Transcript
MARK RABAGO: They come up with these recommendations for the White House to address, President Obama specificaly and then it will be turned over to Trump. So the recommendations include restoring the Executive Branch's authority to extend the CW program with the US Department of Homeland Security, because under the law it is the legislature, the US House of Representatives and the Senate who would decide to extend the CW program. Recommendations also include extending the said CW program beyond 2019, I think they're asking for a ten year extension, as well as raising the cap to 18,000 foreign workers during that ten year extension. Another recommendation is finally providing permanent immigration status for long term guest workers. It also asks for considering immigration policies to address regional labour shortages in the CNMI and Guam because right now in Guam there's a military base expansion, the base are being moved to Guam so they really have a shortage of workers right now. And here in the CNMI Best Sunshine casino development, they're building a casino here on the central island and they are building several others around the island for 7.1 billion for the next 40 years so there's a lot of development and because of that economic activity there's a lot of businesses opening up so there is really a dearth of workers.
JO O'BRIEN: But what impact is the report going to have now that there is a new President in Washington?
MR: Well everybody knows that Trump is anti-immigration so it is our hope that the relationship between Governor Torres and Trump because Torres endorsed Trump and the delegation voted for Trump during the convention if they could hammer out a deal. So if they change the law and have the extension that means ten years and 18,000 workers that still has to be signed into law by President Trump. So it's really really critical that the vote favours the CNMI when Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan's bill which asks for some of these recommendations to be considered goes on the floor for voting.
JOB: And when is that going to happen?
MR: There's no calendar yet. He just filed the bill. Hopefully because I heard from the grapevine there's 4,000 non-resident workers who are expiring this year, before October I think most of them expire within the year so we need those 4,000 workers back.
JOB: But it's too early to say yet whether that bill will get through?
MR: It depends on a lot of factors. Last year before Congress ended it was able to hurdle the House with the help of Delegate Sablan and his allies but it died in the Senate because there was opposition. It seems as if any legislation that deals with immigration is basically killed in the Senate floor. So hopefully our friends in the House and the Senate will pass this and see how critical workers here in the CNMI, it's not like in the States, we're talking about legal workers here not illegal workers.
