Govt won’t renew TWAs

The Fitial administration will deport or repatriate guest workers who hold temporary work authorizations as part of efforts to stop the widespread illegal employment in the CNMI.

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial described this group of workers as “legitimate illegal workers.”

He said he does not have the exact number of these illegal workers but said there are more than 3,000 people with TWAs.

“There [are] more than 3,000 [of them]. Those are the legitimate illegals,” said Fitial during a news briefing Friday. “We are going to stop these illegal activities.”

While not exactly ruling out legitimate labor cases, Fitial said there have been TWA “abuses” such as filing of “spurious” complaints, which include grounds like “I don’t like my supervisor.”

He cited that there are workers who have been holding TWAs not temporarily but almost permanently—for years.

He said the previous estimate of illegal aliens was placed at about 2,000.

“There’s no official estimate but we have a lot more than before,” he said.

Non-renewal of TWAs

Fitial said the Department of Labor will not renew the existing TWAs, admitting that this has been an added burden to the cash-strapped government.

“We’re going to start not renewing them,” said the governor.

He said nonresidents with TWAs do not pay taxes.

The governor has instructed Labor Secretary Gil M. San Nicolas “to start working on the project so we can start trimming down.”

“I’ve asked the secretary to give me a list of how many TWAs will be deported this month, next month, and so forth,” he said.

He said those with “legitimate cases” will be heard but once resolved, they too will have to go. Legitimate cases refer to wages-related claims.

Fitial said the Labor Department focuses on wage claims.

“Labor cases only concern wages. Only wages. That’s what they’re zeroing in. Once resolved, they will also go,” said the governor.

“We have a severe economic challenge ahead of us. That’s why we have to do all these things that are very difficult,” he added.

This came following the arrest of 55 “illegal workers” found working last week in two garment factories: Rifu Apparel Corp. in As Lito and R&B Corp in Chalan Kanoa.

Agents from the Attorney General’s Investigative Unit, Immigration, and the Department of Public Safety raided both sites and rounded up 54 Chinese nationals and one Korean. Except for two, all are women.

Following a bail hearing, a $100 cash bail was imposed on each of the 50 respondents and $1,000 cash bail each on five others who were allegedly found to be overstaying tourists.