We will continue reforms – Teno

Although saddened by the U.S. Senate’s action on the immigration takeover bill, Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio yesterday vowed to continue labor and immigration reforms on the island while trying to appeal for understanding from Washington.

He reiterated that extension of federal immigration laws to the CNMI will curtail both social and economic future of the Commonwealth as well as neighboring island communities.

Mr. Tenorio, however, did not indicate what specific actions his administration would undertake to block passage in the U.S. House of Representatives of S. 1052, the bill that will automatically apply the Immigration and Nationality Act here once it takes effect.

Local lawmakers have urged the governor to intensify the government’s lobbying campaign in Congress in an effort to stave off federal control of the island’s immigration, minimum wage and custom standards.

S. 1052, a bipartisan measure, is the first legislation that passed one chamber of the bicameral body in Washington tackling amendments to the Covenant, the 20-year old agreement that guarantees self-governing status for the Northern Marianas. 

“We are saddened by the action of the U.S. Senate on S. 1052. The CNMI has worked hard over the last two years to reform its labor and immigration system,” said Mr. Tenorio in a statement.

“We continue to maintain that the solution to the concerns regarding our system is a federal partnership to increase and strengthen enforcement of federal and local labor and immigration laws,” he added.

The Tenorio administration has implemented several reforms since taking office in 1998, including three-year residency limit for alien workers and moratorium on hiring of new temporary workers.

While island officials had stressed these reforms during oversight hearings called by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last year, some of the nation’s lawmakers have ignored such actions and blamed the CNMI for continued influx of Asian migrant workers here and worsening labor conditions.

CNMI leaders and the business representatives have repeatedly appealed against imposing federal immigration and minimum wage laws here as they warned against impact of such a move on the economy that relies heavily on nonresident workers due to small population size of the island.

According to Mr. Tenorio, if S. 1052 becomes a law, it will deprive the CNMI of the opportunity to control its social and economic future and have a devastating impact on the local economy and the economies of the neighboring island communities.

“We must not let the action of the U.S. Senate on S. 1052 discourage our efforts to reform our labor and immigration system. We must also continue to try to work with the U.S. Congress and the U.S. administration to explain our concerns about the dangers and harms that will result if this bill is signed into law,” said the chief executive.