Inos asks Boehner to pass CNMI bill soon

Gov. Eloy S. Inos asked U.S. House Speaker John Boehner to prioritize and pass a time-critical bill with significant economic impact on the CNMI, including extending beyond 2014 the CNMI’s exemption from accepting asylum applications to protect the islands’ tourism industry and prohibiting future five-year administrative extension of a foreign worker program.

H.R. 4296, introduced by Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP), also extends the E2-C investor visa program expiring in 2014 and extends the CNMI and Guam’s exemption from the national H visa cap also beyond 2014.

John Boehner

The U.S. Senate has already approved by unanimous consent S. 1237, extending the four programs in question.

Inos said HR 4296 could be expected to find approval at the Senate after House passage.

HR 4296 already cleared the House Natural Resources and Judiciary Committees and could be considered on the floor.

“I write to ask that you give the measure, HR 4296, some priority on your legislative agenda,” Inos said in a July 11 letter to Boehner, a copy of which was released by the administration yesterday.

Inos said he understands the sensitivities surrounding immigration but HR 4296 “makes no change to any existing policy.”

The bill extends by five years the CW or Commonwealth-only foreign worker program scheduled to expire this year. U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez used his administrative power on June 3 to extend the CW program up to 2019.

But HR 4296 also sets a cutoff in law, to prevent any future administrative extension of the CW program now in effect.

Most important among the four policies that the bill covers is a bar on claims of political asylum in the CNMI.

“This has helped support a four-fold growth in tourism from China over the last five years. China continues to be a growth market; and extending the asylum bar through 2019 will help maintain that growth,” Inos told Boehner.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security currently allows Chinese and Russian tourists to enter the CNMI without a U.S. visa.

Come Jan. 1, 2015, the CNMI would be required once again to accept asylum applications unless that exemption is extended. The CNMI is wary that tourists would seek asylum in the Commonwealth, and that the CNMI would caught the ire of the Chinese government which could restrict tourist travel to the islands.

The bill also ensures a sufficient supply of labor needed by the U.S. military during Marines’ realignment from Okinawa to the Marianas, by extending an exemption from the national numerical cap on H visas.

The realignment was originally expected to be well underway by now, but has been delayed by about five years.

HR 4296 also seeks to extend the E2-C investor visa program. The program benefits foreign investors who went into business in the CNMI prior to the start of federal immigration.

“The number of these investors is fixed, and the loss of their investment would be damaging to our economy,” Inos said.