Teno wants INS to change agreement • Amending MOA would push back reimbursement of Tinian operation expenses

There will be delay in the reimbursement to the CNMI of the costs incurred from hosting more than 600 illegal Chinese immigrants on Tinian after Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio asked to change some provisions of a memorandum of agreement allowing release of the federal money.

Ferdinand Aranza, director of the U.S. Office of Insular Affairs, said some $950,000 have been set aside by the Immigration and Naturalization Service to pay the Commonwealth for expenditures during the Tinian operations.

According to the OIA chief, the payment would have been made “within 24 hours” through electronic transfer if Tenorio had signed the MOA that was handed over to the island government during his recent trip to Washington D.C. to appear at the hearings in Congress.

But the governor told reporters earlier this week that he was still reviewing the agreement and that he would request the federal government to amend it to address some concerns.

Tenorio declined to say what exactly were his reservations on the MOA drafted by INS, saying the government would be submitting recommendations to expedite reimbursement.

Aranza, however, maintained the only condition set forth in the agreement for the release of the money was to require the CNMI to send a letter to the federal government at the end of the year acknowledging receipt of the payment.

“It’s very quick,” he said in a telephone interview from his D.C. office. “I really wanted to send the money to the CNMI as soon as possible.”

Initially, Tenorio forwarded billings and charges amounting to more than $750,000 that covered the first five boatloads of undocumented aliens sent to Tinian between April and June.

But the total was raised by $200,000 to include the last batch of boat people who were repatriated in September after more than a month of seeking refuge on the island.

Aranza said the federal government would be willing to address the CNMI’s concerns, but this would require further review by INS and White House legal counsels — a process that would certainly push back the schedule of payment.

“If the governor is concerned, then we would like to give him the comfort he needs,” he explained. “But the only downside is that payment will be delayed.”

The OIA director noted that the MOA given to the Commonwealth had similar provisions from that forged with Guam which has just received over $4 million in reimbursement.

Expenditures sought for reimbursement included overtime pay for local personnel stationed on Tinian to assist federal immigration agents and officials, meal provision for the Chinese as well as rental of buses used to transport them to the airport and other charges.

The Commonwealth, which controls its own immigration, had agreed to assist the White House in accommodating the wave of boat people attempting to enter Guam in an effort to deal with the worsening immigration crisis on the neighboring island.