Kilili not losing hope on immigration bills

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) is not about to lose faith in the remaining days of the lame duck 113th U.S. Congress, and still hopes that three of his bills that involve CNMI immigration will pass before the U.S. House of Representatives adjourn next month.

“I’ve got eight days to do this. We’ve done everything. We’ve crossed our t’s and dotted our i’s. We have three versions of the legislation. There maybe a fourth way and one is at the desk and ready for calendar. It’s just a matter of the Speaker [John Boehner] calendaring it,” said Sablan during an interview with reporters Wednesday at his Susupe office.

Sablan’s bills would extend for five years the bar on applications for asylum in the Northern Mariana Islands, the exemption for Guam and the Northern Marianas from the national numerical cap on H visas, and the E-2C visa for investors grandfathered in from the Commonwealth’s immigration laws.

“For six years I’ve been working on these bills. My work has been sort of focused on helping the legal residents or third country nationals who are legally here in the Northern Marianas.”

Sablan said the things that need to be done specifically for the CNMI must be done by legislation.

“They estimate that there are 11 million in the country who have no legal status and that’s the problem. Congress has not done anything to fix the problem.”

He reiterated that President Obama’s executive order on immigration will only cover undocumented residents in the CNMI, as the islands’ CW and E-2C visa holders as well as those paroled by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services are legally residing in the Commonwealth.

“The President’s action does not provide pathway to citizenship or green card to CW, E-2C investors, or anyone who has parole. This action does not change their status in anyway. But what it would do I think is it would require people to come out of the shadows. There are people here who are over-stayers and out of status because I don’t think we have people here who crossed the border illegally. These are the people who can come in and apply.”

Sablan said the so-called “DREAMers” are also included in Obama’s executive action on immigration.

“[The EO also covers] those who arrived before they were 16 years of age, the ‘DREAMers’ basically. For these people there will be deferred action. That means they will not be deported. They can step forward and apply and follow all the conditions of the program. They would be able to stay and apply for work authorization so they can work legally, pay taxes, and pay into social security and Medicare.”

Sablan said the program’s deferred action and work authorization would be good for three years. Application for deferred action for parents should be available within 160 days, while deferred action for childhood arrivals would be available within 90 days.

Currently there are no estimates on how many undocumented residents are in the CNMI, but former governor Benigno R. Fitial used to claim that there are as many as 6,000 “illegal aliens” in the islands.

Sablan also clarified that whenever he talks to his constituents in the CNMI, which includes everyone, he lays out options they can choose on what path to take when it comes to immigration issues.

“I’m not allowed to offer advice to everyone and I’ve never advised anyone on what they can or what they should do. I do provide information on their options.”

In the case of E-2C investors, Sablan said they could apply for CW status, and then reapply for E-2C if his bill passes Congress. He also said E-2C visa holders can also apply for the EB-5 program if their investments since 1990 exceed $500,000.

As the 11th hour of 113th Congress ticks on, Sablan said anything could still happen and reiterated that he has not lost hope that any of his immigration bills for the CNMI will pass.

“I can’t guarantee anything but the last time there was a bill on minimum wage and it happened two days before. So it can happen. I’m very optimistic. Whether we like it or not, this is an immigration issue. So it’s difficult. It’s ready for a decision and it’s ready and it’s ripe.”