HR 1466 now has ‘better chance’ to pass this year

Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan (Ind-MP) said yesterday his bill seeking a grant of “CNMI-only” resident status to four groups of aliens “now has a better chance” of passing—at least in the U.S. House of Representatives—compared to a month or so ago because of growing understanding about the bill’s intent, welcome news to those covered by the measure.

At the same time, Gov. Benigno R. Fitial said yesterday he is also concerned about the immediate relatives of U.S. citizens who have yet to apply for a change of status because of financial difficulties and who could lose status after Nov. 27.

Fitial said this is one “gray” area he wants clarification.

He said one of the main objectives of the federalization law is to help develop and train the local workforce “so in order to do this, we need to weed out all illegal nonresidents, illegal employees.”

Sablan, the CNMI’s nonvoting delegate to U.S. Congress, said “there’s movement” on his H.R. 1466.

“We’re working on it. The chance of the bill passing today is much better than it was a month ago,” Sablan said in an interview at the 2011 Veterans Day ceremony at American Memorial Park yesterday.

Sablan introduced H.R. 1466 in April with four original co-sponsors, a number that has since grown to 48 “because people are beginning to understand the issue involved.”

“I am trying to help American citizens who happen to have families who are foreign country nationals. So what’s wrong with me helping United States citizens?” he added.

Even before the U.S. House could pass his bill, Sablan said he has already been communicating with U.S. senators and urging them to act favorably on the measure once it reaches the Senate.

Once HR 1466 hurdles the U.S. House, it will have to pass the U.S. Senate before going to the president’s desk for enactment.
Precy Villafuerte, a 40-year-old nonresident mother of a 5-year-old U.S. citizen child, hopes that Sablan’s HR 1466 will be passed and signed into law soon so she won’t lose her status.

Villafuerte’s umbrella permit expires on Nov. 27, and she has yet to find an employer to petition her for a transitional worker permit.

“If I don’t find an employer by then, I could lose my status. I don’t want to leave my daughter here. She’s only 5 and this is her home, not the Philippines,” she said.

Violy Bawana, also a mother to a 15-year-old U.S. citizen child, prays every day that Sablan’s HR 1466 will be passed and signed soon.

“My son wants to finish high school here. If I lose my status and I have to leave, then I will have to leave my son here with his grandparents,” he said.

Villafuerte and Bawana are among the hundreds if not thousands of individuals who are covered by Sablan’s HR 1466.

Sablan’s HR 1466 proposes a “CNMI-only resident status” for immediate relatives of U.S. citizens as of May 8, 2008, 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).”

Fitial has long been opposed to the bill because of its provision to extend status to alien workers with U.S. citizen children, regardless of age.

Rene Reyes, president of Marianas Advocates for Humanitarian Affairs Ltd., said yesterday that Sablan’s statement is “encouraging news for many” in the community.

But Reyes said it may be too late for others who could benefit from HR 1466 but who could lose status after Nov. 27 if they fail to find jobs.

“People have been applying for humanitarian parole,” he said.