Murkowski files new takeover bill

The chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources has introduced a new legislation seeking full extension of federal immigration laws to the Northern Marianas, reviving some provisions of an initial measure that won support last year from committee members.

Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) co-sponsored the bill with Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) in another fresh attempt by Washington to reform labor and immigration standards on the island.

The bipartisan measure also came barely two weeks after President Clinton’s special representative to the 902 consultation talks handed in to island officials a package of proposal that would apply U.S. laws on immigration, minimum wage and customs in the CNMI.

There was no immediate reaction from the Tenorio administration on the Senate bill which was introduced on Friday.

Although the committee, which has oversight of U.S. territories, tried unsuccessfully to send a similar measure to the Senate floor for voting, the new bill has discarded the proposed application of federal minimum wage in the Commonwealth.

Murkowski, who is considered by the island as one of its “friends” in the Republican-controlled Congress, said the measure will provide full extension of the Immigration and Nationality Act, but agreed to ease provisions which may affect the CNMI economy dependent on two labor-intensive industries — tourism and garment manufacturing.

“I am willing to revisit those provisions or consider other changes to support the economy of the Northern Marianas,” the senator said in a press statement issued in Washington D.C. last Friday.

The proposal was based on the findings by the U.S. Attorney General that the island does not possess the institutional capacity to administer an effective system of immigration control, according to the statement.

Likewise, the island government does not have a genuine commitment to enforce the system despite ongoing reforms being put in place by Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio’s administration.

Murkowski blamed both the White House and CNMI officials for failure to stem immigrations problems on the island, relating an earlier investigation by the committee that alleged abuses of foreign workers here.

“The (Clinton) Administration does not seem to comprehend that the Marianas is the United States. It is not a foreign country,” he said in the press statement.

“The failure of the (Clinton) Administration to enforce federal laws has led to a climate conducive to worker abuse and to some sense within the Marianas that federal laws will not be applied.”

Murkowski, however, maintained a “large population of workers without full civil rights also offers the opportunity for people to exploit the situation. I am not happy with either side of this debate.”

Underscoring apparent growing conflict between CNMI immigration laws and INA policies, Akaka said a uniform mechanism must be put in place to deal with potential problems as a result of their differences.

“Common sense tells us that a unified system is the only answer. If states of territories could write their own immigration laws and give work visas to foreigners, our national immigration system would be in chaos,” the senator said in the same statement.

While the new proposal only seeks changes in local immigration laws, it is expected to draw protests from CNMI officials who have vowed in the past to oppose any legislation that would amend provisions of the Covenant — the landmark agreement which formed the political union between the US and the Northern Marianas.

Island leaders have warned devastating impact to the economy of any federal takeover plan, noting the condition in the tiny Pacific territory is unique owing to its geographical location.

Washington and CNMI have tangled in recent years over local handling of labor and immigration — a situation which federal officials claim has dramatically increased the size of nonresident workers on the island, surpassing the number of U.S. citizens.

Recently, Edward B. Cohen, Clinton’s special representative to the Covenant talks, disclosed a new administration proposal to strip CNMI authority over its immigration, minimum wage and customs laws, three months after the resumption of the talks ended in disagreement.

Lt. Gov. Jesus R. Sablan, who heads the local panel, is currently drafting its position on the Clinton-sponsored plan which is expected to be opposed by the island government.

CNMI has a lot of protests to do in the next few weeks as the Senate measure came barely three weeks after Cohen’s proposal, aside from other pending bills in the Congress that would alter the status quo.

Considered a strong supporter of the CNMI, Murkowski has softened his initial takeover plan, insisting now that only immigration laws must be amended, while scrapping attempts to federalize the minimum wage.

The Senate committee, which conducted its oversight hearing on the Northern Marianas in March last year, has “reluctantly adopted these provisions because it believes that conditions in the Northern Marianas leave no alternative,” the chairman said.

“Extension of additional federal laws, however, will not resolve the problems if federal agencies do not maintain their present commitment to administration and enforcement of federal law,” Murkowski explained. “A continuation of local efforts by the present administration of the Northern Marianas will also be necessary.”