FEDERAL TAKEOVER Local leaders wants status quo

Local leaders hope to draw support from their allies in the U.S. Congress in a bid to block the latest attempt to extend federal immigration laws to the Northern Marianas, according to lawmakers.

House Speaker Diego T. Benavente underscored the need for the CNMI to maintain the “status quo,” saying there are still commitments in the Covenant that have yet to be fulfilled by Washington, particularly a strong local economy to ensure self-sufficiency.

“Because of the fragile economic conditions on the island, we need to be able to control our labor and immigration and to have the decision on our hands,” he told in an interview yesterday.

“We cannot depend on Congress several thousands of miles away to have that decision,” added Benavente.

He did not express surprise over the passage of the measure by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee which amended the proposal in order to allow room for smooth transition and less economic impact to the island.

Benavente, however, was more optimistic of getting enough support from other members of Congress to stave off enactment of the bipartisan measure, noting a similar proposal was passed last year by the same panel but was not taken up by the full Senate body.

“I hope we can count on their support again,” he said.

Senate Bill 1052, sponsored jointly by Committee Chairman Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) and two ranking minority members, will seek full application of the Immigration and Nationality Act to the CNMI to cut access to cheap labor from Asian countries.

Changes

But the bill was amended last week by the committee to scrap provisions allowing a one-year probation in which the U.S. Attorney General would be empowered to determine whether the island government has sufficient capacity to handle its immigration prior to extending the INA.

The panel, which deals with island issues, made its implementation automatic exactly a year after the enactment of the legislation over a nine-year transition period — subject to up to 10-year extension — aimed at helping local businesses cope with the drastic change.

It also inserted provisions to guarantee financial and technical assistance to the government to train local residents as well as to grant immigrant visas to long-term alien workers under a one-time grandfather clause.

Even with these guarantees, Benavente pointed out CNMI must maintain control of its immigration in view of the unique circumstances, including geographic location of the island that should not be put entirely at Washington’s disposal.

“We hope to convince Congress that it’s still vital for us to handle our immigration,” he said as he cited positive response, particularly from the U.S. House Resources Committee, to local labor and immigration reforms initiated by the Tenorio administration.

House Federal and Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Melvin O. Faisao likewise believed the so-called smooth transition from local authority to federal takeover would not be enough to ensure that there will be no disruption in the free market policy in the CNMI.

“It’s more like a veil to cover up the actual effect of the federal takeover that will eventually strangle the CNMI,” he said in a separate interview.

The representative urged local leaders to step-up lobbying efforts in Washington, even to reconsider hiring Preston Gates, to persuade Congress that CNMI is doing its share to improve conditions here within the bounds of the Covenant.

S. 1052 is now before the Senate for action and will head to the House for another round of review. The changes made in the committee level came a month after officials of the CNMI and the Clinton Administration testified at the hearings last Sept. 14 in the US capital.