Violating the Covenant

I don’t know what the big deal is about the federal government taking over immigration and labor because even today the federal government can ultimately decide who can work in the CNMI.

It used to be my understanding that the CNMI government was able to decide who could live and work in the CNMI and that these powers were specifically given to the CNMI government through the Covenant with the United States, unless so changed by Congress. Over the last few weeks, I have come to the realization that it is all just smoke and mirrors.

How so? The federal government, through the Social Security Administration, holds the ultimate right of choosing who can live and work in the CNMI through their issuance of social security cards. My wife holds an IR permit issued by the CNMI government and in March went to the local office of the Social Security Administration to apply for a social security card. Because of a change in CNMI immigration regulations effective Jan. 1, the Social Security Administration has stopped issuing social security cards to certain classes of permit holders in the CNMI pending a review of the regulations.

Why do they need to review them? To find out whether or not the person is entitled to work in the CNMI. Never mind that the CNMI immigration has already said that they are. In other words, the Social Security Administration is attempting to be the ones who control who is eligible to work in the CNMI. Call me stupid, but I thought that was the domain of the CNMI government until Nov. 28, 2009.

Without a social security card, my wife is unable to work, even though she holds authorization from the CNMI government. My wife is unable to open a bank account and she is unable to join me on a joint bank account. This is not fair and it seems to me like it’s a violation of the law. My wife, under the law, is eligible for a social security card and it seems like a violation of her civil rights to not be allowed to apply for a social security card.

While the CNMI government is spending millions fighting federalization, why doesn’t someone file a federal lawsuit against the SSA for violating the Covenant and other laws that say that CNMI controls labor until the federal takeover? It seems like this is a pretty overt usurpation of the Covenant relationship.

I used to say that I didn’t have an opinion about federalization, I just believe in the rule of law. One of the great things about living in the USA is that the rule of law is respected. It is frankly disturbing to me that the hypocrites who want all of this federalization are unwilling to follow the rule of law and instead are overtly violating it. If overtly violating the law is what federalization is all about then count me out.