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Kilili working with USCIS on misclassification of CWs
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Delegate Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (Ind-MP) will take any specific cases of CNMI-Only Transitional Worker applicants misclassified as new construction workers to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for review.
USCIS has already issued permits for applications initially rejected, after the congressman worked with the applicant and the agency to get further consideration. Sablan explained this success in a letter to Gov. Ralph DLG Torres yesterday and asked the governor to send any similar cases to the congressional office for assistance.
Sablan also sent a copy of his letter to Torres to the Northern Marianas Business Alliance Corp.
In the letter, Sablan said he agreed with Torres that the bar on gardeners, hotel maintenance workers, and even Commonwealth Utility Corp. engineers appears inconsistent with the intent of Public Law 115-53.
“Please send me these specific cases or any others in which a permit applicant believes that misclassification as a new construction worker has occurred. I will promptly refer the case to USCIS as a congressional inquiry to help ensure it receives timely and thorough review,” he wrote.
Sablan added that the congressional office in fact has already managed three such cases. In two the misclassification was corrected and the permits awarded. A decision in the third case is pending.
“As you know, the intent of Public Law 115-53 was to protect our local business people, who depend on CW workers, from the flood of new construction workers that began in 2016 and used up as many as 5,000 CW permits. I will continue to do all I can to prevent harm to our local business community or legacy CW workers, as I have with the cases already brought to me for help,” Sablan ended his letter to Torres.
To obtain congressional assistance on immigration or any other matter regarding the federal government, contact the congressional office on Saipan, Tinian, or Rota or go to https://sablan.house.gov/serving-you/help-federal-agency. All cases are handled with complete confidentiality. (PR)
