Over 1,500 letters want better immigration status

Over 1,500 letters from U.S. citizen children of foreign workers, immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, long-term guest workers and others in the community wrote personal letters to members of the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, asking for an improved immigration status for themselves and their families once the transition to federal immigration begins on June 1.

Many of the letters also ask for federalization to be implemented on June 1 as scheduled.

Yesterday, hundreds of adults and children turned in their handwritten letters to members of the United Workers Movement NMI, the Coalition of United Workers NMI, and the Human Dignity Movement at the Kilili Beach pavilion in Susupe.

The letters were scanned and sent to Florida-based activist Wendy Doromal, who will hand-deliver them to members of the U.S. Congress and federal agencies that are working on the regulations implementing federal immigration in the CNMI.

Doromal said the letter writing campaign gives a “human face” to those who will be affected by federalization.

Ten-year-old Noshin T. Omar was one of those who wrote a letter yesterday, along with a drawing of a girl holding a placard that reads, “Give our parents U.S. citizenship.”

Omar, in her handwritten letter, said she and her 3-year-old sister and 10-year-old brother have parents who have been working in the CNMI since 1995. Their parents are from Bangladesh.

“If my parents go back to their country, no one will take care of us,” Omar said. “We feel safe and comfortable here.”

Omar’s parents are among those foreign workers who fear that once federalization takes effect, they may be sent home.

Rene Reyes, president of the Coalition of United Workers NMI, said that from Saipan alone, they received 840 letters, while 360 are from Tinian, and 300 are from Rota.

As of 3:30pm yesterday, people were still arriving at the pavilion to either write their letters or hand them to the organizers of the letter writing campaign, making the total number of letters exceed 1,500 at press time.

“We never thought we’ll receive this many letters in one day,” Reyes told Saipan Tribune.

Reyes said letter senders are hopeful that the federal government will give weight to their concerns of granting them or their relatives a U.S. immigration status once federalization takes effect.

Rabby Syed, president of the United Workers Movement NMI, said the success of the letter writing campaign lies in the three workers groups coming together.

“A united force can make a significant change. Our time is short so we need to work now together. The volunteers also helped make this event successful,” he said.

Anita Reyes, in her letter written in Tagalog, asked the federal government not to delay for 180 days the start of the transition to a federal immigration system.

Simon Sin also wrote in his letter that the implementation of federalization should not be delayed, and asked the federal government to waive the green card fees for immediate relatives of U.S. citizens.

“Please let them have a certain exemption on the fees. Otherwise, most of them cannot apply for green card and then be deported [from the CNMI],” Sin said.

Most of the letters were written by Filipinos and their U.S. citizen relatives, followed by Chinese, Koreans, Thais, Nepalese, Bangladeshis and other Asians.

The deadline for sending letters is on Friday, March 13, according to Reyes.

Doromal said the campaign has received an overwhelming response from guest workers, U.S. citizen children of foreign workers, spouses and children of citizens from the Freely Associated States, alien spouses of U.S. citizens, CNMI permanent residents, widow and widower of U.S. citizens and alien spouses divorced from their U.S. citizen spouses.