Citizenship for aliens or what?

The only question for the alien workforce is what will the final outcome be of the petition? I just signed the petition that is going around for the following reasons which I know are shared by many in the community. I don’t mean to be insensitive given what has happened in the Philippines but it must be said.

It is not fair or right to transfer over half of the future political voting power to the alien workforce with the stroke of the president’s pen. The political power of the CNMI was not intended for the alien workforce rule over nor did the alien workforce ask for citizenship or expect political power when they came here to work—so let’s be real about this.

I know for a fact that many, if not the majority of alien workers don’t give a darn about being a U.S. citizen as long as they can stay here even though it was understood up-front they couldn’t stay forever—keep it real.

I would like to believe that the alien work force will understand that we must start doing more to assure that our children will have good-paying jobs and political control of their future.

But locals and the alien workforce must walk a mile in each others’ shoes on this one to really know what we are up against and to really find an equitable solution.

With that being said, I think the best solution is for “permanent residency” to be granted to the alien workers deem essential by the CNMI government that will remain after 2014 deadline date. Those who remain can then get in line like everyone else to become a U.S. citizen. I view this as a compromise that will meet the expectations of locals, alien workers, and the feds on this issue, as many alien workers are a burden on the federal food subsidy program and health services. The challenge is can the people get our governor and delegate to get it done?

The U.S. Senate Bill S. 744, Section 2109 approving a pathway to citizenship is truly the talk of the island and for good reasons. It should have been discussed and even brought to the people before our leaders committed to such a provision. If we had a polling system this would have never happen as the people would have been polled but here we are again trying to fix something when it may be too late. I knew during the last election that this day was coming as I warned voters about how Kilili was helping the business sector but threatening local sovereignty—it is another I told you so but who really believes Mr. Bennett the outsider with an IQ of 139. It was also obvious after my letter giving the devastating numbers proving the voting power would shift to the alien workforce that everyone woke up and not one thank you to Mr. Bennett and his predictions that always come true!

How soon the governor and our delegate forget the purpose and intent of the alien workforce and now it seems the alien workforce might be U.S. citizens. Anyway, we will just have to wait and see what happens and I wouldn’t bet on locals or the alien workforce on this one as it is clearly out of our hands now and the only person in a position to fix it is our delegate. I pray that he can do something great and get this fixed because the people are definitely going to hold him accountable for letting this happen.

I do have a real solution to transitioning the workforce that I offered years ago but as usual no one listened but maybe now they will have too—the not-until-we-have-to attitude that’s killing us. I will be reasserting the research based and proven public service program that I tried to get PSS to adopt but was totally ignored.