Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) commended Gov. Ralph DLG Torres and Rep. Angel Demapan (R-Saipan) yesterday for supporting another two-year extension of parole-in-place for immediate relatives of U.S. citizens and other persons not eligible for visas. Torres reportedly wrote Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen requesting the extension and Demapan introduced a joint resolution. <\/p>\n
\u201cI believe this is the first time that a governor or the Legislature has supported the parole-in-place policy in this way,\u201d Sablan said.<\/p>\n
Parole was first granted in November 2011 to cover people whom Sablan wanted to provide with a pathway to green cards. He had introduced legislation, H.R. 1466, to do this; and he asked U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to allow those people to remain legally in the Marianas while Congress considered the bill. He also made a pitch for parole when meeting with President Obama at the White House on Sept. 23 that year.<\/p>\n
The groups covered include the immediate relatives of persons granted lawful permanent resident status under Commonwealth immigration law, the spouses or parents of U.S. citizens, and so-called stateless individuals.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, people in the Fitial administration worked aggressively to kill H.R. 1466,\u201d Sablan said. \u201cBut I was able to convince USCIS to keep the parole-in-place policy alive. They renewed it for two years in 2012, 2014, and 2016, while President Obama was in office.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, the question is: how will the Trump administration handle this discretionary policy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sablan was also successful at getting USCIS to use its discretionary authority to grant humanitarian parole for in-home caregivers in the Marianas. The caregivers were another group that were permitted by Commonwealth immigration law but did not fit into the federal Commonwealth Only Transitional Worker (CW) requirements.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccording to USCIS, there are a little over 3,000 applications for this special parole status. About 1,300 have been approved,\u201d Sablan reports. \u201cBut the Trump administration has also already denied over 1,400 requests.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Obama administration was more generous in approvals of humanitarian parole.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the Obama administration, Sablan typically received a call from the USCIS director on or around Thanksgiving, letting him know that the parole policy would be continued for another two years. (PR)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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