On residency and citizenship
The question of granting residency and citizenship to alien workers here as expressed by the lt. governor would instantly wholesale the political future of the indigenous people beyond our wildest imaginings. It will eventually make the Chamorros and Carolinians minorities right here in paradise. Such a decision can’t be dictated by a single politician. It must emanate from the governance of these islands as their true expression or sentiment.
In a similar vein, Interior argues that the current set of circumstance disallows alien workers from the so-called “American” political process. It’s good rhetoric for academicians and immigration scholars. Perhaps Interior could explain to the governance how certain categories of foreign workers who work in US jurisdictions aren’t allowed to participate in the American political process. Its assertion sounds like towering rhetoric but vacuous at best.
From the outset of this relationship, it was never the intention of the founding fathers to encourage excess alien workers into the CNMI unless their specific services are needed. Had the founding fathers wanted residency and citizenship conferred to our guest workers, it would have been included under the Covenant Agreement.
But such was never their intention, therefore, its exclusion when the US Congress granted immigration authority and control to the CNMI.
The lt. governor must have overlooked the fact that even our brothers and sisters from the FSM are allowed free migration into any of the territories or state of the US as per the compact of free association. Control of immigration is solely the purview of the CNMI which, by its very nature, didn’t include a mechanism for conveyance of residency or citizenship. Such rights, however, can only be obtained in the 50 states of the union by applying for them.
We have no intention to fan the ugly faces of animosity among our friends from the FSM or guest workers. But such is the legal truth under the Covenant Agreement. Finally, we too observe your immigration and labor policies as visitors to familiar places such as the Rain Garden of Pohnpei, the pearly rock islands of Belau and our distant friends from the Republic of the Marshalls and neighboring Asian countries. We expect nothing less.
