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‘There’s still chance for long-term alien workers’
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Posted on May 07 2012
By Haidee V. Eugenio
Reporter
Reporter
United Workers Movement-NMI president Rabby Syed said his meetings with U.S.-based groups dealing with labor and immigration have given much stronger hope that “long-term, legal alien workers” in the CNMI will be eligible for improved U.S. immigration status.
“In previous years, there were lots of activities we did here but not much happened. We now have to bring the matter to the national level,” he said in an interview.
He said UWM is affiliating itself with a national labor group to help boost UWM’s chances of pushing its end goal: “green card” and pathway to U.S. citizenship for long-term legal foreign workers here.
“We have a very good chance because many of the long-term alien workers here entered the CNMI legally, are in the U.S. Social Security system, have been paying or are now beginning to pay federal taxes or FICA,” Syed added.
UWM is planning to hold a meeting this week to discuss Syed’s meetings in the U.S. with national labor and immigration groups and their impacts on the United Workers Movement and foreign workers in the CNMI.
Syed also said UWM will be writing a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to ask DHS to allow those with parole status and whose CW petitions were filed after Nov. 28 to be able to start working even though their CW petition is still pending.
“We are asking this on humanitarian grounds,” he added.
