I was attacked viciously here on FB by a particular loudmouth who will go unnamed, when I supported a delay in the implementation of the takeover of immigration here by the US. That included attacks for publicly supporting Kililis request for the 180 day delay. It wasnt that I was against the transition of immigration, it was that there were rules and processes that would have a grave effect on peoples lives and business, that were still not decided, and that because of this lack of clarity, no one had carried out any real public education. You cant educate the public on what you dont know yourself after all. I felt that the federal government had a responsibility to tie up every single loose end before implementing the takeover, and that Homeland Security/US Immigration had an obligation to provide for significant public education prior to the takeover. Neither of these were unreasonable. As it stood, no decision had been made on waivers for our Chinese and Russian visitors - and we lost tens of millions in revenue while Homeland Security spent many months making a decision on this. We had a large population of contract workers, Moms and Dads and in many cases their US citizen children - who had no idea what would happen to them 9and still dont), as no decision was made on what their status would be. We had businesses who wondered whether they were going to lose their employees of ten and twenty years. We had no clue whether foreign-owned businesses would be grandfathered. Etc. Etc. Etc. These things should have been determined prior to the implementation of US Immigration. They werent, and a great many people have suffered and continue to suffer for it. Ive been deeply troubled by what has happened to two good friends of ours. They are a couple who have been working in the CNMI for around 15 years. Their children were born here. They hold jobs that require specific technical skill. A Mom and a Dad and their kids, not unlike other families. Because we didnt see determinations on many of the issues that should have required determination prior to the takeover - this poor family has been torn apart for months. Immigration has given Moms employer a difficult time, requesting information not normally asked for, taking well more time than it took in the past for processing, so much time in fact, that in order to avoid overstaying, Mom had to leave the CNMI. So for many months, the kids have been without their Mom, while the husband now juggles everything and his job, tries to keep up with all of the bills on his single salary after having had to foot the expenses of the unexpected travel of his wife, and immigration continues to process the papers. It is not only downright ridiculous, it is inhumane and unbecoming of a supposedly decent society. Where are the comments of those who were all gung-ho about an immediate takeover now? They disappeared. Ive seen almost none of them commenting on the abject unpreparedness and the damage that immigration has wreaked and continues to wreak on a great many people here in the CNMI. That big-mouth certainly never reared his head again to address this or apologize to those whove been run over and sometimes run over repeatedly by US immigration. I havent seen any public calls to US Immigration from them insisting that the folks who were refused re-entry after taking a few days leave to go to the PI for their parents funeral or to get medical attention, be let back into the CNMI posthaste. No... they disappeared - on this issue at least. We should have, as a collective voice, told the US that until determinations on the status of non-residents, on the status of existing foreign-owned businesses, on the status of future investment thresholds, on the pay-scale for H visas, on the ability for contract workers to freely travel, on the status of Russian and Chinese (and other potential markets) VISA waivers, and until there was a local office that did a little more than just collections, that it was premature to proceed with the transition to US immigration. So you have a good woman, a career professional, who has contributed tremendously to the CNMI and its economy, who has kids born and raised here who have been waiting for their Moms return for months, still waiting for processing to be complete, so she can rejoin her family. This shouldnt have been the case. If you have been working here for 10 or 12 or 15 years, there should be no situation that requires you to jump through hoops every year in order to retain your job. There should be no situation that requires anyone with US citizen children to have to leave country for any amount of time, and at an enormous expense to them. There should be no situation that sees families separated in order to facilitate the processing of employment paperwork. These guys are either going to stay here and continue working through the end of the extension, or until there is a final determination on their status, or theyre not. They dont need to get beaten up repeatedly by US immigration along the way. (and by beaten up, I mean metaphorically)
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 01:19:36 +0000
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