Of hopes and possibilities

It has been more than five years since I was introduced to a group simply known as MOVER. I can still vividly picture the first time I was introduced to the group one Sunday noon and most of the members were people who, I have learned, had stayed in the Marianas for a long time. Since then, I started joining the Sunday meeting of this group for I have witnessed the organization’s primary goals and found it interesting, being involved in cleaning the environment and helping their fellow guest workers.

Picking up trash, cleaning seashores, restoring drainages along beaches, cutting bushes and all that is not easy work, especially when you are doing it during your supposed rest day. I often ask myself, “Don’t these guys get enervated?” Yet they enjoy doing what most would find tiring. As time passed, I found out what motivates these people to do such unselfish chores. That is because they love the CNMI and have embraced the passion to take care of its environment because for them, the CNMI is their home. And so I became a member and have considered the group my second family.

But because things are transitory, mostly because of the status of guest workers, the group gradually depopulated. Some joined other groups and more went back to our homeland because their contracts were not renewed. Often, I have seen their reluctance to go home because they have spent their lives in the CNMI for a long time. I was always saddened by these repeated scenarios of guest workers going home. And the notion often crossed my mind that, if only they had the chance to stay longer or if their status is not transitory, then maybe I wouldn’t be seeing sad faces and instead the same happy faces that I met five years ago.

For the past few months, I had these questions in mind. Is it be possible for guest workers who have stayed and have loved the CNMI for so long not be impermanent? If the federalization kicks in, will it grant them better status in the CNMI? Since I believe in facts, I started to mingle with friends and talked about Public Law 110-229. And an item in Section 6 of P.L. 110-229 caught our attention. The paragraph is titled “Report on Nonresident Guestworker Population.” The paragraph says, “The Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Governor of CNMI, shall report to the Congress not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008. The report shall include: (1) the number of aliens residing in the CNMI; (2) a description of the legal status of such aliens; (3) the number of years each alien has been residing in the CNMI; (4) the current and future requirements of the CNMI economy for an alien workforce; and (5) such recommendations to the Congress, as the Secretary may deem appropriate, related to whether or not the Congress should consider permitting lawfully admitted guest workers lawfully residing in the CNMI on such enactment date to apply for long-term status under the immigration and nationality laws of the United States.” Sharing thoughts and ideas with my friends and reading each line again and again made me feel that there are answers to my questions. Answers with hopes and possibilities.

Based on my understanding, if the Secretary of Interior is required to submit such a report to Congress and this report will be used by Congress as a basis whether lawfully admitted guest workers may or may not be permitted to apply for long-term status, then there is a possibility for Congress to consider allowing guest workers to apply for long-term status.

With these, I would like to end my lines by asking the Secretary of Interior to please provide such a report to the Congress… a report that can lead to answers to my questions and the plight of many amongst us. Lastly, for the U.S. Congress, please consider and reconsider the status of guest workers in the CNMI.