Unheard No More!: November 2011

REFLECT UPON THIS...

"Never under any condition should this nation look at an immigrant as primarily a labor unit. He should always be looked at primarily as a future citizen."
-Theodore Roosevelt, 1917

"It is not possible to be in favor of justice for some people and not be in favor of justice for all people."
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Isaona i tumungo’ ya ha sedi, ki ayo i mismo umisagui hao.
Greater is the fault of he who allows the injustice upon himself. "
-Chamorro proverb

"There can be no tyrants where there are no slaves."
-Jose Rizal

"I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights." -Bishop Desmond Tutu

Foreign Worker News

November 29, 2011

Unemployed Aliens
It seems that some people who usually disagree on most things are in agreement on one thing in the debate about status for the legal foreign workers of the CNMI. They agree that unemployed foreign workers should not be kept in the CNMI. While some, including Governor Fitial, suggest that they must depart to their places of origin, others recognize that they must first be paid the thousands of dollars in back wages that is owed to them. Senate staffer Allen Stayman stated this on KSPN News last evening saying that the cheated foreign workers should be made whole before being repatriation is considered.

The workers are owed more than just back wages; many are also owed tax rebates and some still have not received long overdue stimulus checks from the CNMI Government. They need to be paid all of the money that is owed to them before anyone suggests repatriation, removal or deportation.

The governor wants all unemployed aliens to leave the CNMI. He doesn't care if they have a U.S. citizen child who needs them, if they are owed wages or CNMI tax rebates, if they have humanitarian concerns, or if they have worked in the CNMI for decades and have no other "home" to return to. The decision of USCIS to allow certain categories of aliens covered in Sablan's bill, HR 1466, to apply for parole seems to have enraged the heartless governor. The bill itself does not address the unemployment of aliens or the fact that some of the immediate relatives of U.S. citizens and other categories of alien that are covered by the bill are currently unemployed. It is just an attempt to keep 1/4 of the total number of legal, long-term foreign workers, those with U.S. citizen relatives, in the CNMI until they become permanent residents after being petitioned by their U.S. citizen relatives or after five years of hanging on with or without employment.

The fact that a bill would permit unemployed aliens who do not qualify for food stamps, welfare or any local assistance of any kind to try to survive until permanent residency status is established is not compassionate or humane. How would chaining the foreign workers that are covered by the bill to the CNMI by restricting their travel as HR 1466 proposes to do, help the CNMI economy or the foreign workers? The U.S. Congress should grant all of the legal, long-term foreign workers permanent residency status; insist that all of the legal, long-term foreign workers are paid their back wages, stimulus and rebate checks; and set them free. Free to stay in the CNMI if they have jobs, free to return to their home countries if they so desire, or free to leave to the U.S. to find jobs or open up their own businesses if they are unable to find employment in the CNMI.

More Money Please
Yesterday USCIS regional director David Gulick met with the governor, some CNMI legislators and members of the CNMI Strategic Economic Development Council. The Council is made up of Fitial cronies, and wealthy business owners.

Apparently Gulick stuck to an agenda of discussing the guest worker CW petitions and parole during the meeting. He stated that any person who would be eligible for parole would probably not be able to be employed for four months.

The CNMI officials are now asking for federal funds to help “offset problems with unemployed aliens.” Rep. Ray Palacios who was arrested for trafficking methamphetamine (ice) last month is out on bail and attended the meeting. He wants money from the U.S. government for jobless aliens to "make a big difference in this economy."

The Saipan Tribune quoted the lawmaker:

Palacios said if USCIS will allow jobless nonresidents to stay here for another year, the federal government might as well provide the commonwealth with a Compact-Impact-like funding.

Such funding, he added, will help the CNMI government “carry these burdens.”

What burden? The CNMI has no programs that assist any aliens in need. If any federal money is going to be given to "carry a burden" shouldn't the federal government give it directly to the workers rather than to the CNMI government? The CNMI government has never helped the foreign workers who live far below the federal poverty level. There are no local welfare programs and aliens do not qualify for federal programs such as food stamps or medicaid.

It was also revealed that as of November 23rd only about 2,700 foreign workers have been petitioned by employers for CW visas. This is less than 20 percent of the total estimated 16,000 foreign workers. This is incredibly unsettling.

Governor Fitial again ignorantly called HR 1466 an “amnesty bill.” The proposed legislation only addresses the foreign workers who already can be petitioned by their immediate relatives now or in the future when their U.S. citizen children turn 21 and it excludes 3/4 of the legal, long-term foreign workers who do not have a U.S. citizen child or spouse. How is that amnesty?

Inflated or Just Good Business?

November 28, 2011

Say you own a small hotel on Saipan. For 25 years you have had a front desk clerk who speaks fluent Tagalog, English, Japanese and Chinese. She is a foreign worker from the Philippines. Your clerk is the first one to arrive every day and the last one to leave every evening. She been sick only a few times in the 25 years that she has been with you. She is personable, friendly and remembers the guests' names. In fact, you are sure that she plays a part in some of the guests returning year after year. She knows not just her job, but every job in the hotel. She has made some suggestions that have improved the business. She is reliable, dependable and more than just an employee; she is like a family member.

The federal guest worker program kicks in. U.S. citizens can apply for her position that you must advertise. Your advertisement lists all of the qualifications that your current foreign worker possesses, because you do not want less in a front desk clerk. A couple U.S. citizens apply, but they don't even possess 1/10 of the professional qualities that your current foreign worker has. You complete the paperwork to keep her because she is the only one that met your requirements.

Some CNMI politicians and officials are angry because they claim that you inflated the experience that applicants must have to qualify for the position. You feel that you are not "inflating" the experience. As an astute business owner, you do not want to fire your best employee to hire a less qualified and less experienced one just because he/she is a U.S. citizen. Your ad reflected her experience and qualifications because you know what the ingredients for a successful business have been.

Who decides what is "inflated" qualifications? Who can dictate what qualifications a business owner can advertise? Isn't it every employer's right to create their own ad that reflect their particular business needs?

I guess it is easy to tell business owners who they should hire and what their ads should look like when your money and your company's reputation are not on the line. It must be easy to make allegations that employers are inflating job qualifications, but it seems that an employer who has employed someone for years, even decades, has the right to keep that person or at least advertise for one who has their experience, skills and talent.

After decades of bringing in foreign workers to fill jobs that U.S. citizens did not want or lacked the skills to do, it seems unreasonable to expect that business will fire all of their loyal and talented employees just to hire a U.S. citizen who is less qualified.

The Marianas Variety quoted Congressman Sablan:

Sablan said there is a business establishment on island that sells products he loves, but he refuses to spend a dime there because it has not been hiring U.S. workers for positions that are now available.

He declined to identify this establishment.

“If they want to invest in the future of their businesses then they should invest in U.S. eligible workers because eventually we will have no eligible [foreign] workers [soon],” he said.

Sablan at the same time said he does not expect USCIS to approve 22,000 CW visas in light of the declining local economy.

“That is something that I need to discuss further with the Department of Homeland Security. Because [the number of foreign workers] needs to zero out gradually. Our understanding is that there may be a continuous need for some foreign workers but obviously we also need to start encouraging the employment of U.S eligible workers here,” he said.

Advocates expected the number of foreign workers to go to zero in 2011 because we expected that the U.S. Congress would act on the DOI Report in 2010 and grant permanent residency status to all of the legal, long-term foreign workers. That was the plan that some officials suggested. It would have allowed the unemployed foreign workers (and even some with jobs) the freedom to leave to the United States to seek employment. That is the plan that would have opened jobs for U.S. citizens. It still can be if we can find a champion to introduce the legislation. And yes, I believe such a bill would pass. We are not talking about 11M undocumented aliens, but 16,000 legal, long-term foreign workers. The only obstacle is the refusal of the Delegate to endorse the legislation.

Today I found a like-minded person who responded to this issue. "The Watcher" left several honest comments on the Marianas Variety website:

Kilili,

You make it sound so simple. We are not talking about businesses bringing in "new" foreign workers. You are muddying the water and trying to skirt the issue. We are talking about workers who have been on Saipan for 20 years, sometimes working with the same company.

Aside from their institutional knowledge of the company they work with, is it so hard for you to believe that the company owners, other co-workers may have come to depend on that person and even more than than come to love that person as you would any employee that has worked with you for so long?

You are married to a person who as once not a US Citizens so is the Governor and many others (including the teacher). How can you rationalize such double standards. Is it that only "you" can love a person and allow them to stay in the CNMI but no one else (especially a business) can not?

These are people not just UNITS OF DAMN LABOR!!! Kilili, what about your tales of the 20+ year worker that lived next to you that you spoke of when you were on the campaign trail!

And this one:

Where was all this "US Citizen only hiring" over the past 30 years while the CNMI was in full control over immigration and labor?

Where was the fight against bringing in tens of thousands of foreign workers?

That's right, at the time CNMI officials were reaping the benefits of the locally controlled immigration system. They were collecting the full fees, taking the under the table fees, or using the power they held over foreign workers to their advantage.

What is different now? The US has the control and the CNMI no longer has it. So what is the Governor and Kilili's plan now? "No need for foreign workers and send the long term workers home!"

CNMI officials got fat off the fees paid by foreign workers and the services rendered by them. All fine and dandy when they were holding the leash. So sickening!!!!

And this one:

How long must one person reside in a place for that place to become their home? I met many people who live in Saipan and have resided there for more than half of their life. Is it far fetched to believe that they now consider Saipan "home"?

What we can DO as a community is support permanent residency status and a pathway to citizenship for long term workers. What we can DO is oppose the racist statements and inhumane treatment that is being promoted by Fitial and Kilili! What we can DO is speak out and act out against it!

Not collect back wages and send them to a place that they NO LONGER CONSIDER home!

Watcher, who are you? I agree with you 100%.

A Message To The Foreign Workers of the CNMI

November 27, 1011

Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future, and the future is ours.” –Cesar Chavez

Sometimes a person opens a door to risk becoming a part of the scene happening outside of their comfortable, safe world. One step outside becomes a walk. The walk is joined by a few people and it turns into an excursion. The excursion is joined by many people and it transforms to a march. The march spans continents and it grows to a decades-long journey. I am so fortunate to have been able to travel for many years alongside people that I love and admire –the CNMI foreign workers who are my dear friends and family members. Our journey is not over. It will not end until justice is achieved and true reform is realized.

Each and every foreign worker should stand proud for the immeasurable, and valuable contributions to the entire CNMI community. You should also take the time to reflect upon and celebrate the heroic efforts that you have demonstrated in the long and difficult journey in pursuit of basic rights, justice and equality.

The quest will not end on the stroke of midnight tonight. The mission must continue until the last foreign worker receives justice. I will stand by your side until the guest worker program is reformed to replace the turnstile system with one that regards foreign workers as future citizens, rather than as disposable commodities. We must continue the journey until every foreign worker who lives and works in the CNMI is treated with dignity, respect, and fairness.

Some officials have suggested that I should focus on the law rather than on the fact that there is a humanitarian crisis in the CNMI. I say that the focus must be on both. Bureaucrats and officials may feel comfortable viewing issues from political, legal or statistical perspective. Yet, it is not moral, just or wise to exclude the human element from an issue such as the urgent plight of the CNMI's legal, long-term foreign workers. I challenge all members of the U.S. Congress and every official who is responsible for determining policies and laws that will impact the lives of the foreign workers to open their hearts, as well as their minds. They must not just consider only the economic and political interests of the CNMI, but they must also determine what is in the best interest of the foreign workers who have become the CNMI's de facto citizens.

With federalization, we expected reform, justice and the implementation of a democratic system that would benefit employees and employers while providing economic stability to the CNMI. We expected a system where foreign workers would be afforded the dignity that they deserve and the respect that they have earned. We expected improved status for all of the legal, long-term foreign workers. Though still in its infancy, we have seen no restoration or preservation of human dignity under the federal transitional guest worker program. Perhaps it needs a little more time, but we must never accept a federal guest worker program where a U.S. label has simply been slapped on the broken CNMI guest worker program.

At the Unity March in December 2007, I delivered a message to all of the foreign workers and I made a promise that I renew today: “Social justice and true reform cannot be achieved merely through legislation. It will be achieved through changing people’s hearts, through speaking out, and through education. Never stop speaking out for your rights. Speak out and stand firm for justice and for political rights for yourselves and your children. I stand united with you always.”

A look back at the journey: