1-month vigil for parole in place for all begins today

United Workers Movement-NMI president Rabby Syed said yesterday that at 12 noon today, they will start a peaceful vigil in front of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Garapan. He said the rally will continue until Nov. 27.

Syed said the rally seeks to press USCIS or the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to grant parole in place “for all legal alien workers in the CNMI until Congress initiates action to grant improved immigration status” to foreign workers on the islands.

“Even those who will be applied for CW [Commonwealth-only worker] status, we ask that they will also be granted parole in place because we don’t know how many will qualify for CW,” he told Saipan Tribune.

Syed made it clear that while he calls for a peaceful rally, he is also supporting the seven individuals who filed a lawsuit in federal court on Thursday to stop federal officials from implementing the CNMI-only Transitional Worker final rule, describing it as “unlawful.”

The plaintiffs-Bonifacio V. Sagana, Manuel T. Vilaga, Gerardo G. De Guzman, Hector T. Sevilla, Carlito J. Marquez, Eduardo M. Elenzano, and Jong Ho Lee-filed the lawsuit pro se or without a lawyer. They asked the court to certify their lawsuit as a class action.

Syed is calling on foreign workers and supporters to join the month-long rally, and to bring their own placards stating “what they feel.” He is also asking people to donate tents, food, and water to support the vigil.

“This would be a peaceful rally. It doesn’t matter whether there’s hundreds or six or seven, 24 hours a day until Nov. 27,” he said, adding that he got the idea from the “Occupy Wall Street” movement.

Other groups have mixed feelings about Syed’s vigil.

Rene Reyes, president of Marianas Advocates for Humanitarian Affairs Ltd. or Mahal, said while he won’t discourage their members or anyone from joining the rally, he also won’t ask them to support it either.

“It will be up to anyone to join the rally. As far as Mahal is concerned, we are more in support of the lawsuit that was filed last week. We believe that holding a rally could worsen the situation and might antagonize residents but like I said it will be up to anyone to join or not,” Reyes said last night.

Sagana, president of Dekada Movement and one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, USCIS District Director David Gulick, U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis, and U.S. Department of Labor District Director Terrence Trotter, said yesterday that there’s nothing wrong with Syed’s call for a peaceful rally.

“We will try to show up and support. This will show that while we might have different ways, we have the same goals,” Sagana said.

Syed conceded that U.S. Congress has yet to act on granting improved immigration status for long-term and legal alien workers in the CNMI but these workers should not lose hope.

He said UWM-NMI is aware that a grant of parole in place is on a case by case basis and will depend on DHS.

Hundreds of jobless aliens in the CNMI have difficulty looking for jobs in these tough economic times, and would want more time-beyond Nov. 27-to remain on the island so they could still continue looking for jobs.

Foreigners have until Nov. 27 to find an employer that will file a petition for a CW status for them. After that, they lose their status and could face deportation.