PSS issues stop-work order to some non-US citizen staff

Education Commissioner Rita A. Sablan has directed the Public School System’s non-U.S. citizen employees who failed to turn in required documents as proof that they have legal status to stop working effective Dec. 9.

In a memo issued Tuesday last week, Sablan advised affected staff that, pursuant to the mandates of the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008, PSS must verify the employment authorization of all its employees. She said that PSS is compelled to request affected employees to provide the required documents as failure to do so would result in their separation from the system.

Saipan Tribune learned that several PSS employees bade goodbye to their schools and students last Friday as a result of the memo.

Among them is classroom teacher Terry Patris of San Vicente Elementary School, who has been an employee of PSS for the past 11 years. She told Saipan Tribune she has no choice but to abide by the memorandum.

According to Patris, she was not fully aware that besides the Form I-9, she also needed to apply for an employment authorization document, or EAD. She immediately went to USCIS after receiving the PSS memorandum and applied for parole-in-place so she could apply for an EAD. She believes, however, that the EAD will never make it to the Dec. 9 deadline.

At San Vicente Elementary School, two other staff-former teacher aides who have been serving the school for many years-also had similar fates.

One of these teacher aides said yesterday that upon receiving the memorandum, she joined other affected employees in other schools to seek clarification from Sablan. She hopes that once she submits the required documents, PSS will allow them to return.

Many of the affected PSS staff are immediate relatives, or IRs, who failed to process their green cards. Under the new immigration policy, these IRs are considered out of status if their papers are not processed by the Nov. 28, 2011, deadline.

At Koblerville Elementary School, principal Rizalina Purungganan confirmed that two of her staff were affected by the changes. She said both the school’s librarian aide and custodian stopped working on Friday. One has already applied for parole-in-place in order to apply for an EAD but the application has yet to be approved by USCIS.

Kagman Elementary School principal Ignacia Demapan also confirmed that she had to let go of one of her teachers on Friday due to the non-submission of the required documents.

Garapan Elementary School principal Paulette Sablan refused to disclose any information about the matter and referred this reporter to the Human Resource Office.

Newly installed HRO director Coreen Palacios did not answer her phone when contacted several times yesterday.

Commissioner Sablan told Saipan Tribune yesterday that she could not comment further on the issue.

Comment from USCIS

According to Marie Therése Sebrechts, regional media manager for USCIS, if the EAD was applied for before Nov. 28, 2011, an eligible worker is allowed to continue working while waiting a decision on his or her petition.

“If the EAD was applied for before Nov. 28, 2011, for an eligible employee.then the employee is allowed to continue working while awaiting a decision on the employer’s petition. On Oct. 5, 2011, USCIS announced that parole will be made available for individuals waiting for a decision on a nonimmigrant employment-based petition. The decision to provide parole for this particular group came in response to input received from the public during USCIS outreach sessions from Sept. 20-30.

“Employers and workers were concerned that businesses would have to close if the benefiting employees had to leave the CNMI to await decisions on their employer’s I-129 petitions. There was particular concern about a negative impact on schools and hospitals. USCIS made this decision based on the importance of supporting movement into regular employment-based nonimmigrant categories under the Immigration and Nationality Act,” she told Saipan Tribune in an email yesterday.

She added that foreign workers in the CNMI may apply for parole and an EAD to remain in the CNMI and continue working while awaiting a decision on their employer’s Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, Form I-129. She said that parole and work authorization must be current for the foreign worker to legally remain in the CNMI and continue working while awaiting a decision on their Form I-129 (such as an H-1B).

Without parole and work authorization, a foreign worker is unable to work and must leave the CNMI and wait for a decision outside the United States, she added.