The governor of the Northern Marianas says while the CNMI welcomes the fiscal year 2013 funding of 1.9 million US dollars to offset costs associated with the hosting of Freely Associated States migrants, the amount is far below the actual costs.
The citizens concerned are from Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia's Pohnpei, Chuuk, Yap, and Kosrae.
The CNMI governor, Eloy Inos says based on the CNMI's calculation, the total cost to the territory of having these people is some 200 million dollars.
He expressed his view on the so-called Compact Impact agreement with the US comes after the matter was discussed at last week's Micronesian Chief Executives' Summit on Saipan.
Under the Compact Impact deal, citizens from the associated states may live and work in the US or its territories without a visa as lawful non-immigrants or habitual residents.
In exchange, these territories such as the CNMI and Guam are reimbursed for the expenses they incur in hosting them.
