By Zaldy Dandan – Variety Editor
The goal is border security
THE state of the islands’ only industry — tourism — should not be a partisan issue, even in an election year. Economic recovery is in the CNMI public’s interest, as it would allow the government to generate more revenue and meet its obligations to employees, retirees, vendors, and the many programs and services that directly benefit island residents, including utilities, public education, public health, public safety, and public works.
Embracing economic decline, in any case, is not a winning political message.
It is no surprise, then, that CNMI leaders are speaking with one voice to educate certain U.S. lawmakers who are clearly unfamiliar with the EVS-TAP program. They must be reminded that EVS-TAP is designed to ensure border security while addressing the federal government’s legitimate concerns regarding birth tourism and related issues.
Through the 902 talks in 2019, EVS-TAP was created in consultation with the Republican administration of President Donald Trump. As the CNMI House leadership pointed out last year, EVS-TAP is “a security-conscious alternative to broader parole authority. Unlike standard U.S. visas, EVS-TAP is territorially restricted, applying only to the CNMI. Applications are vetted in advance — often over several days — and require pre-embarkation approval, offering federal agencies more control, not less. This is not a backdoor or a loophole. It is a federally supervised, limited-entry system designed to meet national security standards.”
The late Gov. Arnold I. Palacios likewise noted that EVS-TAP “was designed precisely to address legitimate concerns raised by federal officials about visa-free entry in prior years.” In July 2025, he reaffirmed his administration’s full support for the program and emphasized its significance in the Commonwealth’s tourism recovery strategy.
In December 2023, the CNMI’s then-delegate to the U.S. Congress, Kilili Sablan, urged the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to implement EVS-TAP, describing it as a “restricted travel authorization program…that would allow travelers from China, but only if subject to electronic screening and vetting prior to entry.” He added that the United States would also consider bonding requirements — a safeguard the Commonwealth itself instituted when it entered into an approved destination status agreement with the People’s Republic of China in 2004.
In an October 2023 letter to CNMI leaders, the local business community noted that EVS-TAP would “reduce the duration of stay of Chinese visitors from 45 days to 15 allowable days [and] increase the level of passenger screening that is possible, ensuring that only direct flights from China are authorized.” These safeguards, they added, would reduce the risk of overstaying visitors and any potential resurgence of birth tourism, as flights would be operated by accountable travel groups responsible for their passengers.
No economy, no funding
IT took several years for the federal government to implement EVS-TAP, only for the program to be suspended again before its resumption in the summer of 2025. The China market — once the CNMI’s second-largest source of visitors — now consists of twice-weekly direct flights from Hong Kong, with none from mainland China. Monthly arrivals have dropped to about 1,000, down from the tens of thousands of Chinese tourists the CNMI welcomed pre-Covid. Those days are unlikely to return anytime soon. (The United States itself has seen declining tourist arrivals, due in part to its “chilly” welcome image under the Trump administration.)
For this year, the Marianas Visitors Authority has projected that total arrivals to the CNMI are unlikely to exceed 180,000. The bare minimum needed for the tourism industry to remain afloat is at least 500,000 arrivals. If the CNMI gives up EVS-TAP because the Commonwealth failed to challenge outdated and misinformed fears held by certain U.S. officials, then it must begin discussing the inevitable consequences of a further decline in tourism — and, consequently, in the local economy and the government’s revenue base.
Who should be stiffed first — government employees or retirees? The medical referral program or CUC? Which government vendors will not be paid on time, or at all? And will there be enough government lawyers left to defend the CNMI in the slew of lawsuits that would likely follow a government financial meltdown?
Well?
Just the facts
CNMI leaders should continue to engage with stateside officials and lawmakers to educate them about EVS-TAP and the islands’ economic realities. Federal officials are busy, their responsibilities are broad, and their primary concern is understandably their own constituents. But they must nonetheless acknowledge the facts on the ground in the CNMI — what EVS-TAP is, how it works, and why, as the Commonwealth’s key officials and business leaders have repeatedly explained, it should be allowed to function as intended.
Ultimately, EVS-TAP is a federal program administered by the federal government, which retains full authority over immigration to the CNMI. The Northern Marianas are not Palau or any other independent, freely associated state. These islands are part of the United States and have, in practical terms, no control over foreign affairs, national defense, or border security.
As Governor Apatang has pointed out, however, “policies that unintentionally erode the Commonwealth’s economic base also erode the practical capacity to secure the border itself.”
Zaldy Dandan is the recipient of the NMI Society of Professional Journalists’ Best in Editorial Writing Award and the NMI Humanities Award for Outstanding Contributions to Journalism. His four books are available on amazon.com/.
