‘Cuts in line with Trump administration goals

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) said yesterday that the massive cuts in the Commonwealth’s CW-1 slots are in line with President Donald J. Trump’s goals of reducing reliance on foreign workers.

Citing Executive Order 13788 on “Buy American, Hire American” that was issued in April 2017, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced late Tuesday night that the numerical caps for CW-1 slots would be 9,998 for fiscal year 2018, 4,999 for fiscal year 2019, and 2,499 for the first three months of fiscal year 2020.

“As a candidate, [Trump] promised to get tough on immigration and protect the American workers. Everyone who supported him heard him say that. As today’s [Federal Register] says, ‘This cut is consistent with the general policy in Executive Order 13788: Buy American, Hire American, issued in April…2017,’” Sablan said in a news briefing yesterday. “Those information are directly quoted from that executive order and in today’s USCIS order, so no one should be surprised that the Trump administration is cutting back [on the number of] foreign workers in the Marianas.”

Sablan gives credit to Gov. Ralph DLG Torres for reducing the cut from a reported 6,000 to 3,000.

According to a statement from the administration, Torres met with Trump and his top advisers on several occasions in October and November 2017 to discuss various issues in the CNMI, including the CNMI Transitional Workers Program.

“On Nov. 3, 2017, I spoke with President Trump and White House chief of staff John Kelly in Hawaii to request assistance to not reduce the number by half. On Nov. 7, 2017, I spoke with the White House Domestic Policy Council and wrote letters to [Kelly]. I also corresponded with his staff on Nov. 8 and Nov. 9,” said Torres in a separate statement.

Though the situation looks grim, Sablan noted that prior to the surge of construction workers in early 2006, foreign workers on Saipan numbered only about 9,715 in 2005.

“Fortunately, the Trump administration passed my legislation that bars the use of CW-1 permits for new construction workers, or Public Law 115-53. Before the surge of construction workers in 2006, we had 9,715 CW workers in 2005. The new cap is more than that,” said Sablan, adding that he was aware of criticisms about this provision in his legislation.

“But now we can see it will protect our local businesses and help the Marianas economy as a whole—not just the construction industry,” he said, expressing gratitude toward Torres for supporting his bill. “That was a smart move.”

Sablan said he hopes that Torres would continue to “make the case with the president to keep the cap as high as possible.”

“In the meantime, I will continue to work with the bipartisan, bicameral working group in Congress that helped me get 115-53 enacted last August 2017,” he said.

“Our goal in legislation is to make sure that there are enough workers in the Marianas to keep the economy going past 2019 and that local workers get jobs first. It would take everything that I have learned over the past nine years and the trusting relationships I have built in Congress. I would also depend on having a unified voice in the Marianas, just as we did on the Northern Marianas Expansion Act this year. As long as we stay unified, we can succeed. But if there are people in the Marianas who start criticizing what we are doing, then that would make success more difficult.”

According to Sablan, who was able to get legislation dealing with immigration through U.S. Congress twice, he is “working with a group of people in Congress who understand the Marianas and with whom I have worked with successfully before.”

“I think the business community, the governor, and other elected officials know that we will succeed when we work together,” he added.