Events are moving quickly and the various players are staking out negotiating points, red lines and strategies as the 110th Congress considers new legislation to extend US labor, immigration and custom laws to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a US Territory in the Western Pacific about 40 miles north of Guam.
A couple of weeks ago, the Senate’s Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing on the CNMI. Earlier I posted CNMI Hearing Report #1 and CNMI Hearing Report #2.
A decades old economic system on the CNMI, one rooted in the hidden shadows of global trade (human trafficking, sweatshops, forced prostitution, money laundering, drug smuggling, gun running and the like), is about to be forced to change and clean up its act.
Some are hopeful. Some are fearful. And the old guard Pirates of Saipan are preparing for one more effort to block reform.
It is time to stop them...
Back in the day, the Pirates of Saipan were a unified bunch. The coalition was made up of:
- Jack Abramoff and his network of lobbyists,
- Tom DeLay and the Republican Congress,
- George W. Bush and his Republican Administration,
- Willie Tan, his family and their business interests on the CNMI,
- The CNMI government,
- The CNMI Chamber of Commerce,
- The CNMI representative in Washington, and
- The Old Guard ruling elites among the indigenous peoples of the CNMI.
Together they worked common interests of greed, power and control to maintain an economic system at odds with American values and security as well as being harmful to both the indigenous population of the CNMI and the tens of thousands of guest workers imported to the Marianas Islands to toil in the shadows of the global economy.
The abuse should have ended way back in 1992 when it was already obvious that it was a corrupt and odious system. Instead, there were negotiations and studies that allowed the abuse to continue.
Then it looked like the abuse would end in 1994 or 1995, but it did not. As Jack Abramoff recalled in a 2001 letter to a CNMI Governor Pedro P. Tenorio:
In 1995, the situation looked bleak. A Senate bill to eliminate the minimum wage and immigration authorities granted the CNMI Covenant had been approved by the U.S. Senate. Similar legislation was introduced in the House, and both bills enjoyed the full support of the Clinton Administration. Congress and the White House were extremely close to abrogating the Covenant, imposing federal control on local activities, and, as a result, destroying the CNMI’s economy.
Our team was hired in 1995 and immediately turned the tide.
Jack turned the tide alright. Working with Newt Gingrich, Tom DeLay and the Republican Congress he pulled the disparate groups with various agendas into a coalition of Pirates to ensure that any and all efforts to extend US laws and justice to the CNMI would be blocked.
Like all things related to the modern Republican Party, the effort to block reform was based on a lie. Jack and the Pirates of Saipan created the fiction that the CNMI Covenant guaranteed local control of labor, immigration and custom laws for the CNMI.
Ambassador Hadyn Williams was the lead US Negotiator for the Covenant. He testified at the 2-8-07 Hearing about what the Covenant negotiations had to say about CNMI control of immigration and other US laws (emphasis added):
My message is a simple one. It is time for the Congress to take a critical across-the-board look at the current situation in the CNMI in the best interests of the citizens of the CNMI and the broader interests of the U.S. This Committee is aware that the CNMI today is in dire straits and has turned to Washington for help. In your CNMI oversight hearings, I believe, Mr. Chairman, that it is in everyone's interest to focus in particular on the CNMI's immigration policies and the control of its borders.
In addressing this matter a brief look back at the Covenant negotiations may be useful -- to remember the times, the context and the spirit in which the talks were conducted -- namely the long held desire of the NMI to become a permanent part of America. The two preeminent issues were, U.S. sovereignty, and the rights to internal self-government. Once these two matters were agreed to in principle, the negotiations turned to other questions including what Federal laws would apply to the new Commonwealth.
The Marianas delegation was especially concerned about U.S. immigration laws. They were worried about their island culture, their Chamorro and Carolinian heritage being overwhelmed by an influx from Asia. They wanted protection from this happening, and also from the threat of war refugees entering the NMI from South East Asia. They proposed that immigration control be in their hands to enable them to restrict the numbers entering the NMI.
The U.S. could not accept this proposal, but agreed that in a transition period before the end of the Trusteeship and the coming into force of U.S. sovereignty, the new Commonwealth would be given transitional responsibility for immigration. Under Section 503 of the Covenant, Congress retained the ultimate authority to make U.S. immigration laws applicable to the CNMI following termination of the Trusteeship. It was anticipated at the time, that such action would be taken quickly, given the known attitude of some leading key members of Congress on the immigration question regarding territories.
When the Covenant was approved, it was expected that the Trusteeship would come to an end in a couple of years, once the Compacts of Free Association with the other Districts were concluded. But those negotiations lingered on and on. Instead of two, it was 10 years before final U.N. Security Council action terminated the Trusteeship for the Marianas. This far longer than expected interim period enabled largely non-indigenous entrepreneurs to take advantage of the Covenant's trade privileges, and its wage and immigration exemptions to establish their presence in the CNMI, and to begin the importation of large numbers of low-paid alien workers for their enterprises.
It was during this transition period that local political and interested business opposition to any Federal implementation of section 503 became institutionalized. It was committed to blocking, with the help of hired Washington lobbyists, any Federal action on minimum wages and immigration.
The subsequent story of the serious social, economic, and environmental impact of the CNMI's labor and immigration policies over the past 30 years on the life in the CNMI, the consequences of encouraging a population growth of some 500 percent, and turning the indigenous citizens of the Commonwealth into a small minority, has been well documented.
Three Administrations, beginning with President Reagan, have all voiced deep concern over these developments. This Committee too has recognized the need for remedial action. In 2000, the CNMI Covenant Implementation Act, authored by Senators Murkowski and Akaka, called for the extension of U.S. immigration laws to the CNMI with proper transitional measures and exemptions. The Act was passed unanimously by the Senate. Regretfully, this Senate initiative died in the House without even a hearing, for reasons that are now well known.
That reason was the Abramoff-DeLay partnership with the Tan Family and the old guard elites of the CNMI.
And that alliance has worked to block reform even after the fall of Abramoff and DeLay, but the times they are a changing and the Pirates of Saipan Coalition is showing signs of strain.
First, the 110th Congress approved an increase to the Minimum Wage. Negotiation with the GOP center on tax cuts for businesses and it looks like a final Bill will be passed and signed by somebody squatting at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (say, when can we evict that guy...). With DeLay and Abramoff gone, the influence of the Pirates of Saipan in Washington is weak. Nobody has gone to bat for them to block extending the minimum wage to the CNMI.
Only the craziest, hard-core Pirates believe they have a chance to stop the minimum wage. Most accept it as a coming fact of life or are trying to negotiate new exemptions to the law in future legislation.
The same split is becoming apparent around the extension of US immigration law to the rogue Territory. The 2000, CNMI Covenant Implementation Act, also known as The Murkowski Bill is forming the base of the new legislative effort. (Here is a PDF of the Bill, S. 1052 as it was sent to die in Tom DeLay’s House). Much of the 2-8-07 hearing solicited information and comments about how to improve the Legislation. Later this week, Alan Stayman of the Senate’s Committee on Energy and Natural Resources staff will travel to the CNMI with Josh Johnson, a fellow staffer and Stephen Sander from the DOI’s Office of Insular Affairs. They will be holding meetings and collecting more detailsto aide the development of legislation:
In view of a possible implementation of federal labor and immigration system in the CNMI, visiting congressional staff Allen Stayman aims to discuss necessary policies for "considerations" with local groups.
In an email sent this week to key government and business leaders in the CNMI, the former Office of Insular Affairs director said he wants local input on "the current fiscal and population crisis," local labor and immigration policies "that need to be considered," among others. [snip]
Stayman's email identified seven areas of discussion with local groups during the visit:
- Assuring proper border control;
- NMI workforce needs with preference for permanent residents;
- Assuring continuation of existing alien-owned businesses;
- Protecting the indigenous community;
- Protecting guest workers and other aliens from exploitation;
- Assuring customers' access to the CNMI; and
- Assuring a sustainable socio- economic model.
The hand writing is on the wall for all to see. Change is coming.
It is filling some with hope as reported in the 2-23-07 edition of the Marianas Variety:
A GROUP of foreign workers are preparing a welcome rally for the two senior staff members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources who are scheduled to arrive on island this weekend. [snip]
Members of the Human Dignity Act Movement and Dekada, two separate groups of migrant workers pushing for the federalization of local minimum wage and immigration laws, said they will hold a welcome rally for the staffers on Feb. 25 at 3 p.m. at American Memorial Park. [snip]
"The Human Dignity Act Movement and Dekada would like to invite all Filipino organizations and alien workers to join the welcome rally," they said in a joint announcement.
"This is a fact-finding mission for the proposed bill seeking to extend federal minimum wage and immigration laws in the CNMI," they added.
And in a sign of wear and tear on the Pirates of Saipan, the paper reported:
But Speaker Oscar M. Babauta, Covenant-Saipan, said the two Senate staff members will not be here for a fact-finding mission.
"They are coming come here on a post-hearing mission. We will be meeting with them on Feb. 27 to relate our concerns," Babauta told Variety in an interview.
But of course the Saipan Tribune contradicted Babauta:
A congressional fact-finding team led by former Office of Insular Affairs director Allen Stayman will meet with a group of long-staying nonresident workers in the CNMI during their visit this weekend.
The paper detailed some of the meetings the Stayman fact-finding team would have:
In a statement issued yesterday, OIA field representative Jeff Schorr confirmed that Stayman's team is set to meet with "Dekada organization leadership" on Sunday, Feb. 25. [snip]
Stayman has communicated directly with Dekada based on an e-mail obtained by the Saipan Tribune.
"I work for the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, which has jurisdiction over matters regarding the U.S. territories. I am interested in learning more about your organization. Can you please tell me how many members you have and what your organization’s goal is? [snip]
Meantime, Stayman's team will be meeting on Monday with the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, the Hotel Association of Northern Mariana Islands, and federal officials and local government leaders.
On Tuesday, the visiting team will be meeting with CNMI labor and immigration officials, Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and his cabinet, Washington Rep. Pete A. Tenorio, and members of the Legislature.
At the 2-8-07 Hearing, some testimony suggested compromise and a willingness to accepted the extension of US labor, immigration and custom laws to the CNMI in exchange for certain exemptions. One taking this tack was the CNMI’s official Representative in Washington, Pete A. Tenorio. He recognized that extension of US laws to the CNMI was coming and laid out a series of exemptions he would like to any proposed legislation so that the CNMI could maintain some aspects of their failed economy built on the exploitation of guest workers and the destruction of the indigenous culture:
I would like to address several policy issues that I feel must be considered prior to normalizing federal immigration policy in the CNMI.
Legislation that is developed without due consideration of existing socio-economic conditions in the CNMI will have a profound and negative effect on our economy. A 1997 U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform report stated that "immediate imposition of all parts of the Immigration and Nationality Act would harm the CNMI’s economic development. Moving a society that has become so dependent on foreign contract labor towards a more sustainable economy cannot occur overnight."
Mr. Chairman those words were true in 1997 and they are even more true today. If the goal of this committee is to normalize CNMI immigration into a federal framework, we urge Congress to proceed carefully as this is a very complicated endeavor.
Tenorio urged that Congress build in more delays, more studies and special exemptions to US laws as part of any Legislation. You would think that the hard-core Pirates of Saipan would be thrilled, but instead they don’t want anything to do with poor old Pete:
Chamber wants exclusive meeting with DC staffers
The Saipan Chamber of Commerce wants an "exclusive" audience with U.S. Senate staffers Allen Stayman and Josh Johnson when the two arrive for a fact-finding mission on Saipan next week.
SCC president Juan T. Guerrero said it means that the chamber "prefers meeting only with them" and not with other officials including Washington Rep. Pete A. Tenorio who is expected to accompany the two staffers while they are on island. [snip]
Guerrero declined to give details but sources said that the chamber official had been "upset" with Tenorio's "very accommodating" stance toward the federal government on labor and immigration issues.
Guerrero and Tenorio allegedly had a heated exchange during a meeting on Saipan in preparation for the Feb. 8 U.S. senate hearing on CNMI immigration. [snip]
The chamber has been opposed to any form of federal takeover of the local labor and immigration.
In his presentation to the senate, Guerrero summed up the private sector’s position by saying that (1) the Commonwealth’s resident labor pool is inadequate, both in terms of population and skill, to adequately answer the needs of businesses in the CNMI; (2) federalization-of either CNMI immigration laws or minimum wage laws-will not solve, but rather, will exacerbate that problem; (3) the laws of the Commonwealth are adequately designed to protect the interests of the islands, the United States government, and nonresident workers; (4) enforcement, which as a general rule never fulfills all of the hopes of the drafters of the legislation, has continued to improve since the last time this committee visited the issue at hand; and (5) specific allegations designed to cast a cloud over the CNMI’s ability to manage its internal affairs, rest on outdated, untrue, sensationalized, or aberrant facts."
For his part, Tenorio, who also spoke during the hearing, offered a compromise deal instead of insisting on the status quo.
Guerrero and the Chamber of Commerce are hard-core Pirates. They will not submit to US laws without a fight. They have been in bed so long with the Hong Kong based Tan Family and the DeLay/Abramoff Republican Party that they live in a constant state of moral twilight. Like George W. Bush they operate in a world of fantasy, far removed from reality. Anybody who interjects facts, truth, compromise or change into their world is an instant enemy.
And if the testimony of Tenorio set them over the edge, then the testimony of David Cohen, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior Department for Insular Affairs, must have the Pirates apoplectic.
In his spoken Testimony, Cohen came right out and said that new Legislation would be the best remedy for the CNMI. His written statement made clear that change was needed on the CNMI. After detailing the current collapse of the CNMI economy and infrastructure he went on to the heart of the problem:
The labor situation in the CNMI is inextricably linked to the fiscal and economic situation. The most significant threat to the human rights of foreign employees in the CNMI today is the deteriorating economy. This manifests itself in a number of ways, including by depriving the government of the resources that it needs to effectively prevent, investigate and prosecute labor abuse. The closure of large garment factories places significant demands upon the local government, and simultaneously causes the government to lose revenues that it desperately needs to meet those demands and all of its other obligations. This mutually reinforcing negative cycle illustrates that while the departure of the garment industry may be in the long-term best interests of the CNMI, an immediate, abrupt departure is not. Change is necessary, but we should be wary of exacerbating a situation that is already fraught with peril.
In addition to these concerns, we remain troubled by the serious structural imbalances in the CNMI economy and in CNMI society. The CNMI remains a two-tier economy where the private sector is overly reliant on foreign employees, and where the indigenous population is overly reliant on the public sector for employment. Because of the unique economic structure of the CNMI and the fact that approximately 50% of the residents are foreign employees, the ability to import labor is a factor that tends to depress wages in the private sector, which in turn tends to reinforce the reluctance of U.S. citizens to work outside of the public sector. There have been attempts to address this unique structural problem through local legislation, but the problem persists.
Additionally, having a large alien work force with little economic power and relatively limited legal rights has created a great risk of exploitation and abuse in the CNMI. As noted above, the CNMI has made commendable progress over the last several years in curbing labor abuse. Our experience tells us, however, that excessive reliance within the CNMI on a foreign, low-wage work force creates a risk of abuse. That risk could be overcome with a high level of effort, vigilance and resources, but it would probably be difficult to sustain such efforts under the CNMI’s current fiscal and economic conditions. Perhaps we would not all have to work so hard to prevent abuse if the structure of the CNMI’s economy did not give rise to such risks. And eliminating the most overt forms of abuse will not necessarily eliminate subtler forms of exploitation that arise when foreign employees have little power and a great deal to lose if they assert even the limited rights they have.
In a nutshell, the system of importing guest workers to work in the sweatshops, brothels, bars, farms and homes of the CNMI has destroyed the economy and culture of the CNMI.
A provision in the Covenant that was meant to protect the indigenous Chamorro and Carolinian peoples from being over-run by foreign immigrants was turned on its head. Instead of protection, it opened the flood gates. For over twenty five years a fiction of local control has been maintained by denying these "guest workers" any rights and/or legal status. They have been invited to work on American soil. In many cases they have lived on the CNMI for five, ten, fifteen, twenty or more years. And they have married and had children—children who are American citizens—American citizens whose parents can be deported at the whim of an employer. This uncertainty is just another form of the constant abuse and injustice built into the foundation of the CNMI economy.
In a surprising move, Cohen made it clear that this problem must also be addressed as part of new CNMI legislation (emphasis added):
Mr. Chairman, I call to your attention the unique situation of the long-term foreign employees that have become an integral part of CNMI society. A number of foreign employees have been working in the CNMI for five, ten, fifteen or more years. Many are raising children in the CNMI, and their children are U.S. citizens. These employees were invited to come to the CNMI because they were needed, they came and have stayed legally, and they have contributed much to the community. They were essential in building the CNMI economy from the ground up from what it was at the inception of the Commonwealth: a rural economy with little industry, tourism or other commercial activity. Long-term foreign employees are integrated into all levels of the CNMI’s workforce and society, serving as doctors, nurses, journalists, business managers, engineers, architects, service industry employees, housekeepers, farmers, construction workers, and in countless other occupations. I hope that the Committee and the CNMI Government will keep the situation of these long-term members of the CNMI community in mind as they consider reforms to the CNMI’s immigration system.
This is shorthand for a pathway to Citizenship or at the very least it means Green Cards so that these long time guest workers—who were recruited to come and live on this US Territory—can have some measure of security, rights and justice.
And for the indigenous people of the CNMI it may mean that the minority status they created for themselves will became a political reality as members of the guest worker population become US Citizens. (This is already happening because of birthrates, but any extension of justice and/or a pathway to citizenship for these long-time guest workers will speed up the process).
The reality of this is sinking in. The papers on the CNMI are filled with reports these days of new efforts to deport long-time guest workers and the approach of the Pirates of Saipan is clear: more abuse of these workers is needed to protect profits and illusions of control.
Fortunately there are other voices on the CNMI—voices for reform and change.
One of the most courageous belongs to a young woman named Tina Sablan. I wrote about her some weeks ago and a ‘Call for Action’ she had published on the CNMI.
Her call for change is leading to a new dialogue among CNMI residents about their current status and the need to reform and change. In advance of the Stayman fact finding delegation she has published a new letter. Here is an excerpt (emphasis added):
In recent months, the immigration, labor, and economic conditions of the commonwealth have come under intense federal scrutiny. On Feb. 8, the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources convened an important and eye-opening hearing on our economic and social situation, and this week, a delegation of Senate staffers will arrive to conduct further meetings and assessments. This is certainly not the first time our commonwealth has fallen under such vigorous examination. But in this deepening economic and social crisis, and with the benefit of hindsight, we must now do what we failed to do before: we must change.
For so long, we have been living in a false and unjust economy that has hurt all of us — nonresidents, residents, and businesses as well. For so long, our political and business leaders have defended the distortions and injustices of our economy and society. For so long, and against conscience and common sense, we have failed to challenge their claims. If we are ever to lift ourselves up from the quagmire we have created, we must fully confront the truth about our situation, and accept responsibility for our mistakes.
The truth is that much of our economic and social woes can be traced to our dysfunctional immigration and labor system. The truth is that raising our immigration and labor system to meet federal standards would help us all in the long run. The truth is that freely abiding by these federal standards would enhance, not threaten, our capacity for effective self-government, and would honor the Covenant that many of us hold dear.
For far too long, we, the people of this commonwealth, have trampled upon the spirit and intent of the Covenant, and abused our powers to manage our own affairs, especially with respect to immigration and minimum wage. Local control over these issues was a temporary privilege that was granted to the commonwealth out of concern for our developing economy and vulnerable local culture. But upon receiving that license, what did we do?
Instead of carefully building an economy at a rate and scale that was appropriate for our islands, we launched into a poorly planned, hyper-accelerated program of growth that far outpaced the development of local infrastructure and ravaged our natural environment. Instead of prudently restricting the entry of large numbers of immigrants like we said we would, we threw open the floodgates. Between 1980 and 1999, the commonwealth posted the highest population growth rate in the world, a staggering 373.4 percent increase, from 16,800 people to nearly 80,000. [snip]
Presently, the majority of people living in the commonwealth belong to a class of "temporary" foreign workers occupying permanent jobs in the private sector. No matter how long they live here, paying taxes, raising their families, and contributing to the life of the community, they never attain a political voice, and their social and economic status is forever precarious. They are easily exploited and easily ignored. Because they can’t vote, and because they occupy a vast majority of private sector jobs, there is little political will to raise wages or institute far-reaching reforms to create a healthier and more sustainable private sector.
Meanwhile, with private sector wages depressed across the board and a minimum wage that has languished for years at a meager $3.05 an hour, U.S. citizen residents find themselves with limited opportunities to make a viable living in the commonwealth. Unable to secure decent livelihoods in the private sector, many residents look for work in the government — where wages are higher, and where there is greater political will to provide jobs in order to secure favorable votes in the next election. Other readily available alternatives for residents include welfare, theft, gambling, and drugs. Our expanding welfare rolls, rising crime rates, and increasing numbers of families destroyed by poker addiction and drugs, are sad testimonies to that fact. Faced with such choices, it is no wonder so many residents choose to leave. [snip]
What kind of development have we been pursuing in the commonwealth, and what has it done for us? Yes, hundreds of millions of dollars in garment and tourism revenues and federal aid have flowed through our government and economy over the years — but where did the money go? What did we do with it? How much have we squandered, and how much more have we given away in public lands, overly generous tax breaks, and viable jobs that could have been filled by residents? In 2005 alone we lost $114,000,000 in guest worker remittances — how much more are we losing now, in remittances and also in the personal savings that are being taken out by foreign workers and residents leaving the islands, and in the capital that is being siphoned out to foreign business interests? If the commonwealth is such a miracle of economic development as some have claimed, why are our public schools, hospital, sewer systems, electric and water utilities, environment, and public health still floundering? [snip]
There is no time like the present to choose a dramatically different, more sustainable course of development. But to do that, we must move forward from the personal interests, political rhetoric, and fears that have been distracting us from the truth about our current situation, and we must decisively abandon the status quo.
Let us move forward from reactionary attacks against people like Ms. Lauri Ogumoro, Sister Stella Mangona, and Ms. Kayleen Entena, who testified truthfully about their firsthand knowledge of social injustice in our commonwealth. For their courage and honesty, and their calls for social awakening and reform, these individuals (and the many others who came before them) deserve our deepest respect and gratitude.
Let us also move forward from the rhetoric of "federal takeover." The calls for secession and the inflammatory accusations of political vendettas being wielded against us and federal legislation being "shoved down our throats" do us far more harm than good. Furthermore, since the beginning of the commonwealth, there has been, and continues to be, extensive dialogue between our local representatives and the federal government — in hearings, in correspondence, in 902 talks, and other official discussions. If we have any issues with the results of all the discussions and meetings that have taken place over the years, the people we should take to task are our own leaders who have for so long and on our taxpayer dollars defended a status quo that has failed us all. [snip]
Clearly, it is possible — and, indeed, necessary for the good of the commonwealth — to freely embrace a new program of immigration and labor that meets federal standards and provides adequate protections for all the people who live here. It might be a painful transition, but we can and should be part of the process of determining the best course of transition for the commonwealth.
Now is the time to finally take responsibility for the crisis we have created and acknowledge that there are real and profound problems with our economy and society. Let us begin to right those pervasive and systemic wrongs by accepting the necessity of federal standards for immigration and labor and maturely engaging in talks with the federal government to decide how to apply those standards for the greater good of the commonwealth. Let us also recreate our long-term vision for our islands. What kind of community do we want for ourselves and our families? How can we achieve good governance, social justice, and economic renewal, in our commonwealth? In addressing these vital questions, we prove ourselves worthy of both self-government and U.S. citizenship, and set ourselves and future generations on a new path toward a resilient and sustainable economy, and a freer, more prosperous society.
The entire letter is worth a read. In its own way it is as courageous as a young man standing in the path of a Chinese tank or King’s letter from a Birmingham jail.
It is the spirit of change taking hold on the CNMI. It is the rising of voices that were silent for too long demanding reform—demanding that the citizens of the CNMI take back their government from the Pirates of Saipan who have been destroying it for the last twenty-plus years.
In many ways it the same thing that we, in the netroots, are trying to do when we say we want to take back the Federal Government.
I am glad to see that there are strong voices for change and reform on the CNMI. This local pressure is adding to the collapse of the old guard Pirates of Saipan. We need to keep the pressure on in Washington. We need to ensure that new legislation builds on the Murkowski Bill of 2000. That it brings justice to the guest workers. That it brings a sustainable economy to the CNMI, that it protects the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Mariana Islands, that is extends US labor, immigration and custom laws to the CNMI, that it closes the money laundering shops and shuts down the networks for smuggling guns, drugs and people that are feeding the dark underbelly of global capitalism.
That this kind of change is possible must drive the Pirates of Saipan bat-poop crazy. That is a good thing. As more reform and indictments flow their way they will increasingly turn on one another and head for sanctuary in China or accept the new reality of justice.
In the scheme of things the problems of the CNMI are small. It is not nearly as attention getting as the latest dust-up on the campaign trail or meta Diary.
Sometimes these long CNMI Diaries of mine are read by many folks (and thanks for that), and other times just a handful of folks catch them as they scroll by (thanks for that as well). My quest to call attention to the Abramoff Scandal and by extension the troubles of this far away place is quixotic. And yet, I hope that we will pay attention. I hope that we will bring a new dawn to the CNMI and a future built on a just and sustainable economy that works for all. I hope that you are encouraged by new voices for change like Tina Sablan—not only for the CNMI, but for the planet as well. I hope a victory here will inspire new victories on the mainland.
And a few real victories would be great. We have massive problems. We have a Country to take back and a planet to save (literally, the Climate Crisis is real).
2007 is now. Let’s get to work.
Cheers.