Life under diverse immigration statuses

Angelina DeLemos, who was one of the few hundreds declared as CNMI Permanent Resident during the early days of the Commonwealth, now operates a dress shop on Beach Road. (Bea Cabrera)

Ever since the CNMI opened its doors to foreign workers and business people, the islands have become a refuge for newcomers, carrying with them renewed hopes, dreams, and energy. Most of them found what they came here for and, for others, the circumstances exceeded expectations.

Angeline DeLemos, a Filipino contract worker, arrived on Saipan in 1975 and has experienced what it’s like to live on constantly shifting immigration grounds.

She was recruited in the Philippines with three other workers by Herman Palacios, owner of The Place Restaurant back in the day. She arrived here on Feb. 4, 1975.

“I was in my mid-20s when I left my family and country to come and work on Saipan,” she said. “Our contract was pretty regular as our work and vacation schedules were followed. I would work straight here and then…go home for a vacation,” she said.

Many years later, in 1982, from being a contract worker, DeLemos became a Northern Marianas resident.

According to Antonio Sablan, former director of immigration under the Commonwealth, it was a status granted under the CNMI Permanent Resident Statute.

“It was an immigration status or entitlement that provided CNMI permanent residency to non-U.S. citizens at the time the CNMI became a Commonwealth. This [status] was granted to Filipino, Japanese, Korean residents who were living here at the time, provided they met the requirements… it states that you are now a member of the community,” he said.

“This was granted from the early years of the Commonwealth up until the ‘federal takeover.’ These people basically lived here as U.S. citizens in a sense that, under our immigration status, they can live, work in any company that they want, open a business they deemed fit and this exempts them from renewing their work permit every year,” he added.

Sablan said the spirit behind the CNMI Permanent Resident Statute was that the leaders back then recognized the long-term community contribution that these people rendered to the CNMI. “Some of these people came here to work and some went into business and so it was our way to recognize the efforts and time of these people to help with the CNMI’s progress,” Sablan said. “…Legislative leaders enacted this law to make them a part of the community and to tell them that you are welcome in our community.”

“This freed these people from having to apply for work permit every year because, with the permanent resident status, you don’t need to go through the application process every year as they have been here a long time… Some of them were able to bring their children here as we also granted…Immediate Relative status and some of them basically made the CNMI their home,” he added.

Now 71 years old, DeLemos said she still has her Northern Marianas resident card. “The government gave that to us in 1982…During that time, it was the CNMI that was running and implementing their own immigration laws under the Commonwealth and not under U.S. federal law. …As a resident, you can go back and forth from Manila to Saipan without document as our your I.D. was like a green card,” she said.

“This new status gave me the opportunity to work in different companies—Joeten, at the Hafadai Hotel, Intercontinental Inn, and eventually my late husband and I opened a construction and real estate business, which is still active until now and, on the side, I own the Ruth’s Dress Shop along Beach Road. I remember I was one of about 100 Filipinos who were granted residency and I never took it for granted. I continued to work hard and was able to provide jobs,” she added.

The CNMI Permanent Resident Statute was akin to having a U.S green card.

“This allowed residents to travel back and forth between the CNMI and Manila and work anywhere as they didn’t need to go to the Department of Labor to secure a permit,” said Sablan.

He said some of the law’s rules were patterned after the U.S. green card program. “We did that because we were basically under the U.S. Constitution and our immigration laws are patterned from the U.S.,” Sablan said, who is now the Legislative Bureau chief.

“This is also true with enforcement—how we detained and deported people, how you are supposed to extend due process to people. We enforced laws directly, like if any person wants to enter the CNMI and presents fraudulent documents, we put them back up on the airplane [and] we don’t need to go to court for that,” he added.

When U.S. Public Law 110-229 took effect in 2008, which extended U.S. federal immigration law to the Commonwealth, the CNMI Permanent Resident Statute was no longer in effect.

It became an issue when U.S. immigration took over because the immigration status of these people was not recognized by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

“These people were in limbo,” Sablan said.

“The unfortunate part of the situation was that some of these long-term CNMI permanent residents did not have children here because they basically came here to work,” he said.

It was only a fortunate turn of events that many of them gave birth to U.S. citizen children and these children were able to apply for a citizenship status for their parents, he added.

DeLemos is one of those who started a family in the CNMI and became a U.S. citizen. She now travels back and forth to Manila, Guam, and the U.S. mainland.

“I have been here since 1975, which is more than half of my life and the CNMI is my home. …When I first came here and even now, people are very nice. I was single, alone and just starting with life but I was always greeted by friendly locals.”

“Before, when a car passes by, you’d know who was driving the car without even looking closely because people then were few on island. …Those were also the times when you can catch fish on the reefs at (now) Fishing Base just by soaking a bucket in the water. …If you forget your bag on the beach, nobody will take it. People invite you to their homes to eat together using their hands and sitting on the floor—all good memories,” she added.

From a contract worker to a CNMI permanent resident and now a U.S. citizen, DeLemos looks back at her life and says she would not change anything. “This is where I started and it is here where I was able to navigate my future. I did so many things that I never thought I could or would do,” she said.

“Saipan gave many of us Filipinos, Japanese, and Koreans a good opportunity at that time and will not forget the many things that the late governor Pete Tenorio did for us… I don’t see much former CNMI permanent resident these days but I do think about them and hope they are well,” she added.

To date, the CNMI, led by Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, is seeking similar opportunities or hoping for improved status for many qualified individuals who have lived and worked in the CNMI before federal law took over local immigration in 2010.