The Federal Emergency Management Agency insists that foreign workers do not qualify for individual assistance but, in the scramble of thousands of applicants being processed, it seems that one did manage to fall through the cracks.<\/p>\n
A foreign worker on Saipan who holds a CNMI-only (CW) immigration status was able to receive financial assistance from FEMA even if he\/she does not have a U.S. citizen child who would have made him\/her qualified.<\/p>\n
According to the foreign worker, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity, he\/she went through the same process as everyone else and registered through FEMA\u2019s hotline during the first week of August.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018I\u2019m not a U.S. citizen but I\u2019m a contract worker here in Saipan,\u2019\u201d the foreign worker told Saipan Tribune, recalling the phone interview.<\/p>\n
They advised the worker to wait for the pamphlet as well as the inspection.<\/p>\n
More than 10 days after the inspection, the CW worker was able to receive an approval letter stating that they approved the worker\u2019s rental and property assistance worth almost $4,000.<\/p>\n
The foreign worker said s\/he was glad when the assistance arrived but just a day after, he\/she read in the newspapers that CWs are not eligible to receive FEMA assistance. He\/she immediately went back to FEMA\u2019s Disaster Recovery Center to ask what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked them, \u2018What will I do? Because I don\u2019t want to be in trouble with you guys in the long run,\u2019\u201d the foreign worker said.<\/p>\n
In the end, they told the worker to just hold on to the money for awhile.<\/p>\n
Asked for a comment on why a CW worker was able to receive assistance, FEMA\u2019s external affairs officer Veronica Verde said, \u201cThat\u2019s on a case-by-case [basis] as far as who receives FEMA assistance. I couldn\u2019t be able to answer your question.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that she couldn\u2019t verify what kind of assistance the foreign worker got but couldn\u2019t discuss the case due to privacy reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would have to really look into their case just to see what that was and why they qualified,\u201d Verde said.<\/p>\n
She pointed out that the foreign worker could have a child who is a U.S. citizen, which would then make him\/her qualified, but the worker told Saipan Tribune that he\/she doesn\u2019t have one.<\/p>\n
According to the foreign worker, he\/she just wants to know what to do with the money. If he\/she is asked to return it, the worker said he\/she would do so.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really can\u2019t do anything; it\u2019s their money. I would return it but that\u2019s sad,\u201d the foreign worker said.<\/p>\n
Verde said those who aren\u2019t eligible may be required to return funds.<\/p>\n
\u201cApplicants who received money for which they\u2019re not entitled to can be required to return it. Applicants who sign the declaration and release form stating they\u2019re eligible, while knowing that they\u2019re not will be committing fraud,\u201d Verde said.<\/p>\n
If there is any doubt on the part of the applicant, they can always call FEMA back, she added.<\/p>\n
When asked if they will be looking into their system to check on the ineligible ones that got assistance, Verde said that those who know of someone committing fraud may report it to FEMA.<\/p>\n
Register despite immigration status<\/strong><\/p>\n Though FEMA\u2019s assistance can only be provided to U.S. citizens, non-citizen nationals, and qualified aliens, the agency still encourages all those who suffered damage due to Soudelor to register regardless of their status.<\/p>\n \u201cEven if they\u2019re not eligible for FEMA assistance due to immigration status, they may be eligible from exempt programs such as assistance from volunteer agencies,\u201d Verde said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do want to encourage people [to register] because even if they are not, or if they don\u2019t have that immigration status that would qualify them for FEMA, we will refer them to other agencies for unmet needs,\u201d Verde added.<\/p>\n Regardless of worker classification or immigration status, all survivors are eligible for short-term, non-cash, in-kind emergency disaster relief programs such as assistance from voluntary agencies, FEMA Community Service Programs, such as Disaster Legal Services and Crisis Counseling, and emergency assistance, such as emergency food and water.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s much better to register. If applicants turn out to be ineligible, registering has cost them nothing but a very small amount of time,\u201d federal coordinating officer Stephen M. DeBlasio Sr. said.<\/p>\n Survivors are encouraged to apply for assistance by calling 800-621-3362 or (TTY) 800-462-7585. Online registration is also available at www.DisasterAssistance.gov.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Federal Emergency Management Agency insists that foreign workers do not qualify for individual assistance…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[118,6600,493,38],"class_list":["post-210327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","tag-cw","tag-disaster-recovery-center","tag-fema","tag-saipan-tribune"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210327","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\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210327\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}