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Tinian wants humanitarian parole for affected TDHC staff
Mayor Joey Patrick San Nicolas and the Tinian Leadership, in a June 1, 2016 joint letter, wrote to David Gulick, District Director for the Western Region for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service in Honolulu, Hawaii, requesting for the granting of humanitarian parole status for the affected Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino employees.
Since the denial of their I-129 CW petitions in December 2014, these employees have suffered a great deal as “the denial of their petition has left them without a legal status by which they may seek a transfer to another employer” and “they cannot legally work,” said the joint letter.
With this situation as well as facing disconnection from the Commonwealth Utilities Corp., an already desperate situation will become an emergency humanitarian issue in a matter of days. “We are requesting that special consideration be given to these individuals and afford them the opportunity to have a lawful status through either the grant of an Employment Authorization Card or a Humanitarian Parole so that they may be eligible to seek employment elsewhere,” said the mayor and Tinian Leadership.
In addition, their petition denial in December 2014, which was based on their employer’s conduct further imposed a 10-year bar from returning to the CNMI. All in all, San Nicolas said, “as we look at the close to 200 employees affected, we can already see the humanitarian impact on the employees and their children.”
“As we prepare for the worst-case scenario through our emergency operation team, we are requesting USCIS to grant this status to help with the situation. The leadership on Tinian hopes for a favorable response so that we can more effectively assist these employees and their children. We are committed to assisting these families as they are part of our community,” he said.
