Manglona: ‘Stateless’ is not a Covenant issue

Senate majority leader Paul M. Manglona expressed belief yesterday that the granting of U.S. citizenship to the so-called stateless persons “is not a Covenant issue.”

“There are groups who favored the resolution thinking that it’s a Covenant issue. I say, if there’s a Covenant issue, it’s the fact that the implementation of the section in our Covenant making us U.S. citizens in 1986 should be questioned,” he said.

The senator said that if the citizenship was granted effective immediately in the mid-70s, there would not be any question about the stateless individuals.

“It should have been applied years before 1986. If that’s the case, then we would not have this question about the stateless. It’s an area that the founding fathers didn’t anticipate,” said Manglona.

Manglona had opposed a Senate resolution that urges the U.S. government to appeal the decision of a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals favoring the granting of U.S. citizenship to CNMI stateless individuals.

Senate Resolution 14-09, introduced by Saipan senators Thomas Villagomez and Pete P. Reyes, described the ruling as “erroneous” and contrary to the provisions of section 301 of the CNMI-U.S. Covenant, which grants the citizenship only to “all persons born in the NMI who are citizens of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands on the day preceding the effective date…and who on that date are domiciled in the NMI or in the U.S. or any territory or possession thereof.”

The resolution argued that the stateless persons, who were born to nonresident parents, were not citizens of the TT government and are therefore not eligible to become citizens of the U.S.

Further, it cited that the Covenant, which establishes the CNMI’s political union with the United States, was specifically designed and negotiated by and between the citizens of the CNMI and the U.S.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision, it said, “is inconsistent and contrary to the preservation of [the] integrity of the Covenant.”

Senate legal counsel Michael Ernest, meanwhile, clarified yesterday that the resolution does not necessarily mean that senators are against the stateless individuals.

“They are not picking on the stateless persons. No, that’s not the issue here. As lawmakers, the senators adopted the resolution with the main purpose of upholding the provisions of the Covenant. They want to make sure that that the Covenant’s integrity is preserved,” said Ernest.

Senators believe that, by applying the Covenant, it is unequivocal that persons born between 1974 to 1986 who were not TT citizens, although domiciled in the NMI…”are ineligible to become citizens of the U.S. “

After adopting the resolution Wednesday, only Manglona openly stated that he was against it. Manglona said that voting for the resolution is actually going against the stateless individuals.

“The plaintiffs here are the stateless individuals in the CNMI who want to obtain U.S. citizenship,” he said, adding that these people have no means to defend their case in court.