Foreign workers’ groups anticipated bill’s passage

Alien worker groups were one in saying yesterday that the U.S. House of Representatives’ passage of the federalization bill did not surprise them at all.

Dekada Movement counsel Stephen Woodruff said in an interview with Saipan Tribune that the passage was expected and that it was only a matter of timing.

“It again shows that the support in the U.S. Congress for extending federal immigration law to the CNMI is very strong, broad and bipartisan because it very easily got through the House the second time around,” Woodruff said.

The Dekada lawyer reiterated his earlier assertion that federalization is an important step toward bringing stability to the islands’ immigration policy.

The lawyer said the most important thing is it shows how urgent and critically necessary it is for the CNMI to get its house in order to prepare for the transition to federal control of immigration.

Woodruff underscored the need for the CNMI to work intelligently and systematically with the federal government to make this change work for the Commonwealth.

“Ideas of suing over the legislation are useless, counterproductive, and an absolute waste of time,” he stressed.

What needs to be done, the lawyer said, is to work on the federalization’s implementation process.

“How it will be worked, how it will be organized administratively, what the regulations are going to be, and having good communication with the federal agencies that are going to be involved in that,” he said.

The CNMI, Woodruff said, has to start building that relationship and participating in that process right now.

“And we ought to be doing it as a unified Commonwealth policy. It’s absolutely critical to the economy of the CNMI and the interest of businesses and workers alike that we make this effort,” he added.

Human rights advocate Wendy Doromal said she is hoping that, with the passage of the legislation, illegal recruitment, human trafficking, unfair labor practices, and human rights abuses in the CNMI will end.

In an e-mail to Saipan Tribune, Doromal said that, by next month, President Bush will sign the bill into law, “helping to establish social and political justice, human rights, and economic prosperity in the CNMI.”

“This is a law that is long overdue,” she stressed.

The human rights advocate said just as she always believed that federalization was inevitable, it is her opinion that a pathway to citizenship for long-term guest workers is inevitable.

Doromal said she would be working now to obtain a secure status for long-term guest workers.

“It would be in the best interest of all CNMI residents to embrace this change that will provide just and equitable laws for everyone who calls the CNMI home. It is change that will pave the road to a secure future for all of the people who live and work in the CNMI,” she added.

For the Human Dignity Movement, its president, Jerry Custodio, is thankful to everyone who helped in their cause to support federalization.

“We hope and pray that it will be immediately signed by President Bush. We are very thankful to the U.S. Congress and especially to human rights advocate Wendy Doromal and Rep. Tina Sablan,” Custodio said.