Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Immigration in CNMI will be top of agenda for Sablan

Posted at 18:47 on 09 November, 2012 UTC

The re-elected Northern Marianas delegate to the US Congress, Gregorio Kilili Sablan, says the immigration status of long-term foreign workers in the Commonwealth will continue to be on his agenda.

He says this includes the reintroduction of what he calls a more fair version of HR 1466.

That measure seeks a grant of CNMI-only resident status to four groups of non-U.S. citizens on the islands, including foreign parents of minor US citizen children.

Mr Sablan, who won a landslide victory in Tuesday’s mid-term elections, says with a population of 53,000 the CNMI cannot afford to send away any more people.

HR 1466 would grant CNMI-only resident status to immediate relatives of U.S. citizens who have been in the territory since May 2008, CNMI permanent residents; those born in the CNMI between January 1974 and January 1978; and spouses, parents, or children of U.S. citizens under the Immigration and Nationality Act.