Visiting law professor Rose Cuison Villazor believes that, if given immigrant visas, most guest workers in the CNMI will prefer to stay rather than leave the islands.
This is because Saipan is closer to home for most alien workers than the U.S. mainland or Hawaii, Villazor said.
At the same time, the lower cost of living on the islands is an added incentive, she said.
“There will be some who will leave the island but most will prefer to stay,” said Villazor during a presentation on family-based and employment-based immigration law Wednesday night at the Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe.
The CNMI government has opposed the idea of granting “green cards” to guest workers on the argument that these workers will immigrate to the U.S. mainland once they are given a more permanent status.
During Wednesday's presentation, Villazor tackled issues that ranged from immigration petitions based on marriage to U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents and petitions filed by relatives who are U.S. citizens, to sponsorships by employers.
United Workers Movement acting head Rabby Syed said the presentation provided a clear understanding of the issues their group has been working on, especially on the Immediate Relative matters.
Villazor, who teaches law at the Hofstra University and is a former Saipan resident, said there are a lot of humanitarian reasons to help people stay in the CNMI and she urged guest workers to petition the U.S. Congress through CNMI Rep. Gregorio “Kilili” Sablan for some kind of legislation to address these issues.
“I also urge you to collect information and submit these information to the Department of the Interior. There are a lot of ways to improve the law and I would suggest that you do this now,” she said.
Villazor said that she herself learned about some individuals whose status are not clearly established within the bounds of the law, like children of guest workers who were brought in by parents who have been on island for 20-30 years now.
“There must be some kind of bill to address these concerns,” she said. “You have a right to become citizens, too.”
The U.S. federal government has a total of 675,000 immigrant quota each year, including 480,000 for family-based, 140,000 for employment-based and 55,000 for diversity. On the other hand, there are a total of 140,000 visas available yearly for employment-based immigration, which include priority workers, members of professions holding advanced degrees or persons of exceptional ability, professionals and other workers (10,000), and special immigrants.
The presentation was sponsored by the Coalition for the Recognition of Ethnic American Minorities.
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