RP group likely to grow further

RP group likely to grow further

Tuesday, 29 December 2009 04:10
by Therese Hart | Variety News Staff

FOREIGN workers hired under the H2B program to fill the workforce void during the military buildup are likely to stay behind and make Guam their home, according to the draft environmental impact statement.

Based on multiple interviews with construction contractors familiar with Guam projects, it is expected that a large proportion of H2B workers will originate from the Philippines.

Furthermore, since two-thirds of Guam’s foreign-born population is from the Philippines, it is expected that most “stay-behind” workers and related future population growth would originate from there, stated the report.

Increased migration

The immersion of the migrant worker into the Guam population will further encourage increased migration, resulting in a population boom on island, the study said.

Many working immigrants are younger people who have children over time, so that their population impacts accrue gradually, the buildup planners stated in the report.

Typical to socioeconomic impact assessment and assumed in this analysis is the assumption that migrant households have an average household size either like the place where they come, or the place where they are going, in this case, Guam, which captures the probable long term population size.

The “out-migration” of these populations is also an issue. The question that remains to be answered is whether the temporary H-2B worker population will leave Guam when their time of employment ends. The report assumes that the H-2B population will leave as military construction concludes. However, there is a concern that out-migration might not be so prompt.

While employers of H2B workers are required to prove that workers have left Guam once the particular project the worker was brought in for is completed, there are anecdotal reports of “stay-behind” H2B workers who have married Guam residents and in that way become permanent residents.

’Stay-behind migrants’

There are also concerns that migrants from freely associated states and the CNMI who come to Guam for construction-period jobs but either do not become employed or lose those jobs may stay on Guam as well, according to the report.

FAS and CNMI migrants have the status of U.S. citizens and can migrate within the U.S. without constraint. Developing an estimated number of “stay-behind” H2B workers is problematic because the factors involved are each difficult to measure and produce ambiguous results. Nonetheless, studies do show that stay-behind workers can be expected.

Finally, the Guam Department of Labor has concerns that immigration flows stemming from temporary workers can generate more immigrants than there were visas originally allocated.

It was also noted that U.S. immigration policy can inherently lead to increased immigration over-time, wherein family members apply to have relatives immigrate, increasing the number of immigrants.

Guam and CNMI Military Relocation

Guam and CNMI Military Relocation

Draft EIS/OEIS (November 2009)

16.2.3.4 Sociocultural Impacts

Sociocultural impacts by their nature are complex and have no single outcome measure.

Although available evidence does not suggest that Marines would have an impact on Guam‘s overall crime rates or assaults on women, there is cause for concern about impacts on crime and social order due to other factors. Construction booms are often accompanied by a sense of loosened norms and social disorder. In-migrants from the FAS – whose numbers may increase in both the construction and operational stages due to more job opportunities – have high crime rates associated with adapting to less traditional social structures. There is a potential for more prostitution, alcohol/substance abuse, and family violence associated with young military populations in general, not Marines in particular. However, the reputation of Marines as fighters could trigger a transitional period of adjustment that local young men test themselves against Marines in fights.

Long term, though, established patterns of military outreach to Guam‘s civilian community are likely to minimize the sort of day-to-day irritants that affect the average citizen, including the perceived insufficient respect that underlies one set of Chamorro concerns. Chamorro concerns involves political autonomy are impacted by the potential increase in non-Chamorro populations due to the buildup, increasing the likelihood of more non-Chamorro local political office-holders. More non-Chamorro voters would decrease the possibility of Chamorro political self determination. They would also decrease the possibility of successful plebiscites to achieve greater independence from U.S. control, although at present there is little evidence that a majority would support such moves at any rate.

VOLUME TWO Marine Corps Relocation – Guam [page 1100]
16. Socioeconomics and General Services (1.6 MB)
http://guambuildupeis.us/documents_store/volume_2/Volume%202%20Chapter%2016.pdf

Parole status offered to foreign dependents of FAS citizens, others

Parole status offered to foreign dependents of FAS citizens, others

Wednesday, 02 December 2009 00:00 By Gemma Q. Casas - Reporter

THE U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says it will grant a two-year parole status on a case-by-case basis to eligible foreign nationals from certain impacted groups in the CNMI, like the foreign spouses and immediate relatives of citizens of the Freely Associated States.

This will allow them to stay on the islands even as the U.S. immigration law is applied here.

This parole status will also be offered to CNMI permanent residents and their immediate relatives and the spouses and children of deceased CNMI permanent residents.

The FAS are the Republic of Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia — Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, Yap — and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

Citizens of these independent nations can freely travel, work and study anywhere in the U.S. and its territories like the CNMI.

But authorities said the law that extended U.S. immigration jurisdiction to the CNMI, U.S. Public Law 110-229 or the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008, does not provide any U.S. immigration status to their foreign dependents living in the CNMI.

David Gulick, district director of the USCIS, said this parole status is not mandatory and is being offered for humanitarian reasons to minimize potential adverse economic impact on the CNMI and support future business growth here.

“We’re not going to mandate that they take advantage of it but we will make it available for them…. This is unique to the CNMI. Let’s say, a Marshallese has a spouse from Mexico [then the parole status is recommended],” he said.

Alexander Y. Hartman, immigration policy advisor of the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Policy Development, said their department is offering the parole status to these foreign nationals in good faith and for humanitarian reasons.

“It is a compassionate decision made by DHS recognizing the unique situation of the islands,” he said.

The parole status is valid for two years and will be renewable subject to certain conditions.

The USCIS has the discretion to terminate the parole status if the parolee committed a crime in the CNMI or is experiencing a personal change in circumstances affecting eligibility.

Under this parole policy, the USCIS defined an immediate relative as a legally recognized spouse; a child under the age of 21 whether natural or adopted before the age of 18; a stepchild if the marriage that established that relationship took place before the child’s 18th birthday; or a surviving spouse or child of a CNMI permanent resident.

Gulick said there is no filing fee to obtain parole in the CNMI under this program.

However, fees will be charged if they leave the islands and get the appropriate documents to travel.

Applicants for the parole status are advised to first make an appointment online to visit the USCIS Application Support Center on Saipan.