‘Asylum for displaced workers unlikely’

Washington Rep. Pete A. Tenorio is not worried that would-be displaced workers from the garment industry might seek asylum in the CNMI, noting that such status involves a complicated process.

Among others, asylum seekers need to prove they face persecution when they go back to their place of origin, he said.

“I don’t really worry about that simply because asylum requires a whole lot of different kinds of facts and information. The first to establish is whether a person is applying on the basis of persecution,” Tenorio said.

There have been fears that displaced garment workers, especially those from China, might apply for asylum to avoid going back to their country. This is in view of expected downsizing within the apparel industry amid the lifting of trade quotas worldwide.

Tenorio said that for displaced workers to seek asylum, they “would have to demonstrate that they have been persecuted in many different ways, from social [to] political. It’s not really that I don’t worry about it, but in dealing with that, there is a procedure.”

While there may be some who may qualify for asylum or refugee protection, “I see that many will be disqualified.”

“The problem with that is if they apply for asylum based on some facts which happen to be not factual, then they stand the possibility of getting deported. If persons are not telling the truth, they’d get deported,” he said.

Further, he said that even if people apply for asylum or refugee protection, they cannot go to the United States.

“They can’t go anywhere. We are covered by the treaty but when it comes to actually repatriating to the U.S. as bona fide asylum seekers, that’s not applicable here,” he said.

Tenorio reiterated that lawyers should be giving clients proper advice, not false hopes.

“They need to [be honest] because we don’t want people to be victimized. That would be another problem that Congress will look at,” he said, adding that giving wrong legal advice is an abuse of clients’ civil rights.

Regulations on the employment status of refugees are now being promulgated in accordance with Article 17 of the 1967 U.S. Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. As proposed, the regulation would reportedly give refugees in the Commonwealth employment status similar to that enjoyed by resident workers.

Last September, the Attorney General’s Office adopted regulations on persons seeking refugee protection. The regulations aim to implement Public Law 13-61, which requires the AGO to promulgate rules and regulations enforcing the U.N. Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees and the U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

The AGO had postponed the deportation proceedings of at least 10 people while the regulation was being processed.

Earlier reports said that between 10 and 20 people, mostly Chinese and one or two from Myanmar, wanted to avail themselves of refugee protection in the CNMI.