Congressional Hearing: Public Law 110-229 to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and Guam

Rose Villazor (SMU) let us know that there will be a congressional hearing later this morning, Tuesday, May 19, 2009, at 10:00 am EST, regarding the implementation of “Public Law 110-229 to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and Guam.”  Congress passed 110-229 last year to apply several provisions of the Immigration & Nationality Act to the CNMI. When the law officially becomes effective (currently is set for November 28, 2009), the CNMI will no longer have the authority to control its own immigration, which it has been able to do since it became a commonwealth in 1986. American Samoa is the only other jurisdiction within the U.S. that has the power to have local immigration regulation.

The main issue that will be discussed at the oversight hearing will be the Visa Waiver Program. There may be testimony, however, on whether long-term guest workers in the CNMI (mainly Filipino/a and Chinese) who have resided there for five years or more should be given special permanent immigration status.

The hearing will be held by the House Natural Resources Committee, Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife, led by Del. Madeleine Z. Bordallo (D-GU) and will be webcast live at: http://resourcescommittee.house.gov. The announcement can be found here.

Written testimonies will be accepted for ten days after the hearing.

 Professor Villazor is writing an article about the CNMI experience with local immigration regulation and the pitfalls and benefits of the conferral of such power.

KJ