Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan\u2019s bill proposing a CNMI-only resident status for four groups of people now heads to the full U.S. House of Representatives for voting following the Natural Resources Committee\u2019s approval on Wednesday, a development hailed by many in the community.<\/p>\n
During markup, the committee agreed by unanimous consent to send Sablan\u2019s H.R. 1466 to the House floor for passage.<\/p>\n
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial hopes, however, that the full body \u201cwill reject the legislation,\u201d said press secretary Angel Demapan. <\/p>\n
Fitial testified against Sablan\u2019s H.R. 1466 in July in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough it has received the nod of the committee, the governor is hopeful that the full body will reject the legislation in consideration of the concerns of the local government and the indigenous community,\u201d Demapan said.<\/p>\n
Sablan, in a phone interview after the House committee\u2019s passage of HR 1466, said \u201cit\u2019s still a long way\u201d but the committee passage of the measure is a good start.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think this bill will become law before Nov. 27 but today\u2019s action by the committee was important. It now moves forward,\u201d Sablan said.<\/p>\n
HR 1466 still has to be passed by the full U.S. House of Representatives and then by the U.S. Senate before it gets to President Barack Obama for action.<\/p>\n
As of yesterday, Sablan said there\u2019s no telling when the U.S. House will vote on his bill. \u201cLike I said, it\u2019s still a long way. I will continue to work on this.\u201d <\/p>\n
HR 1466 would allow persons born in the Northern Marianas between 1974 and 1978, persons given permanent resident status under CNMI law, and their family members to continue to live and work in the Marianas. <\/p>\n
The bill also permits immediate family members of U.S. citizens to remain in the Marianas until they can adjust their status under U.S. immigration law.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly persons who entered the Northern Marianas legally and remain legally present qualify under the bill. No amnesty is provided anyone who does not have legal status,\u201d Sablan said in a separate statement.<\/p>\n
Sablan said the committee markup started at 10am Wednesday in Washington, D.C. but HR 1466 wasn\u2019t approved until about 4pm.<\/p>\n
John Imperial, 35, said he\u2019s happy that the committee approved Sablan\u2019s bill. \u201cIt\u2019s giving us renewed hope. I hope that the U.S. Congress will pass it too,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Imperial, a nonresident cook on Saipan for 20 years, is one of thousands of immediate relatives of U.S. citizens in the CNMI covered by Sablan\u2019s bill. He said his four children are between 2 and 14 years old.<\/p>\n
He said while his employer will file a petition for a Commonwealth-only worker status for him, he said there\u2019s still no guarantee that his job won\u2019t be given to a qualified U.S. worker.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I won\u2019t let my family broken apart. If I lose my job by Nov. 27 and I have to go home, I will bring all my children with me. Sablan\u2019s bill is a good one because it will help many, but if it won\u2019t become law by Nov. 27, a lot of those it could help may already lose their status and leave the CNMI,\u201d Imperial said.<\/p>\n
Malou Berueco, a guest worker advocate, said HR 1466\u2019s committee passage \u201cis one step forward\u201d and hopes for its passage by the full Congress.<\/p>\n
She said when she attended a recent peaceful rally of U.S citizen children with nonresident parents, she realized that HR1466 \u201cdoesn\u2019t intend to protect the guest workers who are parents of the U.S. citizen children, but rather, was created and introduced to protect these children.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease don\u2019t break these children\u2019s dream of living and studying in CNMI with their parents with them, nor try to make them choose between staying here in CNMI without their parents or live with them in a place they never considered home\u2026 They [children] want to stay here simply because CNMI is the only place they call home,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
HR 1466 proposes a \u201cCNMI-only resident status\u201d for these four groups:<\/p>\n
1. Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens as of May 8, 2008 and continuing to be on the islands;<\/p>\n
2. CNMI permanent residents; <\/p>\n
3. Those born in the CNMI between Jan. 1, 1974 and Jan. 9, 1978; and <\/p>\n
4. The spouses or children, \u201cas defined in section 101(b)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(b)(1)), of an alien described in subclauses (I) or (II).\u201d<\/p>\n
Senate Vice President Jude Hofschneider (R-Tinian), chairman of the Committee on Federal Relations and Independent Agencies, said he\u2019s glad that the committee approved the CNMI delegate\u2019s HR 1466 and is now headed to the full House for voting.<\/p>\n
Hofschneider said while he\u2019d rather see Congress act on the CNMI Senate\u2019s recommendation to grant long-term workers in the CNMI a status similar to those granted to Freely Associated States citizens, Sablan\u2019s bill is a \u201cgood start.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bonifacio Sagana, president of Dekada Movement, said he\u2019s thankful for the committee passage of HR 1466 to keep families intact.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s important is that students with foreign parents will be protected by their parents. Most of these students are honor students. While I wish improved status for all, I can\u2019t ignore the needs of children,\u201d Sagana said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan\u2019s bill proposing a CNMI-only resident status for four groups of people now heads to the full U.S. House of Representatives for voting following the Natural Resources Committee\u2019s approval on Wednesday, a development hailed by many in the community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155664\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}