Kilili urges USCIS to verify legitimacy of employers; still awaiting response

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) is urging U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to take a closer look at employers who petition large numbers of CW-1 workers.

In a Jan. 10, 2018, letter to USCIS director Lee Francis Cissna, in a bid to prevent fraudulent CW-1 petitions, Sablan urged USCIS to undertake further review of employers who are:

1. petitioning for large numbers of CW-1 workers;

2. revoke or deny permits for businesses that cannot show evidence of genuine jobs, unable to show that they have sufficient resources to pay the workers, or are found not to be a legitimate business or to have violated or be in violation of federal or Commonwealth employment laws or regulations; and

3. return revoked or denied permits back to the CW-1 pool for the use of legitimate businesses.

“I also request[ed] that USCIS provide me a report on any employers that have petitioned for more than 200 CW-1 workers for fiscal year 2018, and, of these employers, the number and occupational categories of beneficiaries for whom permits have been approved, denied, rejected, or remain pending as of Jan. 12, 2018, and the number of petitions that are new and the number that are renewals,” Sablan said.

The report had a deadline of Jan. 20, 2018, which was 10 business days from the letter’s date.

In an interview with Saipan Tribune, Sablan said he is still waiting for the USCIS report.

Sablan’s letter to Cissna said that his office has been receiving reports from several employers in the CNMI of USCIS denying their CW permits because USCIS has “received a sufficient number of petitions to reach the fiscal year 2018 CW-1 cap.”

“These reports require an explanation,” wrote Sablan in his letter.

The lack of CW-1 slots baffled the delegate, as he noted that his legislation, the Northern Mariana Islands Economic Expansion Act, or previously H.R. 339, based the provision barring construction workers from using the CW-1 program on data obtained from the Government Accountability Office.

“…It was expected that the Act’s exclusion of new construction workers from the CW-1 program would ensure that most CW-1 workers, who were lawfully present and employed prior to the construction surge in fiscal year 2016, would be protected in fiscal year 2018,” Sablan wrote.

He cited GAO reports that claimed there were 9,715 CW-1 workers employed by local businesses in the CNMI that were not construction workers, and that this number was “less than the numerical limit of 9,998 announced by USCIS for fiscal year 2018.”

Sablan claimed USCIS was issuing rejection notices to workers who have been “capped out,” which Sablan said included healthcare professionals, accountants, teachers, power plant operators, hotel and restaurant staff, tour operators, and “many others employed by long-time, local businesses that are the backbone of the Marianas economy.”

“Some employers are already preparing to either cut back operations or close down. Many of the companies employ U.S. workers as well, who could now lose their jobs,” he said, adding that a possible explanation was that companies submitted petitions for “hundreds or even thousands of non-construction CW-1 workers for fiscal year 2018.”

Sablan further stated that in some cases, jobs attached to a CW-1 permit might not have actually existed or that the companies lacked the sufficient resources to sustain their workforce, or, worse, the company is not even legitimate.