It seems that certainly to the people of Guam that for military purposes we are treated very domestically. But apparently for fundraising purposes. we are quite foreign. The type of immigration control that Guam desires is not unusual in the context of territorial relations. In the past the National Government has designated territorial leaders to issue passports and administer other functions normally reserved for Federal agencies. and these are parts of the organic acts or the organizing acts for many territories. Today two territories control immigration locally. American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas. Our desire for immigration control is also consistent. we believe. with the national trend toward the shift of power from the National Government to local government. We on Guam strongly support and even accept and support existing U.S. statutes with respect to fair labor standards. the protection of workers rights. safety and health. and the U.S. minimum wage system. They have become inherent in the way we operate daily in our offices. in our businesses. in our commercial enterprises on Guam. What we seek is economic relief through the ability to procure workers on a temporary basis while continuing to administer these standards ourselves and not their abandonment. as some would suggest. We also want to rectify the negative social impact caused by existing Federal immigration law. Guam proposes a standarddriven process whereby the government of Guam will earn the gradual assumption of control congruent with its direct administration of these standards. This has been the tenets of the process of negotiation that we have had with the administration. not the kind of farfetched portrayal that has been made in the media.
Keywords matched
immigration