Kilili’s CW bill to include call for improved status

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan said Friday that he will be adding a call for improved status for longtime foreign workers in the NMI, forming a unified front with Gov. Ralph DLG Torres after Torres shifted toward the position during 902 talks in the Washington, D.C. last week.

“I made a commitment to Governor Torres that I would introduce legislation that reflects and supports the Commonwealth’s 902 position on how to address our critical immigration and labor needs, and I will honor that commitment,” Sablan told Saipan Tribune in an email Friday.

Sablan was set to introduce a bill last week to extend the contract worker transition program past 2019, reset the CW-1 cap, and link CW-1 job classifications to the CNMI prevailing wage system, a bill he said was drafted based on extensive discussions with the governor, Commonwealth lawmakers, and other stakeholders in the community.

This week, however, with the beginning of 902 consultations, Torres formally added to his position paper a request for lawful permanent status for long-term third country nationals in the Northern Marianas, among other measures.

Thus, Sablan says he will send the draft legislation back to the House counsel to make the changes necessary so that the bill is consistent with the governor’s 902 position.

“I have long supported providing a pathway to lawful permanent status for eligible long-term third country nationals in our community. I introduced legislation two years ago to provide that pathway, and made sure that the Commonwealth was included in comprehensive immigration reform bills that were under consideration in Congress,” Sablan said. “Unfortunately at the time, many Commonwealth officials, including the previous governor, objected to improved status, and the political climate in Congress was also unfavorable.”

“But governor Torres,” Sablan went on to say, “supported my legislation back when he was still Senator Torres. I appreciate his efforts and partnership then and now, and will continue to work with him to support the Commonwealth’s long-term strategy to strengthen our workforce and families in order to meet our economic development goals. Status for long-term third country nationals is one part of this strategy. Getting more U.S. workers trained and hired and supporting them through programs like the Earned Income Tax Credit, are also critical to our success.”

“Addressing the Commonwealth’s workforce needs in a sustainable way is a complex and difficult task. It will require cooperation among the Commonwealth’s leaders at all levels of government, and also among members of our business community, members of our workforce, and our educational and vocational training institutions,” Sablan said.

The first round of 902 talks wrapped up in the nation’s capital last week and another round of talks with federal officials from the departments of Interior and Defense, among others, is set for this week back in the Northern Marianas, with plans for a trip to Pagan, a proposed military training site.

The talks last week centered on immigration and labor issues and U.S. military projects in the NMI, with priority given to the hundreds of employees and longtime workers who will be forced to leave island by the end of the fiscal year due to the breached cap on contract workers reached this year, the first time it as ever happened but not the last time if no “administrative fixes,” as 902 officials call it, are made on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services side, the body regulating the contract worker program.

Torres presented these fixes in a position paper to federal officials led by DOI assistant secretary Esther Kia’aina last week and also discussed the issue with USCIS Director Leon Rodriguez.

Sablan and Torres’ unified call for improved status joins a bilateral push in Congress and through the federal government for these changes in administrative policy, but how fast these changes can be made is yet to be seen.

Among others, Torres called for a revision of the cap on contract workers this fiscal year to a revised number of 13,998. USCIS originally reduced the cap by 1,000 last year down to 12,999. But Torres has asked that this reduction be shrunk to 1 contract worker to open up applicant space as one of the many remedies to ease the strain of the affected workers’ departure on the economy.

If effected, USCIS would be expected to accept permits and because permits are pending, the petitioners would be legally allowed a 240-day grace period that would bring them to the next fiscal year where they can apply again without being forced to leave.