Congressional hearings again on federalization

A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee with jurisdiction over the CNMI and other insular areas will hold a July 14 hearing on both the implementation of a law placing CNMI immigration under federal control and a bill giving a “CNMI-only resident status” for four specific groups of people in the Commonwealth, including foreign parents of U.S. citizens.

Rep. John Fleming (R-LA), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs, sent out invitations to select individuals to hear their views on the implementation of U.S. Public Law 110-229 and the need for H.R. 1466.

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan, ranking member of the subcommittee, has been working with Fleming for some time now to set an oversight hearing on the implementation of P.L. 110-229, the Consolidated Natural Resources Act.

While there have been talks about hearings in recent weeks, this is the first time that a specific date has been set, as stated in Fleming’s invitation.

Press secretary Angel Demapan confirmed yesterday that Gov. Benigno R. Fitial plans to attend the hearing to testify on behalf of the CNMI government.

“The hearing will address both the implementation of P.L. 110-229 and H.R. 1466. Governor Fitial maintains his stance on these issues and it is expected that he will be reiterating the administration’s position as well as the pressing need to promulgate the transitional workers regulations,” Demapan told Saipan Tribune.

Fitial received an invitation dated June 9 from Fleming, but the administration said it received the invitation only on Tuesday.

“I cordially invite you to testify at this hearing,” Fleming told Fitial.

Douglas Brennan, president of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, said they have not received an invitation but they will be submitting written testimony.

United Workers Movement-NMI president Rabby Syed, for his part, said they do not support Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan’s H.R. 1466 because it does not cover foreign workers who have been in the CNMI for years or decades.

Syed reiterated UWM’s position, asking the federal government to provide “green card” or a pathway to U.S. citizenship for long-term foreign workers in the CNMI.

He said the bill will be unfair to long-term foreign workers, including those who have legally been in the CNMI for over 20 years, for example, and do not have U.S. citizen children.

H.R. 1466 proposes a “CNMI-only resident status” for immediate relatives of U.S. citizens as of May 8, 2008, and continuing to be on the islands, CNMI permanent residents, those born in the CNMI between Jan. 1, 1974 and Jan. 9, 1978, and the spouses or children, “as defined in section 101(b)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(b)(1)), of an alien described in subclauses (I) or (II).”

The July 14 hearing will be at 10am in Room 1324 of Longworth House Office Building in Washington, D.C.

The hearing comes at a time when the CNMI is waiting for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to issue regulations governing foreign workers during the federalization transition period ending in 2014.

DHS had just sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget on June 15 the draft Commonwealth-only transitional worker regulations for review, five months before the grace period for those without U.S. immigration status expires on Nov. 27, 2011.

OMB has up to 90 days to review it. That 90-day period ends on Sept. 15.