‘DHS-NMI deal to run guest worker program’

The Department of Homeland Security could form an agreement with the CNMI government in operating a guest worker program, according to federal ombudsman Jim Benedetto.

He said Homeland Security could forge an agreement with the CNMI government to use local facilities, equipment and personnel to run a guest worker program under the supervision of a federal agency.

The possible Homeland Security-CNMI agreement was among the options that the federal ombudsman believes may happen when the federalization law’s implementation takes effect next year.

Asked about concerns by some CNMI Labor personnel on what will happen to them by next year, Benedetto said nobody knows yet what Homeland Security will do to implement the provision of the new law that requires them to establish, administer, and enforce the Commonwealth-only transitional worker program.

“Past U.S. guest-worker programs were almost entirely focused on temporary agricultural work, and did not really work very well,” he said in an e-mail to Saipan Tribune.

The ombudsman said another option that the Homeland Security might consider include entering into an interagency agreement with the Department of the Interior or with U.S. Department of Labor to establish and administer the program.

Homeland Security, Benedetto said, could also start from scratch and create its own program.

He said Homeland Security could also simply issue permits for Commonwealth Only Transitional Workers, as they do for workers who qualify for H-visas.

The ombudsman said under this system Homeland Security requires the employer to pay “prevailing wages” for the occupation, and provide a certification as to the working conditions, and let the workers seeks their own remedy if there is a dispute with an employer.

“Nobody will know what is going to happen for a little while longer, but I’m sure we will be discussing some of these ideas very soon,” he added.

Benedetto recently attended meetings with various federal agencies in Washington D.C. on how to implement Public Law 110-229, the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008, the law that extends the application of the Immigration and Nationality Act to the CNMI.

He earlier stated that based on that meetings, he is convinced that Homeland Security people are prepared “to get the job done” with respect to extending federal control of NMI’s immigration.

Benedetto said the people that he had met at Homeland Security are very motivated and sensitive to the vulnerability of the CNMI’s economy.

“They seem to have a good sense of what they need to accomplish in the next 12 months,” said the official.