NMI to sue DHS over parole for jobless aliens

Attorney general Edward Buckingham recommended to Gov. Benigno R. Fitial the filing of a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security over the federal agency’s decision to “allow thousands of unemployed aliens to remain in the Commonwealth under a claim of parole power,” but the United Workers Movement-NMI and Dekada Movement said yesterday this lawsuit is “unnecessary.”

Buckingham cited “irreparable injury” to the CNMI caused by allowing jobless aliens to remain in the CNMI and become economic burdens.

“These economic burdens delay the start and slow the path of CNMI recovery from the current economic depression. The days, months, and years lost in our economic recovery because of the unemployed aliens remaining in the Commonwealth will never be regained,” Buckingham said, responding to Saipan Tribune questions.

The lawsuit is set to be filed this week.

It names as respondents DHS, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director Alejandro Mayorkas.

USCIS is one of the component agencies under DHS that handles immigration benefits.

The filing of a lawsuit comes weeks after the governor asked the AG to review the status and legal issues related to USCIS not completing a case-by-case review by Nov. 27, 2011.

Buckingham said USCIS, days before the Nov. 27 deadline “and without prior notice or consultation to the Commonwealth,” announced that it would simply allow thousands of unemployed nonresidents to remain in the CNMI under a claim of parole power.

“This was not done on a ‘case-by-case’ basis,” Buckingham said.

The AG said “apparently USCIS action proceeded on the basis that a new law would come into effect.”

He was referring to Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan’s pending H.R. 1466 which seeks a grant of CNMI-only resident status to four groups of people including immediate relatives of U.S. citizens regardless of the age of the U.S. citizen.

Buckingham said the CNMI’s position is that decisions made today must be made consistent with the laws of today.

“One understands that there may be a belief that a law will change tomorrow. But, that does not change what one should do-today. In this case, not only did ‘tomorrow’ not come, but there seems a low likelihood that a law proposing a large influx of individuals who would otherwise not be permitted to enter U.S. soil will be passed,” he said.

Sablan said USCIS or DHS won’t make a decision when they don’t have the authority to do so.

Bonifacio Sagana, president of Dekada Movement, said yesterday that the individuals eligible to receive a parole valid until Dec. 31, 2012 have not only invested years helping to build the CNMI economy but will try their best to regain employment once they receive a parole from USCIS.

Sagana said once parole is granted, these nonresidents will be able to apply for authorization for employment document, or AED, so they can work and feed their own family.

“Filing a lawsuit will just create another set of problems. These individuals are just waiting for their parole so they can apply for employment authorization. It will not be forever that they will be jobless. I hope we just help one another, and not fight each other. I hope the government will focus on improving the economy, for example, to help everyone,” he added.

Rabby Syed, president of United Workers Movement-NMI, said yesterday that while the AG or the CNMI government has every right to sue, he thinks the lawsuit against DHS is unnecessary.

Syed also said the granting of parole is on a case-by-case basis because one has to apply for it, and DHS will review each case before making any decision.

‘Thousands of jobless aliens’

The Fitial administration said as of November 2011, there are “potentially thousands of unemployed aliens in the CNMI.

This is because it estimates 20,000 aliens residing in the CNMI, but only over 11,000 of them are employed or with pending Commonwealth-only worker status, and those holding status as immediate relatives of the employed, investors, or students.

Buckingham said in November 2009, the CNMI Department of Labor counted all aliens in the Commonwealth by issuing “umbrella permits” that allowed aliens to remain in the Commonwealth pending the issuance of federal regulations that would govern work permits.

Over 19,000 umbrella permits were issued, he said.

“The Commonwealth estimates that the Department of Homeland Security received about 11,300 permit applications before the Nov. 27, 2011 deadline. Nov. 27, 2011 was the date by which all employers of aliens had to submit applications to begin or continue the employment of those aliens. This date was known two years in advance,” the AG said.

HR 1466

Buckingham reiterated the Fitial administration’s opposition to Sablan’s HR 1466.

Shortly before a voice vote on the bill in mid-December, Fitil contacted congressional leadership to urge them to oppose HR 1466 on five grounds, including it being an “amnesty” bill and does not promote “fairness.”

“The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands was a temporary home to people who arrived to provide low cost ($3.05 an hour) contract labor to a garment industry not departed from the island. With the end of work there should have been the end of time spent on U.S. soil. Instead, efforts are now underway to create over 11,000 individuals who would never have been admitted to the United States,” the AG said.

He said Congress responded with a cancellation of the voice vote.

“HR 1466, accordingly, is not law. For USCIS to change its policies in reliance on a non-passed bill is improper. Instead, USCIS should have followed existing law, limited applications to those submitted in accordance with the USCIS deadline of Nov. 27, 2011 and proceeded expeditiously to review and decide on the 11,300 cases with submitted applications,” Buckingham said.

He also said HR 1466 was created and sold with inaccuracy/dishonesty.

“Congressman Sablan claims HR 1466 will affect just a few people (under 3,500). The reality is that HR 1466 will impact over 10,000 people and will be used as a blueprint for ‘amnesty’ efforts in mainland states,” Buckingham said.

He also said these aliens will harm the economy. He said former contract workers now compete for scarce jobs and cause local wages to remain artificially low.

“The population covered by HR 1466 (is) not ‘skilled labor.’ They were willing to travel thousands of miles to work at $3.05 per hour. They will remain, low-skilled and desperate until the immigration law is enforced,” he said.

Buckingham said U.S. citizens suffer from unfair competition. Companies will not consider hiring U.S. citizens for low-skilled positions when they have a labor pool of thousands readily available. This prevents the CNMI economy from growing, he said.

Lastly, he said passing HR 1466 sets the stage for more demands, more amnesty and less integrity in the U.S. immigration system. The harm caused by HR 1466 will not be limited to the Commonwealth, he added.

But Sablan has been saying that his bill does not provide amnesty.

Syed, for his part, said long-term aliens in the CNMI who entered legally and have legally worked for years should be treated differently from the estimated 11.5 million illegal aliens in the U.S. mainland. Syed continues to press Congress to grant “green card” or pathway to citizenship to long-term alien workers in the CNMI.

‘Improper’

Buckingham said the law and the regulatory framework required that “case-by-case” reviews be done on or before Nov. 27, 2011.

“Instead of completing its work, USCIS has, by unilateral action, sought to nearly double the number of aliens allowed to remain on US soil. The Commonwealth rejects this action as improper and unsupported by law. Worse, there is no limit to this extension. There is no certainty that USCIS will not, at a future date, yet again continue the December, 2012 date to some future date,” he said.

The AG also said in the meantime, thousands now improperly remain on U.S. soil.

He said these aliens contribute to the following problems:

1. Illegal work deprives U.S. citizens of jobs and uses enforcement time. Unemployed aliens work at illegal part-time or fluctuating-time jobs. They are paid substandard wages well below the minimum wage and no overtime. They are preyed upon by those who require them to participate in illegal businesses, threaten to expose them to the authorities and often collect bribes. Employers refuse to hire U.S. citizens when cheap illegal labor is abundant. The CNMI has only seven labor enforcement officers who cannot keep up with this tide of illegal work.

2. Unemployment among U.S. citizens is already high. More pressure from illegal work by unemployed aliens forces more U.S. citizens to emigrate to Guam or the States to find employment.

3. Unfair competition causes legitimate businesses to close. The enterprises that hire aliens illegally typically pay no U.S. or CNMI taxes, have no worker’s compensation, pay no medical or other benefits, and dump workers as soon as they are unable to work. This gives these enterprises a significant cost advantage over legitimate businesses.

4. Public safety costs increase. Petty crime such as copper wire thefts, drug selling, and burglaries increase, causing losses suffered by citizens and aliens working legally.

5. Health care costs increase. The CNMI’s share of health care costs for indigents rises swiftly as the numbers of indigents presenting themselves at the CNMI’s only hospital increase. Sanitation decreases as illegal housing and illegal businesses grow, leading to more health problems.

6. Public utility revenues are lost and costs increase. Illegal housing and illegal businesses often involve illegal hookups to water and electric services.

7. Social services costs increase. Unemployed aliens crowd the food stamp rolls and when ceilings are reached, local U.S. citizens cannot receive aid as no new recipients can be added to the rolls. Distressed aliens who have been abused in illegal work situations, often by foreign employers, seek help. Private social service organizations run out of resources and are not available to assist local U.S. citizens.

8. Judicial system costs increase. Petty crime and illegal work cases add to the burdens of local courts.

9. Environmental damage increases. Illegal housing and illegal businesses are often accompanied by illegal waste disposal and illegal dumping. Illegal employment includes illegal hunting and fishing.

Buckingham said it is extremely difficult to develop, and maintain, a productive economy in a small island community like the CNMI.

He said the CNMI has neither the natural nor human resources to produce either the capital or the labor force necessary to support a viable economy providing the services and the standard of living that its United States citizens have every right to expect under the Covenant.

“The Commonwealth will be able to confront the economic challenges of the next several years only if it is not burdened by the exercise of the parole power by the Department of Homeland Security in a way that leaves in the Commonwealth with a relatively large number of otherwise illegal aliens compared to the Commonwealth’s population of U.S. citizens and U.S. nationals as no State on the mainland is burdened,” he added.

Florida-based human rights activist and former CNMI teacher Wendy Doromal said Buckingham “will lose” in the lawsuit.

Doromal said many of the present day foreign workers did not come to work in the CNMI as factory workers but were hired to work in hotels and restaurants, as engineers, accountants, construction workers, beauticians, nurses, teachers. and numerous other positions.

“The majority of the foreign contract workers who lost their jobs between the time the umbrella permits were issued and the DHS Final Rule was released applied for humanitarian parole. If that parole was granted they remain legal and there is nothing that the CNMI government can do about that. Immigration is a federal issue,” she said.