Automatic takeover

Legislation extending federal immigration laws to the Northern Marianas will be automatically implemented once Congress and the U.S. President approve the proposal, according to the amendments to the bill drafted by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

The panel, which deals with island issues, scrapped provisions on Senate Bill 1052 that would have provided the island government a legal means to contest in the court a federal takeover of its immigration functions.

It also removed the authority granted to the U.S. Attorney General under the first draft of the proposal to investigate into the CNMI’s immigration conditions for one year prior to recommending extension of federal laws.

Because of the change, the transition period in which to phase in U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act as proposed in the initial measure was shortened from 10 to nine years ending December 31, 2009.

This grace period, however, hinges on whether the measure will be passed by both the Senate and the House, and then signed into law by President Clinton between now and December 1999. Under the proposal, the target implementation will begin one year after its enactment.

The Senate committee chaired by Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) unanimously passed the bill last week despite opposition by CNMI leaders who have said the move would have disastrous consequences to the local economy dependent on alien workers.

It is now up for voting by the full body and, if it gets enough votes, will head to the House of Representatives for another round of approval.

The amendments to S. 1052 came a month after the committee conducted hearings in Washington D.C. attended by Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio, other government officials as well as representatives of the business sector. Federal officials, led by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, also testified in the same hearing.

This is the second attempt by the same panel in less than one and half year to propose federalization of immigration standards in the CNMI — a move stemming from alleged failure by the local government to curb influx of cheap labor from the Philippines, China and Bangladesh into the island.

Lessen economic impact

In an apparent attempt to ease fears of devastating impact on the island, the committee agreed to allow extension of the transition period for up to 10 years for “legitimate” companies in the tourism industry and five years for other firms in other industries.

S. 1052 will also require both U.S. Labor and Commerce Departments to grant technical and financial assistance annually to the CNMI to “encourage growth and diversification” of the local economy as well as “recruit, train and hire” local residents and the Freely Associated States citizens who are authorized to work on the island.

At least $500,000 in annual grants provided by the Department of Interior to labor and immigration reforms in the Commonwealth will be set aside for such purposes under the proposed assistance program, which is seen as a way to lessen the burden on the private sector in training the local labor pool.

One major change to the bill, however, will allow a business to petition a long-term nonresident worker for employment-based immigrant visa subject to several conditions, such as being employed in the same company for five consecutive years prior to filing of the application.

Sponsored by Murkowski as well as ranking minority members Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) and Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico), provisions of S.1052 were byproducts of an earlier federal takeover bill that drew the committee’s support last year, but failed to go through the full body.

The new proposal, introduced last May, discarded creation of special industry wage review board to bring to federal level the current minimum wage rate here due to conflicting positions from both the CNMI and Washington.