Fitial slams stateside lawyers as ‘jerks’

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial lashed out at two U.S. mainland lawyers for dispensing legal advice to alien workers in the CNMI and washed his hands of any responsibility for these workers if they go out of status by Nov. 27, 2011, saying it’s not him but the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008 that sealed their fate.

“These two lawyers are both jerks because if they look at the CNRA, that’s the federalization statute, Public Law 110-229. It’s very clear Congress wants to weed out all the people who are considered a burden here in the Commonwealth,” he told reporters Friday on Capital Hill.

Fitial also said that if U.S. Pinoys for Good Governance president Loida Nicolas Lewis and legal counsel Ted Laguatan want to help soon to-be-out of status alien workers, they should do it legally.

“If you are illegally employed or unemployed, you don’t have a business staying here because you are a burden. That’s very clear. That’s not my intention, that’s the intention of Congress under PL 110-229, so if these two jerks are going to continue to jerk nonresident workers around they better get a business license first,” he said.

‘Argumentum ad hominem’

When asked to react to Fitial’s comments, Nicolas Lewis simply replied through her Blackberry: “Argumentum ad hominem.”

The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines argumentum ad hominem as “marked by or being an attack on an opponent’s character rather than by an answer to the contentions made.”

Laguatan, meanwhile, reiterated his and Nicolas Lewis’ arguments that alien workers who are out of status have rights under the U.S. Constitution.

“Everyday, hundreds of people appear in U.S. immigration courts who have violated immigration laws because they overstayed, worked illegally, violated some technicality, or committed some crime. The U.S. Constitution guarantees them the right to a hearing, the right to counsel, and the right to present defenses, and various kinds of applications for reliefs provided for by statutes and case law. These basic democratic rights are sacred, inalienable, and the backbone of our nation,” he said in an email to the Saipan Tribune.

Laguatan added that alien workers in the CNMI have these same constitutional rights because these islands are part of the United States.

“Many of them have U.S. citizen children. The President of the United States recognizes these constitutional rights. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. immigration judges also respect these rights. The governor of the CNMI apparently does not. In his world, when one loses his job, these constitutional rights should not apply. He resorts to hurling personal insults, name-calling, and baseless accusations against human rights lawyers who tell the good people of the CNMI that these constitutional rights apply to all.

“Nevertheless, I wish him well. If the good in him stops demonizing these poor contract workers and sees them as human beings just like him—seeking a better life in this planet that we all share—perhaps he will find some internal peace,” said Laguatan.

CNMI govt is broke

During the same free-rolling interview Friday, Fitial reminded everyone that he authored the law that allowed nonresident workers to come to the CNMI in the first place back in the ’80s.

“I have no qualms for those people legally employed…because they are not a burden and are contributing their fair share to the community. But I have strong objection to supporting those illegal unemployed people—illegally employed, illegally residing. My term is burden. If you’re in that category you have no place here in the CNMI.

“Why do aliens continue to stay here when they are no longer employed? That’s the question. They’re not supposed to. I authored the Nonresident Workers Act, Public Law 3-66. I memorized that law so if you’re not employed, you’re not supposed to be around,” he said.

The governor said aliens wanting to return to their countries of origin can’t rely on the government to take care of their plane tickets because, “the government is broke. We don’t have money.”

Fitial also had choice words for those still hoping to gain some status with the passage of Washington Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan’s HR 1466.

“Don’t wait for Kilili’s bill to be passed because it’s not going to be passed. The U.S. Congress is not stupid to carve out a special law for a few people. What about the 14 million illegal aliens roaming around the streets of the USA?” he said.

Sablan’s bill, which was recently approved at the committee level and is awaiting action by the full House, seeks to grant “CNMI-only” status to four categories of aliens, including immediate relatives of U.S. citizen children regardless of age.

Wage theft

On her website, human rights advocate and former Rota teacher Wendy Doromal took Fitial to task for the CNMI’s treatment of alien workers.

“I would like to ask the governor how he feels about the hundreds of CNMI employers who have illegally stolen wages from thousands of foreign contract workers. He doesn’t appear to have a ‘strong objection’ to wage theft. How does this governor feel about those citizens who illegally employ foreign workers, who illegally recruit them, or who are involved in human trafficking schemes. Any harsh words for these serious lawbreakers?” she asked.

As for Fitial’s criticism of Nicolas Lewis and Laguatan, Doromal said it only shows that “this governor is disrespectful not only to foreign contract workers, but to the two attorneys who are only trying to inform the workers of their rights.”

Doromal’s blog is www.unheardnomoreblogspot.com.