I'm posting this article out of personal interest since I have lived and worked here on the island of Saipan in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,
Where America's day begins, for the past six months. I find that most Americans have no idea that this twelve-mile-long/five-mile-wide piece of U.S. sovereign territory even exit - unless they heard of if either from an old World War II movie or from the Jack Abramhoff/Tom Delay scandal. I'm working for a bankrupt public hospital run by an even more bankrupt government. Materials are in very short supply and pay and benefits (which are way below the American average) are frequently delayed. Nonetheless, in spite of all its problems The Marianas are truly one of the most beautiful places on the face of the earth and are utterly tranquil, serene and relaxing. The cars even stop to let the dogs cross the street. Simultaneously, the Islands feel like America, Asia and the Pacific Islands all at the same time. Simultaneously, the place feels like the first world and the third world at the same time. I really do love it here in spite of its many, many problems. I thought this article when read in its entirely is fair and balanced.
Monday, December 05, 2011 12:00AM By David Cohen
For the few Americans who have heard of the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, it is most likely because of the Abramoff scandal. It has been over a decade since Abramoff last lobbied on behalf of the CNMI government, and the intervening years have not been kind to the islands. The CNMI is in the throes of a man-made social and economic disaster that serves as a cautionary tale about the unintended consequences of guest-worker policies and the minimum wage. The guest workers of the CNMI now face a November 27 deadline that may force thousands of them to leave the only home many of them have known for their adult lives — and take their U.S. citizen children with them.
When the Northern Marianas became a U.S. territory in 1978, it was granted important — but revocable — exemptions from federal law. Exempted from federal immigration law, the CNMI could import as many guest workers as it wanted. Another exemption allowed garment factories to employ the guest workers — mostly from China— for well below the U.S. minimum wage. The CNMI’s status as a U.S. territory allowed the factories to ship their garments to the mainland duty-free — with the “Made in the USA” label.
snip:
Some say that guest workers who have lost their jobs should just go home. But many of them have devoted their entire adult lives to supplying the skills needed to build the CNMI economy. As their contracts were renewed year after year, the CNMI became their de facto permanent homeland — but one in which they, as perpetually “temporary” workers, could never have political rights. Many of them have minor children — U.S. citizens by birth — who know no other home. It seems cruel to pack these American children off to alien third-world countries to live off of the third-world wages their parents would earn there. If there is no work for these families in the CNMI, why not grant them U.S. permanent residency so they can find opportunities elsewhere in America? As bad as our economy is, surely we can find room for a few thousand workers whose skills and work ethic have proven indispensable to building up a small corner of our country.
Many indigenous islanders in the CNMI oppose granting permanent status to the guest workers. They have legitimate concerns about losing political control of their islands. But with jobs scarce in the CNMI, most guest workers will leave. For those who stay, the old rules — work here, stay here, raise families here, but don’t ever, ever expect to have a say in how your own community is governed — can no longer be defended. Those who favor a guest-worker program for the nation should carefully study the CNMI.
To say that the CNMI offers a “cautionary tale” doesn’t do it justice. It’s more like a cautionary library, well stocked with miscalculations, ironies, unintended consequences and reminders that we should be careful what we wish for. The local islanders originally fought to control their own immigration because they were afraid of being overrun by outsiders. They did end up getting overrun by outsiders — precisely because they were granted control of their own immigration. Most guest workers hailed the federalization of wages and immigration, but many have now lost their jobs — and may soon lose their legal status — as a result.
David Cohen was President George W. Bush’s Special Representative to the Northern Mariana Islands and served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior from 2002 to 2008.David Cohen was President George W. Bush’s Special Representative to the Northern Mariana Islands and served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior from 2002 to 2008.David Cohen was President George W. Bush’s Special Representative to the Northern Mariana Islands and served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior from 2002 to 2008. read article in full:
http://www.mvariety.com/2011120442207/editorials-columns/opinion-the-forgotten-workers-of-abramoffs-islands-42207.php
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