At 12:01am today, the U.S. federal government officially took control of CNMI immigration, marking another chapter in the islands' 34-year relationship with the United States.
The so-called federalization of local immigration took decades of political, social and economic wrangling between Washington, D.C. and the CNMI.
The last U.S. territory to control its own immigration, the CNMI is now officially subject to the same immigration laws as all U.S. states and territories, like its neighbor Guam.
Among other things, this means U.S. visas are now required of foreigners entering the CNMI, just like Guam, Hawaii, and the rest of the United States, except for those from countries included in visa waiver programs or exempted through a parole program.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and its agencies now administer immigration in the Commonwealth, pursuant to Public Law 110-2209, which President Bush signed in May 2008.
The same law gave the CNMI its first non-voting delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP), who was elected by CNMI voters in November 2008.
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial's lawsuit against the U.S. government was not able to persuade a federal court judge that the so-called federalization violates the Covenant between the United States and the Northern Marianas.
But Fitial, in an interview with Saipan Tribune this week, concedes that the CNMI does not have the necessary resources to control its own borders amid the U.S. war against terrorism.
He, however, insists that the federal government should back off from controlling the CNMI's labor system.
“I am sad,” Fitial said, referring to the fact that the CNMI is treated differently among other U.S. territories that control their own labor.
The CNMI, a commonwealth in political union with the United States, has some 50,000 residents and foreign laborers, mostly from the Philippines and China.
Fitial, who is likely to become the first governor to be re-elected in three decades, said federalization would restrict access to foreign labor and tourists, and result in the collapse of the economy, which this year completely lost its once mighty garment industry.
But Fitial didn't lose everything in his federalization lawsuit. Judge Paul Friedman issued on Nov. 25 a preliminary injunction to prevent DHS from implementing its interim final rule on the CNMI transitional worker program effective today.
Under the interim final rule, foreign workers need to obtain a CW-1 visa from a U.S. embassy, after securing a CW-1 status in the CNMI. “CW” stands for “Commonwealth transitional workers.”
As of yesterday, however, key DHS officials involved in the CNMI federalization could not say how the federal judge's ruling would impact their policies.
All set
Edward H. Low, public affairs liaison at the Customs and Border Protection-San Francisco office, said CBP is all set to take over immigration in the CNMI.
“We have 42 CBP staff onsite. Equipment is up and running, and has tested okay,” he said yesterday.
The first flight that CBP officers were set to process was due in at 1:20am today, involving a Northwest Airlines flight from Japan.
CBP fingerprinting and eye scan will also become main fixtures at the airport, just like anywhere in the U.S.
Jerry Aevermann, CBP’s current assistant port director in Guam, is now the CBP's interim port director for the CNMI. Included in the 40 to 50 CBP temporary duty personnel in the CNMI are those from Guam.
'Where do we go from here?'
For the 30-plus CNMI immigration officers, federalization means either losing their job or being transferred to other local agencies.
One of them is Adela Capati, 49, who has been a CNMI immigration officer since 1991.
In her 18 years with immigration, she has held several assignments, from airport inspector to immigration paper processing.
“This job is my bread and butter and this takeover has caused me a lot of stress. I cannot even argue. I was offered a job at the Department of Corrections and I don't have a choice,” Capati said in an interview yesterday.
The governor earlier said the administration has been trying to re-assign immigration officers to other agencies like Labor and Immigration Identification System and the Division of Customs so that they won't completely lose jobs.
Capati, a single mother, said the remaining immigration officers have been asked to continue reporting work to the Division of Immigration office in San Antonio, at least until Dec. 31 to finish all the needed work.
Capati was among the 37 of over 70 CNMI immigration officers automatically disqualified from being hired by CBP because of the federal agency's 37-year-old age cutoff.
“I'm already 49 years old but I have been working as immigration officer since 1991 and I believe I will be a big help. Just when we already reached this age, we have to either lose or transfer jobs,” she added.
After World War II, the Northern Marianas was administered by the United States as part of the United Nations Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands; thus, defense and foreign affairs were the responsibility of the United States.
In the 1970s, the people of the Northern Marianas decided not to seek independence, but instead to forge closer links with the United States. Negotiations for territorial status began in 1972 and, in 1975, a covenant to establish a commonwealth in political union with the U.S. was approved. A new government and constitution went into effect in 1978. The CNMI's residents are U.S. citizens.
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