Fitial wants DOI, insular chiefs to back 180-day wait

During a meeting with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and other federal and insular area leaders, Gov. Benigno Fitial delivered a statement seeking their support for the maximum 180-day delay in the implementation of the federalization law.

Under Public Law 116-229, federal immigration laws will extend to the CNMI on June 1, unless a delay is granted.

“We ask for your support for the extension of the effective date of the law that we are requesting,” Fitial said to the four governors, four members of Congress, and about 20 representatives of separate federal agencies present at the Interagency Group on Insular Areas 2009 Plenary Session. “We need—and we think the Department [of Homeland Security] needs—the additional 180 days to ensure that the federal authorities are prepared to execute their new responsibilities when the law becomes effective.”

According to a statement released from the Governor’s Office, Salazar, in a general comment, said immigration laws must be applied in a way that reflects the different economic circumstances of the insular areas compared with the mainland.

Fitial, during brief remarks before officials and lawmakers in Washington D.C., noted that only one set of regulations—the Guam-CNMI visa waiver program—were released before Jan. 20.

“The new Administration has issued a directive that no further regulations should be promulgated until the newly appointed officials of the department have an opportunity to review and approve such regulations. Under these circumstances, there simply is not time before June 1 to establish the regulatory framework for implementing the new law,” Fitial said.

Moreover, DHS has advised Congress that it would require $91 million in additional funding to establish the necessary facilities and the proper number of trained employees in the Commonwealth, the governor said.

“Even if the funding were available, the task cannot be completed by June 1 and, in my opinion, there really is some question whether that task can be completed even with the additional 180 days provided by the Act,” he added.

The governor’s third reason is what he said he hoped to bring to the other officials’ attention—the 45 percent decline in the CNMI’s tourism industry from its peak years in the late 1990s and the reduction in airplane seat capacity from Japan in the next few months.

On top of these issues, DHS has determined China and Russia must be left out of the visa waiver program because of national security concerns, the governor said.

Fitial also spoke met with DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano at a White House dinner Sunday evening and discussed the pending request with her briefly, according to the statement.

Rep. Ralph DLG Torres is also asking Napolitano for a delay. The representative submitted comments on the Federal Register Web site seeking a delay, as well as voicing his displeasure with the exclusion of the China and Russia markets in the proposed visa waiver program.

“The contribution that these two countries provide cannot be overstated given the current economic crisis here in the CNMI. Such a disruption in the tourism market will substantially affect the economy and the people of the CNMI,” he wrote.

Torres said different criteria in determining national security should be used for the CNMI compared to the U.S. mainland and Guam, because the Commonwealth has a unique historical tourism relationship with the two countries.