Speech #1060031420

The record of the Northern Marianas. and the status of local legislation. will determine whether and on what terms federal laws should be extended. The action earlier this year by the Northern Marianas to lift the moratorium on entry permits for new workers is particularly troubling. There are legitimate questions concerning immigration and minimum wage. We should now have sufficient experience to assess whether the Marianas is capable of providing the preclearance for any persons who attempt to enter the Marianas. The Immigration Commission concluded that they are not capable of undertaking such prescreening and clearance because they do not have the resources of the federal government through the State Department. The United States routinely does prescreening in foreign countries as part of our visa process. The situation that I saw with the Bangladesh workers should never have happened and would not have happened had federal immigration laws and procedures been in place and enforced. Reports of other workers who arrive only to find no jobs would also never happen. A particularly troubling aspect of the current situation in the Northern Marianas is the level of unemployment among guest workers. There should be no unemployment among the guest workers. If there are no jobs. then the workers should not be present. These are legitimate immigration related issues. They do not necessarily lead to a federal takeover. but they are legitimate issues and it serves no purpose to distort history and pretend that the current situation was the goal of the Covenant negotiators. That does not make the Marianas corrupt. but if accurate. it points out that this Committee was correct when it stated that we would need to make changes in the immigration laws prior to termination of the Trusteeship so that they could be extended to the Marianas. The report of the Immigration Commission also raises legitimate questions about the availability of asylum and the lack of civil rights since the Marianas is using temporary workers for permanent jobs. thereby denying workers the rights they would have if admitted into the US with a right of residency. That needs to be addressed. The Commission also expresses some grave concerns over outright extension of the Immigration laws and questions the willingness or commitment of the INS to devote the personnel or resources to effective administration. While I fully expect the INS to support the Administration position in our hearings on this legislation. I also share that concern.