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DHS officials arrive tomorrow to discuss visa waiver, regs
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Posted on Jan 13 2009
Two groups of delegates from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will be on island beginning tomorrow to meet with members of the community to discuss the impending federal takeover of local immigration.
The first group is made of up representatives from the policy division, and is headed by Alex Hartman, who, as policy advisor at the DHS’ Office of Policy, is responsible for coordinating all policy initiatives between DHS and agencies to implement the new immigration law and the Guam-CNMI visa waiver program.
On Thursday the federal government is poised to announce regulations that will allow Chinese tourists—and possibly Russian tourists—to participate in group tourist travel to the CNMI and Guam, according to the Pacific Daily News, which quotes Jim Beighley, DFS Pacific division managing director. Beighley made the announcement yesterday morning on K57 radio. The implementation timeline would be approximately 12 to 18 months.
The officials in the second visiting group, including David Gulick of U.S. Customs and Border Protection; Walter Haith, Guam field office director for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; and Marie Sebrechts, the regional media director for DHS from California, will meet with community members in order to build working relationships.
Other officials include Richard F. Vigna, director of Field Operations, San Francisco, for U.S. Customs and Border Protection; Bruce Murley, Port Director for the area port of Honolulu, including the Hawaiian islands and Guam; and Amy Newman, Attorney Advisor for Immigration in the Office of the General Counsel of the DHS.
Both groups arrive on island tomorrow morning and will begin their visit by meeting with representatives from the business community at the Saipan Chamber of Commerce. Those in attendance will include officials from the Marianas Visitors Authority, Marianas Immigration Task Force, officers of the Chamber, the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands and the Strategic Economic Development Council.
On Friday the DHS officials will meet with members of the Legislature in the morning, before conducting a public meeting at 2pm at the Multi-Purpose Center.
