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2 Immigration officers quit posts
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Posted on Mar 09 2009
Two Immigration officers recently resigned from the already understaffed CNMI Division of Immigration, according to its director, Melvin Grey.
“I lost two this month. Two people quit this month. I know there are others that are looking [for new jobs],” Grey told Saipan Tribune.
He said one of those who resigned is still on the island, while the other went to the U.S. mainland.
The official said one was an Immigration officer for about a year, while the second had already been with local Immigration for a couple of years.
Grey said their office has been understaffed from the beginning, but their numbers keep going down.
“We get some temporary appointments. We can’t do permanent hires. And people uncertain of their future, no matter if they are recent hires or got 15 or 20 years in, everybody is looking at what’s going to happen on June 1st,” he pointed out.
Grey earlier stated that the morale of the local Immigration staff is down because they are scheduled to be out of jobs by June 1 when the federal government takes over the division.
“It’s not like they are hoping [to get absorbed]. It’s like we’re out of jobs June 1st. So they are really hurting…what’s their recourse? They are U.S. citizens working in their own country and the federal government put them out of jobs,” he said.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection had already posted job announcements for Customs and Border Protection Officer Field Operations, listing the CNMI as a duty location.
Thirty-seven CNMI Immigration employees will reportedly be automatically eliminated from consideration because of the 37-year-old age cutoff.
Because of such hiring qualification criteria, less than 20 local immigration officers may qualify.
As of December, the CNMI had 72 Immigration employees, including three at the U.S. Passport’s Office.
The Legislature has passed a joint resolution asking the U.S. Department Homeland Security to ensure that local Immigration employees and U.S. citizens in the CNMI be given priority when hiring in the CNMI.
