‘No support from Legislature’

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial should not expect support from the Legislature for the legal action he filed against the U.S. government on Friday over the CNMI’s new immigration law, according to House Speaker Arnold I. Palacios.

In an interview yesterday, Palacios said the lawmakers remain strongly against any lawsuit to block the pending federal takeover of the Commonwealth’s immigration system.

“The governor is going down this road alone,” he said.

Not only is the lawsuit premature, Palacios said, it may have long-lasting negative consequences for the Commonwealth as well. By choosing litigation over negotiation, the CNMI may further damage its already delicate relations with the federal government.

Palacios noted that the U.S. government has repeatedly expressed its intent to work with local leaders. He said that Doug Domenech, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s deputy chief of staff and acting deputy assistant secretary for insular affairs, affirmed this commitment during a recent visit by the speaker, Senate President Pete P. Reyes, and House Committee on Federal and Foreign Affairs Chairman Diego Benavente to Washington.

In a letter following that visit, Domenech told Palacios that Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne “is aware and shares your concern that the application of the federal immigration law be in the CNMI’s and the nation’s best interest.”

The price tag of the lawsuit is another major issue, Palacios said. He noted that the cost of pursuing the case could go well beyond the current estimate. “This is not going to be a $400,000 adventure. It will be a protracted battle, and the taxpayers will end up paying for it,” he said.

Palacios repeated calls made by other lawmakers for Fitial to identify where he plans to get the money for the lawsuit.

Sen. Maria T. Pangelinan, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Fiscal Affairs, had expressed shocked that Fitial filed the lawsuit without the Legislature’s approval. In an earlier interview, Pangelinan pointed out that Fitial still has to answer to the Legislature about the funding source for the lawsuit. She noted that the administration might have more money than it is reporting.

Wendy Doromal, a labor rights activist who supports the “federalization” of local immigration, echoed this call. “The people of the CNMI have a right to know what public or private funds are being used to fund this lawsuit. The taxpayers of the U.S. who have paid millions in taxes to fund CNMI projects and programs have the right to know,” she wrote in her web log.

Doromal added, “I suggest that Fitial stick his hand back in his pocket—the one he has outstretched to the federal government seeking funds for the CNMI. If, in these troubled times, the governor can locate and allocate $400,000 in public funds to sue the federal government, then he has no right to continually seek federal funds. No right at all.”

Fitial filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District Columbia. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Labor were named as defendants. The suit contends that the immigration legislation behind it threatens to cripple the local economy and breaches the terms of the Commonwealth’s Covenant with the United States.

“We can resolve questions of fact by negotiation; and we can resolve questions of policy by negotiation. But we cannot resolve important questions of law except in the court,” Fitial said in a statement Friday.