{"id":294199,"date":"2019-02-20T06:01:04","date_gmt":"2019-02-19T20:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=294199"},"modified":"2019-02-20T06:01:04","modified_gmt":"2019-02-19T20:01:04","slug":"life-under-diverse-immigration-statuses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/life-under-diverse-immigration-statuses\/","title":{"rendered":"Life under diverse immigration statuses"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Angelina DeLemos, who was one of the few hundreds declared as CNMI Permanent Resident during the early days of the Commonwealth, now operates a dress shop on Beach Road. (Bea Cabrera)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ever since the CNMI opened its doors to foreign workers and business people, the islands have become a refuge for newcomers, carrying with them renewed hopes, dreams, and energy. Most of them found what they came here for and, for others, the circumstances exceeded expectations.<\/p>\n

Angeline DeLemos, a Filipino contract worker, arrived on Saipan in 1975 and has experienced what it\u2019s like to live on constantly shifting immigration grounds.<\/p>\n

She was recruited in the Philippines with three other workers by Herman Palacios, owner of The Place Restaurant back in the day. She arrived here on Feb. 4, 1975.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in my mid-20s when I left my family and country to come and work on Saipan,\u201d she said. \u201cOur contract was pretty regular as our work and vacation schedules were followed. I would work straight here and then\u2026go home for a vacation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Many years later, in 1982, from being a contract worker, DeLemos became a Northern Marianas resident.<\/p>\n

According to Antonio Sablan, former director of immigration under the Commonwealth, it was a status granted under the CNMI Permanent Resident Statute. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an immigration status or entitlement that provided CNMI permanent residency to non-U.S. citizens at the time the CNMI became a Commonwealth. This [status] was granted to Filipino, Japanese, Korean residents who were living here at the time, provided they met the requirements\u2026 it states that you are now a member of the community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was granted from the early years of the Commonwealth up until the \u2018federal takeover.\u2019 These people basically lived here as U.S. citizens in a sense that, under our immigration status, they can live, work in any company that they want, open a business they deemed fit and this exempts them from renewing their work permit every year,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Sablan said the spirit behind the CNMI Permanent Resident Statute was that the leaders back then recognized the long-term community contribution that these people rendered to the CNMI. \u201cSome of these people came here to work and some went into business and so it was our way to recognize the efforts and time of these people to help with the CNMI\u2019s progress,\u201d Sablan said. \u201c\u2026Legislative leaders enacted this law to make them a part of the community and to tell them that you are welcome in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis freed these people from having to apply for work permit every year because, with the permanent resident status, you don\u2019t need to go through the application process every year as they have been here a long time\u2026 Some of them were able to bring their children here as we also granted\u2026Immediate Relative status and some of them basically made the CNMI their home,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Now 71 years old, DeLemos said she still has her Northern Marianas resident card. \u201cThe government gave that to us in 1982\u2026During that time, it was the CNMI that was running and implementing their own immigration laws under the Commonwealth and not under U.S. federal law. \u2026As a resident, you can go back and forth from Manila to Saipan without document as our your I.D. was like a green card,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis new status gave me the opportunity to work in different companies\u2014Joeten, at the Hafadai Hotel, Intercontinental Inn, and eventually my late husband and I opened a construction and real estate business, which is still active until now and, on the side, I own the Ruth\u2019s Dress Shop along Beach Road. I remember I was one of about 100 Filipinos who were granted residency and I never took it for granted. I continued to work hard and was able to provide jobs,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The CNMI Permanent Resident Statute was akin to having a U.S green card. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis allowed residents to travel back and forth between the CNMI and Manila and work anywhere as they didn\u2019t need to go to the Department of Labor to secure a permit,\u201d said Sablan.<\/p>\n

He said some of the law\u2019s rules were patterned after the U.S. green card program. \u201cWe did that because we were basically under the U.S. Constitution and our immigration laws are patterned from the U.S.,\u201d Sablan said, who is now the Legislative Bureau chief.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is also true with enforcement\u2014how we detained and deported people, how you are supposed to extend due process to people. We enforced laws directly, like if any person wants to enter the CNMI and presents fraudulent documents, we put them back up on the airplane [and] we don\u2019t need to go to court for that,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

When U.S. Public Law 110-229 took effect in 2008, which extended U.S. federal immigration law to the Commonwealth, the CNMI Permanent Resident Statute was no longer in effect. <\/p>\n

It became an issue when U.S. immigration took over because the immigration status of these people was not recognized by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese people were in limbo,\u201d Sablan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe unfortunate part of the situation was that some of these long-term CNMI permanent residents did not have children here because they basically came here to work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It was only a fortunate turn of events that many of them gave birth to U.S. citizen children and these children were able to apply for a citizenship status for their parents, he added.<\/p>\n

DeLemos is one of those who started a family in the CNMI and became a U.S. citizen. She now travels back and forth to Manila, Guam, and the U.S. mainland. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have been here since 1975, which is more than half of my life and the CNMI is my home. \u2026When I first came here and even now, people are very nice. I was single, alone and just starting with life but I was always greeted by friendly locals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore, when a car passes by, you\u2019d know who was driving the car without even looking closely because people then were few on island. \u2026Those were also the times when you can catch fish on the reefs at (now) Fishing Base just by soaking a bucket in the water. \u2026If you forget your bag on the beach, nobody will take it. People invite you to their homes to eat together using their hands and sitting on the floor\u2014all good memories,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

From a contract worker to a CNMI permanent resident and now a U.S. citizen, DeLemos looks back at her life and says she would not change anything. \u201cThis is where I started and it is here where I was able to navigate my future. I did so many things that I never thought I could or would do,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaipan gave many of us Filipinos, Japanese, and Koreans a good opportunity at that time and will not forget the many things that the late governor Pete Tenorio did for us\u2026 I don\u2019t see much former CNMI permanent resident these days but I do think about them and hope they are well,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

To date, the CNMI, led by Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, is seeking similar opportunities or hoping for improved status for many qualified individuals who have lived and worked in the CNMI before federal law took over local immigration in 2010.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ever since the CNMI opened its doors to foreign workers and business people, the islands…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":294200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-294199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294199","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\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}