Fitial should drop lawsuit against federal government

Governor Benigno Fitial has filed a lawsuit against the federal government naming U.S. Department of Homeland Security as the primary defendant in the matter, due to unforeseen detrimental damages on the impact of a federal legislation U.S. Public law 110-229 affecting our economy. This we oppose and challenge for our government had been ignorant on the matter concerning our immigration and labor problems for over two decades.

We recently found out that Department of Homeland Security had implored and started using a new enforcement tool issuing Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act (CAFRA) notices to property owners whose properties have been identified as being used to facilitate smuggling or harboring aliens. This is an important tool because many employers turn a blind eye to the facilitation of criminal activity on their properties. We see a lot of this cases happening in our immigration and labor division to include some of our own people being involved internally and within the community such as illegal sham marriages, bogus employers, illegal sponsorships, illegal adoptions, and illegal activities concerning the abuse of public services to include federally funded public assistance.

In our opinion this system of law enforcement is highly effective. This is by far one of the most sophisticated and smart way to combat such illegal activities in our homeland. Currently we have the FBI, DEA, ATF, U.S. Marshall, and now Immigration and Customs Enforcement, made possible through an initiative called SBI, or Secure Border Initiative.

Created in March 2003, ICE is the largest investigative branch of DHS. The agency was created after 9/11, by combining the law enforcement arms of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service and the former U.S. Customs Service, to more effectively enforce our immigration and customs laws and to protect the United States against terrorist attacks.

ICE does this by targeting illegal immigrants: the people, money, and materials that support terrorism and other criminal activities. ICE is a key component of the DHS “layered defense” approach to protecting the nation. Focus on attacking the infrastructure that supports smuggling organizations as well as the assets that are derived from these criminal activities.

This might include seizing currency, property, weapons, and vehicles. Is this what Gov. Fitial is fighting against? After years of not correcting a flawed immigration and labor system they now want clarifications in our Covenant? What were they doing in the first place? The governor should drop this lawsuit for it is an embarrassment, especially when the argument is concerning SELF-GOVERNANCE, the very governance that left our local people behind by prioritizing nonresident workers. The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is a territory of the UNITED STATES, and we have a national security matter that needs to be prioritized.