House of Representatives. The Interior labor ombudsmans responsibility was. and remains. to advocate on behalf alien workers. to give them a voice in the face of the inadequately funded and often indifferent local bureaucracy. Unfortunately. the 2006 ombudsmans report states that while there have been improvements in the treatment of guest workers. "There are still a number of serious problems that have yet to be effectively addressed by local government officials: ensuring the health and safety of alien workers. inadequate prevention efforts to curb labor abuses through periodic regulatory inspections. unacceptable delay in investigating and adjudicating worker complaints due to failure to allocate sufficient resources to the Department of Labor: difficulty rooting out corruption within the agencies tasked with regulating alien entry and work permitting. and an inability or unwillingness to prosecute repeat offenders." Mr. President. if. after 12 years of effort. the chief Federal labor official in the CNMI still finds such systemic problems in the local governments capabilities and commitment to stop the abuse of guest workers. then it is clearly time for Congress to enact reform legislation. Stopgap measures have only resulted in stopgap solutions.
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work permitting