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Summons served in lawsuit vs CW final rule
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Posted on Nov 01 2011
By Ferdie de la Torre
Reporter
Reporter
The seven individuals who filed a lawsuit in federal court in an attempt to stop federal officials from implementing the CNMI-only Transitional Worker final rule served summons yesterday to the Saipan branch of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
A staff from the U.S. Attorney’s Office acknowledged receiving the summons as shown in a court document filed by the plaintiffs in the U.S. District Court for the NMI.
The plaintiffs served the summons on the U.S. Attorney’s Office as it is the counsel for the defendants.
The summons were addressed to defendants Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services District Director David Gulick, U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis, and U.S. Department of Labor District Director Terrence Trotter.
U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona has set the hearing of the plaintiffs’ lawsuit on Wednesday, Nov. 2, at 1:30pm.
The plaintiffs are Bonifacio V. Sagana, Manuel T. Vilaga, Gerardo G. De Guzman, Hector T. Sevilla, Carlito J. Marquez, Eduardo M. Elenzano, and Jong Ho Lee. They filed the lawsuit pro se or without a lawyer. They asked the court to certify their lawsuit as a class action.
They want the court to declare the implementation of the CW final rule as unlawful and exceeds the defendants’ constitutional and statutory authority.
Vilaga is a U.S. citizen, while Lee is a U.S. permanent resident. The other plaintiffs are long-term nonresident workers who mostly have U.S. citizen children.
United Workers Movement-CNMI president Rabby Syed said yesterday that attorney Stephen Woodruff may likely argue for the plaintiffs at the hearing.
