The government of the Northern Marianas has not adopted an official position on an initiative by a group of lawmakers calling for a review of the territory's political relationship with the United States.
The group has sponsored a bill to create a commission to look into the territory's relationship with the United States amid federal attempts to take over the local immigration system.
The governor's press secretary, Charles Reyes, says it does not have an official stance on the issue and emphasises there seems to be no consensus among the population.
"It is not clear, the administration has not taken an official position, and there is not a clear, strong support to break away from the United States. Now, there are just questions from different sections of the community, different interests, some people want to become closer to the US, some people want to break away from the US and be an independent republic. There are some of those supporters out there."
But Mr Reyes says it is clearly opposed to the federalisation of the immigration system.
