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CNMI refutes federal govt’s claims
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Posted on Apr 08 2009
The 180-day delay to the start of the federalization law is more reason why the law’s labor provisions should be suspended, according to lawyers for the CNMI.
In a new brief filed in U.S District Court for the District of Columbia, lawyers for the Commonwealth dispute the federal government’s claims filed last week that the delay is reason to dismiss the CNMI’s motion to suspend the labor provisions in the law.
The Department of Homeland Security last week announced it was extending the start date of Public Law 110-229 from June 1 to Nov. 28. The law will extend U.S. immigrations laws to the Northern Mariana Islands.
CNMI lawyers argue in the four-page brief that the claim for relief is still ripe, and the law allows for no more delays to the start date.
Second, the Commonwealth’s principal harm “will occur on the effective date of the Act, and key planning decisions are being made now,” according to the brief. DHS must merely “consult” the governor on how to establish, administer and enforce a system for issuing permits to employers of nonimmigrant workers. Moreover, DHS will have sole discretion on determining which local businesses and to what extent it may employ foreign workers.
“Each of these imminent and mandatory requirements of the Act is irreconcilable with meaningful ‘local self-government’ as guaranteed by the Covenant,” lawyers for the CNMI wrote.
Lastly, the lawyers wrote, the requirements under the law cause irreparable harm because it violates the Commonwealth’s right to self-government.
“In addition, as the CNMI has demonstrated through its unrebutted evidence, the Act’s mandatory reduction of the number of nonimmigrant workers to zero already is causing effects on investment and business decisions in the Commonwealth, and the adverse economic consequences will only increase as this critical segment of the existing workforce and population of the CNMI is eliminated, as required by the Act,” the brief stated.
