.S. citizens.
“There are IRs who have been living in the commonwealth with their families for upwards of twenty years,” Sablan said.
“And under the new law, these IRs may remain in the NMI as long as they have a valid IR visa issued by the CNMI. However, if they must leave the NMI for a medical emergency or any other reason, these IRs won’t be able to re-enter the NMI without a visa issued by the U.S.”
The State Department is the agency that issues visas.
The Department of Homeland Security manages the border entry points.
Sablan said Homeland Security had informed him that it was not aware of any State Department plans to issue visas in the CNMI.
“I am concerned that this means that there are no plans. Or worse, if there are plans, Homeland Security, the department that is responsible for accepting the visas at the border, doesn’t know about them.”
“Either way it’s clear that the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security need to start talking with each other. And they need to make sure that families in the NMI with IRs are not separated as a result of federal immigration control.”
Stimulus law
Sablan, along with Guam Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo and Virgin Islands Gov. John deJongh, also pointed to the need for cooperation between the secretary of the interior and the secretary of education in the management of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed into law last week.
Title XIV of the law appropriates up to $268 million for American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Marianas and the Virgin Islands.
The secretary of education is supposed to hand out the funds according to need in the islands. But he is supposed to consult with the secretary of the interior.
“The secretary of education certainly has the resources to decide when it comes to education,” Sablan said. “However, with respect to other functions of government the secretary of the interior — and the Office of Insular Affairs under the Secretary — is the expert.”
Sablan said he wanted to be sure that the new money coming from the federal government is spent wisely and well to create private sector jobs, to maintain government services in the Northern Marianas, and to build a base for future economic health.
