Kilili: HR 1466 not part of national immigration debate

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan said his bill that seeks to grant “CNMI-only resident status” for four specific groups of people in the CNMI is not part of the national immigration debate.

“One thing that is very important to emphasize about H.R. 1466 is that it is not part of the national immigration debate. In fact, H.R. 1466 is not really about immigrants. It does extend permanent resident status that a small group of people were given under CNMI law, so those people can continue to live in the Northern Marianas, as our local law intended,” said Sablan on the eve of House Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs’ public hearing on his bill.

Senate staffer Allen Stayman, meanwhile, said in an email to the Saipan Tribune that if Sablan’s bill somehow manages to hurdle the U.S. House of Representatives, it stands a fair chance of passing the U.S. Senate.

“If it passes the House, then I think it would have a reasonable chance in the Senate,” said Stayman, who also said he doesn’t expect U.S. Congress to consider anytime soon the recommendations made by Department of Interior with regards to long-term nonresident workers in the CNMI.

U.S. Department of Interior Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs Tony Babauta said that Sablan’s bill is a good start in helping long-term workers in the CNMI get some sort of status.

“My thoughts on Kilili’s bill is that it takes care of smaller group of people than our report made a recommendation for. I think it’s a good start. Any opportunity that is there that takes care of people in a manner we have made our recommendations is a good start. I think he was able to get the attention of the committee and the subcommittee to have his bill have a hearing on his legislation. I don’t think we will be opposing it,” he said.

Babauta is on island with members of the Bureau of Economic Analysis to present the 2008 and 2009 CNMI gross domestic product estimates.

Sablan said his bill is more than just about immigration and its goal is not to separate families.

“H.R. 1466 is basically about people who were born in the Northern Mariana Islands and their right to stay in the land of their birth with their families. Their situation was not taken into consideration when PL 110-229 was enacted and now we have to fix that problem. I think most of us can agree that the law should not separate families,” he said.

Sablan’s 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).”

Sablan is appreciative that Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) recognized the importance of having a hearing on his bill.

“I met with him in January, as soon as he won the subcommittee gavel, to explain my concerns about how federal immigration law is impacting the economy of the Northern Marianas and many families in our islands. He understood that this is not a partisan issue, but something that the subcommittee has responsibility to oversee. So, now we are holding the hearing,” he said.

Sablan also looks forward to officials of the Department of Homeland Security testifying in the July 14 hearing (July 15 in the CNMI).

“Homeland Security left it to the Department of the Interior to represent the administration at the hearing we held last year on these matters. But Interior, of course, could not really answer for Homeland Security. This time Homeland Security will be at the hearing to answer for itself,” he said.

Babauta, meanwhile, said that Interior is doing its best to convince DHS to come out with the long-awaited CNMI worker regulations.

“Federal officials have been pleading with other federal officials to try to get the regs out, too. I think we in [Interior] understand how difficult this is in terms of planning for the businesses and also for the workers. We have been encouraging DHS to get out the rules and the regulations as soon as possible. …There’s frustration there, but we understand and at least for my part, my office, and my department’s part, we are trying to encourage DHS to move a little bit quicker,” he said.

The DOI official reiterated that he doesn’t anticipate any mass deportation of alien workers once their alien permits expire on November 2011.

“I have no anticipation that there will be a mass deportation. As much frustration as we have over the process I think DHS understands it. For as long as the process has taken I think that even with that there’s a sensitivity and there’s an understanding by DHS that would cause them to act that there will be no mass deportation. It’s just a sense that we have,” said Babauta.

United Workers Movement-NMI president Rabby Syed, meantime, invites the public to attend the group’s gathering on midnight of July 15 to monitor the hearing over the Internet.

He said while they continue to oppose Sablan’s bill because it does not provide a pathway to U.S. citizenship for all long-term foreign workers, they will still watch the hearing to learn from the proceedings.

Syed said he expects as much 50 people to join them at the DHS Office in Garapan, where they will set up a flat screen TV to monitor the hearing.