The Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands is a dependent territory of the United States, which means that it is bound by U.S. federal law and legislation.  Since it became a Commonwealth of the United States in 1970, CNMI has handled its own immigration.  Recently, the United States has been pushing for CNMI immigration to be federalized, to the consternation of CNMI local government, through Senate Bill 1634 or House Bill 3079.  (See the Impunity Watch report here.)

CNMI governor Benigno Fitial and CNMI’s Washington Representative, Peter Tenorio, disagree over what should be done in the face of the proposed federal legislation.  Fitial told the Saipan Tribune that while the Covenant between the United States and CNMI does allow the United States Congress to apply U.S. immigration laws to CNMI, Congress is not authorized to “preempt all local labor laws and to allow a federal bureaucracy of five departments to make the critical decisions regarding our economic development, our workforce, and our community’s standard of living.”  He criticized Tenorio for failing to propose specific items to allow more local input in the proposed program’s administration.  Fitial said, “The real problem is that the Washington representative and I have different views about our own ability to govern ourselves.  He says we have made too many mistakes in the past so that we cannot be trusted to manage our immigration and labor laws.  I am disappointed that he has these views.  I do not share them.”

Tenorio views the problem differently, and is “disheartened” that Fitial characterizes his stance in that manner.  He says that he is trying to make the federalization of immigration work for CNMI, and that he has not given up.  Tenorio believes that CNMI’s own immigration laws are to blame for both the lack of economic development and the problem of what Tenorio has described as the outsourcing of CNMI’s own home to foreign workers.  Furthermore, he tells the Saipan Tribune, “The Fitial administration has made my job more difficult.  Its attitude, arrogance, gross misrepresentation of the bill, and its unfortunate treatment of those who are trying to help us in Washington are threatening the goodwill and dedication that members of the Senate Energy Committee and the House Natural Resources Committee have toward the CNMI.”  He added, “To the Governor, I say, I am not your problem and the federal government is not your problem.  The problem is the status quo.”

Fitial acknowledges some benefit to CNMI from the proposed legislation, namely that H.R. 3079 calls for a permanent CNMI non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives.  However, he has asked that it be separated from the rest of the bill and be considered first, on its own merits.  He maintains that the rest of the bill has negatively impacted the quality of life in CNMI already, and that he cannot support a federalization of CNMI’s immigration regulations.

Fitial and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs, David Cohen, exchanged press statements earlier this week, highlighting the frustration.  Fitial has accused Cohen of misusing statistics regarding human trafficking in CNMI, while Cohen stands by his statistical analysis.  Cohen said, “Rather than debating statistics, let’s all acknowledge the obvious: We have a problem here, and we should all work together to address it.  Reasonable people can disagree about whether federalization is the best way to deal with this problem.  We won’t be able to address the problem, however, until we are willing to acknowledge that the problem exists.”

Unlike Fitial, Tenorio has found Cohen to be a helpful ally in advocating for CNMI’s needs in Washington.  He believes that Cohen and other federal officials are aware of the requirements of the Covenant and are trying to be accommodating.

Please see also:
“Fitial nixes white flag”  Saipan Tribune (08 August 2007)
“Deal with the problem, not statistics”  Saipan Tribune (08 August 2007)
“It’s not about giving up but making federalization work for us”  Saipan Tribune (09 August 2007)
“Prioritize delegate to Congress”  Saipan Tribune (10 August 2007)