Syed to push ‘green card’ anew for all legal foreign workers

  United Workers Movement-NMI president Rabby Syed is off to New York and Washington, D.C. on Tuesday as part of the group’s continuing push for “green card” or pathway to U.S. citizenship for thousands of long-term legal foreign workers in the CNMI, even as the group acknowledged that dozens of aliens are now under removal proceedings for lack of legal immigration status.

“Our goal has not changed. We are still asking for green card, pathway to citizenship for all legal foreign workers in the CNMI,” Syed told dozens of foreign workers and their supporters at the Filcom Pavilion in Susupe on Saturday night.

This is a follow up to Syed’s visit to the nation’s capital last year to bring the plight of long-term legal nonresident workers in the CNMI. This time around, Syed said he will be in New York and D.C. from February to April.

He maintains that the immigration status of the CNMI’s legal foreign workers should be treated separately from the immigration issue concerning millions of illegal immigrants in the U.S. mainland.

Syed said many of the 12,000 foreign workers being applied for a transitional Commonwealth-only worker status are long-term legal aliens. Besides having Social Security numbers, all foreign workers here are now subject to federal taxes.

“These workers entered the CNMI legally. They have invested most of their lives in the CNMI,” he added.

At the same time, UWM’s Rudy Francisco announced during the Saturday meeting that they have been working closely with the Philippine Consulate General to gather information from the Filipino community on the amount of unpaid wages owed them by CNMI employers.

He said the preliminary figure is $4.2 million in unpaid salaries and claims plus interests owed Filipino workers. Years back, the U.S. Ombudsman’s Office estimated over $6 million in unpaid wages among foreign workers in the CNMI.

Syed said he will also shed light on this and other labor and immigration issues as he meets with non-governmental organizations, labor unions, and officials in the U.S.

He said another goal is to try to tap funding and other resources from labor groups in the U.S. that could help foreign workers in the CNMI achieve their goal of improved immigration status. UWM has collected only about $1,500 to help hire a lawyer to advance their goal of improved status.

During Saturday night’s meeting, UWM board chair Ronnie Doca said the board is in full support of Syed’s visit to New York and Washington, D.C. UWM’s Jun Concilliado and vice president Simon Sin also addressed the crowd consisting of representatives from the Filipino, Korea, Chinese and Bangladesh community, among other things.

Syed also said during the meeting that he has learned of a few aliens who are covered under H.R. 1466 that have so far been granted humanitarian parole.

“So far we haven’t heard of any denial. I am optimistic that everyone who applied for humanitarian parole or immediate relative parole will be granted,” he said.

Mar Santos, 49, said he applied for humanitarian parole shortly before Nov. 28, 2011, but has yet to hear back from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on his application.

He said his immigration status is in limbo in the absence of such humanitarian parole. He said once he gets that parole, he will be able to apply for employment authorization.

Syed said UWM continues to ask for a waiver on the employment authorization fee of $380 and biometrics fee of $85.

“Those who need it are currently unemployed so they don’t have the funds to pay for those fees,” he added.