‘Parole authority in best interest of CNMI’

Gov. Ralph DLG Torres believes that continuing the parole authority, which immigration authorities use to allow the entry of Chinese and Russian tourists to the CNMI, is in the best interest of the Commonwealth.

In a statement on Monday, Torres said an extensive white paper highlighting the importance of the parole authority was submitted to the White House once U.S. President Donald J. Trump took office.

“Since Day 1 of the Trump administration, Gov. Torres has been in frequent communication regarding our economy, including CW workers and parole. We put together a white paper last year to strengthen the understanding of the administration and have given this to our delegate’s office for their consideration last year,” said the administration statement.

“It is worth noting that given the importance of these issues to the people of the CNMI, Gov. Torres believes it is in the best interest of our ongoing discussions with the White House and Congress to be cautious of the policy rhetoric we are using. Through collective action and collaborative discussions, we can get a lot done together to strengthen the economic viability of the CNMI for the long term,” the statement added.

The parole authority is responsible for bringing in almost half of the total visitor arrivals to the CNMI, whose main economic driver is its tourism industry. South Korea and China make up about 95 percent of total tourist arrivals.

South Korea is one of 13 countries that are under the visa waiver program, in addition to Australia, Brunei, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.

Nationals of China, on the other hand, are allowed to enter the CNMI under the Marianas parole authority, which grants Russian and Chinese tourists entry to the CNMI. Guam is only allowed to grant entry to Russian tourists.

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) said in a press conference in late February that he has reason to be alarmed about a possible termination of the Marianas parole authority.

He added that overstaying tourists, working tourists, on-the-job deaths, minimum wage violations, birth tourism, and more could jeopardize the parole authority under the Trump administration.

“[The program’s end] would be a major harm to our economy,” he had said, adding that he wishes to share more details but is unable to.

At the same press conference, Sablan said that a “bipartisan, bicameral letter” is being drafted to request the Governmental Accountability Office to study the repercussions of the termination of the parole authority.

GAO previously studied the repercussions of ending the CNMI’s foreign worker program, which is slated to expire this Dec. 31, 2019. The study found that the CNMI economy is unsustainable without foreign labor. That labor pool is being touted as behind the CNMI’s ability to achieve a gross domestic product growth of about 28.6 percent in fiscal year 2016 alone. According to the GAO study, it is estimated that the CNMI GDP will decline by about 26 percent to 62 percent without the foreign workforce.