The governor of the Northern Marianas has told a US congressional hearing that the CNMI is concerned by the slow pace of removal and deportation proceedings by U.S. Immigration.
Benigno Fitial says since the federal government took over local immigration last November, the number of foreigners illegally in the CNMI has not been reduced.
But US Immigration says the CNMI Department of Labor is the one delaying the process by not providing the additional information required to take action on any of these leads.
It says it has made repeated unsuccessful requests to the Labor Department for additional information about more than 500 cases.
