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Consul welcomes USCIS decision on parole
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Posted on Dec 02 2011
Consul General Medardo Macaraig said yesterday that the decision of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to consider granting parole to certain groups of people so they could lawfully remain in the CNMI is a welcome development that would allow those who are affected to plan for their future.
“We welcome Kilili’s initiative and the arrangement that the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services have made,” Macaraig told Saipan Tribune. “This will give time for these people to look for jobs. After all, the time frame between the release of the rule and the Nov. 27 deadline is short.”
USCIS announced on Thanksgiving that it will consider granting parole until Dec. 31, 2012 to immediate relatives of U.S. citizens and certain “stateless” individuals in the CNMI on a case-by-case basis.
The parole will allow individuals who are lawfully present in the CNMI as of Nov. 27, 2011, to maintain legal status in the CNMI beyond that date.
“While it won’t allow them to work, it will allow them to plan for their livelihood and their future,” said Macaraig, who was in Manila on a personal business when the announcement was made.
The announcement, Macaraig said, is particularly significant for those Filipinos who have minor U.S. citizen children that are already in school and will not be given any time “to adjust” if they are sent to the Philippines.
“The children may lose one year of their lives if you uproot them from their schools or their lives here in the CNMI in general. I feel sorry for them. What will happen to them? Remember, these are U.S. citizen children,” he noted.
Macaraig appealed “to all sides” to understand the situation in the Commonwealth. “The conditions here are unique. There’s no model for us to base our actions.”
He added that Filipino workers who have been staying in the CNMI for several years have already been assimilated to the island culture and society and should be afforded “a little more time to adjust.”
