Speech #1090172660

For 2005. it was reported that guest worker remittances to their home countries was well in excess of $100 million. These remittances are bleeding the community of wealth that is no longer available to buy goods and services. create jobs. and otherwise stimulate economic activity for the benefit of the community. The CNMIs labor and immigration policies also contribute to an unsustainable economy because they result in huge population growth rates which have overwhelmed the communitys infrastructure and services. Most of these new residents are very lowwage or nowage migrants who are a net drain on the economy. consuming more in public services than they contribute in taxes. As a result. water and power are rationed. sewage fouls the land. air. and water. and healthcare and education facilities are seriously overcrowded. Each year the economy struggles to support growing numbers of unemployed U.S. citizens. as well as thousands of nonworking alien and illegal alien residents. Finally. local labor and immigration policies contribute to an unsustainable economy because the resulting high crime and deteriorating infrastructure create disincentives to investment. Gone are the clean and open beaches and the reliable utilities and services that attracted new hotel and tourist investment 20 years ago. Instead. the CNMI has asked the Congress for a $140 million bailout to sustain an economic model that is fundamentally flawed. The fifth reason Federal legislative action is needed is to protect guest workers from abuse. Abuse of workers was the driving force behind congressional establishment of the FederalCNMI Initiative on Labor. Immigration. and Law Enforcement in 1994. Following establishment of this program. Interior Department investigations confirmed the allegations of outrageous abuses. from widespread and systematic cheating of workers out of ages. to improper confinement. to coerced abortions.