Teno: No to control of CNMI economy

Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio has expressed concern over key provisions of the legislation seeking to extend federal immigration laws to the Northern Marianas, saying these would lead to control of the island’s economy and its future by U.S. administrators hostile to the Commonwealth.

He maintained it would be impossible to get impartial assessment of the CNMI’s capability to handle its own immigration if White House officials will be given the sole discretion to determine whether the Immigration and Nationality Act will be applied here and how.

While generally opposed to the federal takeover measure, Tenorio outlined his objections on several provisions of S. 1052 in a 25-page testimony presented to Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee at Tuesday’s hearing in Washington D.C.

“We believe that S. 1052 would effectively place control over our economy in the hands of the Administration. This is completely contrary to the promise of self-government embodied in… the Covenant,” said the governor.

In particular, Tenorio questioned what he called fundamental problems in the one-year process of determining whether the CNMI has “institutional capability” or has shown “genuine commitment” to enforce an effective system of immigration control.

The proposal also does not have clear guidance of “minimum standards” with which to base decision to federalize CNMI’s immigration, but it will grant that power to the U.S. Attorney General who represents the Administration’s interests.

“We are concerned that the power to decide whether the CNMI meets the standards is given to the Administration,” Tenorio explained. “This Administration has already clearly decided that federal immigration laws should apply immediately.”

The absence of Congressional guidance also “severely undercuts any meaningful judicial review” which is provided in the bill as a matter of redress on CNMI’s part to contest the findings in court.

“Judicial review would become a review of a political decision, not a legal question. The first and final word rests with an agency clearly opposed to local control of immigration in the CNMI,” said the governor.

Economic collapse: Tenorio, however, linked the proposal to eventual collapse of the island’s economy largely dependent on foreign workers because the local population, including citizens from neighboring Micronesian islands, is simply not enough to fill jobs in the private sector.

The 10-year transition proposed to ease INA’s full implementation in the CNMI would likely not happen as the length of that grace period also rests entirely within the control of federal officials.

A provision allowing alien workers present at that time of the implementation to stay until their employment ends or within two years would lead to massive displacement one year after the transition begins as most contracts in the CNMI are on one-year basis.

Likewise, tourism and garment manufacturing industries, the island’s main economic backbone, would be crippled as they employ the bulk of foreign workers who, if the measure becomes law, won’t be eligible under INA’s category for temporary workers.

Although the proposal would permit hiring of alien workers for these sectors as well as other businesses subject to authority of the U.S. Secretary of Labor, there could be a decision to eliminate these in favor of INA-eligible workers.

These provisions “vest far too broad discretion in agencies hostile to the CNMI,” said Tenorio. “We believe that the Congressional intent to provide an orderly phased-in transition period could easily be subverted at enormous cost to the CNMI and the standard of living of its residents.”

A plan by the local government to create free trade zones in order to diversify its economy would stand at risk in view of the inability to provide the much-needed labor pool to potential investors, according to the governor.

“Notwithstanding the ten-year transition, we believe that application of all existing INA provisions to the CNMI, with no special consideration of the limited size of work force available under the INA, and with the total number of jobs in the entire economy, would have disastrous consequences,” he said.