‘Nothing human is alien to me’

“Humani nil a me ali-enum puto.”

In English, this Latin verse by the Roman poet Publius Terentius means: “Nothing human is alien to me.”

It’s worth repeating: Nothing human is alien to me.

With today’s topic, it’s easy to lose sight of that. Amidst all the numbers and statistics and legal jargon, we can easily forget that today’s topic is fundamentally about people. It’s not about aliens, it’s not about immigrants, it’s not even about that elusive term “indigenous”—it’s about human beings. And if this verse from Terentius is to hold any meaning for any of us, we need to look past the legal definitions that divide us and embrace the humanity that unites us.

That is why I believe that the federal government should not extend the Commonwealth Worker permit program. Instead, the federal government should improve the immigration status of all CW workers as part of a broader immigration reform package that grants them interstate mobility. In short, we must give CW workers the same freedom that CNMI residents have had for over two decades: the freedom to choose whether to stay here or to seek opportunity elsewhere in the nation.

However, before I explain how and why the federal government should improve the status of CW workers, we must first address how and why the CW program has not worked here in the CNMI.

Gov. Eloy Inos, Congressman Gregorio Kilili Sablan, the CNMI Legislature, and the Saipan Chamber of Commerce have all urged the U.S. Department of Labor to extend the CW program up to 2019. However, despite these calls for an extension, in many ways, the Commonwealth Worker program has done more harm than good to the CNMI.

First, it has caused more confusion for foreign workers and the businesses that employ them. Since the CW program was launched in 2009, the USCIS has fumbled in its implementation with unclear and sometimes contradictory procedures and decisions.

Second, the CW program has hurt our economy. Soon after the CW program was established, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security capped the number of permits to 10,000, just at a time when the growing tourism industry needed a larger workforce.

Third and last, revenues generated by the CW program have not effectively built the local labor force that was intended by the CNRA.

As the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported, despite transferring $1.8 million to the CNMI, the Department of Homeland Security “does not collect information on the use of funds [in] the CNMI.”

So now, almost six whole years after the U.S. Congress passed the Consolidated Natural Resources Act, we still have a confusing CW program that has neither met the needs of the economy nor adequately trained a local workforce to replace CW workers.

By these measures, then, the CW program has failed. And extending it will only extend that failure for another five years.

But the problems of the CW program are not isolated to the CNMI. They are part of the larger immigration problem in the U.S.

The U.S. immigration system is so broken, that former mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, has said, “We will not remain a global superpower if we continue to close our doors to people who want to come here to work hard, start businesses, and pursue the American dream. The American dream cannot survive if we keep telling the dreamers to go elsewhere. It’s what I call national suicide.”

So, when the CNMI’s immigration system was federalized in 2008, we inherited an immigration system that was just as bad, if not worse, than the local one that came before it. This is why we need to focus on broader immigration reform. Specifically, the federal government should pass U.S. Senate Bill 744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013. With a minor amendment, this bipartisan bill will provide a path to citizenship for all immigrants—including current CW permit holders. And doing so will help the CNMI and the entire U.S. in three ways.

First, it will help our economy.

According to a 2013 report by the Congressional Budget Office, Senate Bill 744 would do all of the following: increase the size of the labor force and employment; increase average wages in 2025 and later years; boost the amount of capital investment; and reduce the U.S. deficit by $197 billion over the next 10 years. The budget office thus concluded in very clear and simple terms: “Senate Bill 744 would boost economic output.”

At the local level, the bill’s provisions for improved work visas and paths to citizenship would provide more interstate mobility for current CW permit holders. Foreign workers will finally have the choice to stay here in the CNMI, thereby preventing the loss of a critical workforce.

However, should they choose to leave for the U.S. mainland, the costs and logistics of relocating to the U.S. would delay their departure. That delay would allow a transition to a local workforce that is more gradual than the artificial transition imposed by the CW program. That transition would be driven by the needs of the economy, not dictated by law. In other words, our local economy would evolve in a way that more effectively builds a local workforce.

But immigration reform will do more than just help our economy, which brings me to my second point: Passing Senate Bill 744 will help address the cultural anxieties of Chamorros and Carolinians. As a Filipino, I think it’s important that we do not dismiss such cultural anxieties as racist or xenophobic. I personally understand the fears expressed by the Northern Marianas Descent Corp., which has argued that improved status will “alter and disrupt the social, political, and economic livelihood and aspirations of the indigenous peoples.”

However, contrary to those fears, Senate Bill 744 will improve the livelihood and aspirations of indigenous and foreigners alike. As I mentioned earlier, the labor transition triggered by the bill would build the local workforce. Moreover, the exodus of some foreign workers seeking greener pastures in the U.S. mainland will “right-size” the demographic landscape of the CNMI, helping make Chamorros and Carolinians, once again, the majority of the population. Most importantly, though, foreign workers that give up greener pastures to stay here will join Chamorros and Carolinians in calling the CNMI home. And I say that a Filipino who gives up the bright lights, big city of the States for his humble home in As Lito has more in common with the Chamorro who has lived in Chalan Kanoa all his life than he does with his Pinoys back in the province, or the local who moved to Boise, Idaho, many years ago.

Being able to call the CNMI home brings me to my third and final point: Giving CW workers the freedom to choose to stay or to leave is the right and moral and ethical thing to do.

Many of these CW workers have lived and worked here with their families for 10, 15, 20, or more years. My own parents have given their blood, sweat, and tears here for 26 long years. In other parts of the country, five years of legal work is all they would have needed for permanent residency or a green card. But not here. Not now. Not them.

This is wrong.

They are more than just CW workers. They are more than just immigrants. They are more than just my parents. They are human beings. And they deserve to be treated as such.

“Humani nil a me ali-enum puto.”

“Nothing human is alien to me.”

We should all treat each other better, not as aliens, not as indigenous, but as human beings, who share the same hopes and aspirations for a better future for ourselves, for our families, and for our islands.

And as Martin Luther King Jr. once put it, “We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.”

Or, as John F. Kennedy once said, “A rising tide will lift all boats.”

Likewise, when we improve the status of foreign workers, we will also improve the status of our islands and our nation.

And that’s something that we all want, need, and deserve. (By MARIA FE ANDREA M. LAZARO)