Posts
September 29, 2011
Extension of Parole for Foreign Workers in the CNMI:
Benefits For Widow/Widowers of a Deceased U.S. Citizen:
Parole for Transitional Workers Dependent Students Turning 18:
USCIS RELEASES PAROLE INFORMATION
USCIS MYTH OR FACT SHEET
September 29, 2011
This fact sheet from the USCIS provides valuable information:
Meeting at the Multi Purpose Center
September 29, 2011
Some photos from last evening's USCIS meeting at the Multi Purpose Center from photographer Itos Feliciano. (Thanks Itos!)
Rabby is Leaving for the States Tomorrow!
September 27, 2010
Rabby Syed, President of the United Workers Movement-NMI is leaving tomorrow for the states! He will be in New York and then we will meet in Washington, DC to urge policy makers and members of Congress to grant permanent residency to all of the legal, long-term foreign workers of the CNMI. We will also relay concerns that we have received from foreign contract workers. Many expressed concern that they were left out of HR 1466 and request that the Congress act upon the DOI report to introduce legislation that will grant all of the legal, long-term foreign workers permanent residency status, not a CNMI-only status that will merely maintain the status quo for a select group.
Other workers have expressed concerns over wage theft. They fear that they will be deported without receiving what is owed to them. Some have questions about CW travel restrictions. Still others are expressing concerns that employers insist that the employees must pay their own fees for CW permits. Most expected that Congress would have acted on the DOI Report by now to introduce a bill for status for all legal foreign workers. They are trying to deal with the instability and fear that their families are suffering as a result of Congress' failure to act.
The United States officials must work together to end the uncertainty and fear that is increasing in the foreign worker community and act to stabilize the workforce and the CNMI economy.
I will be leaving for Washington, DC on October 11th and will post any news here. All foreign workers and their supporters are welcome to continue to send letters and emails for me to hand carry to members of Congress and officials. My email is doromal@earthlink.net I will answer all messages.
See you soon Rabby! Godspeed!
Some Calls to Action From Foreign Workers and Their Children
September 25, 2011
Kudos to the children of the nonresident workers for standing up for their parents and for family unity! The children will be rallying at the Multi Purpose Center on September 28, 2011 at 5:30 to support protected status for their parents.
Annie Bee has a facebook page entitled, "Keep Our Parents on 670"
The children of the foreign workers write:
More InfoNo families should be facing separation. The U.S. Congress must act on the DOI Report with legislation that addresses all of the legal, long-term foreign workers with a proper U.S. status, as P.L. 110-229 intended. They must act on this now. The must consider all families, not just those with a U.S. citizen child or spouse, but also those with an alien spouse and child, gay partnerships, and every legal, long-term foreign resident worker.
6:00 pm—8:00 pm
Public session
Multipurpose Center, Susupe, Saipan
****************************************
On this day! Inform your friends, parents, parents' friends, to GATHER at MULTIPURPOSE CENTER, SUSUPE in Petition to KEEP THEM even though they do not have papers OR in risk of leaving the island soon.
YOUTH! TIME TO SPEAK UP! TIME TO DO SOMETHING!
PLEASE BRING/MAKE THE FOLLOWING:
POSTERS!
BANNERS
ATTENDANCE!
CANDLES!
You can make a petition too!
PETITION
Parents of U.S citizen whose U.S Citizen child are under 21 SHOULD be granted a parole-in-place until such time as the child become 21 and sponsor their parents for U.S permanent residency.
NAME ADDRESS PHONE # SIGNATURE
Also calling for action in the form of a silent protest is a commenter on this site who wrote:
Anonymous said...This is a protest that everyone who supports congressional action on the DOI Report can easily support! You don't have to even leave your home. I encourage everyone who supports permanent residency for all, legal, long-term foreign workers to join this silent protest: October 7, 2011 from 7:30 to 8:00 turn off the lights and light a candle on the street outside.
ms. wendy please organize a silent protest on october 7 at 7:30 to 8:00 in the evening by turning off our power for 30 minutes...go out and light a candle on the street. i think 2 weeks is enough to spread the words...
September 23, 2011 4:29 PM
"Johnnie Jumper" and Kelvin Rodeo suggest a worker strike to let the people of the CNMI see what it would be like without the foreign workers. What would happen if those who contribute so much to the CNMI, make up 90% of the private sector, and keep the economy alive stayed home for a day? Of course, even a one-day strike would have a profound impact if it could be pulled off. Unfortunately, the idea has been suggested many times and has been always rejected by workers who are afraid to lose their jobs. At this point in time, what do they have to lose?
Johnnie Jumper wrote:
Johnnie Jumper said...Kelvin Rodeo wrote:
Lets stop working for one day,just one day!Lets see what will happen...Lets unite all alien workers........
SEPTEMBER 21, 2011 10:08 AM
Anonymous 2:30 PM:Many foreign workers and advocates taking a stand and calling for action. In a week Rabby Syed will be heading for the mainland to join me in advocating for permanent residency for all legal, long-term foreign resident workers and other categories of aliens including those who are currently admissible to the U.S. under the INA; CNMI permanent residents, their spouses and children; widows and widowers of U.S. citizens residing in the CNMI; and aliens who were born in the CNMI between January 1, 1974, and January 9, 1978 and their spouses and children.
You hit the nail right on the head. That is something that I have been secretly suggesting to many foreign workers on island for the past few months, but I have yet to hear of anything being organized. You all need to show the CNMI just how important you all are; that you aren't just worthless, easily replaceable labor units. You need to unite the entire foreign worker population on island and have everyone skip work one day and gather at the AMP Visitor's Center (fitting rally point, in my opinion), then when everyone is there, begin your protest march all the way up to Capital Hill (think Gandhi's Salt March here). THIS is what you all need to do in order to get something done to help you all out. Considering the large amount of foreign workers that comprise the private sector on Saipan, this would put a HUGE dent in the system, and the CNMI will see just how really important you all are. Everyone thinks that contract workers can all just go back home and be easily replaced, eh? Go and prove them wrong! Remember that YOU are the majority on island. DO NOT FEAR. Fear is your worst enemy. Succumb to fear and you WILL NOT get anything done for your cause. YOU CAN DO THIS.
SEPTEMBER 10, 2011 9:42 AM
If the co-sponsors of H.R. 1466 can co-sponsor bills that call for 11 million illegal aliens to be granted green cards and a pathway to citizenship and they can co-sponsor the DREAM Act to provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented children of aliens, then they can and must co-sponsor a bill to provide 16,000 legal, long-term foreign workers permanent residency. Not some CNMI-only status that echoes the post-Civil War Black Codes, but permanent residency status - the same status proposed for undocumented aliens in immigration reform bills that have been introduced over and over in the U.S. Congress over last few years. (Congressman Sablan has co-sponsored some of immigration reform bills including HR1751, the American Dream Act and HR 4321 Comprehensive Immigration Reform. . . , showing that he supports a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented aliens, but CNMI-only status for 16,000 LEGAL foreign workers.)
P.L. 110-229 must be amended to include a provision to support permanent residency for all legal, long-term (5 or more years in the CNMI) foreign resident workers and the other categories of aliens that will be deeply harmed if not provided status. The U.S. needs to do right by all of the legal, long-term foreign workers who have contributed so much the the CNMI for years and decades.
Message from the United Workers Movement: Rabby Syed, President of the United Workers Movement said, "The UWM supports the children of the alien workers in their effort to gain protection for their parents, as we support all of the legal alien workers. We encourage members to support their efforts. We also ask all community members to participate in the silent candlelight protest on October 7, 2011. Turn off your lights from 7:30 to 8:00 pm and light a candle outside in the street."
Here some children and families speak about the need for green cards on this video (by Wendy L. Doromal ©2007):
Below are some photos of some of the children and their families.
Will CNMI Foreign Worker Abuses Continue Under the Federal System?
September 23, 2011
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| Rota Hotel workers protested wage theft to officials and to the public. |
In a few weeks I will meet up with Rabby Syed in Washington, DC. to visit federal officials, NGOs and members of the national press.
I am working on preparing a packet of letters and emails from the foreign workers. If you would like to voice an opinion or make a suggestion on the federal guest worker program or status; relay how PL 110-229 and/or the CW rule impact you and your family; or have an opinion that you would like to be conveyed to officials please email me at doromal@earthlink.net . I will add your message to the ones I have already compiled. Foreign workers can disclose their names and contact information or remain anonymous.
I am also working on addressing the persistent problem of wage theft. If you are currently a victim of wage theft (unpaid wages, delayed wages, unpaid overtime or illegal deductions), you have filed a complaint that remains unresolved, and have not already emailed me with details of your plight, you can email me until October 7th. I will share your case with interested parties and officials in Washington, DC. (Again, if you wish, I will remove identifying information.)
The problem with the former CNMI and the present federal guest worker programs is that because foreign workers under both programs are viewed as replaceable and disposable labor units rather than as future citizens with equal rights, they become much more susceptible to abuses. Sadly, recruitment scams, human trafficking and wage theft continue today under the federal system.
There have been many comments in recent blog posts concerning unpaid wages and wage theft. Several commenters attempt to blame victims for the problem, make excuses for the problem, or dismiss the problem as insignificant. Still others have made excellent points.
Several commenters accurately pointed out that no one can help a victim of wage theft unless that person reports it. Of course, it is better to report nonpayment of wages immediately rather than to believe an employer who attempts to convince an employee that it is in their best interest to remain silent and wait until the employer comes up with the pay. Employers who rob wages from their employees are violating the law and cannot be trusted. Employers who threaten employees with termination if they report abuses are in violation of the law and cannot be trusted. It is unwise to believe that someday these unscrupulous employers will come up with the wages. That is extremely unlikely. The sooner the violation is reported, the greater the chances of collecting back wages.
It was also pointed out that by waiting to report violations, employees risk that the business or employer may declare bankruptcy, thus limiting or preventing employees' ability to collect what is owed to them. I am not familiar with such cases, but I have seen cases where employers declare bankruptcy after a complaint is filed to get out of their responsibility of paying the wages to the victim-employees. Why risk this happening? If an employee is not being paid, reporting it is the best move.
In defense of foreign workers who state that complaining to local or federal agencies does not help them get justice, I have to say that I also have seen no resolution in recent cases that I have been monitoring. Wage theft of employees of the Tinian Dynasty, the Rota Hotel, Saipan Ice and Water, and the CNMI nurses who work at CNMI government hospitals was reported to local and federal agencies months and even more than a year ago. Employees have followed up with agencies and officials, as documentation that they sent to me shows. Still, they have seen no action on their cases, they remain unpaid and the problems continue unresolved. It is exactly examples like these that make foreign workers question whether they should hang on to hollow promises and the possibility of keeping a much-needed job that in their mind may improve, or file a complaint to possibly recover their back wages, knowing that few of their fellow foreign workers ever receive the back wages and even fewer of the crook-employers are prosecuted. The CNMI and U.S. officials and agencies who have received complaints concerning these employers should explain what is causing the delay in resolving these cases. If there are kinks in the system, they need to be immediately corrected to ensure justice for the victim-employees.
It will be interesting to see what requirements USCIS enforces in declaring a business as "legitimate". Will businesses or employers who participate openly in wage theft and who have formal complaints filed against them with federal agencies or offices such as the Federal Ombudsman Office and U.S. Department of Labor be eligible to hire foreign workers under the CW program? The rule states that only employees engaged in a "legitimate" business may file CW applications. I would say that these businesses are not legitimate because they are engaged in illegal practices. I would like the USCIS to state definitively whether or not businesses that owe foreign workers back wages can apply for any federal visa to employ foreign workers. The current foreign employees should know if these businesses will be allowed to apply for a CW visa for them or if they should seek employment elsewhere. To allow offending businesses to employ foreign workers would be perceived as a statement that the federal government condones wage theft and labor violations.
U.S. citizen or permanent resident employees feel free to quit a job when they are ill-treated or experience wage theft, knowing that they are free to search for another job in the CNMI and are also free to travel to the mainland or Guam to find employment. On the other hand, foreign workers are more often abused because they do not have equal rights and they are prohibited from traveling to other U.S. locations to seek employment. Additionally, unlike U.S. citizens or permanent residents, they are subject to repatriation to their homelands when their employment is terminated, making it far less likely that labor or criminal cases will be pursued and justice will be served.
Not only are U.S. citizen and permanent resident employees free to pursue any claims, most of them also have a social network of family on island to provide financial and emotional support. Conversely, foreign workers have a much smaller or no support system at all in the CNMI. Foreign workers, especially those who are not receiving their wages, also lack the money to hire attorneys. Employers know this. Unscrupulous employers have routinely gotten away with criminal theft under the CNMI system, and they get away with it under the U.S. system unless comprehensive changes are made to ensure protections to foreign workers and aggressive prosecution of criminal employers is enforced.
Foreign workers are also at a great disadvantage because after paying out thousands in recruitment fees, moving a great distance, and putting hope into landing a job that will pay good wages and benefit them and their family, they are far less likely to just walk away and risk losing everything. That is a major reason that they tolerate abuses, accept employer excuses and take what little pay is thrown their way instead of choosing to immediately filing formal complaints with appropriate agencies. They opt to hang on hoping for a chance to repay debts and support themselves in a kind of survival mode. Employers know this and they took advantage of this fact under the dysfunctional CNMI guest worker system. They will continue to take advantage of this under the federal CNMI guest worker program unless changes are enacted to prevent this pattern.
It appears that the local and federal government agencies responsible for enforcing laws and ensuring safety and protection are incapable of fulfilling these duties in a timely manner or at all, as $6.1 in documented unpaid wages attests. In the case of the failure of local labor or law enforcement agencies to prosecute abusers we know that politics and family ties have interfered with justice. In the case of federal agencies we need to identify exactly what the problems are. Are reported cases not being pursued because of lack of personnel on the ground in the CNMI; lack of initiative to follow-up and investigate; lack of resources; distance of the CNMI from federal agencies that are investigating cases from afar; denial or a lack of knowledge of the history and extent of current abuses; or a lack of urgency in investigating and prosecuting cases to ensure justice? Should federal agencies be taking a proactive stance in checking businesses and employers of foreign workers to ensure compliance instead of waiting for hesitant foreign employees to report abuses? Federal officials and lawmakers must identify the problems and address them.
All federal agencies in the CNMI should be properly funded and staffed so effective law enforcement is not stalled or prohibited because of lack of funds or personnel to pursue cases. These include the U.S. Department of Justice, the F.B.I., the Federal Ombudsman Office, the U.S. Department of Labor and the USCIS.
As long as legal foreign workers are viewed as labor units who are denied of social, political and economic rights, they will continue to be abused. As long as they are considered replaceable or disposable, it will not matter whether the system is under local or federal control; the abuses will continue. In written testimony submitted to the The House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife for a May 19, 2009 hearing I wrote:
Currently, regulations for a transitional federal guest worker program are being drafted. It will not be enough to merely change the name of the guest worker program from the CNMI guest worker program to the federal guest worker program. The program must be totally revamped to ensure that unjust policies and regulations that have plagued the current local system are eliminated within the new federal program. The existing system is based on an economic model that steals labor. It is the closest system to slavery allowed to flourish under the American flag since 1864 and it is un-American.
The CNMI government is not asking the federal government to fix this broken system, but to endorse and continue it. They have fought to hang on to this system for decades by hiring lobbyists to block legislation, and more recently by filing a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia to block the implementation of PL 110-229. The federal transitional guest worker program must reflect democratic and constitutional principles that are lacking in the current local system. A just guest worker program requires ongoing oversight, adequately trained and staffed offices, and strict enforcement of all labor and immigration laws. The current CNMI program stands as a barrier to social justice and economic prosperity. . .
. . .Corruption bears a human cost. It bears a financial cost for taxpayers. It bears a moral cost for our country. We cannot allow even a shadow of this unjust system to continue. We must infuse the basic American values of civil and human rights, due process, and fairness for all into the federal program. At this time there is an opportunity to create a transitional federal guest worker program that could serve as an exemplary model for the entire nation as we move forward to enact comprehensive immigration reform legislation. As the Congress considers granting permanent status to illegal aliens in the U.S. mainland, how can they deny the legal nonresident workers of the CNMI the same consideration? The time to grant them status is long overdue.Maintaining a guest worker program is not an easy task anywhere and it is especially difficult when it is thousands of miles from Washington, DC. Maintaining a CNMI federal guest worker program is extremely costly to the federal taxpayers. What needs to be done to ensure that foreign workers in the CNMI are treated justly? There is a solution that will serve all. The CNMI officials claim that they must have foreign workers to ensure a stable and skilled workforce. That workforce is in the CNMI now. It has been there for years and decades. The legal, long-term foreign workers are fighting to maintain stability within their lives and the lives of their families and children. The U.S. Congress should act immediately to grant the legal, long-term foreign resident workers permanent residency. If that is done any foreign worker program that is needed will be minimal in size and cost and can easily be monitored for abuses.
An important intent of the CNRA was to bring the CNMI immigration policies into conformity with the policies applicable to the rest of the United States. Thus, those foreign workers legally admitted into the United States to work, whether in the U.S. mainland or the CNMI, should be provided with a pathway to become U.S. citizens with full political and social rights. Foreigners invited to our shores to work and build our economy should be regarded as future citizens rather than replaceable commodities. . .
. . . A just and democratic federal guest worker program that regards long-term foreign workers as future citizens will benefit all who live and work in the CNMI. The current CNMI Administration has argued that PL 110-229 will leave the Commonwealth without the workforce needed to ensure economic success. However, by granting the long-term foreign workers in the CNMI a pathway to citizenship, a skilled and loyal workforce will be available.
Senator Ayuyu Requests Explanation from BOE on Scholarship Fiasco
September 21, 2011
Out of all of the letters and people that were copied on letters to the PSS and BOE, one person did express concern about the situation. Rota Senator Juan Ayuyu wrote at letter to the Commissioner of Education, Rita Sablan expressing surprise at Katelyn's denial for a CNMI Honor Scholarship and requesting a response and resolution. He wrote:
It is presumed that any class valedictorian shall have the highest GPA amongst his or her fellow classmates. I am certain that this was the case for Ms. Alpine when she graduated in June 10, 2011. Therefore, 1 do not understand why Ms. Alpino was denied an Honor Scholarship when in fact she should have the highest GPA. This is unnerving!Read the letter:
Please enlighten me as to how Ms. Alpino was awarded class valedictorian for Rota High School this past June, but yet, scored the lowest GPA according to the CNMI Scholarship Office that eliminated her from being one of two possible recipients.
Hopefully, this will be resolved quickly.
UPDATE
Well, not likely. A letter from the BOE that Mr. Alpino just received offers no solution or real explanation. Unless the school and the committee release the GPAs of the three students, the truth will remain obscured.
Here is the letter from the Board of Education Commissioner Rita Sablan that states that the Rota High School did not send falsified information to the scholarship committee as suggested:
The letter clears up nothing!
Get Your Questions Answered by USCIS
September 20, 2011
USCIS is sponsoring a series of workshops to answer questions about CW visas. The workshops also offer an opportunity to ask related questions about parole. CNMI permanent residents and immediate relatives of FAS citizens can apply for parole.
I encourage every foreign worker and employer to attend a workshop. The best people to answer questions are the employees of USCIS.
Here is the schedule:
See also the USCIS CNMI Page
Of interest:
Some Answers To Common Questions on CW Visas
DHS to Review 300,000 Deportation Cases
June 17, 2011 DHS Memo:
Support?
September 18, 2011
I am not sure how support for a bill that excludes 3/4 of the legal, long-term foreign workers can grow. At most it will only have the support of the limited number of people who are covered under the bill. Congressman Sablan testified that that number was no more than 4,000.
Of course, it is expected that many of the people under the four categories covered by the bill would support it as a band aid-type solution to provide a minimal protection for the selected group of foreign workers –those only who have a U.S. citizen spouse or child. Under H.R. 1466 they will be merely maintaining status quo until the provided specific categories apply for, or are granted permanent residency. Some covered by the bill recognize the injustice of excluding equalling deserving legal foreign workers and are not supporting the bill on moral principle. Rather, they support introducing legislation that would provide permanent residency for all of the 16,0000 legal, long-term foreign resident workers.
I do not support H.R. 1466 as it stands. None of the legal, long-term foreign resident workers who were deliberately left out from the bill that I have talked to support it either. Why would they?! Under H.R. 1466, only one quarter or about 4,000 of the 16,000 legal, long-term foreign resident workers, would be granted CNMI-only status to continue to remain in the CNMI as a disenfranchised underclass denied of any political and social rights. The other 12,000 are not even mentioned in the bill and are even left out of the conversation like somehow they are not significant. Perhaps the 4,000 or 1/4 of the legal, long-term foreign workers who are covered by the bill may support it, but certainly the 12,000 or 3/4, of the legal, long-term foreign workers excluded from it do not.
No matter how you add it up the majority of the legal, long-term foreign workers do not support the bill simply because it omits them! A majority, or 3/4 of the legal, long-term foreign resident workers oppose the bill as it stands so support for it cannot "grow" unless it is changed to include every legal, long-term foreign worker.
It appears that the call for "support" for the bill came from Congressman Sablan and from Daniel Buniag, Governor Fitial's Special Assistant for Special Projects. An email that Mr. Buniag sent to members of CREAM and those who are covered under H.R. 1466 stated, "Congressman Kilili requested me to put together a big group of the affected people to meet with the USCIS that he will schedule and arrange." The email reads:
Dear All,I have been communicating with officials in Washington, DC. over the last several weeks. While people certainly can make suggestions on the final regulations, I have been told that the final rule is unlikely to be altered except to "tweak" sections as problems are revealed. DHS received 146 comments that they considered. They came up with the final rule after an extended period of long deliberations.
This is to inform you that I emailed and asked Congressman Kilili of what solutions and remedies he can provide and do regarding the effects and uncertainties that the USCIS CNMI final rules on his H. R. 1466 which is still in the House of Representatives of the US Congress. As you are all aware HR 1466 seek to resolve the status of certain persons legally residing in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands under the immigration laws of the United States.
Without a US Congress enacted mandate the 4 groups of people namely: Those children born between January 1, 1974 and January 9, 1978;
Those persons granted CNMI permanent residency under section 4303 of Title 3 of the CNMI Code; Those parents and US citizen children that are still young, some are of voting age but can not file petition for parents due to income, and the immediate relatives. Their status in the CNMI i in limbo after November 27, 2011. All ethnic groups that are affected and covered by H. R. 1466 are welcomed.
Congressman Kilili requested me to put together a big group of the affected people to meet with the USCIS that he will schedule and arrange. Therefore, I would like to request your help and assistance that we invite as many of the affected persons and families to meet and talk with the USCIS. I plan to announce the planned meeting on radio and newspapers as soon as I get the date from Congressman Kilili.
Please let me know of your input, suggestion and recommendation. Maraming salamat po.
Dan
I am unsure how a meeting with USCIS will alleviate any of the uncertainty or fear that every long-term foreign worker has right now. USCIS has set up public meetings so that questions can be answered and the rule can be understood and perhaps some uncertainty will be alleviated. But the only thing that will erase uncertainty and provide true security and stability is for the U.S. Congress to grant permanent residency status to every legal, long-term foreign resident worker.
It is amazing to me that people refer to "affected" people as only those who are covered by H.R. 1466. The federal transition and uncertainty in the absence of permanent U.S. status affects every foreign worker, not just those with a U.S. citizen spouse or child; not just those covered by H.R. 1466! The 12,000 left out of H.R. 1466 are also affected. Perhaps their uncertainty is even greater because they do not have green cards in their future as the 4,000 foreign workers provided for in H.R. 1466 who are married to a U.S. citizen spouse or who are parents of a U.S. citizen child do.
The 12,000 left out of the bill have families too. Many foreign workers who contacted me in recent weeks are foreign workers married to other foreign workers and many of them have foreign children so they are not covered under H.R.1466. Why do some consider them and their families any less important than those 4,000 with a U.S. citizen family member? Many of those who are left out of the bill have worked in the CNMI for longer than some who are covered? How is that just?
Malou Berueco was quoted:
Berueco said she “strongly disagrees” with human rights advocate Wendy Doromal's statement advocating for “all or nothing” instead of advocating “for some” in connection with Sablan's HR 1466.Let me respond here since the Saipan Tribune did not contact me to respond to this comment. I never said "all or nothing" in regard to this bill on this site or anywhere. Never. I said that the bill needs to be revised or substituted with a just and democratic bill that includes all of the legal, long-term foreign workers. That is my position. I have never advocated for "some" legal, long-term foreign workers in regards to upgrading their status. I never will advocate for some. I have always advocated for all legal, long-term foreign workers. I will continue to advocate for all. My position will not change because I view it as the only just, moral and democratic position. I will never support or endorse an idea, belief or bill that would cause immense harm to some, and in this case to the majority of those affected, or 12,000 people.
“Personally, I would rather save some than not saving anybody at all. If we are trying to solve a solution for all, we are not trying to solve any problem at all. One size doesn’t fit all,” she said.
Berueco said that those covered by Sablan's bill are contributing members of the CNMI economy, including those who have been legally employed for years as nurses, engineers, architects, accountants, hotel workers, house workers and caregivers.
It is absolutely true that those covered by Sablan's bill are contributing members of the CNMI community as Ms. Berueco stated. What she appears to have forgotten is that the 12,000 legal, long-term foreign workers who were deliberately excluded from the bill are also contributing members of the CNMI community!
I am unsure what Ms. Beraco means by "one size doesn't fit all." But I do know that if members of the U.S. House and Senate can continually introduce legislation that calls for permanent residency and a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented children under the DREAM ACT, and for permanent residency and a pathway to citizenship for 11 million illegal aliens under various versions of comprehensive immigration reform bills, then these same members certainly can and should introduce legislation to cover all of the legal, long-term foreign workers in the CNMI. I believe that they will. It is all the more difficult to get a decent bill introduced in Congress with a divided foreign worker community with some advocating to save themselves and ignoring the plight of their fellow countrymen and co-workers who were dealt a bad deal.
Outrageous Injustice Against a CNMI Youth
September 17, 2011
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| Katelyn Alpino, Photo by Nani Doromal ©2008 |
Katelyn Manalang Alpino was denied the CNMI Honor Scholarship Grant by the CNMI Scholarship Board. The scholarship is regulated by the CNMI Honor Scholarship Act, 3 CMC §1342. It awards the top graduates of the senior classes (8 from Saipan, 2 from Rota and 2 from Tinian) a maximum of $15,000 in college scholarships for each academic year up to 5 years.
Katelyn graduated from Rota High School in June 2011 and was recognized by the CNMI Board of Education as the class valedictorian, having earned the highest grade point average (GPA). At the graduation ceremonies she also received the Governor's Leadership Award, the Rota Mayor's Award and a $1,000 scholarship from the Manglona's Kolehio Foundation.
As a student, Katelyn was exemplary and stood out from her peers. While attending Rota High School she served as the president of the National Honor Society, the secretary of the senior class, treasurer of Take Action Youth Advisory, and vice-president of Upward Bound Program. She was a member of many clubs and organizations including the Youth Advisory Board, JROTC, STUCCO, the Rota High School Mock Trial Team, and Teen Talk.
Katelyn received numerous honors and awards throughout her high school career. In 2008 Katelyn was selected to attend Princeton University under the Junior Statesmen of America Program. In 2010, as part of the Upward Bound Program, she was selected to attend a summer pre-college residential program at Leeward College in Hawaii.
In addition to her academic accomplishments, Katelyn has been a tireless volunteer in Rota, serving the community through numerous activities and countless selfless hours of service. Among her many volunteer activities, she volunteered at the Rota Health Center. When interviewed about being selected to attend the summer college program in Hawaii, Katelyn said, “I always wanted to be a pediatrician after working for the Rota Health Center.”
It is not surprising that Katelyn is presently at Pennsylvania University studying pre-medicine in order to pursue a degree in medicine.
Everyone in Rota must be extremely proud of Katelyn's academic and community accomplishments. Her family certainly is. Our family also applauds Katelyn's outstanding achievements and success! Katelyn's father, Art Alpino worked for years with my husband at the Paupau Hotel in the 1990s where Boboy performed every evening in the restaurant and at the outside bar. The Alpinos are a caring, sweet and wonderful family and we consider them beloved family friends.
We were shocked to hear that Katelyn was denied the CNMI Honors Scholarship since she was the valedictorian of her class. The series of events surrounding the award suggest that there were some improprieties and irregularities in awarding the scholarship. Instead of awarding the scholarship to Rota's 2011valedictorian and salutatorian, the board awarded the scholarships to the salutatorian, Pauline M. Manglona and the third place ranked student, Crystal Calvo, bypassing Katelyn.
On August 11, 2011 Mr. Alpino, Katelyn's father received a denial letter dated July 28, 2011 from the CNMI Scholarship Office. It offered no explanation for the denial. Katelyn was already at Pennsylvania University to begin her studies believing that she would receive the scholarship.
The scholarship is especially important because the family has faced financial hardship. As an employee of the Rota Hotel, Mr. Alpino has been a victim of wage theft for over a year. He is owed $9,000 in back wages from his criminal employers and the hotel's managers Yoshiro Kishimoto and Masahiro Watanabe.
On Monday, August 15, 2011 Mr. Alpino called the CNMI Scholarship Office to inquire why the scholarship was denied. Ms. Jackie Che, the new administrator, informed him that his daughter's scholarship was not denied; it had been approved. He also learned that Ms. Merissa S. Rasa, the previous administrator, resigned on August 3, 2011.
Ms. Che instructed Mr. Alpino to fax the letter of denial to the CNMI Scholarship Office so that they could issue a corrective letter to indicate that she was approved to receive the Honors Scholarship
Grant. Ms. Che additionally stated that the approval letter would be sent to Katelyn Alpino via e-mail.
On Tuesday, August 16, 2011 Mr. Alpino faxed the denial letter back to CNMI Scholarship Office early in the morning and the receipt was confirmed and acknowledged by Desiree, a member of the office staff.
Mr. Alpino called the CNMI Scholarship Office on Thursday, August 18, 2011 to verify if the letter of approval was sent. Jackie Che's responded that the letter of approval would be sent either Monday or Tuesday of next week (August 22 or August 23, 2011). Katelyn needed the letter to present to the university for payment reference for her tuition.
On Tuesday August 23, 2011 Mr. Alpino called the CNMI Scholarship Office to follow up on the approval letter. He was surprised to learn that office administrator Jackie Che had "made an error" and Katelyn's Alpino's Honors Scholarship Award was actually denied based on misinformation from the Rota High School.
This email from Ms. Che to Mr. Alpino verifies that a serious mistake was made that resulted in Katelyn's scholarship denial. Rota High School apparently sent the wrong GPA to the Scholarship Board, either in error or purposely, to deny Katelyn the scholarship.
Based on the administrator's advise, on August 24, 2011 Mr. Alpino sent a letter of appeal to the CNMI Scholarship Office outlining the events and facts. In the letter, Mr. Alpino suggested that his daughter may be the victim of discrimination.
On Thursday, August 25, 2011 after the Scholarship Board Meeting, the Administrator Jackie Che informed Mr. Alpino that the appeal was being considered. The Rota High School had indeed reported that Katelyn's GPA was lower than that of the salutatorian and 3rd ranking student. This information is false. The board had instructed the administrator to call Rota High School principal Sharlene Manglona about validity of Katelyn Alpino's transcript of records and the errors in information transmitted to the Scholarship Board. On Monday, August 29, 2011 Mr. Alpino received information from the CNMI Scholarship Office that the Rota High School principal could not be reached.
On August 29, 2011 Mr. Alpino sent a letter to Board of Education Chair Dr. Rita Sablan by certified mail. He provided the administrator with a copy of that letter appealing for an investigation and corrective action. Mr. Alpino also sent Dr. Sablan the letter and attachments by email on that same day. Dr. Sablan responded to the email stating, "Dear Mr Alpino: Thank you for your letter and will respond to this according to our grievance Procedure. Someone from my office will be in contact with you shortly."
Since the letter was sent 19 days ago, no one from the Board of Education has contacted Mr. Alpino or Katelyn. Surely, they must know that tuition has to be paid and this matter needs to be addressed immediately.
Here is a section of Mr. Alpino's letter to Dr. Rita Sablan and the Board of Education:
Everyone knows that my daughter, Ms. Katelyn M. Alpino graduated from Rota High School in 2011 as valedictorian, the highest academic honor. She was awarded this honor based on her G.P.A. and for the outstanding credentials that she obtained within her four years of education at Rota High School. You were here with us on that special occasion last June 10, 2011 celebrating the achievements of Katelyn and other graduating scholars.On September 15, 2011 Mr. Alpino sent additional letters appealing for corrective action to Rota Senators Paul Manglona, Juan Ayuyu, and Jovita Taimano and Representative Teresita Santos In his letter, Mr. Alpino stated, "How this happens?.... My daughter graduated a valedictorian and how come she had the lowest GPA? There's something wrong. There's an error, manipulation or misconduct by the Rota High School personnel headed by Ms. Sharlene Manglona." He also appealed to Congressman Gregorio Sablan for assistance in August 2011.
Our nightmare begun when we learned that Katelyn was not selected by the CNMI Scholarship Board to receive the Honor Scholarship Grant. We were deeply stunned to learn that the recipients were the salutatorian, and the student who received third honor. Katelyn was first honors and was unfairly denied the scholarship.
How did this happen? We have learned from the CMNI Scholarship Office that my daughter's G.P.A. was incorrectly reported by Rota High School as lower than the two recipients of the scholarship. This is NOT TRUE. The valedictorian has the highest cumulative G.P.A. of the graduating class. Katelyn had the highest G.P.A. Why were falsified grades submitted to the committee and how will the committee correct this outrage?
Before we learned about the falsified information that Rota High School sent to the committee, I wrote a letter of appeal addressed to the CNMI Scholarship Administrator (attached for your reference), asking them why my daughter was not selected. It is timely that the Scholarship Board had a meeting last Wednesday, August 25 and our appeal was discussed. The administrator, Ms. Jackie Che was instructed to further investigate by calling the Rota High School principal, Ms. Sharlene Manglona. I have attached the email response from the scholarship administrator concerning her investigation.
We have sent our daughter to the mainland for her college education with the knowledge that, as valedictorian, she would be the recipient of this Honor Scholarship Grant. What we will do now? Should we tell her she must return to the CNMI because she was cheated? My daughter cried upon hearing this disturbing news, and is still depressed by the unfavorable action that has negatively impacted her future and all of our lives.
Has this board learned nothing from past similar unjust actions? Can they seriously afford a costly lawsuit? The scholarship board was sued by Roselle Calvo who was also unjustly denied scholarship funds in 2006 because the board failed to follow the law in awarding the Honors Scholarship. The CNMI Supreme Court ordered the board to recalculate the awards based on the law. From the Saipan Tribune:
Calvo graduated as her class salutatorian at Marianas Baptist Academy in May 2006. She was one of the 29 Saipan high school students who applied for an honor scholarship. After complying with all the requirements of the applications, she was not chosen for the award.Over three decades I have witnessed terrible injustices against the foreign workers and their families committed by individuals and CNMI officials, but such an egregious act against an outstanding young community member stands out among the worst and must not go unchallenged. Whether the decision was made in error or motivated by politics or racism, it must be corrected immediately so that Katelyn can receive the scholarship award that she has earned. In Roselle Calvo's case an attorney, Robert Torres, stepped up to defend her because he "saw an injustice." We hope that there is an attorney in the CNMI today who will step up to help the Alpinos for the same reasons. Please.
She appealed her case but the board maintained its decision, citing that Calvo ranked 11th only among the Saipan applicants as grounds for rejecting her application.
In her petition, Calvo argued that the scholarship board disregarded the criteria set forth in selecting scholarship recipients, which include grade point average, SAT or ACT score, extra-curricular activities, difficulty of high school coursework, and letters of recommendation.
The Supreme Court, in its decision, indicated that the scholarship board shall promptly promulgate rules and regulations consistent with the statutory language of the Constitution, which requires the board to weigh the five criteria.
The court ordered the scholarship board to reevaluate the entire set of applications for the 2006 honor scholarships and award the scholarships based on the statutory-mandated criteria.
USCIS RELEASES OUTREACH CALENDAR
September 15, 2011
The USCIS has released the schedule for the public to attend question and answer sessions to get information on the final rule. As the calendar below indicates, some sessions are directed at employers only, but most are open to the public.
I encourage ALL foreign workers to attend the sessions to be able to ask questions and understand the final rule. Since the comment period has ended, these are informative sessions so that you can learn the procedures under the rule.
Additionally, foreign workers should remember that USCIS cannot grant green card or permanent residency status to the foreign workers, only Congress can do that. The USCIS is charged with regulating the federal CNMI-only guest worker program.
Opportunities to Get Educated on CW Visas and Parole-in-Place
September 15, 2011
Additionally, the Micronesia Legal Services, Corp. will be sponsoring a series of workshops on how to complete a Parole-in-Place application. This is valuable any foreigner who does not qualify for a CW-1 visa. The Micronesia Legal Services, Corp. website states:
Parole-In-Place is an option of last-resort. Generally speaking, where other options are available, like the CW permit for those employed, those options should be exhausted first. Although MLSC will conduct the workshop to help people understand the process and put together their applications, no individual legal advice will be given. MLSC will not be accepting cases or filing on behalf of those who attend the workshops. The purpose of the session is simply to help get information out and help people utilize the process as successfully as they can.Each workshop MLSC will be targeted at a specific group of people and all workshops have not been announced. The first one to be held on September 18 is for widows or widowers of FAS citizens. See their website for more information here or call 234-6243.
The rule regulates the CNMI federal guest worker program. It was not intended to and cannot address permanent immigration status such as granting green cards ro all legal, long-term foreign workers. As I have said repeatedly times here, only the U.S. Congress can upgrade the status of the legal, long-term foreign resident workers. Presently, there is no bill that has been introduced in Congress to address the recommendations of the CNRA-mandated Department of Interior Report.
ARE YOU A FOREIGN WORKER WHO IS A VICTIM OF WAGE THEFT?
September 13, 2011
If you are a foreign worker who has not been paid regularly, are owed back or overtime pay, or have had illegal deductions taken from your paycheck, please email me. A federal official would like to know what companies are not paying their employees. I will be emailing the official and also bringing the information to Washington, DC. the beginning of October.
All emails and information will be kept confidential, except to forward to federal officials.
If you have other concerns about the final rule or want to express support for permanent residency status for all legal, long-term foreign workers email me with those also.
Email: doromal@earthlink.net (You may go to spamblocker and will receive a notice. Just request to be added to my email addresses and I will respond to you.)
Finding Millard=Filling Coffers?
September 12, 2011
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| Millard mansion in Saipan. Photo from WSJ |
Millard's agents insist to this day, that the Marianas tax laws offered what a congressional staff member calls "the best deal under the American flag"--a promised 95% rebate of income or capital-gains taxes that would be owed under the federal tax code. The idea of the Marianas Legislature's rebate plan, which took effect last year, is to encourage investment.It appears that the CNMI Legislature saw Millard as a piggy bank (much like the CNMI government views the federal government) and decided to overhaul the tax laws to get some of the millionaire's cash after he sold his shares of Computerland for over $200 million. Fitial is going after the taxes from that sale with the help of an expensive law firm that he hired in 2010, and according to the Wall Street Journal, "an army of private investigators."
"Basically, if you're in the 50% bracket, your effective tax rate is 2 1/2%," the congressional staffer said.
For Millard, it was such an attractive package that he moved his family to Saipan, bought a house and started looking for ways to be a helpful local citizen. He wanted to upgrade the local power utility, for example. He also bought more than 100 acres overlooking lovely Laulau Bay and, according to Knight, planned to spend more than $50 million developing the site.
From the Wall Street Journal:
In August 1990, the Millards left Saipan.
The following year, the Northern Marianas' tax department issued a deficiency notice to the Millards and their attorneys in the U.S., according a commonwealth filing in federal courts in the U.S. Mr. Giles, the former lawyer for Mr. Millard, said he never received such a notice.
"Bill paid his taxes in the Marianas on time and in full based on the tax code. They changed the law or made up some reason retroactively to try to chase Bill off the island," Mr. Giles said.
In 1994, the commonwealth obtained a tax judgment against Mr. Millard and his wife for $36 million in U.S. District Court in the Northern Marianas.Millard and his family left the CNMI in 1990 to places unknown around the time that the tax laws were revised. It appears the only things he left behind were his mansion on the hill and his assistant, Lynn Knight who would later become one of Governor Fitial's most prized defenders.
There is more to this story. In 1987 Millard accused CNMI officials of demanding bribes from him and vowed to cooperate with federal officials. Some say that he didn't leave Saipan because of tax obligations, but because he received death threats for threatening to expose corruption and outing some shady some local politicians.
The papers report that in 2010 Governor Fitial hired the law firm of Kobre and Kim to track down Millard to collect back taxes of $36 million that reportedly has ballooned to over $118 million after adding interest. How much did this detective work cost the CNMI government? The Independent describes this as an elaborate mission:
The story of how CNMI officials tracked him down reads like a spy novel. A private investigator staking out one of his daughters in Florida saw him taking an afternoon stroll in her garden, after a Christmas meal last winter. He was tailed to the airport, monitored as he boarded a flight to Grand Cayman, and then tailed again on arriving in the Caribbean.I agree everyone should pay their fair share of taxes. (That includes people in U.S. territories who pay no federal taxes, yet rake in millions of federal taxpayer dollars.) Still, there is something disengenuous about a government that raises little revenue and depends on the federal taxpayers for handouts, changing their tax code to reap in money from a millionaire.
And this year, the law firm Kobre and Kim has been doing some equivalent private eyeing in the financial sphere, laying subpoenas on banks believed to have done business with Mr Millard – and stipulating that they keep the existence of the subpoenas quiet from their client, so as to prevent him moving his money around.
Kobre and Kim's cover was blown earlier this year after what JPMorgan Chase says was a clerical error, but now court cases in the US and, soon, abroad will put public pressure on Mr Millard to turn over his assets. As Michael Kim, a partner at Kobre & Kim, has noted, people don't give up $100m without a fight.
The CNMI government should use the same enthusiasm and effort to collect the outstanding tax debts owed by Tinian Dynasty and other businesses that are right there in the CNMI. It looks like the CNMI government sees Millard as an easy way to solve their financial woes. His alleged debt is more than the annual CNMI budget of $102 million.
The best quote in the WSJ story has to be this one:
A few years ago, Mr. Fitial says, he pushed to start a search for the family. "The actions by the Millards in these proceedings seemed to reflect an attitude of arrogance that their wealth allows them to disregard the laws of small government," the governor said.It is hard to feel sorry for the CNMI government when it only goes after those who it expects to profit from and ignores the crooks who steal money routinely from foreign workers every single day. If truth be told, Governor Fitial, who called Millard arrogant may just be the most arrogant man in the CNMI. How many laws has Fitial disregarded or dismissed with his Cheshire cat smirch? If karma comes into play here the governor won't collect a dime.
Foreign Workers, Need Help?
September 12, 2011
If you are a foreign worker who has not been paid overtime wages, are owed back pay or have any other labor-related problems or questions please contact the Federal Labor Ombudsman's Office, Marina Heights II Building, Suite 203, Middle Road, Saipan.
You can call the Ombudsman's Office at 322-8030. Filipinos may contact Cris at 483-8034 and Glen at 483-8035, Chinese may contact Li at 483-8037 and Bangladeshi and Nepalese please contact Ripon at 483-8033.
You may also contact the U.S. Department of Labor at 670 233-0740.
ROTA HOTEL: PAY THE WORKERS NOW!
September 11, 2011
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| Workers of the Rota Hotel picketing on the road in a plea for help. |
How does the criminal management of the Rota Hotel get away with blatantly ripping off thirteen legal foreign workers? For a year I have written about the theft of employees' wages at this languishing hotel and casino. Employees have not been paid regularly since September 2010. Both local and federal officials were notified and they are completely informed of this egregious situation. In February 2010 the Rota DOL Office falsely claimed that the situation "had been taken care of".
Is there no local or federal agency in the CNMI capable of taking action to assist these workers to collect their back wages, and to prosecute these crooks? How do officials charged with enforcing the law stand by and allow this happen to workers and their families?
Mr. Kishimoto Watanabe, the president of the Rota Hotel and Casino, reported that all Rota Hotel workers resigned. According to the employees, "He is a liar." The employees were told not to report to work after months and months of working without pay because there are no hotel guests. But the employees at the hotel said that they suspect that the management does not want to process CW-1 visas for the employees.
The hotel is scheduled to re-open in September and the unpaid workers are demanding that they be paid before it opens. Can the business licensed be suspended until back wages are paid? Can Watanabe be charged with theft?
Management has strung these innocent employees along for a year with lies that their pay would be coming soon. Over the last year employees were given some partial pay while continuing to work. The hotel and casino owner, Mr. Watanabee has played the disappearing act since the financial failure of the business started. He is off-island in Japan most of the time reportedly trying to find tourists to gamble at the casino. (And the legislators think a casino will help Saipan?!)
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| Mayor Mendiola meeting with cheated workers of the Rota Hotel and Casino |
A former employee stated, "Upon hearing our demands, the mayor called immediately Kishimoto Watanabe who was on the island that time."
Also at the meeting was Rota Municipal Council Chair George Hocog.
According to employees, during the meeting the employees asked the manager of the Rota Hotel, Kishimoto Watanabee, to explain the unfair treatment of the hotel employees. Casino employees were given $ 400.00 a month allowance besides advances made to those casino employees who are taking vacations to Japan and Philippines, while the hotel employees received nothing. No explanation was given.
At the meeting the employees demanded payment in full. Kishimoto Watanabee proposed giving the employees 10% of the total unpaid salaries to be payable monthly. The employees still don’t know when will the next payment will be.
An employee stated that there was never a discussion about the employees resigning.
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| Unpaid Rota Hotel foreign workers appeal for help. |
There is a report that the business will re-open on September 15, 2011. Before re-opening the employees expect and deserve to receive the full amount of wages that were stolen from them.
Fear in the Shadow of Broken Lives and Dreams
September 11, 2011
With no response from Congress to the CNRA-mandated DOI report with recommendations to grant status to all of the CNMI's legal, long-term foreign resident workers, and the deadline for umbrella permits set to expire only months away, the words of Rudy Francisco couldn't ring more true.
Haidee V. Eugenio wrote a compelling article for the Saipan Tribune, Jobless foreign workers and caregivers prepare for worst. It puts a face on the issue of the plight of the CNMI's legal, long-term foreign resident workers. It relays the stories of foreign workers who lost their jobs due to the world-wide economic turn down that hit the CNMI especially hard.
Some are foreign workers with children who don't want to leave the only home that they now have. Some professionals are unsure why their employers have not applied for H-1 visas for them.
Others are domestic helpers that are hoping that they can find a manpower agency to hire them as a domestic helper or another employer.
The newly released CW-1rule states, "While the rule does not prohibit domestic workers from obtaining CW status, for their protection and for the legitimacy of the petition process, the rule reasonably requires that domestic workers be channeled through an established, legitimate business operation." Is there even such a business in existence?
Still others, perhaps thousands, like Rudy Francisco, have been waiting for years for the back pay that was stolen from them by unscrupulous employers. In Rudy's case his former employer owes him over $25,000. I met Rudy in 2007 and was stunned when I saw the amount owed to him that was documented by an administrative order. His former employer was not prosecuted. Imagine if a person robbed an employer of that amount. Surely, that criminal would be arrested, tried and serve time in jail. I cannot understand why the double standard is applied when an employer robs an employee. So few victims of the routine wage theft ever received justice or back pay. The U.S. Congress has the opportunity and responsibility to make every legal, long-term foreign resident worker who was a victim of abuse or wage theft while working on U.S. soil whole.
Over the last few weeks I have received mails and phone calls from foreign workers and family members of workers. They are employed foreign workers who fear that their employers won't pay the fees for a CW-1 permit. They are newly unemployed professional workers who have no U.S. citizen children, but have foreign-born children and are despondent over H.R. 1466, which unjustly excludes them.
One person who contacted me is a young adult who went to Saipan from the Philippines when he was eight years old with his foreign worker mother and father. He completed school and college there, and is now an unemployed licensed registered nurse who cannot get hired because he has an umbrella permit. He faces deportation and separation from his family if he cannot find an employer. He will return to the Philippines, a place he has not seen in 15 years and where he has no family. Where is the moral outrage?
We hope to bring the story of workers like those who have sent letters and emails to me, and those that Haidee documented in her articles to Washington, DC next month. Hopefully, there is a person in the U.S. Congress with a heart –someone who cannot live with himself or herself if immediate corrective and just action is not taken to protect these legal, long-term foreign resident workers and their families.
Those who argue that a "temporary" or "stop gap" status for only a few is better than advocating for "all or nothing", should consider how they would feel if they were among those who are purposely excluded from H.R. 1466. They may want to consider that H.R. 1466 may not be a "stop gap" bill at all, but may be the only bill to be introduced. No principled person who knows what is just and right will support something that is not.
Martin Luther King, Jr. didn't say, "Give us a couple of rights and we'll be happy to sacrifice the others that we deserve." Desmond Tutu never said, "Toss us a crumb and we'll be satisfied." Cesar Chavez did not say, "We reached one small victory, so now we can sit down and relax." The legal, long-term foreign resident workers need to rally and speak out in unison and request that the Congress grant all legal, long-term foreign resident workers permanent residency status.
Some Leaders' Views on the Final CNMI Transitional Worker Classification
September 9, 2011
The final rule prohibits individuals from hiring domestic helpers or "caregivers". It reads:
While the rule does not prohibit domestic workers from obtaining CW status, for their protection and for the legitimacy of the petition process, the rule reasonably requires that domestic workers be channeled through an established, legitimate business operation.Governor Fitial stated a proposed scheme where those individual employers of domestic helpers or caregivers could be licensed as a business to circumvent the final rule. From the Marianas Variety:
Because the regulation still does not allow individual residents to hire caregivers, Fitial said he would have to issue an executive order permitting those who are in dire need of such service to apply for a CNMI business license as sole proprietor so they can hire an alien for that purpose.
He said the new regulation still allow only these businesses to hire aliens as caregivers.
“My special legal counsel met with USCIS in Washington on Tuesday on this issue and other details of how the regulations will work. I have decided that I will soon issue an executive order permitting individuals to apply for a CNMI business license as a sole proprietor,” he said adding that this is permitted under CNMI law.
“I think it is the best way to accommodate our need for caregivers,” the governor said.If that is the case can any person get a CNMI business license to hire an unemployed foreign worker as a "caregiver", private chauffeur, butler, chamber maid or in any other capacity? I am certain that the rule did not intend this.
On the other hand, Congressman Gregorio (Kilili) Sablan's September 7, 2011 press release expressed "disappointment with transitional worker regulations because they do not help U.S. citizens who need jobs."
The press release continues:
“I am heartbroken thinking of people who need jobs to support their families. Yet they will continue to face competition for the few jobs we have from nonresidents who are often willing to work for less,” Sablan said.Several points should be made. Final rule or not, every qualified U.S. citizen in the CNMI has always had preference over foreign workers in the CNMI according to past and existing CNMI labor law. U.S. citizens in the CNMI could have filled the jobs that the foreign workers hold if the applicants qualified and had the training or skills needed to perform the jobs.
“I recognize that there is a need for U.S. citizen workers to be trained in the skills our businesses need; and I will continue to advocate for that training. But I cannot believe that the Department of Homeland Security would suggest that there is no need for a coherent program to implement the phase-out in the number of foreign workers in the Northern Marianas.
“The Consolidated Natural Resources Act mandates a reduction in our reliance on foreign workers and mandates a federal effort to fill the labor force with local workers. I am committed to this and will continue to fight to ensure that this ultimate goal is achieved,” Sablan added.
The final rule itself states that employers must consider all available U.S. workers for a position before hiring a foreign worker. Additionally, U.S. citizens have an advantage because hiring a U.S. citizen costs employers nothing in permits and fees, but hiring foreign workers require employers to pay fees including a $325 application fee and a $150 education fee. Furthermore, the education fee is to support education and training programs for U.S. citizens so they can eventual have the training and skills needed to replace the foreign workers.
As for nonresidents willing to work for less, we should look at who created the ridiculously low private sector wages and fought to keep minimum wage from increasing. Greedy business owners and politicians supported the laws that brought the foreign workers to the CNMI to make the citizens a minority in their land. They pushed for cheap foreign labor to fill their pockets, not caring that the private sector was made up of 80 to 90% foreign workers or the impact it would have.
The garment industry that was supposed to provide the "economic miracle" was built on a quicksand of cheap foreign labor, low wages and abusive treatment. This industry and these jobs were not created or intended for U.S. citizens who would not tolerate the conditions or the wages. The garment industry set the low standards for all private industry in the CNMI - low wages, poor treatment. A private sector which offers only meager wages, poor treatment, and one in which employers are allowed to violate labor laws with no consequences does not attract U.S. citizen workers. Until there is enforcement of local and federal labor laws and an adequate minimum wage, rule or no rule, U.S. citizens will not want to fill private sector jobs.
Through the work of Congressman George Miller and other reformists a minimum wage law was passed that would increase the CNMI's pathetically low minimum wage by $ .50 annually until it reached the U.S. minimum wage. In 2010 Congressman Sablan supported HANMI and the Saipan Chamber of Commerce's push to bypass minimum wage increases. He introduced an amendment to the minimum wage law that successfully blocked the CNMI's annual $. 50 increase for 2011, keeping the minimum wage at $5.05 an hour until another increase in 2012. It doesn't make sense to fight to keep the minimum wage low, while at the same time complaining that nonresidents are the only ones willing to work for the crappy wages that are no where close to a living wage even for them. (“I am heartbroken thinking of people who need jobs to support their families. Yet they will continue to face competition for the few jobs we have from nonresidents who are often willing to work for less,” Sablan said.)
Sablan said:
The regulations were expected to implement the phase-out, while still assuring enough nonresident workers to keep the economy going. Instead, the regulations permit 22,417 foreign workers, even though the Department of the Interior estimated in 2009 that there were only 16,258 foreign workers in the CNMI.The figure of 22, 417 was not pulled from thin air. In July 2008 Governor Fitial wrote a letter to DHS officials Richard C. Barth, Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Stewart A. Baker, Assistant Secretary for Policy, Office of Policy stating:
“It is difficult to interpret permits for an additional 6,159 workers as a phase-out,” said Sablan.
“There is nothing in these regulations to encourage businesses to begin replacing nonresident workers with U.S. citizens, which should really be the goal.”
Sablan said he would continue to encourage the Department of Homeland Security and local businesses to work together to reduce dependence on foreign workers.
...the Commonwealth is aware of the broad discretion given your Department by Congress in issuing permits to employers under the so-called CNMI Only Transitional Worker Program. The Commonwealth's limited population of United States citizens (about 30,000) has developed a substantial economy over the years only by enlarging its local workforce to include foreign national workers from many Asian countries, in particular China and the Philippines. The Commonwealth is currently enforcing the cap on foreign workers in the CNMI imposed by Public Law 110-229 effective as of its enactment on May 8, 2008. We have determined that 22,417 aliens were lawfully present in the CNMI who were entitled to work under various provisions of CNMI law.
The new law requires that all foreign national workers in the CNMI be repatriated or deported by the end of the transition period on December 31, 2014, unless they can qualify under federal immigration law (principally the H visa programs)that would enable them to continue to work in the Commonwealth. (The Secretary of Labor has the authority to extend this transition period based on consideration of factors set forth in the law.) We estimate that a very small percentage of these 22,417 foreign workers (certainly no higher than 10% and probably much smaller) will be able to qualify under generally applicable federal rules to remain in the CNMI. Accordingly, the Department has the assignment under the law to establish the pace at which the vast majority of our foreign workers will be subject to repatriation (or deportation)and the criteria to be used in deciding which specific workers will be removed in order to meet the statute's mandate that the number of such "transitional" workers be reduced to zero by the end of the transition period.This letter was also submitted as a comment to DHS. I could find no opposing comments. I am not sure if DOI or members of Congress coordinated with DHS to update them on present statistics and conditions. Regardless, the number is the ceiling, the maximum number of CW-1 visas that can be issued in a year and it is extremely unlikely that the number will be reached or needs to be reached.
There are very limited data available to assess the economic impact on the CNMI of such mandatory reductions in its workforce over the prescribed transition period from June 1, 2009 to December 31,2014. The only information presently available is contained in the draft report of the Government Accountability Office, which has been reviewed by many of your officials. Using a very limited methodology and working with unrealistic assumptions designed to lessen the economic impact,the GAO draft report predicted a very substantial adverse impact on the CNMI economy if most of the Commonwealth's foreign workers were removed over a period extending to the end of 2021. Using the same GAO methodology, an even greater adverse impact on the Commonwealth,would result if the Department of Labor granted no extension of the transition period or granted extensions on a different schedule than assumed by GAO.
Under these circumstances, the Commonwealth requests that the Department's regulations regarding the removal of foreign national workers from the CNMI should acknowledge the lack of an adequate factual foundation on which the Department could reasonably project the likely impact of its proposed reductions. We suggested to Mr. Timofeyev that the Department could reasonably conclude that no reductions should be enforced during the first two years of the transition program - from June 1, 2009 to May 31, 2011. This would provide time for GAO to complete the new report required under the law to be submitted to Congress no later than May 8, 2010. It would also enable Congress to reconsider the acknowledged need for more economic data for the Commonwealth reflected in the amendment to the Iraq War Supplemental Funding bill that was passed by the Senate but rejected by the House a few weeks ago, reportedly because it fell within the "domestic funding" provisions of the bill unacceptable to the President. From the Commonwealth's perspective, such a careful approach by DHS would minimize the risk of serious, and irretrievable, injury to its economy and its foreign workers, and would provide a meaningful opportunity to seek Congressional review of the law's provisions relating to the CNMI workforce.
While Congressman Sablan and others push for the removal of the foreign workers (even though they are legal and the CNMI is their home by virtue of their extended stay) they have failed to consider that a further reduction of the population will result in severe economic consequences. Federal funding depends on the population. The foreign workers are consumers and they generate jobs in both the private and public sector. Their exodus will result in a loss of teaching jobs, health care jobs, and other public sector jobs. Their exodus will also lead to the closure of businesses, which they patronize.
There are not enough local U.S. citizens to fill every private sector position that is held by a foreign worker, even if they had the skills and training and even if they wanted to work for insultingly low wages. I sincerely hope that those who want to eliminate foreign workers from skilled private sector jobs aren't entertaining the idea that U.S. citizens from the mainland would consider relocating to the distant CNMI to work in jobs as hairdressers, bookkeepers, carpenters, plumbers, strippers, health care providers, mechanics and similar professions that the legal, long-term foreign resident workers have held for years and decades. There is no incentive to live in a place with a crumbling infrastructure, a high cost of living and terrible wages that keep the majority of the population far below the poverty line. There is no draw to live in a place with the highest utility costs and the poorest health care system on U.S. soil. Combine that with political corruption that reaches into every public and private entity and the routine non-enforcement of labor violations and criminal offenses, and it is unlikely that the CNMI could possibly attract even a smidgeon of the U.S. citizens it would take to fill the positions that foreign workers hold and local U.S. citizens reject. Once the foreign workers depart from the CNMI, few could ever be lured back to risk being unappreciated and ill-treated again.
It makes much more sense to give the legal, long-term foreign workers who already hold the jobs, already are community members, and already call the CNMI their home, permanent residency status. This is the only solution that would provide economic and social stability for every person who calls the CNMI home.
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