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Pinoys, HR advocates hail US Senate OK of bill federalizing CNMI immigration


CAPITAL HILL, Saipan – Filipinos, other foreign workers and human rights advocates are celebrating the US Senate’s approval of an omnibus bill that will apply US immigration laws to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), saying the passage of S. 2739 is a “significant victory" for those who have fought to end labor and human rights abuses in this 14-island chain in the Western Pacific. The CNMI, which is currently home to about 19,000 documented foreign workers mostly from the Philippines, is a US territory that controls its own labor and immigration. Under Title VII of S. 2739, the federal government would assume authority over CNMI immigration. S. 2739 will now go back to the US House of Representatives for routine concurrence. The House already unanimously passed a virtually identical bill and will likely be signed into law by President George Bush in the next couple of weeks, supporters say. S. 2739, introduced by US Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) on March 10, was passed by the US Senate at 3:50 p.m. on Thursday in Washington, D.C. (About 3:50 a.m. Friday, Manila time) by a vote of 91-4. US presidential candidates Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), John McCain (R-AZ), and Barrack Obama (D-IL) were among the five senators who did not vote. “Our prayers have been answered," Human Dignity Movement president Jerry Custodio told GMANews.TV shortly after the passage of the bill. “This will stop abuses and discrimination in the CNMI. I am thankful for the Almighty, human rights advocate Wendy Doromal, and many others who helped pass the bill," he said. Custodio, who hails from Tacloban, however, said that the struggle continues “although we are sure of victory," referring to an ongoing signature campaign petitioning the US Congress to grant a “permanent immigration status" to longtime guest workers in the CNMI. Filipino groups will be holding a thanksgiving Mass on Sunday for the bill’s passage. “We are also praying that President Bush sign it immediately," said Custodio, who has been working in the CNMI capital of Saipan for 10 years. Under Title VII of S. 2739, the federal government will take control of the CNMI's guest worker program in a year, although the start date can be delayed by six months. The special CNMI-only guest worker program is initially scheduled to be phased out by Dec. 31, 2014 but the phase-out period can be extended indefinitely for periods of up to five years as long as a need can be demonstrated. The CNMI will also be able to admit foreign workers under the same visas that apply to the rest of the U.S. During the transition period, the CNMI will not be subject to national caps on H-1B visas (for specialty or professional workers) or H-2B visas (for temporary nonagricultural workers). S. 2739 would not phase out foreign workers in the CNMI contrary to misinformation that has spread in the community. It would simply phase out, at the end of the transition period, the special CNMI-only guest worker program. Workers could still come to the CNMI under all US visa categories, and there may even be special CNMI-only visa categories added in the future. Wendy Doromal, a US-based human rights advocate who has been instrumental in getting the messages of CNMI guest workers heard in Washington, D.C., said the bill’s passage “is a significant victory for every advocate, every federal official, and every person who has fought to end labor and human rights abuses in the CNMI." “As an advocate who has worked on passing this legislation for almost two decades, I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the members of the US Congress, especially to the members of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the House Committee on Natural Resources, and their dedicated staff members. They devoted hundreds of hours of hard work, untiring perseverance, and self-less determination to see this issue resolved," she said. She also cited others have worked to institute meaningful reform in the CNMI since the 90s , including Dr. Eddie del Rosario, David Cohen, Danny Aranza, Phil Kaplan, Jess Varela, Global Survival Network, Sweatshop Watch, Filipino Coalition for Solidarity, Aloha Medical Mission, Filipino Community of Guam, and other federal and private agencies. “Not to mention, the numerous CNMI workers' groups, attorneys, and residents who supported and fought for federalization. Most importantly, the guest workers themselves who over the last couple year found their voices," she added. Doromal, however, said that there are still things to be done. “We still need to address the issue of federal permanent status for the long-term guest workers. I will be carrying the petition from the guest workers to Washington, D.C. that requests green card status for the legal CNMI long-term guest workers…It is time for the CNMI government to stop the fight and to start working in unity with the federal government to set the CNMI on a path towards prosperity; to work to unify all of the people who call the CNMI home," she added. The bill also says that within two years, the secretary of the US Department of the Interior, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security and the governor of the CNMI, must provide US Congress with a report that should include the secretary of the Interior's recommendations on whether guest workers should be permitted to apply for long-term status under US law. This provision has been giving hope to the guest workers in the CNMI, which is about three hours away from Manila. Anywhere on Saipan where Filipinos and other guest workers meet, the US Senate’s passage of the bill has been the only topic of conversations. Text messages about the federalization bill passage have since circulated early Friday morning on Saipan. Blogs have also been teeming with the latest action on the immigration bill. Like many guest workers here, Rick Brien, a 35-year-old Filipino graphics designer who has been on Saipan for eight years, said he’s happy about the federalization bill’s passage and is hoping that the bill will be signed by President Bush soon. “Lahat ng pinagdarasal ng mga contract workers – Filipinos, Bangladeshis, Chinese, Koreans -- ay unti-unti nang natutupad. Kung mabibigyan na ang mga guest workers ng green card o permanent residency, much better, at dito na ako titira ng pamilya ko," Brien, from Quezon City, told GMANews.TV. US Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the US House Education and Labor Committee who has sought reform of the laws governing the CNMI for more than 15 years, said the bill “end(s) the broken immigration system in the CNMI and help begin to restore human rights to individuals working there." “The Senate’s good work today marks the first time that both the House and Senate have approved legislation closing the legal loopholes that have allowed some of the poorest men and women in the world to be lured to the CNMI, abused, and exploited in sweatshops in this American territory," he said in a statement. He added, “For more than a decade, a lobbyist by the name of Jack Abramoff joined then-Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-TX) and others in Congress to block our reform efforts. We sought these changes so that we could put a stop to the well-documented and widespread abuse of poor men and women in the garment and tourism industry in the CNMI and to better secure America's borders. "Jack Abramoff is now in prison and Tom Delay has resigned in disgrace. Very few people would defend the status quo in the CNMI, which has done such damage to workers and their families over the years." Miller was also instrumental in the increase in the federal minimum wage that also applies to the CNMI. S. 2739 will also give CNMI voters the opportunity to elect a non-voting delegate to the US House of Representatives in November of this year and every two years thereafter. CNMI Governor Benigno R. Fitial has been opposed to the federalization of CNMI immigration. His administration has been telling members of the US Congress that the labor and immigration system in the CNMI has seen improvements that there no longer is a need to put it under federal control. Efforts in the past to extend US immigration laws to the CNMI failed in the Republican-controlled US Congress. When Democrats took control of Congress in January 2007, they made CNMI federalization a priority, citing continuous reports of slave labor, prostitution and human trafficking in the CNMI and limited rights for guest workers. - Haidee V. Eugenio, GMANews.TV
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