Here we go again!

Here we go again with Episode 9 in the never-ending drama called “Ben Fitial vs the U.S. government.” Gov. Fitial is now asking the feds to do their job of ridding the CNMI of illegal immigrants and rid it of people who are willing to work for $5.05 an hour (why haven’t YOU increased the minimum wage, Ben?)

Instead of putting the blame where it belongs, you are using illegal aliens as your scapegoat as to why there aren’t any jobs for locals. After telling the feds it was wrong and unfair for Homeland Security to step in and take over control of immigration (because the CNMI government was unable or unwilling to control or manage the issue,) you now have the stones to complain that the feds aren’t doing their job. Make up your mind, Ben! Does anyone else find this highly comical?

Why are you so worried about illegal aliens? If the USCIS process is followed, how in the world would an illegal alien get paroled to stay in the CNMI? My understanding then is that YOU don’t understand the process. Have you bothered to stop and ask yourself WHY there are so many aliens in the CNMI? Obviously not, as it was you and other governors of the CNMI who opened the floodgates to allow many thousands more into the CNMI, after ignoring the recommendations of the Clinton Administration and then in turn the Bush Administration to limit and reduce the number of foreign workers in the Commonwealth or risk losing control of local immigration. (Strangely, we haven’t heard from Froilan or Stanley in regards to this issue. Could it be that wisely, they have been off-island in Vegas or they have realized that this is a non-issue?)

The other issue here is your ongoing highly public battle with Kilili. Are you jealous, Ben? Do you feel threatened by the fact that Kilili has the brains, skills, and the motivation to actually try and find some sort of remedy to this mess that you’ve helped create? What is so wrong with working to find a solution to a hastily drafted, insensitive law that does not take into consideration the parents, siblings, and spouses of U.S. citizens? Do you resent that he is actually getting something accomplished in an attempt to fix this fiasco? What have you done to help fix this? Have you bothered to get involved? Have you reached out to Washington D.C. at all? It doesn’t look like you have.

What you have done is nothing, except threaten a lawsuit to stop USCIS. This chicken-little-the-sky-is-falling knee-jerk reaction to USCIS is your signature way of dealing with things you either don’t like or rather, things you don’t understand. (It’s strange that your lackey AG is onboard with you in this as well. He obviously should’ve been able to read the law, grasp it’s meaning then walk you through it. Maybe you both would get it and then you could stop your foolish political games.) We can only hope….

You say you have a heart and only have the best interests of the people of the CNMI at the core of your desire to try and do away with USCIS (good luck with that, by the way. You are just as powerless in this situation as you were when you tried to intervene in the relocation of Marines from Okinawa). Here’s a reminder Ben: EVERY U.S. citizen in the CNMI is who you should be supporting. Not just the ones you want to. EVERY child born in the CNMI should be at the top of your list to assist in this nasty, deplorable situation. Just because some of these US citizens happen to have parents from outside the USA does not mean you have the right to decide who stays and who goes.

It would seem from your rhetoric these last few days is that you are being racist in your desire to stop USCIS and that you are 100 percent in favor of the breaking up of families of U.S. citizens. Is that how you take care of the CNMI? Why don’t you try and put yourself in the shoes of just one of these families that are in danger of being broken up. This doesn’t just involve children or parents. Spouses are also being affected. Can you even comprehend or understand the fear and anguish that they are going through? It’s called empathy, Mr. Governor, and it’s criminal what this law is doing to families. Plain and simple. But then again, it would seem this is business as usual for you. Families of the CNMI have previously gone through a period of being royally screwed by the US government, when the population of the CNMI was locked up in camps at the end of World War II. Ask your parents how that made them feel. Or maybe, Ben, you remember and have chosen to forget. In that instance of monumental U.S. government incompetence, at least your families were allowed to stay together…