Chamber supports call for stay on rejection of CW permits

Palacios

The biggest business organization in the CNMI has joined Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan in asking the Department of Homeland Security to set aside rejected CNMI-Only Transitional Worker permit applications for the upcoming fiscal year 2019.

Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Velma M. Palacios, in a letter dated March 7, asked DHS Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen to hold rather than return applications over the current limit of 4,999 set for FY 2019.

She said the Chamber supports Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-AK) S.2325 and Sablan’s own H.R. 4869 (Northern Mariana Islands U.S. Workforce Act) that both seek to extend the CW program for another 10 years and set a new limit of 13,000.

“…we respectfully request that applications over the current limit of 4,999 set for FY 2019 be held rather than returned, pending the outcome of the bill. Our economy depends on a stable and strong workforce. Wages are rising, and training continues to be provided to U.S. qualified workers. Our businesses need both foreign and local labor forces to survive,” Palacios said.

The Chamber president reiterated that the extension of the CW program is crucial to the island economy’s survival and the first step is putting a stay on rejected applicants over the fiscal year 2019 cap.

“We are writing to you as the collective voice of the business community on Saipan. Our Chamber comprises more than 160 private businesses, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. As our island is small and remote, our Chamber takes great measures to work with our whole community, as we are interdependent upon each other. Our workforce issues not only affect our business ventures, but our entire economy,” she said.

The Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands has not sent a similar letter to Nielson but its chair, Gloria Cavanagh, said the stay on rejected permits is a reasonable request and her organization supports it.

“My understanding is that [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services] has made such a huge decrease because they are obligated by law to reduce the CW-1 number to zero by December 2019. They have no choice, as it is the current law. However, U.S. Congress is working on a bill dealing with this issue. If USCIS is making such a huge reduction because of the law, and a new law that addresses our economic issues when dealing with the CW-1 issue is in progress, USCIS will no longer be forced to reduce the cap to zero by December 2019 anymore. The ‘ask’ to hold off on any further reductions would therefore be a reasonable request,” she said in an email to Saipan Tribune.

Last month, the CNMI’s non-voting delegate to U.S. Congress made a similar appeal to Nielsen. Sablan said that implementing massive cuts to the foreign workforce of the CNMI would have immediate grave effects on the economy, especially since it is now “flush with growth after many years of decline.”

Murkowski’s S. 2325—as well as Sablan’s parallel H.R. 4869—is a bill that proposes to extend the CNMI transitional period to fiscal year 2029, effectively extending essential programs such as the CW program and the E-2C investor program with it.