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Fitial questions DOI’s hiring of convicted NMI law violator
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Posted on May 12 2000
Speaker Benigno R. Fitial has fired off a letter to federal Inspector General Earl Devaney asking whether it is legal for the U.S. government to employ permanent resident aliens convicted of several felonies.
Mr. Fitial alluded to the recent hiring by the Department the Interior’s Ombudsman Office of a U.S. resident alien convicted of violating NMI labor laws on the hiring of illegal aliens.
The Speaker said such hiring “casts a large shadow” over the role of the Ombudsman Office when the NMI, since three years ago, has diligently tried and sentenced employers who willfully employ illegal aliens.
He said the Labor Ombudsman office was established to be a clearinghouse for persons involved in the labor and immigration system in the NMI.
“It was intended to be a non-partisan agency that provided guidance and information for both employers and employees. Its goal is to promote and improve compliance of both federal and local labor laws. Having a convicted abuser of these laws creates a real perception problem for this agency,” he said.
Interior’s Ombudsman Office here recently hired Ming Kirk, a U.S. resident alien who was convicted of various counts of hiring illegal aliens to work for a company she was attached to before her conviction.
Such a decision raises eyebrows given the constant browbeating from the federal government that the NMI employs strict adherence to the enforcement of both local and federal labor laws.
