United States Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) underscored the need for immigration reform in the Northern Marianas and a uniform national immigration policy during a Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing on S. 1052, the Northern Mariana Islands Covenant Implementation Act. Senator Akaka's opening statement follows:
Chairman Murkowski, thank you for scheduling today's hearing on legislation to reform the immigration practices of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. I welcome our witnesses, especially those who traveled long distances to testify.
Our chairman is a longstanding champion of CNMI reform. He is the only Senator in recent memory to visit the Commonwealth and witness the profound problems caused by their local immigration law. He introduced legislation in the 105th and the 106th Congress to correct immigration abuses. Chairman Murkowski is a man of the Pacific who understands the need for a CNMI immigration policy that reflects America values. I am honored to join him as a cosponsor of S. 1052.
Like planets circling the sun, there are many, many issues orbiting the core problem of immigration abuse in the Commonwealth. Most of these are extraneous issues that have little, if anything, to do with the immigration measure we are considering today.
For example, S. 1052 has nothing to do with "Made in America" labeling, minimum wage reform, or duty-free garments manufactured in the CNMI. These are serious concerns that are addressed in legislation pending before the Finance and HELP Committees. Our bill only corrects the underlying problem of immigration abuse in the Commonwealth.
Despite what you may read in the newspapers in recent weeks, today's hearing has nothing to do with over-zealous Federal employees, subpoenas, contempt citations, or violations of the Hatch Act. The bill before us speaks to the simple proposition that America is one country and we must have a single, uniform immigration policy.
In past hearings on the CNMI, the Federal government was placed on trial. Federal agencies were criticized for their enforcement of labor and civil rights laws. Some of that criticism may be well-founded, but none of it relates to the subject in S. 1052. Our bill is about one thing — immigration — and nothing else.
Concern about the CNMI's longstanding immigration problems have historically been bipartisan. The Reagan, Bush, and Clinton Administrations have consistently criticized the Commonwealth's immigration policies.
Bipartisan studies have also condemned CNMI immigration. The Commission on Immigration Reform called the system of immigration and indentured labor "antithetical to American values," and found that no democratic society has an immigration policy like the CNMI. "The closest equivalent is Kuwait," the Commission found.
The CNMI has also become an international embarrassment. The United States received complaints from the Phillippines, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh about immigration abuses and the treatment of workers.
Despite a 14 year effort by the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton Administrations to persuade the CNMI to correct these problems, the situation continues to deteriorate. After 14 years of waiting for the Commonwealth to implement reform, it is time for Congress to act. For example —
Twenty years ago, the CNMI had a population of 15,000 citizens and 2,000 alien workers. Today, the citizen population stands at 28,000.
During this same period, the alien worker population mushroomed to 42,000 – a 2,000 percent increase. More than three thousand of these alien workers are illegal aliens.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service reports that the CNMI has no reliable records of aliens entering the Commonwealth, how long they remain, and when, if ever, they depart. One CNMI official testified that they have "no effective control" over immigration in their island.
I don't represent the CNMI, but the Commonwealth is in Hawaii's backyard. I speak as a friend and neighbor when I say that conditions in the CNMI must change. The CNMI system of indentured immigrant labor is morally wrong, and violates basic democratic principles.
The CNMI shares the American flag, but it does not share our immigration system. When the Commonwealth became a territory of the United States, we allowed them to write their own immigration laws. After twenty years of experience, we know that the CNMI immigration experiment has failed.
Conditions in the CNMI prompt the question whether the United States should operate a unified system of immigration, or whether a U.S. territory should be allowed to establish laws in conflict with national immigration policy.
Common sense tells us that a unified system is the only answer. If Puerto Rico, or Hawaii, or Arizona, or Oklahoma could write their own immigration laws -- and give work visas to foreigners -- our national immigration system would be in chaos.
America is one country. We need a uniform immigration system, not one system for the 50 states and another system for one of our territories.
