CNMI spent $30 million for hosting FAS citizens

The Commonwealth is seeking a $28.8 million reimbursement from Washington for the services provided to migrants from the Freely Associated States such as education, medical and housing.

This was contained in a draft study conducted by the Department of Commerce on the impact of migration of citizens of Chuuk, Phonpei, Kosrae, Yap, Palau and the Marshall Islands, commonly referred to as FAS, for fiscal years 1997 and 1998.

Due to various constraints, the department was not able to include many other government agencies or institutions such as the Judicial System, in handling out all the court cases of the Micronesians or other government-subsidized autonomous agencies, such as the Northern Marianas College for low cost education or the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.

Signed in 1986, the Compact of Free Association between the FAS and the United States provides an open migration policy or unrestricted entry into the US mainland and its territories, including the CNMI and Guam, to Micronesian citizens.

It also provides reimbursement for expenses incurred by host territories for accommodating nationals from neighboring islands.

FAS citizens comprised only 4.89 percent of the CNMI population in 1997 and 4.43 percent of the total CNMI population in 1998. FAS population grew at an average annual growth rate of 9.08 from 1980 to 1995. Later, FAS population decreased at an average annual growth rate of 5.50 from 1995 to 1998.

Breakdown: FAS migrants ate up 23 percent of the Department of Public Safety’s $32 million combined budget for 1997 and 1998.

Based on the traffic violation cases, criminal cases, ambulance runs, and number of prison inmates, the FAS citizens used between an average of 22.72 percent and 23.61 percent of the DPS resources.

With DPS funding of $14.5 million in 1997 and $17.6 million in 1998, the total costs allocated to the FAS citizens are $3,294,296 in 1997 and $4,155,969 in 1998.

On education, the Public School System had a total enrollment of 8,658 students in 1997-1998 and 8,972 in 1998-1999. This means that FAS comprised 7.61 percent of the student body in 1997 and 7.75 percent in 1998.

According to the study made by PSS, total expenditure was $3,121,928 in 1997 and $3,177,244 in 1998.

The Department of Public Health wants a $14.5 million reimbursement. Total expenditures of the department were $7,056,690 or 18.35 percent of the total $38.4 million budget for 1997 and $7,468,402 or 18.82 percent of the total $39.6 million budget for 1998.

Breakdown of the expenses by DPH in 1997 is as follows: 17.9 percent of the $5.59 million budget for the hospital and the public health division; 8 percent of the $120,695 budget for the Division of Mental Health; 33.17 percent of the $707,458 budget of Referrals; and 17.77 percent of the $636,477 budget of Medicaid.

On youth related problems, FAS citizens used up 18 percent or a total of $324,903 from the combined budget of the Division of Youth Services amounting to $1,802,474 in fiscal years 1997 and 1998.

In 1997, FAS citizens formed 21.72 percent of all participants for 1997 and 15.34 percent of the participants in 1998. Total funding allocated to the FAS citizens for 1997 and 1998 were $163,996 and $160,907, respectively.

DYS offers assistance on all forms of child abuse and child neglect; domestic violence when children are involved; runaway/homeless youth cases; juvenile delinquency and those youths remanded for secured care and control of their own protection as well as of the community.

The CNMI Office of the Public Defender allocated 20 percent of its total budget to FAS citizens amounting to $1,146,351 for 1997 and 1998. Total amount spent on them was $100,504 in 1997 and $130,599 in 1998.

The Public Defender’s Office handled a total of 874 cases in 1997 and 1,150 in 1998. Out of these cases, 18.42 percent in 1997 and 21.74 percent in 1998 were for the FAS citizens.

This clearly shows that the percentage of FAS cases handled by the OPD was close to four times the percentage of the population of FAS citizens in the CNMI.