House said to follow suit

The House of Representatives is poised to debate the proposal of a House and Senate committee to reject the governor’s funding request for the lawsuit he filed against the U.S. government over the pending federal takeover of local immigration.

The Senate in a session Thursday evening adopted the committee report. (See related story.) Rep. Diego T. Benavente, chairman of the House Committee on Federal and Foreign Relations, said he was pleased with the Senate’s action, and expressed confidence that the House will follow suit.

“I have discussed this with the Speaker [Arnold Palacios]. We’re comfortable that majority of the members will support the committee’s recommendation,” Benavente said yesterday.

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial has asked the Legislature for $400,000, or about $50,000 a month, to pursue the suit he has filed to stop federal immigration laws from being imposed on the Commonwealth. The requested amount will cover six to eight months in expenses related to the suit.

But in a joint report, the House Committee on Federal and Foreign Relations and the Senate Committee on Federal Relations and Independent Agencies recommend that the Legislature decline the governor’s request.

The joint report contends that the money would be better spent on providing essential public services. It adds that the Commonwealth has a greater chance of getting what it wants by working with the federal government. By pursuing a court battle, the CNMI government risks excluding itself from ongoing efforts to develop the federal immigration regulations.

“The Joint Committee strongly opposes the Administration’s proposal to sue the federal government, and recommends that no public funds should be approved for lawsuit. Litigation is likely to be a costly drain on scarce local resources, and it is highly unlikely, as the Administration has acknowledged, that the Commonwealth will prevail on its arguments in court,” the report states.

It says the joint committee favors negotiation with the U.S. government and urges the Legislature to be pro-active and get involved in the drafting of the regulations.

“It is the view of the Joint Committee that a cooperative rather than adversarial approach in dealing with the federal government to likelier to result in favorable concessions sought by the CNMI in relation to tourist visas, foreign investor visas, worker visas, and technical assistance programs, which would help facilitate the economic recovery and future prosperity of the Commonwealth,” the report says.