OIA connives with other federal agencies to discredit CNMI

Amid controversies on the proposed extension of federal immigration and labor laws into the Northern Marianas, official documents obtained unearthed that the Office of Insular Affairs has used its position to tarnish the Commonwealth’s image by politicizing issues on alleged labor abuses on the islands.

In fact, a memo signed by OIA Public Affairs and Policy Director David North on April 19, 1998 revealed the agency’s concrete plans to discredit the CNMI through other federal agencies, thereby, clearing the road for federalization of local immigration and minimum wage.

The April 19, 1998 memorandum detailed the strategies that will be employed to enhance federal enforcement in the Northern Marianas – from the objectives, timing and planning to substance.

It discussed techniques perceived to allow the Clinton Administration to easily implement federal immigration and minimum wage laws in the CNMI, listing U.S. government agencies and other non-governmental organizations that may be instrumental in carrying out the ploy.

“We should not be in a situation in which CNMI people can argue that we are ganging up on them unfairly, arranging multiple agency visits to a single facility on a single day,” said Mr. North’s memo.

He also called for a high-level planning “so that we reach the objectives we want, figure out how one set of investigators tips off the next set (from another agency)’ there presumably should be high-level briefings within each agency, with OIA present, after the teams come back from the CNMI.”

The memorandum also mentioned that OIA intended to utilize agencies like the Department of Justice, Customs, Internal Revenue Service, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Federal Telecommunications Commission.

“We will want to use the White House meeting to encourage more activity by those already there (much more in the case of Justice and Customs); first-time activity on the part of IRS, and perhaps some of the independent agencies (EEOC, FTC, and others not yet imagines.”

The plan also sought to encourage program and fiscal auditing by federal grant-making agencies. Mr. North said these agencies might find clear examples of misuse of federal funds and unlawful discrimination against nonresident workers.

Internal Revenue Service

OIA, in its desperate attempt to federalize local immigration and minimum wage, also planned to focus on possible failure by Saipan garment manufacturers to pay the only federal tax – FICA – collected from the Northern Marianas. FICA covers U.S. workers and all the alien contract workers from China and several other nations except certain alien workers from the Philippines.

OIA was prodding IRS to check its computers to see if payments were made by each of the 30 garment manufacturing companies on Saipan. “If there is evidence of non-compliance, then we would ask that IRS agents, including at least one Mandarin speaker, be sent to the island.”

Documents also point to intentions by the OIA to pin down the apparel manufacturing industry in the Northern Marianas by concentrating inquiries on the sector, while crafting measures to penalize those who will be found in violation of laws.

“Should substantial violations be found, IRS would be encouraged to seize outgoing shipping containers of finished goods, in addition to padlocking the factories, as both measures may be needed to assure payment,” a draft letter from former OIA Director Allen Stayman said.

In his April 1998 memo, Mr. North said IRS may be able to do something about an aspect of the workers-get-judgments-but-no-cash situation. “if an employers is not paying a worker, and this has been established by the CNMI-DOLI, it is easy to move on from there to prove debts to, and non-payment of FICA.”

Non-payment of FICA can lead to establishments being closed, and to the pursuit of whoever signed the checks that bounced, said Mr. North. “IRS would need heavy encouragement to follow up on this sort of thing.”

Also, OIA said the EEOC and the Civil Rights Division may also be tapped to identify alleged violations of various civil rights and equal employment opportunity laws in order to fast-tracked federalization of CNMI immigration and labor laws.

Other federal agencies OIA identified to may have potential use in the Clinton Administration’s federal takeover proposal include:

• FTC or the Postal Inspectors, which may be asked to look into misleading advertising that claims glories in working in the Northern Marianas.

• The Women, Infants and Children program, which was planned to ask about legal or illegal alien status of the potential beneficiaries.

“WIC should be asked to find out how many Chinese garment workers use the program, and then, assuming a minimal or zero response, why that number is so low. This would show, from a yet another CNMI data source, that something very odd is happening to births to the Chinese garment workers,” said Mr. North’s memo.