Howard P. Willens said the regulation is deficient because it failed to follow the U.S. Administrative Procedure Act which limited the opportunities of the public and the CNMI government to make comments about the transitional worker program.
This program creates a new classification for foreign workers in the CNMI who would otherwise be ineligible to apply for U.S.-based employment programs that would be offered once the islands’ immigration system is federalized.
This classification, however, is exclusive to the CNMI and does not entitle the qualified guest worker to travel anywhere in the U.S. mainland and its possessions.
Willens said because DHS failed to conduct an economic impact analysis of the proposed regulations as required by Executive Order 12866 and the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980, it should not be adopted.
Further, he said the interim regulations in question failed to implement the statutory goals of minimizing adverse economic and fiscal effects in the CNMI’s fragile tourism-based economy.
The lawyer, who is also representing the governor in the lawsuit challenging the federalization law, said DHS largely based its decisions on untested assumptions.
He said there is a strong probability that the CNMI’s foreign-based tourism economy would be adversely affected if the foreign workers are phased out by 2014.
“The CNMI recommends that the CNMI-issued permits and CNMI-approved employer contracts should be the foundation of the first two years of the transition period and no reductions in the number of foreign workers legally in the commonwealth should occur during those years,” said Willens.
The U.S. Department of Justice has said that the free flow of foreign workers in the Northern Marianas has led to various security risks and societal ills, including the entry of international crime syndicates such as the Chinese Triads and the Russian Mafia.
This is why the CNMI’s case challenging the federalization law should be dismissed, DOJ said.
