‘Jobless foreign workers need not leave CNMI after Nov. 27’

A former general attorney for Immigration and Naturalization Services for 10 years and one of the richest Filipino-Americans said yesterday that jobless foreign workers should not fear deportation from the CNMI after Nov. 27, 2011, without having their case heard by immigration court, especially if they have U.S. citizen children, spouse or parents, have not committed a crime, or have not received social welfare, among other things.

Attorney Loida Nicolas Lewis, chair of the U.S. Pinoys for Good Governance who has written books on U.S. immigration law, also wrote an Oct. 24 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano requesting that alien workers in the CNMI “be granted deferred status with work permits so that they have legal status beyond the Nov. 27, 2011 deadline.”

In her four-page letter to Napolitano, Lewis said another important factor that has to be taken into consideration is the “Morton memo.”

The “Morton memo” directs Immigration and Customs Enforcement attorneys and employees to “exercise prosecutorial discretion” and refrain from going after non-citizens with close family ties in the U.S., among other things, unless they are criminals or pose a clear risk to national security.

Lewis said that based on the list of factors to consider when exercising prosecutorial discretion, the following can be applicable to aliens in the CNMI: the person’s length of presence in the U.S., with particular consideration given to presence while in lawful status; the circumstances of the person’s arrival in the U.S. and the manner of his or her entry, particularly if the alien came to the United States as a young child, among other things.

Lewis granted interviews to Saipan reporters and addressed KWAW radio listeners yesterday on the issue of deportation and U.S. immigration system.

“To all of those who are listening, what I’m trying to tell you is know your rights,” she said on KWAW Magic 100.3 FM.

She said after Nov. 27, foreigners would receive an “order to show cause why you should not be deported.”

She said these individuals should be able to tell an immigration judge their “equities,” including having U.S. citizen children-especially if they are in the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy and other branches of the U.S. military, “you have a big stake in this country even in the CNMI because you are a territory of the United States.”

These also include having U.S. citizen mother, father, spouses, sisters, brothers; having been a good member of the community and with no criminal record; not receiving welfare; have paid taxes; and have legally stayed in the CNMI for many years.

“There is such a thing as rule of law. Immigration court should hear your case and they have the discretion as the prosecutor to decide whether your case is strong enough because you have American citizen children, American citizen wife, or American citizen mother, even American citizen brothers and sisters. You have been a good citizen, you are not a felon, you did not commit any crime, you did not go to welfare [or did not receive] supplemental income. Your [U.S. citizen] child may have received food stamp but that is their right to receive food stamp,” she said.

Hundreds of nonresidents have found themselves jobless because of the weakening CNMI economy. And because the final worker regulations were released only on Sept. 7, long-term aliens said that that won’t give them much time to look for another job by the Nov. 27 deadline.

Lewis told radio listeners who have the equities she mentioned to not be afraid.

“Our court system in the United States, even in the CNMI, is based on the rule of law and so you are covered by that.Please don’t have any fear. You are under protection of the law and Constitution of the United States,” she added.

Lewis is a Filipino-born, New York-based industrialist, philanthropist, civil leader, motivational speaker, author and lawyer.

She was the first Asian-American to pass the American Bar without having been educated in the United States. She earned a law degree from the University of the Philippines College of Law.

Lewis also said that Filipino workers in the CNMI can write a letter to Philippine Consul General Medardo Macaraig to ask for support to hire an immigration attorney. She said the Department of Foreign Affairs can grant $10,000 for legal assistance to distressed Filipinos abroad.

Macaraig, in a separate phone interview with Saipan Tribune, said it’s still premature to seek legal assistance. He said nobody is facing deportation yet as a result of the final worker rule, among other things.

But he said DFA does provide legal assistance but mostly on labor issues, not immigration. However, Macaraig said it will still depend on the circumstances.

Lewis, in responding to a question on parole, said people who ask for parole and give their names and addresses may be making it easier for immigration to find them.

“Wait until after Nov. 27, and wait for them to send you [an order to show cause why you should not be deported],” she said.

She said she supports Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan’s H.R. 1466, which grants CNMI-only resident status to four groups of people, as well as a lawsuit filed by alien workers last week to stop federal officials from implementing the CNMI-only Transitional Worker final rule.