AGO: Filipinos, Chinese have more incentives to work illegally in NMI

Despite the slump in the tourism industry, the CNMI should be careful not to make any knee-jerk decisions with regard to immigration matters because they could have long-term damaging implications, according to the Attorney General’s Office yesterday in explaining why the Commonwealth could not accept any and all travelers who seek to enter the CNMI.

Attorney general Pamela S. Brown’s statements were contained in a letter to Justin S. Manglona of the Department of Labor’s Rota office, who had written Gov. Juan N. Babauta about the issue.

“I realize that the recent pullout of Japan Airlines, when added to the cessation of other travel routes coming into the Commonwealth, is causing considerable anxiety within our community. However, we must caution against panic-driven measures, such as throwing our doors open to any and all travelers who wish to enter the CNMI. Ultimately, this will only do more harm than good,” Brown said.

According to Brown, the CNMI could not give Chinese and Filipino visitors the same treatment given to travelers from Japan, Canada, Australia, and Europe because they have different incentives to come, stay, and work illegally in the islands.

She noted that the average income for a Chinese or Filipino person was $5,000 a year—about a third of what they could make at minimum wage rate in the Commonwealth, depending on the amount of overtime they are willing to work.

Meanwhile, a person from Japan or Europe earns an average of $30,000 per year. Thus, most people from those areas have no financial incentive to stay in the CNMI and work.

Brown also said that the number of deportation cases now pending against Chinese and Filipino people justifies the government’s “assumptions” about visitors from China or the Philippines.

Of the over 200 pending deportation cases filed by the AGO, more than half involve Chinese and slightly less than half are Filipinos. Each of these deportation cases costs CNMI taxpayers anywhere from several hundred dollars to several thousand dollars, she added.

“[R]est assured that this government and this administration is not requiring advance entry permits because it wishes to ‘discriminate’ or because it does not like Chinese and Filipinos. Indeed, we know our very future is tied very closely to these two countries. But there are sound reasons for these restrictions, restrictions that will guard against knee-jerk decisions and repetition of mistakes that have made our present economic and immigration situation so difficult,” Brown said.