Fitial won't block 'green card'

Fitial won't block 'green card'

Tuesday, December 22, 2009
By Haidee V. Eugenio

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and Lt. Gov. Eloy S. Inos said yesterday they won't oppose the federal government should it decide to grant “green cards” or lawful permanent resident status to nonresident workers in the CNMI.

Fitial, however, reiterated that CNMI Public Law 3-66, which he authored when he was a member of the 3rd Legislature, allows foreign workers to come here-as a “privilege”-only if and when resident workers are not available.

“There's nothing in that law that would even suggest that nonresident workers should be granted preferred immigration status,” the governor said.

U.S. Public Law 110-229 or the federalization law requires the Department of the Interior secretary, in consultation with the Homeland Security secretary and the CNMI governor, to recommend to the U.S. Congress-as the Interior secretary deems appropriate-a permanent immigration status for guest workers legally residing in the CNMI, by May 10, 2010.

Nonresident worker groups have started circulating a petition seeking lawful permanent resident status or “green card” to long-time foreign workers and others with relatives who are U.S. or Freely Associated States citizens in the CNMI, ahead of the May 2010 deadline.

Fitial said the granting of green cards is a “federal issue.”

“I don't have anything to do with it. That's their issue. That's a federal issue,” he told reporters in his conference room on Capital Hill yesterday afternoon.

Personally, Inos said, he won't support the granting of a green card if that status is limited only to the CNMI.

“I don't want it restricted here. If they want to issue green card, that's okay. Whoever is issued a green card can go to New Jersey, can go anywhere. But if the [green] card is limited to the CNMI, then that defeats the whole purpose of looking for our residents to obtain jobs,” he said.

The Saipan Chamber of Commerce has asked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to consider granting a CNMI-only H-2 visa, describing it as the “true solution” to the mandated reduction in the number of foreign workers in the Northern Marianas.

Although it would be largely identical to the existing federal H-2 visa program, the Chamber-proposed visa would “not” allow egress from the CNMI to Guam or other areas of the United States, and would ensure that the CNMI has access to the workers it needs for the foreseeable future.

Fitial said his main concern is to provide jobs to local workers.

“The law is very specific. Once we identify qualified locals, then the nonresident worker occupying that position should be repatriated and that's in the law,” he said.

He said there are available training programs for resident workers, including the Northern Marianas Trade Institute.

“Some local employers are saying that local people are lazy, that they cannot produce. You know why? Because those local employers have no heart to train locals. Every employer should understand that nonresident workers here are only guest workers, they can only able to continue to work here until local workers are qualified. They should respect that,” he added.

But the governor said he “will continue to fight for the nonresident workers to remain” in the CNMI as long as they're needed, and this, he said, is the “essence of the lawsuit.”

He said he still can't tell when the CNMI government will be able to terminate its contract with the law firm Jenner & Block because one of the three counts of the lawsuit has yet to be adjudicated.

GAO visit

Fitial said some Government Accountability Office personnel are currently on island to gather data for the minimum wage impact study, but he said another GAO visit will happen in January.

Commerce Secretary Michael Ada confirmed yesterday that by early January, GAO is expected to present its preliminary study on the impact of federal minimum wage increases on the CNMI economy.

President Obama signed on Wednesday an omnibus Fiscal Year 2010 spending bill that also delays the next 50-cent minimum wage increase, from May 2010 to September 2010, to give the U.S. Congress more time to review the GAO study on the wage hike impact.

Fitial: Ombudsman shouldn't accommodate 'overstayers'

Fitial: Ombudsman shouldn't accommodate 'overstayers'

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

By Haidee V. Eugenio
Reporter

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial expressed concern yesterday about the Federal Labor Ombudsman's ongoing “accounting” of nonresident workers in the CNMI, saying such process should not be used to allow the continued stay on the islands of foreigners with no legal status to remain here.

“I hope she's not going to accommodate those overstayers,” Fitial told reporters on Capital Hill yesterday afternoon.

Fitial, who authorized the distribution of thousands of “umbrella permits” through the CNMI Department of Labor, also expressed concern about Federal Labor Ombudsman Pamela Brown's authority to conduct the accounting of nonresident workers.

“I'm concerned about the authority; if she has the authority to do what she's trying to do,” Fitial added.

The governor also said that nonresident workers are already “in good hands with the umbrella [permits].”

The Federal Labor Ombudsman's Office started the accounting of nonresident workers in the CNMI at 4pm yesterday. Based on the agency's schedule, alien workers having last names starting with A and B were to report to its offices at the Marina Heights II Building yesterday.

Alien workers are told to bring a copy of their passport or other photo identification when they go to the federal agency's office for the accounting process, which will be held daily until Dec. 29, 2009.

In a notice, the ombudsman said the accounting process is based on Public Law 110-229 or the federalization law, which requires the U.S. Department of the Interior to report to the U.S. Congress the total number of aliens within the Commonwealth.

Dekada Movement counsel Stephen C. Woodruff earlier cautioned alien workers who do not have “umbrella permits” against participating in the “accounting” process.

“There is a very real risk that aliens lacking an umbrella permit who register with the Ombudsman's office could be setting themselves up as targets for deportation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” he said in a statement.

CHC autonomy bill

In other news, the governor said he's waiting for comments from different agencies, including the Office of the Attorney General, on a bill providing autonomy to and ensuring accountability by, the Commonwealth Health Center.

House Bill 16-9, which seeks to create a Commonwealth Healthcare Corp., is now on Fitial's desk for action.

On Dec. 3, the House of Representatives approved on a 14-0 vote the Senate amendments to the bill.

The CHC bill, authored by Rep. Heinz S. Hofschneider and House Speaker Arnold I. Palacios, is hailed as “landmark” legislation by lawmakers and officials, including Health Secretary Joseph Kevin Villagomez and Rep. Tina Sablan (Ind-Saipan).

In other news, Fitial said everyone is invited to his inauguration set for Jan. 11, 2010.

Fitial is only the second governor in CNMI history to be re-elected.

When asked whether he would invite Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP) or Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs Tony Babauta, Fitial said, “Everyone deserves to be invited.”