Both sides are appalled that some people actually disagree with them, which, they believe, can only mean that their opponents are “misinformed,” “misguided,” “biased,” or other choice epithets that cannot be printed by a newspaper. Discussions, according to some of the disputants, are over. It’s no use to debate with the deluded.
But both sides agree on one thing. They do not want any delay in the implementation of the federalization law. I know several indigenous people who can’t wait to see guest workers go, and they expect federalization to do exactly that. Guest workers, for their part, are hoping that federalization will improve their immigration status. The law passed by the U.S. Congress doesn’t have a “magic wand” provision, but a lot of guest workers are expecting that the regs will do the trick. According to immigration lawyers, however, the regs can only implement the law; they can’t add anything to it. In other words, because the federalization law will not upgrade the immigration status of guest workers, it is wrong to assume that the regs will.
But, as some guest workers have said, hope is free. And hoping against hope is not illegal.
Some statesiders are just as eager to see the feds take over local immigration which they reckon will result in a crackdown on local corruption.
And then there are the reformists who see the alien-labor dependent economy as one of the main reasons why the CNMI has a third world economy, a ginormous public sector and a local workforce that apparently no longer remembers what the work ethic is all about. The reformists are disgusted by a system that has virtually devalued the work performed by those in the private sector, thus ensuring that even though the CNMI continues to educate its young men and women, most of them will end up as bureaucrats or politicians. To break this cycle, the reformists say, we need to starve the beast — i.e., the alien-labor addicted private sector — by imposing the iron-clad restrictions of a federalized immigration system.
Federalization, in short, has become the silver bullet that will slay the werewolves of the various communities on these islands. But because it has yet to happen, discussing the consequences of federalization is like debating who’ll win an ongoing, closely fought basketball or baseball game. Indignation and righteousness are easy substitutes for give-and-take discussions. Everyone claims to be the sole possessor of “facts.” Everyone has their own cherished beliefs and they expect reality to conform to their convictions.
But such is life. That has always been the case with any controversial issue. That’s why it’s called controversial.
Indeed, such disputes will not usher the end of the world. They’re the way of the world.
In my case, what I know is that federalization will restrict the CNMI’s ability to hire guest workers. This will certainly prove fatal, in the long run, to the islands’ economy as it exists now. I also believe that federalization is premised on U.S. national security considerations. (Kilili’s explanation regarding the opposition of the State Department and Homeland Security to the inclusion of China and Russia in the visa waiver program is instructive.) It was never about “fairness” to guest workers. Otherwise, the feds would not have deleted the nonimmigrant provision of the original legislation. The law, to be sure, provides for a “study” on the future status of guest workers, but that’s not a “slam dunk.” The study can only propose and any proposal will still have to be passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by the U.S. president. Everything will depend on the prevailing political climate in the nation, including Hawaii, Guam and the CNMI.
In the meantime, let’s all try to agree that reasonable people can look at the same unfolding issues and disagree about what they’re seeing.
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