Student steals show in panel hearing

A Mt. Carmel High School alumna testifying via Skype stole the show in early yesterday morning’s public hearing on the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008 and Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan’s H.R. 1466, even as Sablan and Gov. Benigno R. Fitial sparred over the fate of alien workers in the CNMI.

So moving was 19-year-old Hazel Marie Doctor’s testimony that one member of the House Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs expressed sympathy for her plight as well as thousands of other U.S. citizen children like her born to nonresidents in the CNMI.

Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) was so impressed with Doctor’s testimony and how eloquently she spoke that then and there he promised to help pass Sablan’s legislation. He said it would be wrong to separate families like Doctor’s in the CNMI and that they will look for a solution to the problem.

In her testimony, Doctor said as the CNRA or Public Law 110-229 goes into effect, she will have to choose between her country—the U.S.—and her family.

She said her parents have been working in the CNMI the past 20 years but are not U.S. citizens. Doctor said the CNRA would force them to leave the islands they’ve called home because the intent of the law is to send all foreign workers home—in her parents’ case, the Philippines.

“So, our family will be faced with some difficult decisions. Should my sister and I go with our parents to the Philippines to keep the family together, or stay behind in the America, the only home we have ever known?”

Doctor asked members of the subcommittee why she and her sister should be made to choose between their family and their country.

“We believe separating our families would be immoral; it would be a grave injustice and a critical democratic error, so we ask you to protect our families. We ask you to support H.R. 1466, which will allow our families to remain in the Northern Marianas with the same rights they had under [Northern] Marianas immigration law. And we ask that you act now for the sake of our families and our future,” said Doctor.

Fitial spoke out against H.R. 1466, saying the legislation is masquerading as a bill that will keep families together but in reality is a large scale amnesty for aliens.

“It provides a direct route to citizenship that would create an estimated 11,000 new U.S. citizens in the Commonwealth within the next 10 years—virtually all of whom are adults and would be voters,” he said.

Fitial said this type of amnesty would occur at a time when the current U.S. citizen population of Chamorro and Carolinian ancestry is estimated to decline.

“Our severe economic recession has caused some of these citizens to move to the mainland just to earn enough to support their families. The social disruption from arbitrarily creating citizens in this large proportion cannot be overstated. I do not believe that turning this large population of alien temporary workers into citizen voters would be tolerated in any county or state in the United States,” he said.

Fitial added that H.R. 1466 would also allow a parent who is unemployed to qualify to remain in the Commonwealth forever. He said the CNMI would forced to foot the bill for supporting them because, under H.R. 1466, they are not allowed to travel to the U.S.

“The direct and indirect costs to the CNMI government each year for unemployed aliens remaining in the Commonwealth is high and a particular burden on CNMI taxpayers,” he said.

In the panel discussion later, Sablan indirectly scored Fitial on unemployed parents benefiting from H.R. 1466 when he asked Doctor whether her parents are unemployed.

Doctor said her parents are accountants that, through savings and hard work, are able to put her and her sister to private school. In fact, Doctor has offers of up to $60,000 in scholarships from mainland schools, volunteered Sablan, who is a family friend and has known Doctor her whole life.

The CNMI delegate also said it is not Fitial’s place to now say that the parents of individuals like Doctor’s would not be deported because it is DHS which controls immigration and not the Commonwealth government.

“We can’t continue to be delusional that we’ll be fine when the Commonwealth no longer controls the borders,” he said.

Office of Insular Affairs Director Nikolao I. Pula Jr., meanwhile, belied Fitial’s 11,000 estimate of nonresidents expected to benefit from H.R. 1466.

“At the time of the report, the department’s best estimate was that 20,654 legal aliens resided in the CNMI. H.R. 1466 is consistent with the Secretary’s (Ken Salazar) report in that it would give long-term status to more than 5,000 of these persons,” he said.

Pula added that a 2010 Interior report had recommended granting long-term status to foreign workers who have lawfully resided in the CNMI for a minimum period of five years.

DHS Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Kelly Ryan said her agency shares with the H.R. 1466’s sponsors the general view that the unique circumstances of the CNMI deserves special consideration.

“We will carefully examine the bill with the sponsors of the legislation to explore particular solutions for the groups in the CNMI. DHS recognizes the historic nature of the transition and special circumstances that exists in the CNMI, specially the economic challenges faced by the CNMI in restoring its economy, implementing minimum wage increases, and increasing tourism and other investments,” she said in her testimony.

She also apologized for the delay in the issuance of CNM-only transitional worker regulations, adding that she expects the rules to come out sometime in mid-September 2011.

Ryan later assured Sablan that if worker regulations are not out before CNMI alien workers’ umbrella permits expire on Nov. 28, 2011, DHS would use its parole authority to allow these workers to continue to live and work in the CNMI.