Prioritize the hiring of local Immigration agents—House

The House on Friday unanimously passed a joint resolution that asks the U.S. Department Homeland Security to ensure that local Immigration employees and U.S. citizens in the Commonwealth be given priority when hiring in the CNMI.

The lawmakers made minor amendments to the wordings before voting for the passage of the resolution, which was introduced by Rep. Diego Benavente and co-signed by seven other representatives.

Rep. David M. Apatang said there is nothing wrong with the resolution as the House is only asking for consideration in the federal government’s hiring decisions.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection has already posted job announcements for Customs and Border Protection Officer Field Operations, listing the CNMI as a duty location.

The requirements and procedures in place for hiring under this job announcement, the resolution says, appear to be inconsistent with the mandate of Public Law 110-229 (federalization law) as they do not give any priority consideration to local Immigration employees.

Thirty-seven CNMI Immigration employees will reportedly be automatically eliminated from consideration because of the 37-year-old age cutoff.

The resolution requests Delegate-elect Gregorio Sablan to communicate with the Department of Homeland Security to seek priority hiring considerations for CNMI Immigration employees and U.S. citizens and national applicants for jobs relating to the federalization of local immigration.

The lawmakers sought for a waiver of the 37-year-old age limitation and removal of the physical testing and training requirements for current CNMI immigration employees.

Immigration Director Melvin Grey told Saipan Tribune last October that the Homeland Security has already announced the hiring of customs and field operation officers who will be stationed in the CNMI, but there is no special consideration to make local immigration officers a priority.

Grey said that, because of the hiring qualification criteria, less than 20 of local immigration officers may quality.

He noted that one of the criteria is that persons cannot occupy a law enforcement position in the federal government if they are 37 years old or older.

The CNMI has 72 Immigration employees, including three at the U.S. Passport’s Office.