Support for Kilili’s HR 1466 grows

Support for Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan’s bill granting CNMI-only resident status to four specific groups of people is drawing stronger support among worker groups and their supporters, especially after the release of the final Commonwealth-only worker rule.

Only those foreign workers who will be petitioned by their employers for a CW status on or before Nov. 27 are covered by the CW rule.

A peaceful assembly is being planned by different worker groups to drum up support for Sablan’s bill, which has 48 cosponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Sablan’s H.R. 1466 seeks to grant CNMI-only resident status to CNMI permanent residents, those born in the CNMI between Jan. 1, 1974 and Jan. 9, 1978, and immediate relatives of U.S. and Freely Associated States citizens who could be out of status after Nov. 27, 2011.

Malou Berueco, a worker advocate, hopes that Congress will soon pass H.R. 1466, as there is less than three months to go before these groups of people could be forced to exit the CNMI because their statuses are not recognized under federal law.

Their status is also left out in the federalization law and the CW rule, she added.

Berueco was among the leaders of different worker groups who met on Saturday night to discuss HR 1466, the CW rule, and ways to help long-term foreign workers in the CNMI.

But because there’s no telling whether Sablan’s H.R. 1466 will be passed by Congress and signed into law before Nov. 27, time is running out for the four groups of people that Sablan wants to help.

“It’s now clear that the CW rules will only cover others, while others could be out of status after Nov. 27. We hope Kilili’s bill will pass before Nov. 27,” said Carlito Marquez, head of the Unity Group of Foreign Workers.

The Coalition for the Recognition, Equality and Advancement of American Minorities, or CREAM, is also rallying behind Sablan’s bill, which addresses those whose status will be in limbo after Nov. 27.

The federalization law does not recognize, for example, the CNMI permanent resident status and their immediate relatives, the immediate relatives of FAS citizens or those from the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau and the Marshall Islands, as well as those born in the CNMI between Jan. 1, 1974 and Jan. 9, 1978 and not considered U.S. citizens.

The Coalition for the Recognition, Equality and Advancement of American Minorities, or CREAM, the Unity Group of Foreign Workers, the Dekada Movement and other groups would also like to request the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to extend the grace period from 30 days to a few more months or at least until Congress acts on HR 1466 so that affected individuals won’t be forced to exit soon.

A USCIS team will hold public sessions on Saipan, Tinian and Rota starting tomorrow, to provide an overview of the newly published CW rule and other immigration classification available under the Immigration and Nationality Act. (See full schedule on Page 13)

Rabby Syed, president of the United Workers Movement-NMI, said they also want to request USCIS to extend the grace period for finding jobs beyond 30 days from Nov. 27, or at least up to the first quarter of 2012.

Syed said he will bring up this matter again with USCIS.

Yho Villavicencio, a foreign worker advocate, said that Sablan’s HR 1466 will help people who will otherwise face loss of status, including CNMI permanent residents and long-term foreign workers who have just lost their jobs and may be separated from their children.

“We support Mr. Kilili’s bill. We also wish that he would broaden the scope of his bill to include those long-term foreign workers not covered by the CW rule because they just lost their job or they don’t have U.S. citizen children,” she said.

Bonifacio Sagana, president of the Dekada Movement, said they have long been supporting Sablan’s bill because it takes care of people left out in the CW rule and the federalization law.

Sablan’s bill also covers the immediate relatives of U.S. citizens as of May 8, 2008, and continuing to be on the islands.

But worker groups would also want Sablan to consider adding a fifth group of people to be covered by HR 1466—those who have been lawfully in the CNMI for at least five years as of May 8, 2008.

Syed reiterated that during his Sept. 30 visit to Washington, D.C., he will personally ask members of Congress to act on a U.S. Interior recommendation in 2010 to grant improved immigration status to foreign workers who have been in the CNMI for at least five years.

Syed’s group is pushing for “green card” or pathway to U.S. citizenship for long-term foreign workers.

His group is also asking President Barack Obama to use his administrative power to grant parole-in-place status to foreign workers in the CNMI until Congress acts on the Interior recommendation on the status of these workers.

Syed’s group has opposed Sablan’s bill, saying it does not take into account long-term foreign workers without U.S. citizen children. But he said he will not oppose HR 1466 in Washington, D.C.

Berueco said she “strongly disagrees” with human rights advocate Wendy Doromal’s statement advocating for “all or nothing” instead of advocating “for some” in connection with Sablan’s HR 1466.

“Personally, I would rather save some than not saving anybody at all. If we are trying to solve a solution for all, we are not trying to solve any problem at all. One size doesn’t fit all,” she said.

Berueco said that those covered by Sablan’s bill are contributing members of the CNMI economy, including those who have been legally employed for years as nurses, engineers, architects, accountants, hotel workers, house workers and caregivers.

Rene Reyes, president of the Marianas Advocates for Humanitarian Affairs Ltd., said yesterday that they support Sablan’s bill and hopes that Congress will act on it sooner than later.

But Reyes is also hoping that it will include others who don’t have U.S. citizen children but have been working in the CNMI for a long time.

Reyes shared the sentiments of other leaders that many of these long-term foreign workers have just recently lost their jobs because of the economy, and the time is not enough for them to find a new one between now and Nov. 27.

There are also members of workers’ groups who are appealing to their fellow members who are unemployed and with U.S. citizen children who only have one or a few years before reaching 21 when they can start petitioning their parents as dependents, to consider returning to their country and just wait to be petitioned by their children.

“Rather than face removal proceeding or be deported from the CNMI or the U.S., it would be better if you exit voluntarily if you can’t find a job, and accept the reality. Once your U.S. citizen children reach 21, then they can start petitioning for your return to the CNMI,” one of the leaders said.

Nov. 27, 2011, is the last day of the two-year period allowed under the federalization law wherein workers can still remain in the CNMI using a Commonwealth-issued permit.

After that, foreign workers need to have an employer to petition them for a CW status.