Dekada rallies for improved immigration status

Scores of nonresident workers assembled across the Horiguchi Building in Garapan as former Office of Insular Affairs director Allen Stayman and his fellow U.S. Senate staffer met with federal court chief judge Alex R. Munson.

Members and supporters of Dekada—many of them carrying placards—joined the rally to clamor for improved immigration status in the Commonwealth.

Some of them also carried placards to “welcome” Stayman, who was a vocal supporter of the federalization of the CNMI’s immigration and minimum wage policies during his stint with the OIA during the Clinton administration.

During Stayman’s tenure as OIA director, the U.S. Congress-created Commission on Immigration Reform recommended the grant of U.S. permanent residency to alien workers who would qualify under federal immigration law.

Stayman, however, refused to comment yesterday when asked about his position on the issue of granting U.S. permanent residency to qualified alien workers who have been in the CNMI for at least five years.

Fe Mamuya, a nonresident worker who claims that she has been living in the CNMI for 16 years, joined the assembly with her family, including her children who were born on Saipan and are natural-born American citizens. Her children carried a placard that read: “Give my parents resident status.”

“We support Dekada. Our efforts are aimed to improve our immigration status, as well as those of other contract workers,” Mamuya said.

Some of the protesters claimed that they have been living in the CNMI for nearly 20 years or more.

Dekada is a group of nonresident workers who want long-term residency status in the CNMI. The group wants to seek a congressional grant of U.S. permanent residency status to its members. Its membership has reached at least 3,000.

Although the group and its leaders—president Bonifacio Sagana and legal counsel Stephen Woodruff—failed to meet with Stayman at the Horiguchi premises, they said they would still try to meet with the former OIA director if the latter is willing.

“I think that he [Stayman] would be interested…concerned and get all the facts,” Woodruff said. “I think that the group [Dekada] made an important statement. But we still hope that we could sit down with Mr. Stayman even for 5-10 minutes.”

Stayman and other Senate staffers are on-island for a fact-finding mission on various issues affecting the CNMI.