I need help to end human trafficking, human rights abuses, & indentured servitude on U.S. soil. Thanks to dengre’s tireless efforts, regular Daily Kos readers are familiar with the plight of the disenfranchised underclass of guest workers in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).
I want to thank dengre and the people on the Daily Kos—Charlie Brown and his team, Hiddengnostic, NION, Dover Bitch, Land of Enchantment, Ripples of Hope, and others who have been helping with this issue by educating the American public, and contacting members of Congress to solicit their support for reform.
Last week when I talked to a staffer from the House Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Insular Affairs he said that Kos readers had been contacting him.
I am grateful for your assistance.
I’ve been working to end the abuse since the late 1980’s.
I’m writing my first dairy on this site to humbly ask that you please help again.
Legislation that is pending in both houses of Congress needs to be revised.
Please read on…
From 1984 to 1995 I lived and worked as a teacher and artist in the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). I witnessed appalling labor and human rights abuses of contract workers who came from their homelands to work in the United States. They came from the Philippines, China, Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam, India, Sri Lanka, Russia, Pakistan, Thailand, and other Asian countries. They sold their land, houses, and businesses to pay up to $7,000 in recruitment fees for a chance to live the American dream. But too many of these workers lived a nightmare instead. For years my husband and I had an underground railroad where victims could seek refuge from abusive employers and get assistance in seeking justice. The workers who sought our help suffered from workplace abuses such as unpaid wages, indentured servitude, housing violations, contract violations, and discrimination. They suffered from criminal acts such as rape, torture, false imprisonment, assault and battery, and even murder. They fell victim to human rights abuses such as forced abortion, human trafficking, and forced prostitution.
In 1993, I wrote a report that detailed the labor and human rights abuses in the CNMI and offered solutions. It was submitted to CNMI officials, to selected U.S. members of Congress, congressional committees, and the U.S. Departments of Labor, Justice and State. My family left the islands in 1995 due to death threats and terrible harassment that came about because of our human rights work on behalf of these victims. I testified before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in May 1995 and submitted an updated report on the status of the guest workers and problems with the CNMI labor and immigration laws.
Before I left the CNMI, I promised the workers that I would continue to appeal to U.S. government leaders to extend United States minimum wage, immigration, and labor laws to the CNMI. Twelve years after I made this promise I continue to plead with U.S. government officials to fulfill this promise and finally put an end to the abuses and systemic corruption, and to give a voice to the foreign contract workers.
In February 1998, I returned to the CNMI to lead a seven-member team of investigators under the U.S. Department of Interior, Office of Insular Affairs, to update the status of the foreign contract workers. The report documented serious problems associated with ineffective labor and immigration laws and called for immediate federalization of immigration. More than nine years have passed since the 1998 report that outlined the urgency for action. The dysfunctional and undemocratic systems that contributed to the institutionalization of labor and human rights abuses and human suffering continue today.
I went to the CNMI last month to evaluate the current status and conditions of the foreign contract workers. I conducted face-to-face interviews with hundreds of guest workers from the Philippines, Bangladesh, China, Nepal, Vietnam, Thailand, and Sri Lanka. I also met with U.S. citizen children of the guest worker-parents, with attorneys, leaders of guest worker movements, diplomats, religious leaders, and social workers. Legal documents, notes, videos, and photographs document the findings. The major issues of concern are:
• Economic and Social Consequences
• Problems for Families of U.S. Citizen Children
• Healthcare
• Human Trafficking
• Labor Problems
• Immigration Problems
• Non-prosecuted Criminal Acts
• Retaliation and Discrimination
• Lack of Legal Representation for Guest Workers
• Asylum
• National Security
I have prepared a report to provide a snapshot of the current situation there. I returned to the U.S. with 8 hours of video footage and prepared a short, very amateur video that highlights interviews with guest workers and their U.S. citizen children. It was one poignant issue that I felt the American people should know about. The opening message of the video is:
We called a meeting of the U.S. citizen children and their parents at Kilili Beach in Saipan this July. I expected a few hundred people to show up. Over 1,000 came to express their views. I want to share them with you. It’s important that you know who they are. They have remained faceless and voiceless to the U.S. Congress and to the American people.
There are about 75,000 people in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the majority of the population is foreign contract workers from Asian countries. These people are called nonresident workers, but they consider themselves residents. They call the CNMI their home. They have lived and worked and served the community for 5, 10, 20, 30 or more years. They have given birth to an estimated 5,000 children in the CNMI. Every child born in the CNMI is a U.S. citizen. But because the parents are a disenfranchised underclass, these children are treated as second-class U.S. citizens.
The CNMI government has local control of immigration, customs, labor and asylum laws. The United States needs to have one cohesive immigration policy for the United States mainland and its territories to ensure the just treatment of guest workers and immigrants, to provide security for its borders, and to guarantee that the democratic values of our nation are upheld on U.S. soil. The current CNMI immigration policy has led to serious problems not only for the CNMI, but also for the security and reputation of the United States.
Guest workers and their U.S. citizen children have an unstable status and live in fear of exile. At any time nonresident workers can be terminated or not have their contracts renewed. Their U.S. citizen children will be forced to return with them to their home countries. Their children do not want to leave the CNMI where they have lived all of their lives. Like their parents, they consider the CNMI as their home. Many school age children can read, write, and speak only English, and do not know the languages of their homelands. If exiled with their parents, they will be deprived of the best education, healthcare, and nutrition. The parents migrated to the CNMI because there are few jobs in their home countries. If forced to return to their homelands, it is not likely that they will be able to find employment to support their families.
The current CNMI government policies make a mockery of democracy where the majority should be represented. In the CNMI the guest workers pay taxes, but they cannot vote. They are victims of crimes and can be arrested, but they cannot serve on juries. They are the voiceless majority of indentured servants on U.S. soil. They have no political rights or voice in the community that they helped to build. The last time guest workers with no voting privileges or political rights outnumbered citizens on U.S. soil it was called slavery.
The CNMI was my home and will always be my home in my heart. I know that the guest workers, also consider the CNMI as their home. They have given their sweat, tears, and hearts to make the CNMI what it is today. Guest workers should not be treated like commodities - like coconuts that can be consumed, tossed aside, and replaced with a new one.
Federalization is not just a political issue; it is a moral issue. Teddy Roosevelt said, “Never under any condition should this nation look at an immigrant as primarily a labor unit. He should always be looked at primarily as a future citizen.” These people deserve a pathway to U.S. citizenship. Legislation is pending in both houses of the U.S. Congress now. Please support it.
On Tuesday, I went to Washington, D.C. to distribute copies of the report and video to key members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the House Natural Resources Committee, the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, other key members of the U.S. Congress, human rights groups, and individuals in the media. I need help in getting justice and political rights for the guest workers in the CNMI. Legislation has been introduced in the Senate, S.1634 and in the House, H. R. 3079. Both bills would provide improvement to the crisis in the CNMI. Yet some essential elements that effective federal immigration and labor legislation must include are lacking. They are:
• Granting an unobstructed pathway to U.S. citizenship through green cards to guest workers who had been working lawfully in the CNMI for at least five years as of January 1, 2007 and/or have been working lawfully in the CNMI for at least five years as of the date the legislation becomes law;
• Granting a pathway to citizenship for the immediate relatives of the guest workers who acquire U.S citizenship under this legislation;
• Granting immediate U.S. citizenship to parents of the U.S. citizen children in the CNMI on the date the legislation becomes law;
• Federalizing all CNMI labor, asylum, and immigration and visa programs;
• Requiring future foreign guest workers to complete exit interviews to ensure they have no unsettled labor and/or criminal cases; and
• Properly funding and staffing the U.S. Departments of Justice and Labor in the CNMI to ensure the safety and human rights of guest workers and the community.
The guest workers asked me why the U.S. Congress proposed legislation that would grant 6 million illegal aliens a pathway to citizenship, but cannot grant a pathway to citizenship for less than 10,000 legal guest workers. I could not answer that question.
On July 19, 2007 the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on S.1634. You can read the testimony and view the hearing here.
On August 15, 2007 the House Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Insular Affairs is holding a field hearing on Saipan. The panel of witnesses for the hearing are stacked in favor of the CNMI leaders and business owners who benefit from the current system that promotes corruption and abuses.
Please contact key members of Congress, members of the House Natural Resources Committee, members of the House Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, and members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to ask them to amend the bills to include the essential elements listed above.
I met a great person by reading the Daily Kos. Dennis Greenia, known on the Daily Kos as dengre, has become a friend and valuable ally in helping me to put a face on this issue. You have probably read his scholarly posts about the plight of the guest workers, pending legislation to federalize immigration in the CNMI, and the trail of corruption that linked Abramoff, congressional members, and the CNMI government in blocking previous legislation. For years Dennis has been helping to educate the public on issues related to the CNMI, and has tirelessly worked to assist me to keep my promise to the guest workers. I am asking you to help me keep my promise too.
Congressman George Miller (D-CA) has championed this cause since the early 1990’s. He introduced the Human Dignity Act last June, which called for implementation of the minimum wage and federalization of immigration and labor in the CNMI. Through his actions, on May 25, 2007, legislation was signed into law that will raise the minimum wage in the CNMI to the U.S. level over a period of time. We need to ensure that federalization of immigration and labor pushes through too. Congressman Miller’s work to end human rights abuses and federalize immigration in the CNMI can be tracked here. George Miller is one of my heroes, and he is a hero to the guest workers too. In fact, a group of CNMI guest workers established the Human Dignity Movement to honor him and his years of work on their behalf. Please contact Congressman Miller’s office to thank him for his efforts. Ask him to continue to take the lead in this issue and to revise the legislation as recommended above. He can be contacted at this email address.
This trip to the CNMI I met with a young Chamorro man in Saipan. He told me nonchalantly that to him “the guest workers are invisible.” I believe that some things cannot be seen just with eyes; they require a heart to be fully realized. This must be the case with the guest workers in the CNMI or reform would have been implemented decades ago. I am counting on people who have a heart to help them become visible to everyone, to give them a voice, and to grant them the pathway to U.S. citizenship that they deserve. I am counting on you, and so are the guest workers and their children.