In his report, Kyle Calabrese, the chamber’s executive director, said they discussed the temporary nature of H-2B visas and the possibility of requesting a new federal visa category to address the specific labor needs of the commonwealth.
“The staffers said the intent of the U.S. Congress was not to reduce the number of foreign workers in the commonwealth to zero, but rather that those workers be brought in under federal visa processes,” Calabrese said.
Besides Calabrese, the chamber’s board of directors and members of its ad-hoc committee on federalization attended the meeting with the visiting staffers:House Subcommittee on Insular Affairs Staff Director Tony Babauta; subcommittee counsels Brian Modeste and Rich Stanton; counsels for the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law David Shahoulian and Blake Chisam; professional staff member of the House Committee on Financial Services Daniel McGlinchey; and the committee’s minority staff director Larry Lavender.
During the meeting, chamber secretary Kathryn Barry led a review of a PowerPoint presentation that highlighted many of the challenges facing the CNMI’s economy.
Calabrese said the visiting congressional staffers told the chamber that they would seriously look into the CNMI’s situation.
They said that the federalization law’s intent is to minimize any damage to the island’s economy and community.
The visiting staffers believe that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will carefully look into the CNMI’s conditions when drafting the implementing regulations.
During the meeting, Calabrese said they also discussed the aspect of the legislation that impacts tourism.
The chamber is hoping to see an enhanced visa waiver program that will help local tourism efforts.
“We pointed out that, given the state of our economy, we cannot afford to lose any of our tourist markets — we badly need all the revenue that our tourism industry is generating, and that the continuance of visas for China and Russia are vitally important,” Calabrese said.
According to the congressional staffers, Homeland Security officials who visited the CNMI in June are aware of the challenges facing the local community.
Calabrese said the chamber was urged to remain in contact with Homeland Security.
“Both we and they assured one another that the dialogue and efforts that have been undertaken so far will not be impacted in the event of any lawsuit being filed in the future,” he said.
The governor earlier said that he might take the federal government to court for enacting the federalization law.
Calabrese said the chamber and the staffers also discussed the CNMI government’s fiscal crisis.
Calabrese said “our government is severely challenged to provide an acceptable level of even some of the most basic services, such as education, health care and power.”
