Jobless foreign workers and caregivers prepare for worst

Rowena Dimalanta, 38, lost her fulltime job in 2009 and hasn’t had luck finding a new one given the CNMI’s shrinking economy. If she does not find a job between now and the Nov. 27 deadline set by the newly-released Commonwealth-only worker rule, she could face deportation and be forced to leave behind her two minor U.S. citizen children with their father who is also a nonresident worker.

“I want my family to stay together. What will happen to us if my mom goes home?” asked her 9-year old son John Willard.

Dimalanta, along with many others with U.S. citizen children, has been hoping that Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan’s H.R. 1466 will be passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Obama before Nov. 27, but time is running out fast.

Sablan’s bill seeks to grant CNMI-only resident status for limited groups of people in the CNMI, including immediate relatives of U.S. citizens.

Elena Dariguez, 43, a caregiver, also fears being considered out-of-status and separated from her two minor children if she’s unable to find a manpower agency to hire her.

The CW rule that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued on Sept. 7 does not allow individuals to hire foreign workers as caregivers. Only businesses can hire aliens as caregivers and for other kinds of household work.

Dariguez, just like the estimated 900-plus foreign caregivers and house workers in the CNMI, said she has yet to find a manpower agency that will petition for a CW status for her.

“If I go home with my children, they will lose their free education, their other privileges as U.S. citizens. And they already told me they want to stay in the CNMI because they said this is their home. They were born here and this is the only home they know. I don’t want to be away from them either. I am a legal worker here, and I hope to be able to find a manpower agency to hire me before Nov. 27,” she told Saipan Tribune in an interview on Saturday.

Justice delayed

Rudy Francisco, 50, has been without an employer since at least 2009 but like many other nonresident workers, he has been able to remain in the CNMI because of the so-called umbrella permit.

He, too, has difficulty finding a job given the economic conditions in the CNMI.

“If worse comes to worst, I am ready to go home. But it’s unfair that after so many years, my former employer hasn’t paid me some $25,000 in back wages and interests. My labor case is still in court,” said the former security guard who, in 2002, was recognized by the Philippine government as one of the Ten Most Outstanding Filipino Workers in the CNMI.

Francisco is among the foreign workers in the CNMI still owed a total of some $6.1 million in back wages by their former employers.

“I always thought that the U.S. is a champion for human rights around the world, except in the CNMI. Many of the foreign workers here will be sent home without getting justice from the federal government,” he said.

Some residents said with hundreds of foreign worker facing deportation, there will be more jobs that will become available for U.S. citizens. But none of them said they’re willing to work as house workers.

Repatriation

Another 68-year-old jobless woman from the Philippines since 2004 said she’s able to get by as a part-time house worker for $20 half-day, depending on who needs her service.

She said if she can’t find a job by Nov. 27, she understands she has no choice but to leave the CNMI.

“But who’s going to pay for my airfare to go back to the Philippines?” she asked.

Philippine labor representative Carmelina F. Velasquez, in a separate interview, said matters like this are dealt with on a case by case basis, although in general, people needing help are asked to submit a written request for assistance.

A 47-year-old woman from Guangdong, China said since she lost her job at a garment factory, it’s been difficult to find a new job.

“My husband from China sends me money here,” she said, adding that her former employer still owes her some $3,000 in unpaid wages. “There’s many like me-Filipinos, Chinese.”

A 52-year-old foreign worker said she has difficulty looking for a job, after quitting her employment when she got married to a man who later subjected her to domestic abuse.

“I’m a victim of domestic violence, and I’m trying to pull myself together again. If I don’t find a job soon, I will be forced to go home. I would have liked to stay longer,” she said.

These individuals are just some of the hundreds of foreign workers in the CNMI bracing for the impact of the CW rule that establishes a transitional worker classification for workers in the CNMI.

A foreign worker may be eligible for CW status if they do not qualify for a nonimmigrant or immigrant classification under the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Only employers will be able to petition their employees for a CW status.

Foreign workers cannot apply for such a status.

‘Parole in place’

Rabby Syed, president of the United Workers Movement-NMI, which represents thousands of foreign workers in the CNMI, said he estimates hundreds, if not over a thousand, foreign workers have difficulty looking for jobs because of the weak economy.

He said with the Nov. 27 deadline drawing near to find jobs, many of these jobless individuals could be out-of-status.

“That is why we continue to ask President Obama to use his administrative power to grant parole-in-place for long-term foreign workers in the CNMI until the U.S. Congress takes action on the Interior recommendation to grant improved status to those workers who have been here for at least five years,” Syed said in an interview yesterday.

Syed will be off to Washington, D.C. on Sept. 30 to personally bring to U.S. lawmakers and federal officials’ attention the plight of several long-term foreign workers in the CNMI.

“Like we said before, these workers came here legally. They have proper documentation and they are in the Social Security system. But because of the weak economy, they aren’t able to look for jobs. If they have improved immigration status, specifically ‘green card’ or pathway to citizenship, their chances of finding a job is higher,” he added.

Syed earlier raised concerns about the loss of status for immediate relatives of citizens from the Freely Associated States, as well as IRs for U.S. citizens.

These IRs could apply for a parole-in place for work authorization, or contact the USCIS for more information, Syed said.

Manpower agency

For caregivers and household workers who have valid CNMI work permits that will expire in less than three months, the race is up to find a manpower agency to hire them.

A U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services official said the CW rule provides for an opportunity for businesses in the CNMI to set up a manpower agency that will hire the available caregivers on the islands.

The CNMI has a strong need for caregivers because it has no nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial said last week he will soon issue an executive order permitting individuals who pay for the care of another person, and who hire an alien for that purpose, to apply for a CNMI business license as a sole proprietor.

Businesses, such as the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, is carefully reviewing the CW rule to see how it impacts the business community, a big portion of it is reliant on nonresident workers.

While many businesses employ U.S. or resident workers, the local labor pool is not enough to fill the jobs currently held by foreign workers especially those in positions requiring special skills, specific educational degrees and work experience.

But a number of businesses have also started petitioning their employees for H, L, and other employment-based classifications under the INA.

Employers could also start petitioning their employees for a CW status starting on Oct. 7.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security estimates that 13,399 of 16,258 subject to the final rule are potentially eligible for CW status.

There are also 183 considered out-of-status foreign workers.

But Syed said after Nov. 27, there will be a lot more than 183 who will be out of status.

Government nurses

It’s not only the private sector that is impacted by the CW rule, but also government nurses.

Some 200 nurses at the Department of Public Health are foreign workers from the Philippines who won’t qualify for CW status because they qualify for an H1-B classification or others under the INA.

Foreign nurses interviewed during the weekend said they are still in limbo, because they haven’t been applied for an H1-B status or visa by the CNMI government.

Most of DPH’s foreign nurses from the Philippines have a four-year bachelor’s degree, have NCLEX certification and sufficient work experience that qualify them for an INA visa, and not a CW visa.

Some of the nurses said the CNMI government could have applied for an H1-B visa for them long before the CW rule was released.

Press secretary Angel Demapan said DPH is aware of this matter, and will have information about it later. Public Health secretary Joseph Kevin Villagomez could not be reached for comment.

DPH medical staff and nurses have set up an appointment with USCIS district director David Gulick on the matter.