SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands: The US will Saturday take over control of immigration in the Northern Mariana Islands despite protests about the impact on the Pacific territory’s economy.
The so-called federalization of immigration will go ahead following a US federal court ruling this week which threw out a bid by the Northern Marianas government to stop the move.

Federalization means the Northern Marianas will become subject to the same immigration laws as the US and administration of the system will be taken over by the United States Department of Homeland Security.

The move to bring immigration under Washington’s control followed reports of labor abuses in the 1990s and heightened security fears amid the US “war on terror.”

The Northern Marianas is heavily reliant on tourism and in recent years almost half of jobs in the territory were filled by foreign workers, particularly from the Philippines and China.

Northern Marianas Governor Benigno Fitial said Washington’s move to take over immigration ran counter to the agreement under which the territory—officially a commonwealth in political union with the US—is self-governed.

Fitial has repeatedly said federalization would restrict access to foreign labor and tourists for the territory of about 89,000 people.

“The Federal government cannot severely restrict our access to foreign labor, foreign capital, and foreign students and tourists without causing major economic hardship for our islands,” he said earlier this year.
Under US federal control, visitors from most countries will have to obtain US visas to enter the Northern Marianas.

But visitors from key markets such as Japan, South Korea, China and Russia, will be exempt from the need for visas.

Fitial’s government won a small victory this week when the court stopped the United States government from implementing from Saturday a requirement that the territory’s foreign workers obtain a visa before being able to re-enter the Northern Marianas.

Under transition rules, foreign workers will be able to stay in the Northern Marianas until 2014, when they will have to obtain US entry permits.

Thousands of foreign—mostly Chinese—workers used to work in garment factories in the Northern Marianas but most of the factories have closed in recent years because of increasing competition from cheaper manufacturers.

AFP