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10,000 OFWs in CNMI to benefit as US House OKs immigration bill


CAPITAL HILL, Saipan - The US House of Representatives passed on Tuesday in Washington, DC (Wednesday morning in Manila) an omnibus bill applying federal immigration law in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) which is seen to improve the immigration status of about 10,000 overseas Filipinos workers (OFWs) there. Majority of the House votes, 291-117, pushed for the passage of S. 2739 which will apply federal immigration law to the CNMI, as well as create a federal guest worker program, and will establish a non-voting CNMI delegate seat in the US House of Representatives. President George Bush is expected to sign S. 2739 within days or weeks. "For too long, abuses took place in the CNMI, and for too long, remedial legislation was held hostage in this body. Let this legislation bring forth a new dawn, a start of a new era, and with a Delegate to this body, let the voices of the people of the CNMI be heard," said US House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick J. Rahall (D-WV), a co-sponsor of the bill. Irene Tantiado, interim chair of the newly formed Coalition of United Guest Workers (CNMI), told GMANews.TV on Wednesday that a majority of the guest workers in Saipan were already expecting the bill’s passage. Tantiado, who has been in Saipan for 11 years, said the focus now should be on the promulgating rules and regulations to make sure that foreign workers in the CNMI will have better immigration status under a federal immigration system. "We are not losing hope that we will be able to get green cards which is a much better deal than the current CNMI law that's why we're still gathering more signatures for our petition to US Congress," she said. Once S. 2739 becomes a law, the CNMI ceases control of its own labor and immigration. The CNMI is the only US territory that controls its own labor and immigration. S. 2739 was introduced by US Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) on March 10. Options for foreign workers The Coalition of United Guest Workers (CNMI), a newly-formed group of foreign workers, is studying the four options for CNMI employers to hire foreign workers under S. 2739. The US Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of the US Congress, outlined these four options: 1. CNMI and Guam employers may petition foreign workers under federal nonimmigrant H visas without counting against numerical caps for H-1B and H-2B visas. Every year, only 66,000 H visas are issued for employers across the United States. Until 2014, the CNMI and Guam will be exempted from this quota. 2. Employers may acquire temporary CNMI-only nonimmigrant work permits. This option is available, during the transition period, for employers of foreign workers who are not eligible for H visas. 3. During the transition period, existing CNMI-government-approved foreign workers who are legally present in the CNMI under CNMI immigration laws on the effective date of the transition period are temporarily protected from deportation. 4. During and after the transition period, CNMI employers can petition for non immigrant status and employment-based permanent immigration status for workers under the same procedures as other US employers. Victory News of the US House's passage of the bill spread like wildfire in Saipan - from text messages to e-mails, blogs and just about everywhere Filipinos and other guest workers converge. 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. Sally Ramos, 40, who has been in the CNMI capital of Saipan for 11 years, said any immigration status that is better than the annual contract renewal given to them is most welcome. But Ramos, from Angandana, Isabela, said she won't be celebrating until the bill is signed into law. Virgin Islands Delegate Donna M. Christensen, a Democrat and chairwoman of the US House Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, praised the passage of S. 2739. She said the measure will "ensure that employers have the ability to fill jobs, continue vocational training to empower CNMI residents with skills needed to succeed in their economy, foster partnerships with neighboring Guam to diversify the region's economy, maintain adequate protections for the non-resident guest worker community, and strategically secure the Marianas archipelago." "Extending federal immigration law to the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas closes the guest worker loophole under which so many were held in modern slavery. The Constitution's guarantee of freedom must apply everywhere in the United States, no matter how remote," said House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr., (D-MI). Wendy Doromal, a US-based human rights advocate, congratulated everyone who supported S. 2739, saying the legislation "promotes social and political justice, human rights, and economic prosperity for all of the people who live and work in the CNMI." The chairman of the US House Committee on Education and Labor, George Miller, said they sought these changes so that they could put a stop to the abuse of workers in the garment and tourism industry in the CNMI and to better secure America's borders. - GMANews.TV
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