Chairman Murkowski, thank you for scheduling today's hearing and for introducing legislation to reform abuses in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Throughout my career in Congress, I have always been a good friend to our Pacific territories, including the Mariana Islands. Because the territories of the Pacific have no representation in the Senate, I listen to their concerns and champion their causes, just as I fight for the interests of the State of Hawaii.

At some time in our lives, we have all relied upon true friends to tell us when something is wrong and our behavior must change. This is such a moment. I am speaking as a friend of the Marianas when I say that the system of indentured immigrant labor that serves as the foundation of the CNMI economy is morally wrong, and violates the basic democratic principles of our nation.

The CNMI system must change. At today's hearing, the CNMI delegation has an opportunity to acknowledge the flaws in their system of immigration and indentured labor, and work with Congress to forge a new system that is consistent with American values. I urge the CNMI government to seize that opportunity.

The Commonwealth shares our American flag, but it does not share the American system of immigration. There is something fundamentally wrong with a CNMI immigration system that issues permits to recruiters, who in turn promise well-paying American jobs to foreigners in exchange for a $6,000 recruitment fee. When the workers arrive in Saipan, they find their recruiter has vanished and there are no jobs in sight. Hundreds of these destitute workers roam the streets of Saipan with little or no chance of employment and no hope of returning to their homeland.

The State Department has confirmed that the government of China is an active participant in the CNMI immigration system. There is something fundamentally wrong with an immigration system that allows the government of China to prohibit Chinese workers from exercising political or religious freedom while employed in United States.

Something is fundamentally wrong with a CNMI immigration system that issues entry permits for 12- and 13-year-old girls from the Philippines and other Asian nations, and allows their employers to use them for live sex shows and prostitution.

Finally, something is fundamentally wrong when a Chinese construction worker asks if he can sell one of his kidneys for enough money to return to China and escape the deplorable working conditions in the Commonwealth and the immigration system that brought him there.

There are voices in the CNMI telling us that the cases of worker abuse we keep hearing about are isolated examples, that the system is improving, and that worker abuse is a thing of the past. These are the same voices that reap the economic benefits of a system of indentured labor that enslaves thousands of foreign workers -- a system described in a bi-partisan study as "an unsustainable economic, social and political system that is antithetical to most American values."¹ There is overwhelming evidence that abuse in the CNMI occurs on a grand scale and the problems are far from isolated.

There is good reason to be skeptical of the willingness or ability of the Commonwealth to correct these abuses on its own. Despite clear warnings from the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations, conditions in the CNMI have grown steadily worse. Whenever the Commonwealth takes steps to correct abuses, that resolve soon disappears. Moratoriums on new garment factories are established, then abandoned. Labor reforms are enacted by the legislature, but repealed before they can be implemented. A numerical limit is established on guest worker permits, but the limit is ignored by the CNMI enforcement agency.

Mr. Chairman, the time has come to enact federal legislation to address these problems. I urge you to place S. 1275 on the agenda for our next markup.

¹Immigration and the CNMI," report of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, January 7, 1998, page 1.