U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

63–071 u WASHINGTON : 1999

OVERSIGHT HEARING ON THE ENFORCEMENT

OF FEDERAL LAWS AND THE USE OF FEDERAL

FUNDS IN THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS

HEARING

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON RESOURCES

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED SIXTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

SEPTEMBER 16, 1999, WASHINGTON, DC

Serial No. 106–60

Printed for the use of the Committee on Resources

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/house

or

Committee address: http://www.house.gov/resources
(II)

COMMITTEE ON RESOURCES

DON YOUNG, Alaska, Chairman

W.J. (BILLY) TAUZIN, Louisiana

JAMES V. HANSEN, Utah

JIM SAXTON, New Jersey

ELTON GALLEGLY, California

JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee

JOEL HEFLEY, Colorado

JOHN T. DOOLITTLE, California

WAYNE T. GILCHREST, Maryland

KEN CALVERT, California

RICHARD W. POMBO, California

BARBARA CUBIN, Wyoming

HELEN CHENOWETH-HAGE, Idaho

GEORGE P. RADANOVICH, California

WALTER B. JONES, JR., North Carolina

WILLIAM M. (MAC) THORNBERRY, Texas

CHRIS CANNON, Utah

KEVIN BRADY, Texas

JOHN PETERSON, Pennsylvania

RICK HILL, Montana

BOB SCHAFFER, Colorado

JIM GIBBONS, Nevada

MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana

GREG WALDEN, Oregon

DON SHERWOOD, Pennsylvania

ROBIN HAYES, North Carolina

MIKE SIMPSON, Idaho

THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado

GEORGE MILLER, California

NICK J. RAHALL, II, West Virginia

EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts

BRUCE F. VENTO, Minnesota

DALE E. KILDEE, Michigan

PETER A. DEFAZIO, Oregon

ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American

Samoa

NEIL ABERCROMBIE, Hawaii

SOLOMON P. ORTIZ, Texas

OWEN B. PICKETT, Virginia

FRANK PALLONE, JR., New Jersey

CALVIN M. DOOLEY, California

CARLOS A. ROMERO-BARCELO ́, Puerto

Rico

ROBERT A. UNDERWOOD, Guam

PATRICK J. KENNEDY, Rhode Island

ADAM SMITH, Washington

CHRIS JOHN, Louisiana

DONNA MC CHRISTESEN, Virgin Islands

RON KIND, Wisconsin

JAY INSLEE, Washington

GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California

TOM UDALL, New Mexico

MARK UDALL, Colorado

JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York

RUSH D. HOLT, New Jersey

LLOYD A. JONES, Chief of Staff

ELIZABETH MEGGINSON, Chief Counsel

CHRISTINE KENNEDY, Chief Clerk/Administrator

JOHN LAWRENCE, Democratic Staff Director
(III)

C O N T E N T S

Page

Hearing held September 16, 1999 .......................................................................... 1

Statement of Members:

Hon. Don, Young, a Representative in Congress from the State of Alaska . 1

Miller, Hon. George, a Representative in Congress from the State of

California ....................................................................................................... 2

Tauzin, Hon. Billy, a Representative in Congress from the State of Louisiana, prepared statement of ...................................................................... 87

Statement of Witnesses:

Babauta, Juan N., Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands ......... 20

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 21

Benavente, Diego T., Speaker, Northern Mariana Islands Legislature,

Saipan MP ..................................................................................................... 16

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 138

Berry, John, Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget,

U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC .................................... 84

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 87

Galster, Steven R., Executive Director, Global Survival Network, Washington, DC ..................................................................................................... 160

Gess, Nicholas M., Associate Deputy Attorney General, U.S. Department

of Justice, Washington, DC .......................................................................... 99

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 100

Kinsella, Raymond, Founder and President, Grace Christian Ministries,

Saipan, MP .................................................................................................... 167

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 168

Knight, Lynn A., Vice President, Saipan Chamber of Commerce, Saipan,

MP .................................................................................................................. 132

Manglona, Paul, President of the Senate, Northern Mariana Islands Legislature, Saipan ............................................................................................. 14

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 16

Meyerhoff, Albert H., Partner, Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach

LLP, prepared statement of ......................................................................... 66

Tenorio, Pedro T., Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands, Saipan,

MP .................................................................................................................. 5

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 6

Sablan, Ronald D., President, Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana

Islands, Saipan .............................................................................................. 143

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 145

Shruhan, Donald K., Jr., Executive Director, Domestic Operations West,

U.S. Customs Service, U.S. Department of the Treasury, Washington,

DC .................................................................................................................. 95

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 97

Nousher Jahedi, Washington, DC ................................................................... 165

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 134

Teitelbaum, Michael S., Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, New York, NY .......... 140

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 151

Wei, Christian, Ph.D., Christian Way Missions, Inc., Chinese for Christ

International, Greenville, South Carolina .................................................. 163

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 164

(1)

OVERSIGHT HEARING ON THE ENFORCEMENT OF FEDERAL LAWS AND THE USE OF

FEDERAL FUNDS IN THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1999

House of Representatives,

COMMITTEE ON RESOURCES, Washington, DC.

The Committee met, pursuant to call, at 11:03 a.m., in Room

1324, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Don Young [chairman of the Committee] presiding.

The CHAIRMAN. The Committee will come to order. First let me

thank the members that have braved the elements of nature and

weren’t frightened by a little bit of rain for attending this I think

very important hearing.

STATEMENT OF HON. DON YOUNG, A REPRESENTATIVE IN

CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ALASKA

The CHAIRMAN. Today’s hearing by the Committee on Resources

will primarily focus on the enforcement of Federal use and the use

of Federal funds in America’s newest territory, the Commonwealth

of the Northern Mariana Islands. In particular, the Committee will

examine the effectiveness of millions of dollars of Interior funding

that’s been earmarked by the Congress each year by the Clinton

Administration to enforce existing Federal laws in the Mariana Islands.

The Committee will consider labor, customs, and immigrations

management efforts by both the Federal and CNMI governments

and their effect on economic self-sufficiency in the islands and the

extent of the use of Federal capital improvement grants by the

CNMI.

In 1975, I supported the transition of the Mariana’s district of

the United States nation’s trust territory to become the Commonwealth as a territory of the United States, the first since 1917. I

also voted for the 1976 law implementing the Covenant establishing local constitutional self-government for Mariana’s, giving

them the specific and flexible authority for economic development.

Since that time, the Mariana’s have seen progress and difficult

challenges in the pursuit of self-government and economic self-sufficiency.

After the determination of the trusteeship and the conferral of

U.S. citizenship to the people of the CNMI by President Ronald

Reagan in November 1986, the economy developed rapidly and the

reliance on Federal funds decreased significantly. The dramatic de-
2

velopment of the economy in the Marianas was due to the flexible

provisions of the Covenant, the infusion of Federal funds for the

capital improvements, and local Mariana’s policy supporting economic diversification. The growth of the newly emerging tourism

and textile industries increased locally generated revenues and provided additional subsidy business and employment, but without the

necessary Federal presence to enforce virtually all the same Federal laws that apply in the United States.

These growing sectors of the economy also required an increase

in alien guest workers. In the early 1990s, the Federal Department

of Labor cited a number of garment factories in CNMI with violation of Federal wage and labor laws. In addition, the Occupational

and Safety and Health Administration, OSHA, began to cite businesses in the Mariana’s, including barracks for housing and alien

guest workers. This gave rise to articles in the national media

about slave labor conditions in the non-union textile industry in

CNMI. The same articles used the below-national-Federal Mariana’s minimum wage to support an allegation of unfair labor conditions in the garment factories, but without any substantial economic justification.

Over the years, the Marianas reduced reliance on Federal funds

from 85 percent to 15 percent. This shift in source of revenues was

due to the increase in local revenues and a decrease of Federal

funds, along with the end of grants for government operations. The

CNMI are also required to match the reduced Federal capital

grants. On January 31, 1995, this Committee held a hearing on

legislation to address immigration and wage issues in the Mariana’s and made it clear that human and civil rights abuses would

not be condoned. Federal enforcement of Federal laws were clearly

ineffective in ending the continued reports of labor and safety problems in the CNMI. At the same time, the CNMI government and

the private sector had not adequately addressed management of a

growing and diversified economy.

The Clinton Administration opposed Insular Affairs Subcommittee Chairman Elton Gallegly’s bill to establish a Federal

private/public wage review board for the CNMI, due to an estimated biannual cost of $200 million to $100 million a year. The administration stated that a similar Federal board in American

Samoa had a biannual cost of only $40,000 or $20,000 a year. The

administration also opposed the bill’s other immigration reform

proposal. During the balance of that Congress, additional hearings

and oversight and legislative actions were taken by the Committee

on Resources to address CNMI issues without the support of the

administration.

In addition to those efforts, I made a commitment on May 23,

1997, in a letter to John Babauta, the resident representative of

the Northern Marianas, to lead a full Committee delegation of the

Marianas to hear directly from the people of the Marianas after the

Marianas elections for governor in the fall of 1997. I began planning a full Committee trip to the Marianas since 1989. Unfortunately, the administration canceled the promised plane just shortly

before the planned February 1998 inspection trip. I also believed

it was then appropriate to give time for the newly elected governor

of the CNMI to reform local policies and management of Covenant
3

construction grants. This would also give the Federal Government

a chance to cooperatively work with the CNMI to address enforcement of labor and safety, customs, and other laws.

The Committee did complete an inspection trip to the CNMI in

February of this year. Federal officials in the islands at the time

from various departments reported there were high levels of compliance with Federal labor and safety laws in the textile and tourist industries. In addition, the Committee’s inspection of these industries did not find the evidence, as reported in the media, of certain violations of Federal laws.

However, the Committee did find a serious problem, principally

among guest workers from Bangladesh who had been brought in to

work as security guards. Many of these individuals had been defrauded by recruiters and employers. The government took action—

the CNMI government—took action to provide for a compensation

fund to pay for these workers’ lost wages and the airfare to return

home, although there was no apparent legal obligation to do so.

Today we have an opportunity to hear from the Clinton Administration and the government of the CNMI of their labor, customs,

and immigration management efforts and the use of the Federal

funds. The problems of the past may have been resolved, though

they may be still problems with Federal and Mariana’s efforts

within the islands. I realize that the administration and others believe that action by the Federal Government is the only way to address the issues in the United States. However, the Marinas, while

a territory, is not just a piece of property. This is a community of

U.S. citizens exercising constitutional self-government and developing economic self-sufficiency under the Covenant authorized by

this Committee and this Congress and, thus, creating Federal law.

The testimony presented today will be crucial to how members

understand the present conditions in the Marianas as a basis for

subsequent oversight or legislative action by the Congress. I intend

to look at the current situation in the Marianas, not old problems

or outdated solutions.

And, for the rest of you in the audience, if any of you have mobile

phones, pagers, shut them off or leave the room. And that is not

a threat, that is an actual fact because that is something that I will

not tolerate in this Committee. So just keep that in mind.

The gentleman from California.

STATEMENT OF HON. GEORGE MILLER, A REPRESENTATIVE

IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

Mr. MILLER. I don’t want to be excommunicated.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for this

hearing today. Together with my Democratic colleagues on this

committee, I have sought oversight hearings into the labor, immigration, and human rights abuses for over three years. During that

time, the press and the media accounts of the conditions in the

Marianas have painted a desperate picture, one confirmed by interagency reviews from the Department of Justice, Labor, Interior,

Immigration Service, and other agencies. We have issued reports

describing the horrific conditions that pervade the CNMI’s alien

labor system, abuses no member of this committee would tolerate

for one day in his or her own congressional district. Law enforce-
4

ment and immigration officials have concluded that little has

changed with the exception of some highly symbolic maneuvers in

Saipan designed to deflect criticism, not solve the deep-seated problems.

I am well aware that some will attempt to use this hearing to

shift blame on the record of the Federal agencies enforcing Federal

law in the territory. That cynical and deceptive strategy will not

wash. The core corruption in the CNMI is the failure to apply our

Federal immigration laws to this part of the United States. As a

result, organized crime, communicable disease, and human exploitation, directly attributable to the CNMI’s lax immigration laws,

not only thrive in Saipan, but threaten every American. The time

has long since passed to slam the door shut on these abuses and

to restore Federal law to the Marianas.

Congress waived the applicability of immigration laws in order

to prevent a predicted onslaught of immigration and to preserve a

traditional culture. But the exact reverse has occurred under the

current situation. We will hear today that the immigration system

operated by the government of the CNMI fails to provide the scrutiny required to serve our national interests. Sending additional

agents and officials to Saipan is not going to help if the basic laws

continue to be waived. And we all know that the real reason for

lax immigration regulation is that the current system serves the

desires of the garment industry, the sex trade, the drug trade, and

others in the Saipan government—and the Saipan government either lacks the authority or the will and the ability to bring this

under control.

When we find sweatshops and exploitation in this country, we

must use the full force of our Federal and local governments to root

it out. In California, we have just passed two very strong antisweatshop laws after the previous Republican governors vetoed

them. We need to be just as diligent in the Marianas. The CNMI

should not serve as some haven where anti-minimum wage zealots

test our theoretical fantasies. It should not serve as a dangerous

experiment of open borders. If it is to be part of the United States,

it must be governed by the laws of the United States. If we continue to tolerate a system of virtual open borders 8,000 miles away,

the abuses will overwhelm our capacity to respond. Now is the time

to act, just like we would act if the conditions existed in our own

district.

Those who observe and write about the hearings today will judge

not only the CNMI, but the capacity of this committee to exercise

its power to uphold the rule of law. Thank you.

The CHAIRMAN. I thank the gentleman. Are there any other

opening statements? If not, we will bring the first panel. The first

panel is the Honorable Pedro Tenorio, governor of the Northern

Mariana Islands; the Honorable Paul Manglona, president of the

senate; the Honorable Diego T. Benavente; and the Honorable Juan

Babuata, the representative. Will you please, please come and don’t

sit down until I ask you to, but come and sit where you’re supposed

to be. Are we missing one? All right. Don’t—

I am going to put everybody under oath. That includes all the

other witnesses, including the first panel.

[Witnesses sworn.]
5

The CHAIRMAN. Everybody says, ‘‘I do’’? All right. Sit down.

Thank you.

Governor, we do have a five minute rule, but, because of the distances that you have flown, I will be somewhat lenient, but try, all

of you, to keep your presentation within five minutes and don’t

worry about it unless I say that’s enough. And I will try to be as

lenient as possible. But, governor, welcome and thanks for flying

the long distance that you had to come here and testify for the

committee. And I want to thank you for your hospitality when the

committee was over there this last February. You’re on.

STATEMENT OF PEDRO T. TENORIO, GOVERNOR OF THE

NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS, SAIPAN, MP

Governor TENORIO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I bring greetings

from the CNMI and I appreciate the opportunity to be on this hearing this morning. I am Pedro T. Tenorio, governor of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today.

I would like to take this opportunity to present to you a brief

summary of my written testimony, which addresses the issue and

concern raised by the Committee. I would like to begin by thanking

the Chairman for the congressional delegation you led to the Commonwealth this February.

The Asian economic downturn had a profound impact on the

CNMI. The past three years have been very difficult. Tourism and

apparel manufacturing, our own main industries, tourism is down

30 percent and apparel manufacturing is predicted to decline 10

percent. The magnitude of this decline is unprecedented in our history. Total government revenue have fallen by over $30 million.

This is a 15 percent reduction. We have made painful sacrifices and

cut government spending to the core. We are struggling to maintain vital public services to our people on our three major islands.

Our economy is tied very closely to Asia and the outlook for the

next five years is bleak.

Mr. Chairman, you inquire about the status of our Covenant 702

CIP funds. We worked very hard over the last year to move these

funds efficiently and rapidly. In fact, last year alone, we released

nearly $40 million. This was more than any other years in the history of the CIP programs. These funds are critically needed and we

are grateful for your assistance in preserving them.

We also appreciate your interest in determining how effective

Federal enforcement and local reform efforts have been in the Commonwealth. While there have been some improvements in our Federal relationship and greater Federal presence, we still believe that

increased joint efforts are necessary. Mr. Chairman, we have also

made significant reforms. We hope, during your February visit, you

were able to see that, despite our limited resources, we have

worked hard to keep our commitment to make genuine reforms.

In the last year and a half, we reduced the number of guest

worker permits by 26 percent. This is the first reduction in our history. We passed a law granting workers greater mobility to transfer

between laws. We expanded assistance to guest workers abandoned

by their employers and helped them find new jobs. We repatriated

over 163 abandoned workers. About two-thirds of them qualified for
6

unpaid back wages assistance. We passed a law providing limited

immunity to illegal aliens. Over 3,000 registered and became legal.

More than 1,200 found full-time employment and many more found

temporary work. We also passed a law limiting the stay of guest

workers to three years. We doubled criminal prosecution of immigration and labor law violators. And we collected over $1.1 million

in back wages for workers.

We stopped manpower and security agency scams by not allowing these firms to bring in guest workers from outside the CNMI.

Those who are hire their own island employees are required to pay

a bonding fee of $5,000 per employee.

We are seeing a significant result of our reform. Workers’ complaints have dropped dramatically. Last year, over 900 complaints

were filed. In the first 6 months of this year, only 143 complaints

were filed.

This is only a brief summary of our accomplishments. Once

again, Mr. Chairman, a more detailed report is in our written testimony. Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, we appeal to

you for your continued support. Please preserve our vital Covenant

CIP funds. Please help us secure fair reimbursement for the enormous costs of accommodating thousands of Micronesian immigrants

who have come to our island, contract costs exceeding $25 million

during the last 2 years alone. As we struggle to diversify our economy, please help us restore investors’ confidence. Please appreciate

that we have extremely limited natural and human resources to develop our economy. Please recognize the impact of the Asian crisis

on our fragile economy and what we have done to adjust to drastically falling revenues.

In closing, Mr. Chairman, please acknowledge the progress we

have achieved in making reforms. I appeal to this Committee:

Please help our people prepare for the economic uncertainties that

lies ahead. My staff and I will be ready to respond to any questions

that you have. Thank you again, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity

to appear.

[The prepared statement of Governor Tenorio follows:]

STATEMENT OF HON. GOVERNOR PEDRO P. TENORIO, COMMONWEALTH OF THE

NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS

Hafa Adai, Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee. I am Pedro P. Tenorio,

Governor of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (‘‘Commonwealth’’

or ‘‘CNMI’’). Thank you for the invitation to testify before you today.

We would like to thank the Chairman for the Congressional delegation you led

to our islands this February. I hope that the delegation was able to see that, despite

our limited resources, we have been working hard to keep our commitment to reduce the number of guest workers, to repatriate abandoned guest workers, to improve working and living conditions, and to enforce compliance with labor and immigration laws. We appreciate the interest of your Committee in determining how effective Federal enforcement efforts have been in the CNMI and the status of our

reform efforts.

Economic Downturn and Efforts to Revitalize the Economy

Unlike the mainland U.S. which is experiencing an economic boom, our economy

has been suffering a severe downturn since late 1997. This is because the CNMI

economy is closely tied to the Asian economies, unlike most of the U.S., except perhaps for Hawaii and Guam.

Tourist arrivals fell by 28 perent in FYI 1998, from 726,690 to 526,298. Arrivals

are projected to decline another 8 percent in FYI 1999 to 485,000, which would be

the lowest arrival figure since 1991. Little or no improvement is expected for the
7

next two years, and only small increases beyond that, as the Asian economies recover.

Local revenue collections from tourist and other non-apparel related activities

have declined $54 million, or nearly 30 percent over the last two years, from $186

million in FY 1997 to a projected $132 million in FY 1999. Over the same period,

apparel industry revenues have climbed from $62 million to $85 million (37 percent), providing some mitigation of the steep decline in tourism revenues. The net

result is projected total FY 1999 revenues of $216 million, or a net reduction of $32

million from FY 1997.

The filing of class action lawsuits against the CNMI’s apparel manufacturers in

January of this year has clearly affected the monthly user fee collections and the

value of apparel exports. Based on recent trends in the industry, we have reduced

our revenue estimates from the apparel industry by 10 percent per year for FY 2000

and FY 2001. A drastic drop in FY 2004 is anticipated as quotas and tariffs are removed.

In addition to General Fund revenues, approximately 50 percent of the Commonwealth Ports Authority (‘‘CPA’’) seaport revenues are derived from apparel-related

shipments. This has enabled CPA to secure long-term financing to fund major ports

improvements. Loss of the apparel revenues with no replacement revenues would

leave the Ports Authority unable to meet its long-term bond debt service payments

and loss of the outbound cargo would mean higher shipping costs for the entire

CNMI.

Further, the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation generates over 20 pefrcent of

its revenues directly from the apparel industry.

The economic outlook for the CNMI over the next four years appears to be a small

decline for two years, a stagnant economy for two years and a steep 30 percent drop

in FY 2004.

The net result of our most likely projections for the apparel industry, tourism, our

economic diversification efforts, and the multiplier effect of capital improvement

project (‘‘CIP’’) construction activities, is that government revenues will remain in

the $200–$215 million range for FY 2000—FY 2003, with a drop to $182 million

level in FY 2004. This would reduce revenues to the FY 1994 level.

A strict austerity program implemented in January 1998 imposed restrictions on

expenditures for personnel, professional services, travel, communications, leased vehicles and general procurement of goods and services. These belt-tightening measures have resulted in drastic reductions in annual government expenditures from

$268 million in FY 1997 to a projected $216 million in FY 1999. This will be a $52

million or 20 percent reduction over the two-year period. Over 1,000 government positions have been eliminated through attrition and by leaving vacant positions unfilled, and some government offices have implemented a reduction in work hours.

Further reductions in government expenditures present major difficulties. The

CNMI, unlike most other local, state and insular jurisdictions, is comprised of three

main populated islands, making duplication of government services and infrastructure unavoidable. Our analysis of government expenditures by island indicates the

CNMI Government’s operational costs are 30 percent higher than they would be if

the population and facilities were located on one island. This amounted to $43 million in FY 1998. This does not include the additional infrastructure costs of multiple

power, water, and sewage systems; airport and sea port facilities; highway and road

systems; public school and public health delivery systems; et cetera.

II. Covenant Section 702 Grants are Expended on Vital Projects

Upon taking office, my Administration made it a priority to move Covenant Section 702 CIP funds quickly and efficiently. One of the primary impediments against

movement of CIP funds in the last Administration was the lack of an integrated list

of prioritized CIP projects, which is a requirement to draw-down Federal funds. We

quickly appointed a task force to develop such a list. The Covenant Section 702

Projects Plan for FY 1996–FY 2002 (‘‘CIP Plan’’) was completed in December 1998.

We also created an office specifically for the management of CIP projects. This has

greatly improved our efficiency and ability to track progress on the expenditure of

CIP funds and assist in the movement of pending projects. Our efforts have led to

a substantial increase in the level of funds released per fiscal year. From January

1995 to December 1997, a total of $33.6 million was released for CIP projects. During 1998 our efforts to expedite the release of funds led to a release of $39.5 million

for the year, more than was released in the entire preceding three-year period. In

the last six months we have already managed to release $10.2 million. We are expending these funds as rapidly as possible and have instituted the organizational

changes necessary to do so.
8

1 Each funding period has been seven years except the Interim Funding Period for FYI 1993-

1995. Because no agreement was in place after the termination of the second funding period

in 1992, the U.S. Congress approved funding on a year-to-year basis until 1996 when the third

and current period of funding began.

Over the last several years, claims have been made that the CNMI was not using

the Covenant CIP funds. An OIA press release issued in February 1999 supporting

a proposal to divert these funds to other insular areas characterized the funds proposed for diversion as ‘‘an unused balance from previous construction grants.’’ This

is not true. Although it may appear on the books that the funds have not been

‘‘used’’, this is misleading, as normally full payment for a project is not due until

its completion.For instance, a project may be in the design phase and payment for

the design has been expended, but you would not pay for the construction until actual completion of the facility. Therefore, it appears on the books that this money

has not been used when, in fact, it has been committed.

The funding levels and the CNMI match required since the inception of the Covenant Section 702 funding program are as follows:

•First Funding Period, FY 1979–FYI 1985 $192 million

• No local match required All grants have been fully expended. $228

million

• Second Funding Period, FYI 1986–FY 1992

No local match required Approximately 40 percent of grants went to local government operations. Only $1.2 million remains unexpended. Projects have been

identified.

• Interim Funding Period, FY 1993–FYI 199511 $101 million

Between 20 percent and 40 percent local match required, totaling $29 million.

All grants went to CIP projects; no funding went to government operations. Although $41 million remains unexpended, all of it has been committed to ongoing

projects.

•Third Funding Period, FYI 1996–FY 2002 $154 million

Fifty percent local match totaling $77 million over seven-year period is required.

All grans is are for CIP projects. CIP Plan was completed in December 1998 and

is being implemented.

The FY 1996–FY 2002 CIP Projects Plan identifies the projects to be accomplished under the current seven-year CIP funding program, totaling $154 million. Major

projects include funding for a solid waste facility, a new correctional facility, school

projects, and basic water, power and sewer infrastructure on Rota, Tinian, and

Saipan. The Commonwealth has thus far appropriated $52.3 million for CIP projects

under this plan. This appropriation takes us part way through the FYI 1998 funding

period. In addition, legislation was recently passed authorizing a bond issue that

will provide sufficient funding for the local match required through the rest of the

current funding period, FYI 1996–FY 2002.

There have been proposals to defer a portion of the Covenant Section 702 CIP

grant funds. We strongly oppose any amendments to the existing funding structure.

We are locating funds to match the Federal share and we are expending these funds

quickly. We are aware of and appreciate the letters you have written, Mr. Chairman, to your colleagues in Congress regarding this issue and thank you for your

efforts to assist us in preserving these important funds for our community.

III. Enforcement of Federal Laws

Over the last year and a half, the Commonwealth has forged improved relationships with the Federal agencies that operate in our jurisdiction. However, we still

have a few concerns regarding the operations of some of the Federal agencies in the

CNMI.

A.The National Labor Relations Board (‘‘NLRB’’). The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (‘‘EEOC’’). and The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (‘‘OSHA’’)

The Commonwealth is currently finalizing a Memorandum of Agreement (‘‘MOA’’)

with both the NLRB and EEOC. These agreements will expand and clarify the

interaction of the Department of Labor and Immigration (‘‘DOLI’’) and the NLRB

and EEOC. We have also been encouraged by the training efforts of the EEOC in

the Commonwealth. They have been conducting on-island workshops for employees,

employers, and local government agencies.

The CNMI’s primary concern regarding the NLRB, EEOC, and OSHA enforcement efforts is that they do not have a full-time presence in the Commonwealth.

Part-time enforcement of claims has created a backlog of cases. We have witnessed

this from our processing of temporary work authorizations which DOLI issues for
9

2See letter of Governor Pedro P. Tenorio to Mr. Charles Simonsen, Special Agent in Charge

of the U.S. Customs Service San Francisco office, July 7, 1998 (appended to Attachment IV of

CNMI Report on Labor, Immigration and law Enforcement, distributed to the Committee April

1999).

90 days at time to guest workers who have filed a Federal labor claim, and are continually renewed until the completion of the case. A temporary work authorization

allows a guest worker to remain on-island during the pendency of his or her claim.

There are currently over 300 individuals who are on temporary work authorizations

as a result of pending NLRB claims. Some of these individuals have been receiving

renewals of the 90-day temporary permits since 1997. We also have individuals who

are unemployed, but continue to remain in the CNMI during the pendency of their

NLRB case. When guest workers come in for renewals of their temporary work permits, they are asked about the anticipated conclusion of their case. We have repeated instances of guest workers telling us they do not know because there is no

agent on island. In addition, because we are an island community, employees have

no reachable resource for assistance when an agent is not on island. They cannot

drive to a neighboring town to see an agent.

We are also disappointed over the reluctance of OSHA to assist in funding a consultation service in the CNMI as is done in many other jurisdictions including

Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. We believe that such a service would

assist in reducing the number of OSHA violations in the CNMI.

B. The U.S. Attorney’s Office

Our primary concern regarding this office is the delayed prosecution of an internal

corruption matter at DOLI, which has not been prosecuted despite being ready for

prosecution’ from the Federal investigative task force since October 1998. The investigative task force has also informed us that, due to the lengthy passage of time,

a number of ‘‘targets’’ and ‘‘witnesses’’ are no longer available for testimony in the

case. Swift prosecution of this case would send a message that corruption is not tolerated.

C. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (‘‘FBI’’)

The primary interaction between the FBI and the CNMI has been through the

FBI/CNMI Task Force. The Task Force has been extremely successful. Cooperation,

training and technical assistance provided by the FBI is critical to effective enforcement of laws in the CNMI. Joint efforts of the FBI/CNMI Task Force have successfully combated Chinese gang operations, forced prostitution under the Mann Act, illegal immigration, mail and wire fraud violations, and Hobbs Act violations. A major

concern expressed by CNMI members of the Task Force is the failure to respond

to repeated requests for funding for federally certified translation services. Lack of

translation services clearly hinders the overall progress of investigative work in a

community with a large foreign speaking population.

D. The U.S. Department of Labor. U.S. Customs. and the Immigration and

Naturalization Service

U.S. Labor maintains a full-time presence in the CNMI and we have participated

in a number of joint enforcement efforts. The Commonwealth is excluded from the

customs territory of the United States under Covenant Section 603. However, the

CNMI Customs Division cooperates fully whenever U.S. Customs requests to stage

an operation in the CNMI. Last year, I invited the U.S. Customs Service to consider

executing a new Memorandum of Agreement with the CNMI to replace one that expired in September 1996.2 U.S. Customs declined due to concerns about potential

liability issues since U.S. Customs has limited jurisdiction in the CNMI under the

Covenant. In addition, no CNMI law enforcement agency has yet received the contents of the so-called ‘‘Gray Report’’ allegedly detailing instances of textile transshipment into the CNMI during late 1997.

The last six months have seen a dramatic improvement in services from the NS

office in the CNMI. Prior to this time, there was little interaction between CNMI

immigration officials and the local FNS office despite efforts by the CNMI. This situation has improved dramatically with recent cooperative efforts, including the

Tinian operations, and planned training seminars, which will be extremely helpful

in enhancing local levels of expertise.

IV.Federal–CNMI Initiative Funds Are Instrumental in Improving the

Labor and Immigration Situation in the CNMI

The Federal-CNMI Initiative on Labor, Immigration and Law Enforcement was

created by Congress in 1994 to address labor, immigration and law enforcement

issues in the CNMI. Each year since 1994, Congress has appropriated funding to
10

the Department of Interior to be used for activities under the Initiative. The CNMI

applies annually for grants under the Initiative and the Office of Insular Affairs

(OIA) determines how the money is to be spent. In addition to funding CNMI enforcement efforts in labor, immigration and related areas, OIA has provided substantial funding to Federal enforcement agencies to increase their presence and enforcement activities in the CNMI. Activities funded by the CNMI using Initiative

grants are described below.

A. Attorney General’s Office

Initiative funds have enabled the CNMI Attorney General’s Office (‘‘AGO’’) to address a critical need for additional attorneys. The FYI 1995/1996 grant funded two

attorneys and a paralegal in the Criminal Division. These positions became so essential to the institutional capability of the Criminal Division that they were taken

over by local funding to ensure continuity.

Three labor and immigration attorney positions in DOLI were funded from the

FYI 1997 grant and we have applied for funding to continue them under the FY

2000 Initiative appropriation. One attorney functions as in-house counsel to the

Labor Division. Among the attorney’s responsibilities are advising on labor policy

and procedures, as well as drafting rules and regulations and reviewing labor related legislation, and representing the Department at hearings.

In addition, a prosecutor from the AGO Criminal Division was permanently assigned to DOLI in August 1998 to criminally prosecute violations of CNMI labor

laws. Although the vast majority of labor disputes are resolved on the administrative level, it was essential that abusive employers be charged criminally if the conduct called for it. Immigration criminal prosecutions are up 100 percent from 1997.

During 1998 there were 25 criminal labor and immigration cases filed against 45

defendants. This labor prosecutor’s scope of responsibilities was expanded to include

civil prosecution, collections (i.e. enforcement of judgments rendered by the hearing

office) as well as representing the department at hearings. This attorney has filed

142 civil actions to collect over $1 million in back wages, liquidated damages, and

civil penalties. A paralegal position is also funded under the grant.

The third attorney position provides legal support to DOLI’s Division of Immigration. This attorney handles all deportation and exclusion related matters and litigation up through the appellate level. In 1997 there were 247 deportation orders

issued; this increased to 441 deportation orders in 1998. In addition, over half a million dollars in assets from forfeiture cases have been collected by this attorney.

A Criminal Code revision was also funded under the grant and is currently before

the Legislature.

B. Attorney General’s Investigative Unit

In 1995 the Attorney General’s Investigative Unit (AGIU) was awarded $487,000. The FYI 1999 grant funded $245,000 for this unit. These funds permitted the creation and operation of a professional law enforcement agency. The objective of the

AGIU is to develop an investigative program to identify and prosecute white collar

crime, organized crime, public corruption, and fraud against the government, with

an emphasis on labor and immigration problems. The AGIU performs the role of an

independent state police agency reporting to the Attorney General. This unit handles an average of more than 100 criminal cases per year by six investigators. To

date for this current year, there have been 14 arrests, which are pending prosecution. These cases consist of misconduct of public officials—bribery, labor abuse, immigration fraud, sexual assault, extortion and prostitution. The unit is headed by

a retired FBI special agent.

C. Department of Labor and Immigration

The resolution of labor disputes at the administrative law level is important to

efficient resolution of cases. The system and personnel in place in 1995 could not

cope with the volume and complexity of cases filed. The Initiative grant in FY1995/

1996 provided $132,000 for improvements. Two administrative law judges were

hired for this unit. Computers and modern court recording equipment were added

to the available tools of the administrative law judges. This unit processed 1,133

cases in 1996, issuing monetary awards to workers of $1,874,206. In 1997, 1,229

cases were processed with $2,131,423 awards issued to workers. In 1998, 1,270

cases were processed, with $7,452,630 issued in administrative awards to employees. The FY 1997 Initiative grant provided an additional $168,270 for a third judicial position, as well as additional equipment, training and library materials.

In addition to the hearing office, the FYI 1997 Initiative grant provided DOLI

funding for an Internal Affairs Investigator, a Health and Safety Investigator and

a Wage and Hour Investigator. The Internal Affairs Investigator has developed a

Departmental handbook including guidelines, procedures, and regulations for De-
11

partment personnel. The officer has conducted training sessions with DOLI personnel. Investigations of alleged misconduct and/or violations of CNMI laws and

DOLI policies have thus far resulted in the termination of six employees and the

resignation of three. This investigator also conducted an investigation of a private

firm, which resulted in 60 counts of criminal charges against that firm. This office

has an increasing caseload as a result of active monitoring and enforcement. The

FY 2000 Initiative request includes funding for an additional Internal Affairs Investigator. The Department has yet to fill the other two investigator positions; however,

it is actively recruiting qualified candidates.

D. Labor and Immigration Identification System

The Labor and Immigration Identification System (LIIDS) project began in 1994

with a $1.5 million grant from the FY 1995/1996 Initiative appropriation. The purpose of this project is to develop a fully automated immigration tracking system that

would include a comprehensive arrival and departure module. While this project has

suffered some delays, it is now back on track. Development of a fully automated arrival and departure module is in the planning stages and vendors who have installed similar immigration tracking systems in other countries are being researched. Currently, CNMI immigration arrival and departure tracking is semiautomated, with plans to enhance this system until the installation of a fully automated arrival and departure system.

E. FBI/CNMI Task Force

The FBI/CNMI Task Force was organized to combine law enforcement resources

and efforts of the CNMI and the FBI to jointly investigate criminal activities that

violate Federal law within the CNMI, specifically organized crime activities. The

Task Force received small grants in FY 1995/1996 and in FY 1999. The Task Force

has been responsible for dismantling a Chinese gang that was involved in numerous

extortion cases in the Chinese community. Three high ranking organizers of the

gang have been convicted and are presently serving lengthy prison terms. In addition to extortion cases, the Task Force successfully investigated numerous Mann Act

violations, immigration fraud, and an internal investigation of alleged corrupt activities in the DOLI. In April 1999, the Task Force assisted the U.S. Immigration and

Naturalization Service in the investigation of the illegal alien smuggling operation

that resulted in five boats being diverted by the U.S. Coast Guard to Tinian. Approximately 30 Chinese nationals have been charged with alien smuggling. A sixth

boat carrying approximately 150 Chinese nationals was diverted to Tinian in August. Just a few days ago, all of the aliens were processed by INS and repatriated

out of Tinian.

F. Northern Marianas College

In March this year, the Northern Marianas College organized an economic development conference, featuring a distinguished panel of experts. The event was funded by a $75,000 grant from OIA, and a $25,000 grant from the Commonwealth Development Authority. The information, ideas, and recommendations that arose from

the conference have been incorporated into a major economic development study,

funded by an additional $200,000 grant from the Initiative. The College intends to

finalize the study by the Fall of 1999.

G. Central Statistics Division/Department of Commerce

The Central Statistics Division was awarded $87,000 from the FY 1998 Initiative

grant to conduct four quarterly rounds of a current labor force survey for the entire

CNMI. Unfortunately, these funds were inadequate to effectively survey all three

major islands, so only Saipan was surveyed and only for three of the planned four

quarters.

H. Department of Public Health

The Department of Public Health (‘‘DPH’’) instituted a comprehensive alien

health-screening program in early 1998. While OIA first offered technical and financial assistance to DPH in January 1998, virtually none was provided until April

1999, fifteen months later, and long after the first screening was completed. Instead,

OIA took the information and statistics provided by the CNMI for the purpose of

developing the grant proposal in early 1998, and misrepresented and misinterpreted

it and erroneously portrayed a ‘‘public health crisis’’ in a report to Congress. The

report was issued in December 1998 entitled the ‘‘Fourth Annual Report on FederalCNMI Initiative on Labor, Immigration and Law Enforcement’’. The CNMI was disturbed by the misrepresentations and prepared a clarification, which was submitted,

to Congress in April 1999.
12

3 A recent CNMI labor force survey prepared by the CNMI Department of Commerce indicated

that there are currently 35,755 non-U.S. citizens in the CNMI labor force. However, this figure

has to be clarified. In addition to the guest workers permitted by our Labor and Immigration

Identification System (‘‘LlIDS’’), the Department of Commerce figure included citizens from the

Freely Associated States, spouses of U.S. citizens who had not obtained green cards or U.S. resident status, illegal aliens (as identified under the limited immunity program), and other nonresident permit holders such as investor/business permit holders. 4The 1995 Mid-Decade Census reflects that 37.7 percent of the CNMI population was born

in the CNMI; 2.8 percent were born on Guam; 4.1 percent were born in the U.S.; and 5.9 percent

were born in the Freely Associated States. This totals 50.4 percent of the total CNMI population

in 1995. This does not include naturalized U.S. citizens, or immediate relatives of U.S. citizens

who are in the CNMI under that status under CNMI immigration law or as U.S. green card

holders. Based on these figures, we believe that the guest worker population (nonresidents who

are working in the CNMI under a business permit and guest workers under temporary worker

contracts), is lower than our resident population of U.S. citizens, immediate relatives of U.S.

citizens both green card holders and immediate relatives under CNMI immigration law and

Freely Associated States citizens.

With no assistance from OIA, the CNMI successfully implemented the guest worker health-screening program. This program screened over 35,000 workers in 1998

and is moving into its second year. The program succeeded because of the diligent

and cooperative efforts of several CNMI government agencies and the private medical community, using computer tracking capability and sustainable program policies.

DPH received $320,000 from the FY 1999 Initiative appropriation to upgrade the

data collection system at the DPH/DOLI Liaison Office and to hire three disease

control investigators. These funds will ensure continuity of the screening program,

investigation of the work environment of workers testing positive for disease, and

monitoring noncompliant workers.

Guest Worker Assistance Program

Karidat is a non-profit organization operating a number of social service programs

in the CNMI. One of these programs is the Guest Worker Assistance Program funded by the Initiative during the last four years. This program provides emergency

food and/or rental assistance to ‘‘displaced guest workers’’ who have filed labor complaints with DOLI against their employer for breach of contract or abuse. Karidat

received approximately $300,000 from the FY 1995 through FY 1997 Initiative funding. An additional $200,000 was applied for from the FY 2000 grant. Between 1996

and 1999 they have assisted a total of 3,500 guest workers.

V. The Commonwealth is Successful1v Addressing Labor and Immigration

Issues

Over the last year and a half we have accomplished the following through our reform efforts:

In March of last year, we enacted legislation imposing a moratorium to control

and reduce the number of guest workers in the Commonwealth. This measure, coupled with the economic decline we are suffering, has produced a reduction in the

number of guest worker permits by 22.7 percent from 1997 to 1998, the first reduction in our history. Furthermore, our most recent figures, from August 1998 to August 1999, show that only 25,306 permits were issued for this one year time period.

This represents a 26% decline from Calendar Year 1997.3

In addition, our nonresident population is now lower than our resident population.4

In March this year, to complement the moratorium law, we passed a law imposing

a clear and absolute cap on the number of guest workers permitted to be employed

in the apparel industry. We also wanted to encourage a decrease in the numbers,

and to eliminate the practice of using manpower companies to circumvent the cap.

Consequently, the law contains an attrition mechanism mandating that if a company loses or lapses its license, the number of guest workers permitted under that

license are permanently lost.

This February, we passed a law expanding the relief available to abandoned guest

workers. Prior law had established a deportation fund to be used to purchase airline

tickets for guest workers who had not been properly repatriated by their employers.

The new law expanded the relief to allow guest workers who had received judgments for back wages, the right to receive, in addition to airline tickets, the equivalent of three months salary. Since this February, we repatriated over 163 individuals. One hundred and eleven also qualified for the three months salary relief. Thus

far we have expended $359,000 to provide this assistance. Currently, we have a list

of 70 additional guest workers who are seeking this relief. We are continuing to

gather our limited resources to address their requests as quickly as possible. In ad-
13

dition, increased enforcement and monitoring efforts have contributed to the fact

that we have not had any significant cases of worker abandonment during this Administration.

Last September, we enacted a law providing illegal aliens the opportunity to register and become legal. The registration period ended on June 2, 1999, with 3,111

guest workers having registered. Upon registering, they were encouraged to seek

employment. We also provided assistance to help them locate jobs. To date, 1,246

have obtained one-year contracts for employment, with 295 more applications pending. A total of 2,125 have been granted three-month work authorizations. At the end

of the amnesty period, we began asking those who had not found jobs to voluntarily

depart. If they are unwilling to do so, we will institute deportation proceedings, ensuring that they are afforded all their due process rights.

We are improving our border control capability. Early this year we installed a departure counter at the Saipan International Airport and are now collecting identification information from departing nonresidents. Prior to the installation of this

counter, we only tracked nonresidents entering the CNMI. This change will improve

our ability to ascertain who is physically present in the Commonwealth.

We also instituted prescreening efforts to ensure that guest workers entering the

CNMI satisfy conditions for entry. DOLI and State Department officials met late

last year to discuss this issue. In addition, the Commonwealth unilaterally instituted prescreening of Filipino workers utilizing the Philippines Overseas Employment Agency (‘‘POEA’’), the Philippine Government agency responsible for all aspects of overseas employment for its citizens, and the Philippine Consulate in the

CNMI.We are close to formalizing an agreement whereby POEA will assist us in

our prescreening efforts. Efforts to implement prescreening have been concentrated

on guest workers from the Philippines because they are the largest group of guest

workers in the CNMI. Last year, DOLI instituted policies to prohibit entry into the

CNMI of individuals from certain high-risk countries, except for garment workers.

These countries include Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Russia, and the

People’s Republic of China. Individuals from these countries have been particularly

difficult to repatriate in the past. These procedures are consistent with INS policies.

The CNMI is now using INS ‘‘watch lists’’ of high-risk countries.

Last year, DOLI promulgated strict regulations for manpower, service providers

and security companies to eliminate recruitment scams. These regulations prohibit

security guard or manpower companies from hiring employees from outside the

CNMI, thereby eliminating foreign recruitment scams in those industries. The regulations also require financial screening of all security companies, manpower companies and service providers to determine whether they have the financial capability

to employ the guest workers. Companies that qualify are required to post a cash

bond or a standby letter of credit in the amount of $5,000. The result of these regulatory changes has been the virtual elimination of these types of companies in the

CNMI.

We passed a law this year limiting the stay of guest workers to three years.

Last year, legislation was passed creating a special industry committee system to

recommend minimum wage levels patterned after the system in American Samoa.

The Chairperson of this Committee is an official of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union Local 5; the Vice-Chairperson is the Vice President and

General Manager of the Bank of Hawaii. The Committee has been meeting since

January of this year. They have held public hearings on Saipan, Tinian and Rota,

reached out to the business community through appearing before the Chamber of

Commerce, and met with labor leaders to hear their views. Businesses throughout

the Commonwealth are being surveyed in a manner similar to that done by the U.S.

Department of Labor in American Samoa to determine current wage and compensation levels in various industries in the CNMI. Based on the data that is gathered

and the public input from all interested parties, and considering the current economic conditions in various industries, the committee will make a recommendation

to the Legislature on the minimum wage. The law requires that the Legislatube set

minimum wages no less than the rate recommended by the committee. The law also

requires that the recommended wage cannot be lower than the current minimum

wage. The committee hopes to complete its work in the next several months.

We are continuing to address our U.S. citizen unemployment rate, which is currently 13.4 percent, compared to 14.9 percent last year. First, we redrafted our Resident Workers Fair Compensation Act to ensure equal compensation between residents and guest workers and to make employment in the private sector more attractive to resident workers. Our Nonresident Worker Act mandates certain benefits for

guest workers that are not provided for resident employees. Second, I created a

panel to analyze job categories that would be attractive to residents. We will work

with the CNMI Legislature to pass legislation to add these jobs to the categories
14

reserved for residents. In conjunction with this effort, we are working with the college and local high schools to institute or improve existing training programs for the

job categories identified. In addition to reducing our unemployment rate, this effort

should also further reduce guest worker numbers.

We improved services at DOLI’s Employment Services Office. The task of this office is to assist residents in finding employment in the private sector. Under our

Nonresident Worker Act, before an employer can hire a guest worker, he or she

must certify that there is no resident interested and qualified for the job. This office

has seen increased interest by our residents in private sector jobs, and has increased placement of resident workers in the private sector. By August of this year,

we had already placed 142 more resident workers in private sector jobs than were

placed for all of 1998. Further, placements from January to August of 1999 were

five times the number of placements for all of 1997.

This only highlights some of our actions over the last year. We will be providing

you with a more comprehensive report on our progress. Overall, our efforts have led

to a projected 85 percent reduction in labor complaints between 1998 and 1999; collections, since January 1998, of $1,142,725 in back wage judgments for guest workers; a 41.6 percent increase in business establishment health and safety inspections;

a 12 percent increase in garment factory inspections; a 75 percent increase in garment factory housing health and safety inspections; a 78 percent increase from 1997

to 1998 in deportation proceedings; improved services at DOLI including educational

forums for guest workers about their rights, and improved translation services to

increase confidence levels; more active filing of cases against violators of our laws;

and, stricter enforcement of laws. We will continue our efforts and look forward to

working more closely and cooperatively with Federal enforcement agencies.

VI. Conclusion and Recommendations

The CNMI has utilized the tools provided in the Covenant to develop a strong private sector economy over the past twenty years. The strength of the private sector

has permitted us to become economically self-sufficient and to increase per capita

income three-fold. Unlike other U.S. jurisdictions except Guam and Hawaii, our economic growth is directly tied to neighboring Asian economies. As those economies

have suffered a drastic downturn in the past two years, the effect on our economy

has been profound.

We are now at a critical economic crossroads: we are faced with the challenge of

diversifying our economy at the same time that one of two major industries is about

to leave. We are deeply concerned because the same tools that permitted us to build

our current economy are under serious attack.

We have outlined the issues and what we have done to address them. We ask for

your help and participation in the following ways.

•Please acknowledge our progress during the past year.

•Please preserve vital Covenant Section 702 CIP funds.

•Please help us restore investor confidence, which has been badly damaged by

the uncertainty regarding our situation and negative publicity over the last few

years. This is critical to our efforts to maintain self-sufficiency and diversify our

economy.

•Please recognize the impact of the Asian economic crisis when considering legislation affecting the CNML

•Please appreciate that we have extremely limited natural and human resources with which to develop our economy, and achieve a progressively higher

standard of living.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Governor. At the appropriate time,

I’ll have the Secretary of Labor and Immigration’s Mark Zachares

come to the table if there’s any questions he can address that are

asked by the Committee.

Mr. President, you’re up.

STATEMENT OF PAUL MANGLONA, PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE, NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS LEGISLATURE, SAIPAN

Mr. MANGLONA. Mr. Chairman, members of the Committee, on

behalf of the Commonwealth senate and from the Northern Marianas and from our people, I thank you for allowing me to speak before this Committee.
15

A year and a half ago, Mr. Chairman, we met with Members of

Congress and said that the CNMI had a new administration with

a strong commitment to work with the legislative branch to make

reforms and resolve our labor and immigration problems. You and

members of this Committee have personally taken time from your

busy schedule to visit the CNMI and see for yourself the conditions

there. We thank you for your fair-minded approach and your commitment.

Mr. Chairman, we are very pleased to report, with the governor,

that we have indeed made real and substantial progress in our reform efforts. Further, we acknowledge there is still much to be

done.

We have accomplished the following. We have greatly improved

the treatment and living conditions of our guest workers. We completed a successful limited-immunity program to register illegal

aliens. Our moratorium on new guest workers remains in effect

and the number of foreign workers is declining. We enacted a law

to help abandoned workers and provide airline tickets home in addition to salary relief. Workers’ rights to transfer between employers have been greatly expanded. We also established a three year

limit on the time guest workers can stay in the Commonwealth. We

set a firm ceiling on the number of foreign garment workers and

imposed attrition provisions.

We recently passed a law strengthening our system of health

clearances and criminal background checks on potential guest

workers. We now rely on the same agencies used by the United

States Government for such clearances and certifications.

Mr. Chairman, these are only some of the concrete actions we

have taken together with Governor Tenorio to address labor and

immigration issues in the Commonwealth.

I would also like to take this opportunity to seek the assistance

and the understanding of this Committee regarding the longstanding frustration in obtaining compact-impact funds. Ironically,

the Clinton Administration has tried to divert our CIP funding and

give it to Guam when we have enormous compact-impact costs too.

Such actions can only be seen as an attempt to punish the CNMI

for resisting efforts to kill the garment industry, one of the mainstays of our local economy. Our resident representative to the

United States has repeatedly raised this issue with the Federal

Government to no avail.

To prepare for the future beyond the garment industry, we have

also been working hard to diversify our economy so we will never

again have to depend on Federal hand-outs. For example, we enacted a law to grant long-term residency to alien retirees who invest $150,000 or more in a single residence in the Commonwealth.

A bill to establish free trade zones to stimulate the economy and

bring in new forms of business and investment has been passed by

the House of Representatives and, in less than 30 days, is expected

to clear the Senate.

But all of these efforts will come to nothing if we are unable to

provide the work force necessary to support our economy. We need

to retain our ability to tailor our labor and immigration system to

local needs. Decisions that need to be made locally in the Commonwealth should not and cannot effectively be made in Washington,
16

DC. We ask you, Mr. Chairman and members, to support our efforts to develop and sustain an economy that is a beacon of the superiority of the democratic free enterprise system.

We appreciate your genuine commitment to give us an opportunity to be heard before Congress takes any action that could have

a far-reaching effect on our islands and our people. This commitment is especially important because, more than 20 years after

joining the U.S. political family, we still do not have a voice in Congress. The Clinton Administration, together with some members in

Congress, would like to silence us or bypass that voice by opposing

non-voting delegate status, yet, at the same time, they ask Congress to enact legislation that would dramatically affect the lives

of every person living in our islands. This irony is compounded

when we reflect upon the fact that the CNMI is unique among the

territories in being deprived of any representation.

On a variety of issues, our Washington delegate, Mr. Juan

Babauta, speaks of compact-impacts, yet defunding labor and immigration and minimum wage. Many times in the past he has

raised these concerns to those Federal agencies which often resulted in little more than a raised eyebrow. We continue to maintain that representation in this Congress is a fundamental aspect

of the Federal responsibility to the Commonwealth.

Mr. Chairman, we know you have supported us on the non-voting delegate issue, CIP funding issue, and other matters in the

past. We thank you and this Committee for that and for the opportunity to appear before you today. We look forward to continuing

to work closely with Congress to address our mutual concerns.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. Speaker.

STATEMENT OF DIEGO T. BENAVENTE, SPEAKER, NORTHERN

MARIANA ISLANDS LEGISLATURE, SAIPAN MP

Mr. BENAVENTE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman and

members of this honorable Committee, good morning. For the

record, my name is Diego Benavente, speaker of the House of Representatives of the 11th Commonwealth legislature. On behalf of

the members of the CNMI House of Representatives, I would like

to thank you for the opportunity to testify on some of the Committee’s concerns regarding the CNMI in this oversight hearing. Indeed, I am grateful for such an opportunity, more particularly on

behalf of the people of the Commonwealth. For, as you know and

as President Manglona has pointed out, we have no official representation in Congress, unlike the States and all other territories.

I want to address several areas of concern with the hope that

resolution of issues will take into consideration the CNMI’s unique

political, economic, and social status within the American political

family. Mr. Chairman, the CNMI is still a very young democracy,

even compared to its island neighbor to the south, Guam. Because

of our limited experience with self-government and in addition to

the problems that came as a result of our economic policies over

the last 15 years, especially in terms of immigration and labor matters, it becomes apparent why and where we made mistakes along

the way.
17

For their part, the national news media and even some in the administration and Congress have capitalized on our shortcomings

and inexperience and have embarked on a mission to federalize the

control over CNMI immigration and minimum wage. We submit

that any successful attempt to take over our immigration and minimum wage would, one, harm our fragile economy and, two, remove

a fundamental aspect of our right to self-government under the

Covenant.

I say that, given the chance, we can correct what mistakes there

are without need for a Federal takeover. In fact, as Governor

Tenorio has mentioned, they are being corrected and, through reform legislation and effective enforcements since last year, our legislature passed no less than half a dozen laws concerning guest

workers in the Commonwealth.

For example, there’s now a moratorium on the hiring of additional guest workers. This law already resulted in a 22.7 percent

decline in the issuance of guest permits alone in 1998. For those

workers who have judgments against their employees for unpaid

wages or who have been abandoned by their employees, we enacted

legislation whereby the government pays for repatriation costs and

unpaid wages. This despite declining government revenues.

In addition, there is now a limitation, legislation limiting the

maximum length of time that guest workers can stay in the Commonwealth to three years, similar to the limitation for H–2B workers. Thus this limitation is reasonable and addresses dhe criticisms

that some guest workers have lived in the Commonwealth for a

long time, yet do not have the political rights—any political rights.

Furthermore, by requiring guest workers to exit after three years,

this law encourages employers to recruit local residents to replace

the departing guest workers.

Through such legislation and enforcement, our government is

wholeheartedly committed to correcting the mistakes of the past

and establish an effective system of immigration and labor control.

Our united Commonwealth leadership that is here today, both government and private, hopes to convince you of that.

Mr. Chairman and honorable members of this Committee, the

leaders of the Commonwealth are mindful that the continued development of our local economy and enhancement of the overall

quality of life in the islands require a firm physical infrastructure.

To assist the Commonwealth in this regard, the United States has

pledged to provide funding for capital improvement projects pursuant to section 702 of the Covenant and later funding agreements.

Under the present agreement, the CNMI is required to match Federal CIP funds on a dollar-to-dollar basis. Our current legislature

and Governor Tenorio’s administration have worked diligently to

identify the full range of projects to be undertaken, including identifying and securing the sources to meet the local matching funds

requirement. We appreciate any effort on your part to support continued CIP funding for the CNMI and that existing funding not be

disturbed.

In closing, on behalf of my colleagues in the House of Representatives and the people of the Commonwealth, I hope that we have

impressed upon this Committee our resolve and strong commit-
18

ment to set our house in order because the future of our Commonwealth depends upon it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[The prepared statements of Mr. Manglona and Mr. Benavente

follows:]

STATEMENT OF DAVID NORTH

You have an admirable collection of information here, and I think the report can

make a big difference in the on-going policy discussion.

But, truth to tell, my sense is that it needs a little more snap; there is potential

drama within this theater, but it needs to be moved to the front of the stage.

You have also done a lot of original work, creative undercover stuff, and you have

(all too modestly) downplayed it. In how many studies does one find that the best

part is in the methodology section? Not many.

Before we go much further, bear in mind that I am a writer, one with a lot of

familiarity with the subject, and so what I say relates to what I would have done

with the similar material. So you should toss many grains of salt on what I say,

for that reason. My comments come in three flavors:

A. there are some over-arching suggestions noted above and below in this memo;

B. there are notes A through I think I, which deal with specific subjects, set off

by specific sentences in the text; and

C. there is some page-by-page editing. In instances in which the notes are surrounded by brackets [ ] these are asides to you; in other instances, without brackets,

they are suggested edits.

Generally, I would encourage you to impose the following on the report:

1. Some themes, notably a description of what you saw as a part of a giant conspiracy, maybe of how the PRC is taking over, with the unwitting help of American

conservatives, a whole American island. This, I think, is a little sexier than a detailed litany of the very real human rights abuses.

An alternative version would be an excellent example, on American soil, of how

NOT to run an immigration policy; of how U.S. citizen workers are rendered unemployed while trafficking for profit dominates the scene.

Another theme would be the bondage of debt, that prevails (silently) in the CNMI;

all the garment workers are somehow bonded, and many (but not all) the others

have similar experiences. The poor Bangladeshi are stuck and screwed, but not

bonded to an employer.

Whatever the theme, it is needed for itself (to tell a truth in a dramatic way) but

also to make more coherent and more significant that great amount of detailed information you have collected.

2. You need to be—and I could be fired, not shot for this—more distant from the

Clinton Administration. Bill Clinton has not made this a personal battle with Congress; a secondary point, the Administration is not spending as much money as it

should on enforcement, nor has its Justice and Treasury operations been as strong

as its Labor and Interior programs. (We will need to figure out how you can say

that without implicating me.)

3. The drama of what you two did is all but lost; how you got parts of this story

are more dramatic than what you learned. Your accounts of this in person, Steve,

have a drama that is not reflected (yet) on paper.

More drama and a theme or two will lead to useful and quotable soundbites,

which are not now present.

4. One temptation in such a report is to write down everything you learned; you

need to resist that, and drop some of the detail.

5. On the other hand the very peculiar civics and economics of the situation might

be given a little more attention; the odd ways that the U.S. treats its territories,

each quite different from the others.

Further, to produce clothing in the CNMI (one of my favorite themes) is to

produce it in the worst place in the world for various U.S. interests. I think I have

walked you through this—if the clothes were made in Mexico, for instance, it would

produce hundreds of millions of dollars worth of sales for U.S. fiber, yarn and textile

companies and thousands of jobs for their workers; if made in Cambodia, no jobs,

but $200,000,000 a year in duties, a major benefit to U.S. taxpayers. (The CNMI

of course, just talks about garment jobs, none of these more sophisticated concepts.)

This is of course, a bit distant from trafficking, but you can talk about these matters as another set of adverse results coming from the trafficking policies.

OK, enough of the big picture. Here are some specifics:
19

1. I found the definitions, probably very important to you as they are, getting in

the way of the story. Maybe you could put them in an appendix, and just refer to

them in the text.

2. The text wanders between The Mogul (nice term) and naming Willie Tan; Preston Gates is treated the same way. I think I prefer naming them. A sentence or

two about Willie Tan’s other interests might help too.

3. Paragraphs seem to be longish.

4. You probably should stop for a sentence early on and talk about the Tenorios,

uncle and nephew, battling each other in the 1997 election, an example of disunity

among one of the 14 families (a nice concept.) one of Allen Stayman’s notions,

though I have little proof of it is that the families get money from the garment industry by leasing land to it.

5. Given the length of the report you might consider hiring someone to do some

light editing, copy editing, not restructuring or extensive rewriting. I have done a

little of that, but more is needed, and it is hard to do it yourselves—you are both

too close to it to notice unconscious items like ‘‘Congressman DeLay was successful

in delaying action. . . .’’ or some such sentence.

6. I am a compulsive, footnote person; within limits, the more footnotes the easier

it is for the reader to accept what you are saying; you, the author, is not the only

authority. You could easily triple the number of footnotes in this one.

Now for the notes which are keyed to the text:

A. I would not use George Miller’s 66,400 jobs lost; it sounds unbelievable, and

you either have to stop and explain it or drop it.

B. The 11,000 limit, presumably self-imposed, similarly needs to be explained or

dropped. The current text makes it sound like there is some external law or regulation that the CNMI is violating.

C. At the moment you have cited George Miller as the only person in the Congress

who wants change; he does, of course, but I would let people know that in perhaps

different ways there are a whole lot of people pushing for change—including Sens.

Murkowski and Akaka, and Congressmen Spratt, Miller and Bob Franks (R NJ)

whose name can not be used now, but can soon.

D. Jane Mayer of the New Yorker is working, not totally successfully, with this

problem.

E. As to who pays for the lobbyists, it seems that the garment factories have

enough clout locally to force the CNMI to do it from tax funds; having a public agency (the CNMI govt.) do it, was very helpful when they were funding the junkets,

because govt-funded junkets do not have to be reported, but corporate ones do. You

should bear in mind that in a few days (Feb. 28) there will be a new round of lobbying reports on file, and we can see how much P-G was paid for the last six

months.

F. The CNMI’s lousy wage payment enforcement does not stand in a vacuum; both

the feds and many states have highly useful programs to meet the same goal; it is

not as if CNMI had to invent something on its own. Terry Trotter has a wonderful

technique; he calls the customer in New York and says that he will go public, right

away, unless the factory in the CNMI pays up promptly. They do, though you

should not name him in this connection.

G. This is under the ‘‘XI. Extortion of Workers’’ section. This is specialized, but

a double whammy. If you (an alien worker) have lost your job in the CNMI you are

subject to deportation; however, under a local amnesty law, if you come forward to

the authorities, you have a (wildly generous) 60 days to find a new job, and that

new job will give you legal status again. The only people who are hiring are the

garment industry, and so it is within the garment industry that the petty officials

are selling jobs—and legal status—to poor alien workers for whatever gilt they can

obtain.

I can provide at least one news story on this subject, maybe more. Maybe you

have the clips in hand.

H. I disagree that Tan or the garment industry supports Preston-Gates; I may be

wrong, but the govt. pays the bills, and there have been some lovely stories about

what PG bills for, and for how much, all dug out of CNMI govt. files.

I. I (me, David) am running down, now, but I think we can talk a little further

about policy recommendations, but not just now.

I hope you do not find this too harsh, too intrusive or too radical. You are about

to make a major contribution and I want to help in that process.

Perhaps Rhonda—not the report—will have the drama, but I think it can be in

both places.

Thank you for showing this to me. (And bear in mind that only the spellcheck

has edited the document.)
20

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Representative

Babauta. Hopefully we’ll get you a vote one of these days. You’re

on.

STATEMENT OF JUAN N. BABAUTA

Mr. BABAUTA Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I join

the governor and the Senate president and the speaker in expressing our appreciation to you for your continued support in preserving the Covenant funding for the Northern Mariana Islands;

much needed for the development of our infrastructure throughout

the Northern Marianas. As you know, we do have three islands for

which that money is badly needed for development of our economy

there.

Mr. Chairman, the people of the Northern Mariana Islands have

been putting a lot of pressure on their leaders for change because

what the people are seeing is not right. But I have to assure this

Committee that change is occurring. Local officials who best understand local problems and conditions and who are answerable to

local voters have acted on numerous local policies to deal with

these problems.

And, very quickly, Mr. Chairman and members, we have improved our entry and exit system. It is much better now. We now

have a better handle on the LIIDS program. We have limited amnesty for illegals; 3,000 of them showed up—signed up, rather. And

we have tightened up regulations regarding security guards and

manpower agencies which accounted for the large majority of the

labor complaints in the Mariana Islands. We have a moratorium

law. As imperfect as it is, it is a moratorium law nonetheless and

it is a step; a step that we have never taken before in the Northern

Mariana Islands.

We have open transfer of jobs now in the Northern Mariana Islands that we did not have before. We put a cap on garment workers. The INS and the CNMI joint effort regarding the illegals in

Tinian for those coming from China have worked out very well. We

put a three-year cap on non-residency or non-resident stay; and we

now have a pre-check screening for health and a pre-check screening for criminal background checks for those now entering the

Northern Mariana Islands.

But while we try to address these difficult issues at the local

level, the question is what has the Federal Government done? And

the answer is that the Federal Government has not been willing

to devote a high level of resources even to carry out functions

where the Federal responsibility is quite clear. And this is not a

statement by Juan Babauta nor a statement from Governor Pedro

P. Tenorio or any one of us here on the panel. This is a statement

from the U.S. Commission on Immigration report. It is clear that

the Federal Government is a reluctant party when it comes to enforcing Federal laws in the CNMI. As a general observation, the

Federal Government is a reluctant party when it comes to promoting and enhancing the cause and the well-being of all the insular areas, not just the Northern Mariana Islands.

Mr. Chairman, we can sit here all day long and talk about immigration and labor and we can sit here all day long and talk about

minimum wage and the duty-free manufacturing in the Northern
21

Mariana Islands, but, in the end, these conditions are symptoms.

They need to be dealt with, but they are not the core problem. Mr.

Chairman, this great nation of ours has a territorial problem and

until this nation addresses its territorial problem, deals with the

needs and circumstances of the insular areas as a whole, then

symptoms of that problem will continue to crop up.

Today our nation is in a period of unprecedented economic

growth, yet look at the conditions in the insular areas. By most

economic measures, we lag behind. Half the insular area population is below the U.S. poverty line. Two days ago, before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, we heard that

America should be one country. But the fact is that we are two

America’s. The 50 States are 1 America; the insular areas are the

other America. And these two Americas are drastically different,

not only economically, but politically.

I believe it is no coincidence that the insular areas, without full

political rights, are least well-off economically. And this is beyond

having a delegate in the Congress and in the House of Representatives. And I have a concern that this condition of economic and political disenfranchisement seems permanent. There is no way out.

The CNMI had a vision when we negotiated the Covenant. We

wanted to be part of America economically and politically. And that

vision still lives today. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Babauta follows:]

STATEMENT OF JUAN N. BABAUTA, COMMONWEALTH OF THE NORTHERN MARIANA

ISLANDS

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:

Today’s hearing is the fourth this Committee has held since 1992 to look at how

the Federal and the local governments are dealing with the issues of immigration

and foreign workers in the Northern Marianas. Mr. Chairman, you, Mr. Miller, and

other Members have during this time epended the personal effort to fly halfway

round the world to observe the reality in the Marianas and to talk with all parties.

As a Committee your scrutiny has been an incentive for change. And as individuals

your demonstration of personal concern and the informed counsel you have been

able to offer as a result of your visits must also be credited with provoking positive

changes.

Even more important, though, has been the role of the people of the Northern

Marianas, who have insisted that their elected officials change the course of immigration and labor policy. As Speaker Benavente testified last year regarding the sentiment of the people who elected him: ‘‘They want stringent control of immigration.

They want labor enforcement. They want to maintain the character of their traditional community life.’’

You have heard this morning of the actions the Northern Marianas has taken—

and is taking—in response to this public sentiment. These actions are designed to

ensure that immigration to our islands is managed effectively, and that foreign

workers, once arrived, are treated in a manner consistent with the fundamental

human values our local community respects. These actions also promote the goal of

Covenant Section 701: to raise the standard of living of the people of the Northern

Marianas to that of the rest of the United States in a manner which protects our

culture, our community, and the environment in which we live.

Have we achieved perfection? Of course not. But we have faced up to the need

for change and taken appropriate action.

Is there more to do? Yes, there is; as in any community, social improvement is

an on-going process. But I believe—and I say this as one who has been a persistent

critic of the Northern Marianas open-door immigration policy and of the way workers have been treated—I believe all-in-all the situation is better

And change has occurred in a way, Mr. Chairman, I think you would agree is usually preferable: local officials, who best understand local conditions and who are answerable to local voters, have crafted local policies to deal with the problems.

What has the Federal Executive branch done to make things better?
22

1 Immgration and the CNMI: A Report of the U.S. Commission of Immigration Reform, 1997,

p. 16.

• OSHA inspections appear to be improving workplace conditions. I was glad to

see recently that the penalties for the violations OSHA uncovers in the Marianas are below the national average, which indicates to me the violations are

on average less severe than elsewhere in our country.

•The new ombudsman’s office Congress mandated is in operation and helping

foreign workers reach the system of Federal and local laws designed for workers’ protection.

•The federally funded computerized tracking system is up and running at least

sufficiently that data from that system is now being reported in our annual statistical abstracts.

We still have, however, concern about the commitment and efficiency of Federal

law enforcers in the Marianas. As the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform observed in its 1997 final report: ‘‘. . . the Federal Government has not generally been

willing to devote a high level of resources even to carry out functions where the Federal responsibility is clear.1 Indeed, the principal reason that Labor and Justice and

Treasury have agents and offices today in the Marianas is because those Federal

departments have been able to siphon off funds that Congress had otherwise designated for capital improvements in all the U.S. territories. The agencies are reluctant to spend their regular operational funds to do their duty in the Marianas.

To me it is clear that when it comes to a ‘‘territory’’ without representation in

Congress or a role in election of the President there is, of course, no incentive to

commit Federal resources.

It should be clear to you why, given this reality, we in the Marianas remain essentially skeptical about calls to increase Federal law enforcement responsibilities

by extending the Immigration and Nationalities Act. We just don’t trust that if the

Federal Government had that additional power over us our interests would be listened to or our welfare put before other concerns that the Executive branch—or

Congress—might in the future have.

We see a pattern of unfulfilled promises from our Federal partners. Today, for instance, we wait patiently for reimbursement of some $700,000 we expended this

year to assist the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in the interdiction

and confinement of over 500 Chinese who attempted to illegally enter Guam. The

Governor responded immediately when the Attorney General asked for a commitment of CNMI manpower and money to deal with this crisis. Yet there seems to

be no such sense of urgency on the part of the Federal Government when it comes

to its pledge of repayment.

And year after year goes by without the compact impact assistance Congress

promised the Northern Marianas in U.S. Public Law 99-239 to offset the costs of

immigration from the island republics with which the U.S. has a relationship of free

association—costs we estimate in 1998 to have been $15.1 million. Guam receives

some $5 million annually for compact impact; and in this year’s budget the President proposed doubling that amount. So, clearly the Federal Government acknowledges the legitimacy of the claim for compact impact wherever there are immigrants

from the freely associated states. Yet the Northern Marianas—and the State of Hawaii—receive nothing.

Of course, the Marianas has benefited from our partnership with the U.S. We appreciate the many Federal grants. Yet we receive less Federal assistance per capita

than any other part of our nation. The most prominent of the Federal grants—$11

million annually for capital improvements—is subject to a 50-50 match that no

other territory has to make for similar monies. If we are slow to make the match,

continuation of the funding is attacked on the floor during appropriations debates,

as it was this year and last. Still we take pride in the self-sufficiency that 50-50

match implies and in the systematic approach to spending those funds embodied in

the plan Governor Tenorio prepared last year and which he and the Legislature are

abiding by.

We are proud, also, to be U.S. citizens. Perhaps, because we had to work to

achieve that citizenship, because we consciously chose citizenship by referendum,

and because we endured 300 years of colonialism to achieve this freedom, we appreciate—in a way those who simply have the good fortune to be born an American

cannot—what it means to live in a democracy. And we will demonstrate our appreciation on November 6th, when, if the past is any predictor, over 90 percent of the

eligible voters in the Marianas will cast their ballots in legislative elections.

Imagine how it feels to people who take participation that seriously to be denied

any role in our national government.
23

I commend this Committee for taking action in the past to provide the U.S. citizens of the Northern Marianas with a Delegate in this House of Representatives.

But Mr. Gallegly’s delegate bill was blocked—this Committee’s recommendation was

thwarted—in the 104th Congress. In the name of simple justice I ask that you not

let the 106th Congress end without righting this wrong.

And do not stop there, Mr. Chairman. This Committee and this Congress must

confront the totality of the relationship between the ‘‘territories’’ and the rest of this

United States.

Our nation today is enjoying a period of unprecedented economic growth. Yet look

at conditions in the insular areas. By many measures—GDP or personal income per

capita—we lag far behind the rest of the nation. Large percentages of our populations are below Federal poverty guidelines. To one degree or another most of our

governments have accumulated debt; some remain dependent on the Federal Government for operational funds. It would not be an overstatement to say that we are

America’s insular Appalachia. There is no vision required to see where we need to

go: we want to be as prosperous as the rest of our nation. But vision is needed—

and Congress must be our partner in this—to find a pathway to that goal.

Politically, too, Congress needs to take action on what is a fundamental affront

to our American ideals: Here in the third century of our democracy there remain

4 million U.S. citizens who are denied the right to vote for the laws that govern

them or the right to vote for the President who administers those laws simply because those citizens live in American Samoa and Guam and Puerto Rico, the Virgin

Islands and the Marianas. Why even U.S. citizens living in foreign countries can

vote for members of Congress and the President. Only those of us in America’s ‘‘territorial’’ enclaves are denied this fundamental right of citizenship

One criticism of the NMI immigration policy is that it allows there to be a permanent resident population that is politically disenfranchised—and that this is counter

to American values. I agree. And I would add that this is also a perfect description

of U.S. territorial policy: four million Americans permanently dispossessed.

So, I close by asking this Committee to rise to the challenge posed by a 19th century territorial policy that is in danger of persisting into the 21st century. Take on

the challenge and together let’s make the insular areas truly a part of America.

Mr. Chairman, thank you for this opportunity to address the Committee.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Mr. Juan Babauta. I don’t think anybody would disagree with what you just said about the territories

being behind. And I think this Committee and this Congress has

been neglectful over the years of all the territories. We were the

last territory to become a State and thank God, if you read the

paper yesterday, my people in the State of Alaska have done well

as a State because we were given the God gift of economic wellbeing with good oil development and that you don’t have, nor do

the other territories. So we have to figure out a way to get you in

the fold and make sure it works.

To restate most all of your comments, I would just like to recap

what’s been said here. Now has there been a cap put on the number of garment workers by this administration, by you, Governor,

and the House and the Senate?

Governor TENORIO. Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman. The actual cap of the

garment industry now is 15,727. However, we have the cap up to

15,727, presently we have only, I believe, a little over 15,000 employees of the garment industry.

The CHAIRMAN. Okay. Now has that had any impact? Mr.

Zachares, if you’d like to join us because you’re the guy that handles this thing.

Mr. ZACHARES. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. What impact has that had on the activity and

the present I’d say conditions of the work force in Saipan?

Mr. ZACHARES. Governor, if I may? The bottom line is the numbers are down 26 percent from 1997 in the total work force within

the Commonwealth. That includes garment and every other sector.
24

It’s had a very minimal effect right now. There’s been a little over

500 actual workers that came in under this cap program or under

the legislative cap. And most of those workers went to those new

factories that had obtained a license in the previous administration

but had no other workers.

I think what the focus on this cap bill was the attrition effect of

it, because they have one year to bring in the amount of workers

for the cap. If they don’t bring those workers in—and I think we

have about four months left under that—they lose the cap numbers. If a garment factory goes out of business, those numbers are

lost through the attrition provision. And, additionally, one other

highlight of that provision: that it closed up the loophole in manpower agencies, that you could no longer hire workers—it usurped

the cap before when you could get a manpower worker and that

was not included.

The CHAIRMAN. What’s the difference between the garment worker and a guest worker?

Mr. ZACHARES. They would be essentially the same if the garment worker was from off-island and not a local worker.

The CHAIRMAN. Okay, but there’s a moratorium on hiring any

new guest workers. Is that correct?

Mr. ZACHARES. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. How new is that?

Mr. ZACHARES. The moratorium came into place I believe in

March of 1998.

The CHAIRMAN. Okay. Going on to the number of illegal aliens,

did you grant amnesty to those illegals that came forward within

a certain time frame? And has the amnesty bill help the CNMI get

a better grasp of the illegal aliens?

Mr. ZACHARES. Yes, sir. It has. I believe the numbers were 3,111

workers came forward under the provision. If I can look in my

notes here, I can give you an exact breakdown on it. But what we

noticed from the workers that came forward from the demographics

of it, the largest amount were Philippine workers, because we did

a lot of education with the Philippine consulate there, a lot of outreach programs. But we did see an unusually high number of Chinese workers who generally are a little bit more suspicious of coming out and taking advantage of a program, government programs.

They came in second, as far as coming out. And then the

Bangladeshi situation. Almost half of those workers obtained oneyear permits from that and then we had over 2,000-some got temporary work permits.

The CHAIRMAN. The Bangladeshi were granted, I noticed in the

testimony of the governor, they were given compensation for back

wages and they have also been given an opportunity to return

home, fully paid fare? Is that correct?

Mr. ZACHARES. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. How many have taken advantage of that?

Mr. ZACHARES. Approximately—the Bangladeshis, sir, I believe

it’s about 111 Bangladeshis, per se, have. We have others that are

eligible for it: Chinese workers and/or Filipino workers.

The CHAIRMAN. How new is that?

Mr. ZACHARES. This provision came into effect I believe in February.
25

The CHAIRMAN. Okay. Governor, for you specifically, you described a level of cooperation between the CNMI and the various

Federal governments and agencies. Have you received any reports

from the Customs Service regarding the activities of the Marianas?

Governor TENORIO. Yes, sir, we received a report from the Customs.

The CHAIRMAN. I have not received that. Can you submit that?

Governor TENORIO. Yes, sir. I would be very happy to submit to

you, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. I would appreciate that. I want to see that report. My time is about up. Talking about, Mr. Zachares, the Philippine government’s current position regarding the treatment of

the workers in CNMI, what is their position?

Mr. ZACHARES. The current position, if I can quote from a letter

that we received, actually the governor received through the administration, briefly I can quote from it. ‘‘The consulate’s report

emphatically reiterated the good working conditions of our Filipino

workers and the effective coordination efforts between the consulate and the local government.’’

The CHAIRMAN. Has that been submitted to the Committee?

Mr. ZACHARES. I’m not sure if it has. It will be, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. I would request that, respectfully, that it will be

submitted to the Committee?

Mr. ZACHARES. Yes, sir.

[The information follows:]

The CHAIRMAN. Okay. Now, lastly, before I turn things over to

Mr. Doolittle because I have a short meeting I have to go to and

he will run the Committee, I want all of you in the room after all

the questions of this panel, I want you to remain in the vicinity so

if I have any questions following the testimony of the government

agencies, I want you available to answer those. And that goes for

the government agency after they testify. Otherwise, I want you all

around this vicinity after you’ve testified so we can sort of cross reference what’s been said on both sides of the aisle so we know

where we’re going and what we’re trying to achieve here today.

Mr. Doolittle, will you please take over? And he will recognize

you, Mr. Miller.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. [presiding] Mr. Miller is recognized.

Mr. MILLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Zachares, is that correct?

Mr. ZACHARES. Yes, sir.

Mr. MILLER. Mr. Zachares, thank you. Can you explain to me, or

any other member of the panel, the difference between the cap that

you just discussed and then the cap that I think an earlier version

or—I don’t know if it was an earlier—another version was the absolute garment cap that was vetoed by the governor? What’s the

difference between the two?

Mr. ZACHARES. The garment cap and the moratorium. The moratorium law came into effect March of 1998. That was not to allow

any new workers into the Commonwealth. Replacement workers

were, with very few exceptions, under some provisions, as far as if

you met certain criteria, financial criteria. There is a provision on

the—now the garment cap bill that you’re referring to was the final

cap bill. The garment was not allowed to bring in new workers
26

under the moratorium bill. The garment cap bill came into effect

to set the limits for the garment industry, a final cap number with

the attrition provisions provided.

Mr. MILLER. And that was vetoed? Is that the law now?

Mr. ZACHARES. Yes, sir.

Mr. MILLER. And that puts a cap. So if you go out of business

under existing law, what happens to your workers?

Mr. ZACHARES. Two things can happen. If you own another factory that has an available numbers of workers that you could take,

you could absorb those workers into that work force. Otherwise, it

would be a repatriation back to your point of origin.

Mr. MILLER. Okay. How is it, now that you have a cap on I guess

the phrase is guest workers, how is it you now check the background of people coming to the CNMI?

Mr. ZACHARES. How do you check the background? Well, we do

a police clearance and a health clearance from the point of hire.

There is a new bill that was signed by the governor, I believe two

days ago, that increased the background checks to be consistent

with the U.S. standards.

Mr. MILLER. How can it be consistent with the U.S. standards?

Mr. ZACHARES. For example, utilizing clinics within that country

that are recognized by the U.S. State Department or the INS and

also the criminal background agencies within that country.

Mr. MILLER. So explain to me how you utilize those.

Mr. ZACHARES. Well, it was just signed two days ago. We will be

utilizing it. It complements what we already have in place. It

strengthens the background checks that are already in place.

Mr. MILLER. Explain to me how it works.

Mr. ZACHARES. Our checks in place right now?

Mr. MILLER. No——

Mr. ZACHARES. We would ask for a——

Mr. MILLER. Both of them. That and the new system.

Mr. ZACHARES. In the previous one, we request a physical from

a clinic within the country and also a police clearance. This one,

the difference or the distinction between the two is now we will require the clinics that are recognized by the U.S. State Department

instead of any clinic within the country and also the appropriate

investigative agencies within that country for criminal background

checks.

Mr. MILLER. What would be the situation if that same person

was seeking entrance under the U.S. immigration system?

Mr. ZACHARES. I’m not aware of that, sir, under the U.S. immigration system. I could not answer that with——

Mr. MILLER. You don’t know how they would be pre-cleared?

How would they be pre-cleared with law enforcement agencies

under Immigration?

Mr. ZACHARES. We’ve actually requested to have some watch

lists. We have not been provided watch lists so I could not address

that question.

Mr. MILLER. So you don’t have the same provisions that you have

when a person enters the United States they scan—you scan the

visa and it picks up that information and when they leave you scan

the visa and you pick up that information.
27

Mr. ZACHARES. Well, that’s actually part of what we’re trying to

develop through our LIIDS system, that compatible system, a similar system in that vein.

Mr. MILLER. When is the LIIDS system going to be—it’s been in

production for a number of years. When is that going to be on line?

Mr. ZACHARES. Well, we’re planning to visit a—we have a scheduled visit to Laos to examine a system that has been put in place

by the Australian government there with a similar type of situation

as far as guest workers coming in, sir.

Mr. MILLER. How do you verify both the law enforcement check

and the health check currently?

Mr. ZACHARES. Well, the health check, we have a two-tier system

because before they come into the CNMI, they must submit a

health clearance but, after they get in the CNMI, then they must

go to a clinic within the CNMI and have a follow-up health check

there.

Mr. MILLER. And what—the procedure for a tourist is what?

Mr. ZACHARES. The procedure for the tourist is if you’re coming

in from, say, Japan or Korea, it’s similar to the visa waiver program. They will be questioned at the point of entry. They have to

show that they are financially able and that they are actually going

to a legitimate place to stay as a tourist. They’re identified through

an examination, the same that INS would use.

Mr. MILLER. Well, not exactly the same.

Mr. ZACHARES. When we’re dealing with visa waiver programs,

it would be identical, such as Japan or Korea.

Mr. MILLER. When a tourist comes in from the Philippines.

Mr. ZACHARES. They would be examined a little bit more thorough than if they were coming in from Japan or Korea, sir.

Mr. MILLER. And how would that be?

Mr. ZACHARES. Well, it’s—the inspector at the airport would examine them, sir.

Mr. MILLER. What would he examine?

Mr. ZACHARES. To make sure that they were coming in legitimately as tourists and identify where they were staying and the

money—that they do have adequate funding in order to ensure that

they are legitimate tourists.

Mr. MILLER. And if they were coming in from China, how would

they be examined?

Mr. ZACHARES. Chinese tourists don’t come in, sir.

Mr. MILLER. You don’t have anybody coming from China on tourist visas?

Mr. ZACHARES. Very limited, from Hong Kong, sir.

Mr. MILLER. What number do you have coming from the Philippines?

Mr. ZACHARES. I do not have that number before me. I’d be

happy to give it to you at a later time, sir.

[The information follows:]

Mr. MILLER. Thank you.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Zachares, you’ve made some excellent testimony, but I think because you are such a—going to be a prominent

witness, we need to put you under oath as well. So would you rise

and do that?

[Witness sworn.]
28

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Thank you. And now that you’re under oath, the

previous statements you made to this Committee were the whole

truth and nothing but the truth, right?

Mr. ZACHARES. Yes, sir. They were.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Yes. Mr. Zachares, I appreciate your testimony

and wondered if you would—and I’ll invite the others in the panel

if they’d like to offer this response—but how would you describe

the level of cooperation between the CNMI and the various Federal

departments and agencies? In other words, how do you feel about

their cooperation with the government of the CNMI?

Mr. ZACHARES. Governor, would you like me to address that?

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Governor——

Mr. ZACHARES. Thank you, sir. It’s been my experience—as you

may be aware or you may not be aware, I was the incident commander for the Tinian operation, the diversion program, for the

CNMI, so I did get a chance to intimately deal with a lot of Federal

agencies over there in that particular situation. And I do have contact with other offices such as the Department of Labor, NLRB,

EEOC, the FBI, DEA.

In some cases, it is an extremely effective working relationship.

For example, with the FBI-CNMI Task Force, we find an immense

amount of cooperation and effectiveness between the CNMI’s efforts and also the Federal efforts. Additionally, with the DEA, I

don’t deal with them as directly, but my understanding is that

there is some cooperation there.

I think the problem that arises now with some of my dealings

with other agencies are we are full-time. We are on the ground 24

hours a day, 7 days a week. That is my home. My children are

from there. My wife is from there. It is not a part-time enforcement

effort for me. And it’s very difficult when you have some agencies,

Federal agencies, that treat it as a part-time enforcement agency—

or enforcement effort.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Well, which Federal agencies treat it as a parttime enforcement effort, in your view?

Mr. ZACHARES. In my view, right now, agencies such as EEOC,

NLRB, OSHA. And some of these agencies are, for example, with

OSHA, could assist us immensely in our efforts in the very sensitive area of the garment. We are working very closely. When

OSHA is on-island, we try to work very closely and share information with them, as well as working with the SGMA, that is the garment association, in trying to ensure that everyone keeps in their

areas of compliance. But there are agencies that, quite frankly, like

I said, are involved in more part-time enforcement.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. So OSHA and the EEOC are two of the examples

of lax enforcement and yet are these not two of the agencies making some of the most serious charges?

Mr. ZACHARES. Yes, sir.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Does that strike you as odd that they would

make those representations of serious charges yet shirking their

own duty, which they have the power to do, to enforce the law?

Mr. ZACHARES. I think it’s difficult to make an assessment based

on a part-time enforcement effort. Yes, sir, I would agree with you.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. I mean, why are they ma—do they have the ability to have a full-time enforcement effort?
29

Mr. ZACHARES. Federal laws apply there that they are there to

enforce. I believe in our last hearing, Senator Murkowski alluded

to the fact that Federal laws do apply; that the agency should be

funding fuller enforcement out there and to maintain an office out

there within their own agencies.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. What reason do they offer to you as to why they

are not making a full-time enforcement effort?

Mr. ZACHARES. It’s very hard to pin them down on what reasons

because it’s a part-time effort. There’s times that I’m working fulltime there and it’s hard to pin them down why. Generally, though,

the answer is funding or where the funding is coming from.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. And aren’t they supposed to enforce the laws,

even in this part of America, namely the CNMI?

Mr. ZACHARES. I believe those Federal laws are applicable.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. I mean, is there some reason why they would—

I mean, would it be any different? And if they declined to enforce

the laws in Kansas for some reason in favor of some other State?

Mr. ZACHARES. No, sir, it wouldn’t. It would be no different.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Okay. Thank you. Let’s see. Mr. Faleomavaega

is recognized.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Chairman, in deference to my colleagues who were here earlier than me, I——

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Oh, sorry.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Both Bob and Neal were here.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. All right. The gentleman from Guam, Mr.

Underwood, is recognized.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. I thank you, Mr. Chairman, and Buenasviste

and Hafa Adai to my neighbors to the north. I know that back

home this is barely a ripple, not even a banana typhoon, so I know

we’re all having a hard time understanding what all the commotion

is about the weather.

[Laughter.]

Mr. UNDERWOOD. But, nevertheless, I do appreciate Chairman

Young for holding this hearing and, as you know, there’s a number

of very intricate policy questions in which Guam and the CNMI are

interconnected, not only because of the fact that we basically come

from the same people, but because so many policy questions get entangled. And I certainly appreciate the comments made by the political leadership: Governor Tenorio and Senate President

Manglona and Speaker Benavente and, especially, the comments of

Juan Babauta about the nature of territorial relationships with the

Federal Government.

And I too, of course, have always been a strong proponent of

making sure that Juan Babauta was up here on the dais with us.

Maybe not on that side.

[Laughter.]

Mr. UNDERWOOD. But at least somewhere here. And so hopefully

we’ll see that day come to pass.

It is very interesting. I just want to ask questions relative to the

CIP funding because I know that Senate President Manglona and

Governor Tenorio both raised this issue. And the CIP funding,

which is—of course, we’ve—as I’ve stated repeatedly, even though

Guam ultimately deserves compact-impact aid, it was—that was

not a funding source that I would have picked.
30

But I did want to get on the record the exact condition of that

CIP funding. In the third cycle, which you identified, Governor, you

had $154 million which is for the CIP funding and that’s supposed

to be matched, half CNMI and half Federal Government. And the

Federal Government keeps putting money into this funding, but

the CNMI, because of the experiencing in large measure the same

problems we’re experiencing in Guam relative to government revenue, is unable to, as I understand it, adequately match that fund.

So can someone tell me, based on your figures, what is the exact

amount which has been put in by the Federal Government, which

remains unmatched by the CNMI government?

Governor TENORIO. Thank you, Congressman. I would like to

refer that to my adviser, Mike Sablan. We have the full detail of

all the CIP funds.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. Before Mr. Sablan answers that question, Mr.

Chairman, you know, it’s not—and I have absolute trust that Mr.

Sablan will give us a faithful rendition, but, you know, could you

swear him in too?

Mr. DOOLITTLE. No. No. Let me just say that in our Subcommittee, everyone is sworn in and if someone else comes up, they

get sworn in too. And that’s all I’m doing here. That way all the

testimony has the full credibility. Nobody can say that because

somebody was sworn in, they didn’t. So, Mr. Sablan, will you rise

and take the oath please.

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. Thank you, Mr. Congressman.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Will you stand and let me administer the oath

to you?

[Witness sworn.]

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Thank you very much. Welcome to the Committee, Mr. Sablan. Why don’t you tell us your title, for the record?

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. For the record, my name is Michael S.

Sablan. I am the special adviser for finance and budget.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Thank you. Okay. Mr. Underwood.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. Go ahead. Would you tell us how much money

is in the fund now, given by the Federal Government, which remains unmatched by the CNMI government?

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. Yes, Mr. Underwood. As you mentioned,

we are in the third funding period under the 702 program, which

began in Fiscal Year 1996. The Federal Government has appropriated Fiscal Year 1996, Fiscal Year 1997, Fiscal Year 1998, and

Fiscal Year 1999 funds, a total of $44 million, $11 million per year.

So far this year, the CNMI legislature has appropriated a total of

$43 million—I’m sorry. $12 million plus—$16 million toward the

$44 million required. We have matched the Fiscal Year 1996 Federal funds. We have fully matched the Fiscal Year 1997 Federal

funds. We have matched part of the Fiscal Year 1998. The Fiscal

Year 1999 funding has not been matched, but in the legislature—

the legislature and the governor has passed into law a CIP bond

in the amount of $60 million to provide the balance of the matching

required.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. Okay. So as we sit here today, of the $44 million that has been appropriated, only $16 million has been

matched, although I appreciate the comment that there are plans

to match it in the future.
31

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. There are plans to match the balance of

this, yes.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. But only $16 million to date has been matched.

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. No, no, no, sir. We have matched $12 million plus $16 million—$28 million.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. $28 million.

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. $28 million.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. So there’s some $16 million that remains unmatched?

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. Unmatched. Yes.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. Okay. All right. Thank you. Senate President

Manglona, you raised the issue of compact-impact aid. Could you

explain to the Committee what is the relationship of your own—

the lack of application of the INA Act to the CNMI and the fact

that citizens from the Freely Associated States can go into the

CNMI. I would assume that you’d have some authority to control

or manage the flow of those citizens.

Mr. MANGLONA. Thank you, Congressman Underwood. The fig- ures that I raised about $28 million in the last 2 years, I must

admit I do not have the exact detail on how they arrived at those

numbers, but it is a figure that was derived by our various departments and agencies that see the impact of these people immigrating from the FSM and the Lao and other——

Mr. UNDERWOOD. Well, of course—of course——

Mr. MANGLONA. I guess the point that we’re trying to make is

that we have not been giving the attention to these estimates or

figures and I think that the Department of the Interior ought to

sit down and seriously discuss this with Guam as well and other

territories that are affected. It is something that is impacting all

the territories and that should be given serious attention. My point

is that it is an impact that I think should be discussed.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. Yes and I certainly appreciate that and I understand that Guam’s impact is larger. But the question I’m asking

is not whether it has an impact or the amount of the impact. The

question I’m asking is what do your own immigration laws, how do

they interact with the fact that if you have local control over immigration and you’re trying to manage the flow of people into the

CNMI, Guam does not have local control over immigration, so we’re

feeling the impact of the in-migration from the compact states

without any recourse. And I’m assuming that you have some recourse, unless you have information to the contrary. Mr. Speaker.

Mr. BENAVENTE. May I just, Mr. Underwood? Thank you very

much. Well, first of all, yes we do have the right to control immigration and also have the right to or are able at this time to control

the influx of a FAS citizen. But I guess we’ve chosen not to do so,

at this time, for a few reasons. One of them, of course, is, for example, the need for a 20 percent quota for the garment industry and

that is for citizens, U.S. citizens, and, in that quota, FAS citizens

are recognized as U.S. citizens for that purpose. So we do need

workers to come into the Northern Marianas, although with

thoseworkers comes the family and the children and the relatives.

And the other reasons that we have chosen not to do so is that,

you know, we feel that we need each other’s support in the Pacific.

As a region out there, we try to cooperate. We were at one time
32

one of the districts of Micronesia and then we still continue to

value some relationship with our neighbor islands. We also are relying in the compact-impact agreement in which Congress, as a

matter of fact, has stated and I quote: ‘‘In approving the compact,

it is not the intent of Congress to cause adverse consequences for

the United States territories and Commonwealth or the State of

Hawaii.’’ And, you know, that particular statement actually meant

that there will be compact-impact reimbursement for the Commonwealth. And with all those reasons, we’ve chosen not to do so.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. I understand that and I respectfully just, you

know, because you took some time to swear in Mr. Sablan there,

Mr. Chairman. My intent in this—okay. Thank you. My intent in

raising that issue is not to cast doubt on your need for reimbursement for compact-impact aid. And all the—you know, we are all

fundamentally Micronesians, both the Chamorros in Guam and the

Chamorros in the Northern Marianas, as well as our Micronesian

brothers and sisters.

But, ultimately, the point that I’m trying to illustrate is that you

were allowed to make a conscious choice about the impact of the

FAS citizens and you have allowed them to come in. And that is

a decision that you made. And that, to me, qualitatively makes it,

even though it is still an obligation of the Federal Government,

qualitatively makes it a different situation than your neighbors to

the south where we are not allowed to make that conscious choice

about the impact of the FAS citizens.

Now, if we were allowed to make that choice in the same manner

that you were allowed to and we allowed them in, I would think

some people would argue in Congress—certainly we wouldn’t argue

that back home—but I think some people would argue that that

somehow diminishes the claim. I still think it is a legitimate claim,

but I think, categorically, it’s different. And I just wanted to take

the opportunity to point that out.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Schaffer is recognized.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My first question is

for Mr. Babauta. I was intrigued by your comment in your testimony where you said, ‘‘We still have, however, concern about the

commitment and the efficiency of the Federal law enforcers in the

Marianas. As the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform observed in its 1997 final report, ‘‘The Federal Government has not

generally been willing to devote a high level of resources even to

carry out functions where the Federal responsibility is clear.’’

I would like you to elaborate on that a little more as Mr.

Zachares has and ask you if you have, just by way of your representative role here in Washington, whether you have heard similar kinds of concerns voiced by people perhaps within the Clinton

Administration on this particular issue and toward the sentiment

you described.

Mr. BABAUTA. Officials from OSHA. Obviously they do not have

a full-time operation in Saipan. They do have staff rotating

throughout, in and out of Saipan. But, Mr. Chairman, I pulled that

statement from the U.S. Immigration Commission report. They

saw, when they were out there, the same kind of situation that we

are seeing and it is that report confirms, independently from us,
33

that the Federal agencies are reluctant to enforce Federal laws out

there.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Let me ask further. You know that—it’s an interesting perspective because in a memo that the Committee has received, a memo from—let’s see. This is from David North, who’s the

acting director of the Policy Division of the Office of Insular Affairs.

The memo was to a gentleman named Steven Galster and a woman

named Melanie Orent, who are with the Global Survival Network.

One of the observations Mr. North made in this memo—and let me

just add that the memo was used—is one to edit and proofread the

report that this organization produced. But it speaks to this particular issue.

It says, ‘‘You need to be and I could be fired if not shot for this,

you need to be more distant from the Clinton Administration. Bill

Clinton has not made this a personal battle with Congress. A secondary point, the administration is not spending as much money

as it should on enforcement. Nor has its Justice and Treasury operations been as strong as its Labor and Interior programs. We still

need to figure out how you can say that without implicating me.’’

That is, again, in relation to the report, which I’ll bring up later.

But with respect to the general issue here that the President has

not made CNMI and the issues that are of concern a personal battle with Congress. And the second point, that the administration is

not spending as much money as it should be on enforcement. Is

that consistent with the kinds of things—is Mr. North’s——

Mr. BABAUTA. Was that a statement from Mr. North?

Mr. SCHAFFER. Yes. That was received by the committee and I

would ask, Mr. Chairman, that this be submitted for the record if

it’s not already part of the Committee’s records.

[The information follows:]

MEMO OF DAVID NORTH

You have an admirable collection of information here, and I think the report can

make a big difference in the on-going policy discussion.

But, truth to tell, my sense is that it needs a little more snap; there is potential

drama within this theater, but it needs to be moved to the front of the stage.

You have also done a lot of original work, creative undercover stuff, and you have

(all too modestly) downplayed it. In how many studies does one find that the best

part is in the methodology section? Not many.

Before we go much further, bear in mind that I am a writer, one with a lot of

familiarity with the subject, and so what I say relates to what I would have done

with the similar material. So you should toss many grains of salt on what I say,

for that reason. My comments come in three flavors:

A. there are some over-arching suggestions noted above and below in this memo;

B. there are notes A through I think I, which deal with specific subjects, set off

by specific sentences in the text; and

C. there is some page-by-page editing. In instances in which the notes are surrounded by brackets [ ] these are asides to you; in other instances, without brackets,

they are suggested edits.

Generally, I would encourage you to impose the following on the report:

1. Some themes, notably a description of what you saw as a part of a giant conspiracy, maybe of how the PRC is taking over, with the unwitting help of American

conservatives, a whole American island. This, I think, is a little sexier than a detailed litany of the very real human rights abuses.

An alternative version would be an excellent example, on American soil, of how

NOT to run an immigration policy; of how U.S. citizen workers are rendered unemployed while trafficking for profit dominates the scene.

Another theme would be the bondage of debt, that prevails (silently) in the CNMI;

all the garment workers are somehow bonded, and many (but not all) the others
34

have similar experiences. The poor Bangladeshi are stuck and screwed, but not

bonded to an employer.

Whatever the theme, it is needed for itself (to tell a truth in a dramatic way) but

also to make more coherent and more significant that great amount of detailed information you have collected.

2. You need to be—and I could be fired, not shot for this—more distant from the

Clinton Administration. Bill Clinton has not made this a personal battle with Congress; a secondary point, the Administration is not spending as much money as it

should on enforcement, nor has its Justice and Treasury operations been as strong

as its Labor and Interior programs. (We will need to figure out how you can say

that without implicating me.)

3. The drama of what you two did is all but lost; how you got parts of this story

are more dramatic than what you learned. Your accounts of this in person, Steve,

have a drama that is not reflected (yet) on paper.

More drama and a theme or two will lead to useful and quotable soundbites,

which are not now present.

4. One temptation in such a report is to write down everything you learned; you

need to resist that, and drop some of the detail.

5. On the other hand the very peculiar civics and economics of the situation might

be given a little more attention; the odd ways that the U.S. treats its territories,

each quite different from the others.

Further, to produce clothing in the CNMI (one of my favorite themes) is to

produce it in the worst place in the world for various U.S. interests. I think I have

walked you through this—if the clothes were made in Mexico, for instance, it would

produce hundreds of millions of dollars worth of sales for U.S. fiber, yarn and textile

companies and thousands of jobs for their workers; if made in Cambodia, no jobs,

but $200,000,000 a year in duties, a major benefit to U.S. taxpayers. (The CNMI

of course, just talks about garment jobs, none of these more sophisticated concepts.)

This is of course, a bit distant from trafficking, but you can talk about these matters as another set of adverse results coming from the trafficking policies.

OK, enough of the big picture. Here are some specifics:

1. I found the definitions, probably very important to you as they are, getting in

the way of the story. Maybe you could put them in an appendix, and just refer to

them in the text.

2. The text wanders between The Mogul (nice term) and naming Willie Tan; Preston Gates is treated the same way. I think I prefer naming them. A sentence or

two about Willie Tan’s other interests might help too.

3. Paragraphs seem to be longish.

4. You probably should stop for a sentence early on and talk about the Tenorios,

uncle and nephew, battling each other in the 1997 election, an example of disunity

among one of the 14 families (a nice concept.) one of Allen Stayman’s notions,

though I have little proof of it is that the families get money from the garment industry by leasing land to it.

5. Given the length of the report you might consider hiring someone to do some

light editing, copy editing, not restructuring or extensive rewriting. I have done a

little of that, but more is needed, and it is hard to do it yourselves—you are both

too close to it to notice unconscious items like ‘‘Congressman DeLay was successful

in delaying action. . . .’’ or some such sentence.

6. I am a compulsive, footnote person; within limits, the more footnotes the easier

it is for the reader to accept what you are saying; you, the author, is not the only

authority. You could easily triple the number of footnotes in this one.

Now for the notes which are keyed to the text:

A. I would not use George Miller’s 66,400 jobs lost; it sounds unbelievable, and

you either have to stop and explain it or drop it.

B. The 11,000 limit, presumably self-imposed, similarly needs to be explained or

dropped. The current text makes it sound like there is some external law or regulation that the CNMI is violating.

C. At the moment you have cited George Miller as the only person in the Congress

who wants change; he does, of course, but I would let people know that in perhaps

different ways there are a whole lot of people pushing for change—including Sens.

Murkowski and Akaka, and Congressmen Spratt, Miller and Bob Franks (R NJ)

whose name can not be used now, but can soon.

D. Jane Mayer of the New Yorker is working, not totally successfully, with this

problem.

E. As to who pays for the lobbyists, it seems that the garment factories have

enough clout locally to force the CNMI to do it from tax funds; having a public agency (the CNMI govt.) do it, was very helpful when they were funding the junkets,

because govt-funded junkets do not have to be reported, but corporate ones do. You
35

should bear in mind that in a few days (Feb. 28) there will be a new round of lobbying reports on file, and we can see how much P-G was paid for the last six

months.

F. The CNMI’s lousy wage payment enforcement does not stand in a vacuum; both

the feds and many states have highly useful programs to meet the same goal; it is

not as if CNMI had to invent something on its own. Terry Trotter has a wonderful

technique; he calls the customer in New York and says that he will go public, right

away, unless the factory in the CNMI pays up promptly. They do, though you

should not name him in this connection.

G. This is under the ‘‘XI. Extortion of Workers’’ section. This is specialized, but

a double whammy. If you (an alien worker) have lost your job in the CNMI you are

subject to deportation; however, under a local amnesty law, if you come forward to

the authorities, you have a (wildly generous) 60 days to find a new job, and that

new job will give you legal status again. The only people who are hiring are the

garment industry, and so it is within the garment industry that the petty officials

are selling jobs—and legal status—to poor alien workers for whatever gilt they can

obtain.

I can provide at least one news story on this subject, maybe more. Maybe you

have the clips in hand.

H. I disagree that Tan or the garment industry supports Preston-Gates; I may be

wrong, but the govt. pays the bills, and there have been some lovely stories about

what PG bills for, and for how much, all dug out of CNMI govt. files.

I. I (me, David) am running down, now, but I think we can talk a little further

about policy recommendations, but not just now.

I hope you do not find this too harsh, too intrusive or too radical. You are about

to make a major contribution and I want to help in that process.

Perhaps Rhonda—not the report—will have the drama, but I think it can be in

both places.

Thank you for showing this to me. (And bear in mind that only the spellcheck

has edited the document.)

Mr. BABAUTA. Well, that will make it a third independent observation by somebody other than the CNMI.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Thank you. The second question I have is for any

of the—perhaps for Mark Zachares. And that is with respect to the

Fish and Wildlife. This Committee’s interested in activities of the

Fish and Wildlife Service. And I understand the Fish and Wildlife

Service from time to time is engaged in inspections of imported materials. What has been the level of activity of the Fish and Wildlife

Service?

Mr. ZACHARES. I may not be the one to answer that, as far as

the labor and immigration. I’m not aware of their activities in regards to inspections of things coming into the CNMI.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Okay. Does anyone know? Have they been cooperating with the CNMI Customs on inspections of incoming shipments and so on?

Mr. ZACHARES. We have our director of Customs here if you

would like to address the question to him.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Well, whoever can answer it would be fine. The

government of the islands seems to be here and that’s the general

question that I have.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Chairman, I apologize. While you were gone,

we swore in other people that came forward to testify before the

Committee, as you had indicated everyone was going to be put

under oath.

The CHAIRMAN. [presiding] Don’t apologize. I’m glad you did it.

Stand up, whoever you are. Identify yourself.

[Laughter.]

The CHAIRMAN. Identify yourself first.

Mr. MAFNAS. My name is Jose Mafnas.

The CHAIRMAN. Okay, Jose.
36

[Witness sworn.]

The CHAIRMAN. You can go ahead and answer the question.

Mr. MAFNAS. I’m sorry, Congressman. Can you repeat the question again?

Mr. SCHAFFER. Regarding the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Have they been involved to any degree in the inspections of incoming materials, supplies, shipments to CNMI?

Mr. MAFNAS. Fish and Wildlife?

Mr. SCHAFFER. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, right.

Mr. MAFNAS. I’m not aware where the U.S. Fish and Wildlife

serve with U.S. Customs.

Mr. SCHAFFER. I understand, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service does assist and has actually some special authority when

it comes to inspections of imported products. And I guess my question is just if—if you’re not aware of it, then I presume it didn’t——

Mr. MAFNAS. No, I’m not aware of their presence.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Fine. Okay, that answers the question. Thank

you.

The next question, jumping back to you, Mark, is regarding the

Chinese illegals that you referenced that have been held on Tinian.

Can you tell us about the expense that CNMI has incurred and

how that occurred? As I understand it, it’s about $700,000.

Mr. ZACHARES. Yes, thank you, Congressman. It’s

approximately——

Mr. SCHAFFER. That CNMI maintains the Immigration Department still owes them.

Mr. ZACHARES. We—right. Before this operation began, we received a phone call from Justice where they asked for our assistance in their diversion program. For the record, it was Eric Holder

speaking with the governor, with the staff members available,

where they promised the CNMI government for our cooperation it

would be 100 percent full reimbursement of any funds expended for

whatever the CNMI put out. During the process from April and I

believe the last plane just went out in September and I don’t think

we’ve added in the numbers from that last boat. But for the first

5 vessels, it was $750,000.

It has been my understanding that since we’ve been—we submitted a bill to Justice itemizing the costs. Mr. Sablan behind me

was the one that was working with that. To date, we have not been

reimbursed. Yet we have received, I believe in the last few days,

a request on repayment through some sort of grant proposed by the

Department of the Interior to which I believe we’re examining. We

don’t really quite understand how a grant is going to pay $750,000

that the governor reprogrammed himself mainly, essentially from

my department, which represents almost a 20 percent operating

costs for my department.

Mr. SCHAFFER. As a case study of the effectiveness of CNMI immigration law compared to U.S. immigration law, why did the

U.S.—why did the United States INS take these—they intercepted

them out in the ocean somewhere. Why did they bring them to

CNMI rather than Guam or California or somewhere else? Or Alaska?

[Laughter.]
37

Mr. ZACHARES. I actually was privy to some meetings in December of 1998 in Honolulu where this particular scenario was discussed with some high-level officials from INS. The plan there was

to do a diversion of boats, of vessels to Tinian, to utilize the CNMI

immigration system, and there would be minimal—it would be a

interview under the U.N. I believe Torture Convention. The reason

behind it is, essentially, in Guam, I believe, the number of people

who landed in Guam are still there—if I’m not mistaken—and still

being processed through. In Tinian, they have either been repatriated, the vast majority have been repatriated back to China. A very

small amount were sent to the United States for further interviews, to which they are being confined in the United States right

now, pending those interviews.

But the short answer to that is rapid repatriation back to China.

The CHAIRMAN. If the gentleman will yield. I hate to do this.

Have you had 8 minutes or 10 minutes or are you on your first 5

minutes?

Mr. SCHAFFER. First five minutes.

The CHAIRMAN. Okay, why has this thing got an S-T-O-P up

here? Is he on his first five minutes or his second five minutes?

Time goes fast when you’re having fun.

[Laughter.}

The CHAIRMAN. I would suggest to the gentleman, with all due

respect, sir—I love his line, his train, but we have other members

waiting and when they get done you can come back, okay? Please.

Thank you.

The gentleman from Hawaii.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Mr.

Zachares, are you speaking for the CNMI government? Can your

testimony here be seen as speaking on behalf of the government?

That your observations can be seen as representing government

policy, at least from the executive side?

Mr. ZACHARES. I believe that I’m—yes, sir. That I’m speaking for

the government.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Your testimony is that the other agencies of

the Federal Government fail to carry out their duties of enforcement, is that correct?

Mr. ZACHARES. Not all of the agencies, sir, but——

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Not all of them, but some of them.

Mr. ZACHARES. Some of the agencies.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. And that your characterization of that constitutes principally what you have described as part-time enforcement. Is that fair?

Mr. ZACHARES. Part-time enforcement or part-time——

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. It’s part of your objection or part of your observation that enforcement is not taking place correctly has to do

with the idea that your observation is that the enforcement is parttime.

Mr. ZACHARES. Part-time or that they are not on-island on a fulltime basis.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. That’s one of the points I want to raise. Have

you concluded that because they don’t have a full-time presence, a

three-dimensional presence, a person?
38

Mr. ZACHARES. Well, let me explain why, if I may, just to give

an illustration of why I say that. For example, for the NLRB is actually working out of the Hawaii office.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Okay.

Mr. ZACHARES. Now, when an investigation is in progress for an

NLRB complaint, we are working with the NLRB allowing transfer

tempo——

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. I got it.

Mr. ZACHARES. But——

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. I only have five minutes. I understand. In

other words, what you’re saying is that they’re not on the island.

They’re not there full-time.

Mr. ZACHARES. Yes, sir.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Okay. So you have to operate by fax or e-mail

or somebody coming in from Honolulu or from some other place.

Mr. ZACHARES. Well, it’s this. The people who are going to them

for the investigation are the ones that are finding it difficult because the investigation essentially stops when someone is gone.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. All right. But even when someone comes in,

then, and makes an observation, with respect to enforcement, supposing an edict of one kind or another is issued, now, who does the

enforcing? Supposing somebody from the Department of Labor

comes, they make an investigation; or OSHA comes, makes an investigation, makes a recommendation, says thus and so should

take place, how is that monitored? The thus and so?

Mr. ZACHARES. I believe it’s through the Federal Government,

sir.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. But how is that actually accomplished if they

don’t have someone there to do it? If they don’t have—if OSHA

does not have a full-time presence?

Mr. ZACHARES. Well, that’s exactly the point, sir——

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Okay.

Mr. ZACHARES. [continuing] as far as who’s gatching it or——

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Okay. In other words, they could make a recommendation, order somebody to do something, but it isn’t necessarily enforced because there’s nobody there, necessarily, to do it;

to then go and take such a legal recourse as might be required otherwise. This is a difficulty I’m sure the Chairman can appreciate

that happens in all the non-contiguous territories. And with regionalization and so on, we end up with somebody—the same thing

from Honolulu or Guam—and it’s Seattle or San Francisco or something trying to enforce something elsewhere. So there’s a difficulty

there that might be——

And the last question I want to ask is so what the CNMI government is saying is you would like to have vigorous enforcement of

the laws and you feel that a more full-time presence would allow

that to occur, right?

Mr. ZACHARES. I actually believe that, yes, sir.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Thank you. Maybe you can tell me also, then,

is there a difference between a visitor and a guest?

Mr. ZACHARES. One would, I believe, be—a guest and a visitor?

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Yes. Is there a difference? I was listening to—

I’m trying to catch up on everything here and, you know, sometimes nobody intends to tell you an untruth, but sometimes you
39

don’t ask the right question, you don’t necessarily get all the information. Are there differences between visitors to the CNMI and

guests in the CNMI?

Mr. ZACHARES. I guess we use the term ‘‘guest worker’’ and a

‘‘visitor’’ would be considered a tourist and a ‘‘guest worker’’ is——

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Okay. Is that two different people?

Mr. ZACHARES. There’s a distinction. Yes, sir, there is a difference.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Well, can the, in terms of these quotas and

ratios and so on, with respect to workers, do you make a differentiation between a visitor and a guest worker?

Mr. ZACHARES. Yes, sir, we do.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Do visitors ever become guest workers by default?

Mr. ZACHARES. A visitor—under the limited immunity program

that did happen, but there is a CNMI statute that does not allow

a visitor or tourist to change their status from a tourist to a guest

worker without exiting first.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. And is that vigorously enforced?

Mr. ZACHARES. It is being vigorously enforced now, sir.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. It was not in the past.

Mr. ZACHARES. I can only speak for our enforcement efforts for

the year and a half that I’ve been there.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Okay. One other thing, then, Mr. Chairman,

with your permission. Do you have access to this series of graphs?

Mr. ZACHARES. No, sir, I don’t.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Well, if you’ll take my word for it.

Mr. ZACHARES. I will, sir.

[Laughter.]

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Thank you. You’ll notice I haven’t been sworn

in.

[Laughter.]

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. That shows you the confidence the Chairman

has in me. I wanted to mention, these graphs come from Saipan

labor force surveys, et cetera, fiscal impact reports. I’m interested

in your opinion or perhaps the governor might have an opinion on

this. It shows your population of Saipan—this is why I asked about

the guest workers and all the rest of it.

If you take a look at the first one, it shows CNMI population,

non-U.S. citizens and U.S. citizens and what this shows, even by

way of projection, is a huge disproportionate number of non-U.S.

citizens in the CNMI population versus the U.S. citizens. And if

you look in the last one, Mr. Chairman, it says, ‘‘Population of

Saipan by age, sex, place of birth, and parents’ place of birth as of

June, 1998.’’ You have CNMI-born and parents born in CNMI.

Then you have the CNMI-born and at least one non-CNMI parent.

So there is what I would call, what we used to call in Hawaii in

the old days, out-marriage, right? Either marriage and/or children

being born without benefit of marriage, right? Between those who

are non-CNMI citizens and either guests or visitors or immigrants,

legal or otherwise, right? Children being born.

Mr. ZACHARES. Well, I’d take some exception to some of these

numbers. When you’re talking about at least one non-CNMI, that

could be—I don’t think it’s taking into account either if they’re
40

from the Freely Associated States, one, or if they are married to

or in the process of——

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Right. But, in any event, any child being

born—and then the one category that isn’t here is non-CNMI parents, both parents, but CNMI-born. If a child has parents who are

not citizens and is born in CNMI, they are American citizens, are

they not? The children?

Mr. ZACHARES. Yes, sir. You are correct.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Okay. And they’re also citizens if they have

at least one CNMI—if they’re born there, regardless of what the

parents’ status is.

Mr. ZACHARES. They’re born there. Yes, sir.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. My point is that it shows that there’s a lot of

children being born in CNMI, regardless of the parentage, and they

could include at least some, although that category isn’t listed here,

whose parents are not citizens, but a child is nonetheless born.

There’s probably a small number, but a number anyway.

Okay. These charts—it says they’re part of the Department of Interior testimony. I’m assuming that what they have given to us

comes from sources that are verifiable.

So my question is the CNMI facing the prospect, say over the

next 20 years or 25 years of more and more people becoming citizens with the right to vote in the CNMI elections, setting aside the

question of congressional representation or Federal representation

for the moment? They’ll be able to vote for the speaker and the governor and so on. And what my question is what kind of projection

do you have for being overtaken by people who are not CNMI-born

and whose parents are CNMI-born? Is there a projection?

Mr. ZACHARES. I don’t have those projections with me, sir, but—

no, sir.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Chairman, my point is it seems to me if

I—if this follows itself out and if you continue to have non-CNMI

immigration rates and retention rates, if you will, as it seems to

be, there will be a significant demographic change in the make-up

of the population in the CNMI, which I think might affect, rather

dramatically, some of the issues that are before the Committee.

The CHAIRMAN. I understand that. The same thing happened in

Hawaii and the same thing happened to Alaska. So I understand

that very well.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. The only place it hasn’t happened is in American

Samoa yet and we’re working on that.

[Laughter.]

Mr. BENAVENTE. Mr. Chairman, may I respond to—may I offer

an expla—respond?

The CHAIRMAN. You can respond shortly, because his time’s

about up, but go ahead and respond.

Mr. BENAVENTE. Thank you. Well, first of all, yes, it is a matter

of a situation that’s happened which we’re all aware of and which

we are still trying to deal with. As a matter of fact, it was first

brought up during the March hearings by Senator Mikulski. And

one of the statements we made was that, at the time, there was

the legislation that was introduced to limit the stay of guest workers, which a lot of these babies are born from or of. And, presently,
41

we’ve enacted that legislation into law and which what we feel it

would basically do is remove the idea or intention of a permanent

stay in the Commonwealth, thereby being comfortable in starting

out a family within the Commonwealth. And that’s basically one of

the reasons that that particular legislation was introduced. Thank

you.

The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from California. Have you asked

questions already? The gentleman from Puerto Rico, Governor Romero.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I want to

thank the other members here on the panel and the members of

the government of CNMI who have come so far from the Pacific to

testify here today. And I want to thank you for the testimony. It’s

something that has been discussed and talked about a lot and a lot

of issues that we certainly don’t understand and I would like to get

a little bit more understanding about some of these things.

I heard the governor testify that there was a cap on garment

workers of 50,707. Is that correct? Is that a cap on garment workers or on just guest workers?

Governor TENORIO. That is for the garment workers.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. That’s for all garment workers.

Governor TENORIO. Yes, sir.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. Whether they’re from CNMI or from outside.

Governor TENORIO. Yes, sir.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. And what is the—is there a cap on guest

workers on the garment industry? Or is that also the same—would

that cap be fully taken over by guest workers?

Governor TENORIO. No, the cap that we established is only for

the garment industry which is composed of about 34 companies.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. And they could all be guest workers? The

full cap could be taken up by guest workers, all of it, couldn’t it?

I mean, there’s no limitation to the number of guest——

Governor TENORIO. Congressman, the cap is for the non-resident

workers. About 15,000 is the maximum that——

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. Non-resident workers can——

Governor TENORIO. Non-resident workers, so——

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. Guest workers.

Governor TENORIO. Guest workers. So those will be allowed—I

mean, they can be renewed.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. So, can I—is it all right for me to assume

that there is no unemployment or very, very little unemployment

in CNMI? Or what is the unemployment for U.S. citizens in CNMI?

I mean, what is the percentage of unemployment for U.S. citizens

in CNMI?

Governor TENORIO. Presently we have 1,000—approximately

1,400 unemployed U.S. citizens.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. What percentage is that, of the population?

Governor TENORIO. That’s about a little over 13 percent.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. How much?

Governor TENORIO. Thirteen percent.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. Thirteen percent. Now, what is very difficult for me to understand why you have such a high cap and such
42

a high quota of guest workers when you have such a high unemployment. It’s very difficult to understand. What is the reason for

the policy behind that?

Mr. BABAUTA. If I may try to respond. It is difficult to understand, especially if you were, like me, living back in Saipan and

you opened the newspapers and you read of all the numbers of positions that are available every day. We’re talking about a lot of

jobs. And then you see that number. It is difficult to understand,

but it is something that we’re actually looking at, we have been

looking at. And part of the explanation is the fact that the culture,

the way we live back there in the islands and, I guess, up to now

continuous, this is something that I feel eventually will change in

the future.

But the culture, part of the culture, is that the family ties are

very close. There are a lot of individuals who have graduated from

high school and even come back from college who continue to live

with parents or friends and brothers. And if, basically, what’s out

there is that there’s a choice. There’s a choice of a lot of individuals

on the island to either go and be gas attendants. That’s available

out there. Or live with their parents. And those unemployment—

the figures that we see in those includes those individuals who

have that choice of not working.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. You don’t pay Federal income taxes, do

you? You do not pay Federal income tax?

Mr. BABAUTA. No, sir.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. And those companies, those garment industry companies, are they owned by outsiders or by people from

the mainland or from Asia?

Mr. BABAUTA. There are companies both that are owned from—

that are non-U.S. and there are U.S. companies.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. But there not owned by the people from

CNMI?

Mr. BABAUTA. Which companies? There are companies——

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. The garment industry?

Mr. BABAUTA. Oh. There are companies that are owned by U.S.

citizens.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. But from CNMI or from the mainland?

Mr. ZACHARES. There are a couple of companies that do have

some part ownership into the company from people from——

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. But the vast majority are owned by nonresidents of the CNMI?

Mr. ZACHARES. Right. Yes, sir.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. By mainlanders. U.S. citizens from the

mainland or from other countries?

Mr. ZACHARES. Yes, sir.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. And they have tax exemptions? And they

have U.S. Federal tax exemption? They don’t pay Federal income

taxes?

Mr. ZACHARES. If I may defer to Mr. Sablan to——

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. Mr. Congressman.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. Yes.

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. The garment industry in the CNMI paid

$14 million in income taxes last year.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. $14 million.
43

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. $14 million.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. To the Federal Government? To the U.S.

government or to the CNMI government?

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. To the CNMI government.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. Yes. So they don’t pay any Federal income tax.

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. No, they don’t, sir.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. Okay. That’s what I’m—now what is the

purpose of creating jobs for aliens and for companies that are going

to take it out and invest it somewhere else later on? I just—it’s

very difficult for me to understand why you are interested in creating jobs to be taken over by aliens and then they don’t pay—they

pay very little taxes and then they don’t pay any Federal income

taxes and they take the money out when they close the shops and

what does it mean for CNMI, in the long run?

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. Governor, if I may——

Governor TENORIO. Mr. Chairman, we have only two industries

in the CNMI. We have the tourism and the garment industry. And

the garment industry employs also local U.S. citizens and they also

pay taxes to our government. If the garment industry closes at this

time, we will probably, immediately, we will be losing approximately about $67 million of local resources.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. I mean, the aliens, the workers, the guest

workers, they earn so little they don’t pay any local income tax.

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. Mr. Congressman, the apparel industry

contributed nearly 40 percent to the total revenues in the CNMI

economy. There is only one other industry, the tourism industry,

which contributes approximately 60 percent. The apparel industry

last year contributed $85.7 million toward the $210 million collected by the government.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. What kind of taxes?

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. We have user-fee taxes based on the exports, income taxes, non-resident worker fees paid for each nonresident worker who comes in.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. Non-resident workers pay income taxes

on those salaries?

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. Employers pay a non-resident worker fee

for every non-resident guest worker who comes in. Congressman,

workers pay income taxes.

The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman’s——

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. Payroll salary taxes.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. And what are there wages?

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. I’m sorry?

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. Are there wages under the Federal minimum wages?

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. We have our own minimum wage of $3.05

an hour.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. And a person who works 40 hours for $3.,

they pay income taxes?

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. Yes. Yes, they do, sir. Wage and salary

taxes.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. Oh, my. They pay income taxes? The individual?

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. To the CNMI government, they do.
44

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. Oh, my goodness. Okay.

The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman’s time is up.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. All right. Thank you.

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. And, in addition to that, Mr. Congress- man, they remitted last year nearly $60 million of earnings to their

home countries.

The CHAIRMAN. I have to remind the gentleman from Puerto Rico

that there’s some similarity between the CNMI and Puerto Rico. I

mean, there’s—the taxes and——

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. I see the same pattern of exploitation.

The CHAIRMAN. Yes. And if I can, I will also support them to be

a State and then we’ll solve this whole problem, as I do you and

then we’ll get Guam and what else in here. I need some more congressmen anyway.

[Laughter.]

The CHAIRMAN. But I think what—again I go back and the reason I want these hearings to be conducted is I, even before the

chairman—Mr. Miller was chairman, was involved in the creation

and the Covenant. And I hope we go back to the history of that.

And the mistakes made in the past were made. There’s no doubt

about that. And I’m hoping that we hear today that we’re trying

to improve those situations so that those mistakes will not be repeated. And if they’re still existing, we must eliminate them. And

I think that’s what we have to really address.

There was no economy when I first went there. None. The gentleman talked about unemployment. We have a large unemployment in the State of Alaska if you look at the numbers, but there’s

a large number of my people in the State of Alaska, they’re on the

list, but, in reality, the culture doesn’t allow them to be employed.

And people have to remember that. If you’re in Eek, Alaska, there’s

little jobs available other than what we call subsistence, and yet

they are considered unemployed. There are jobs available, but

they’re not about to leave Eek, Alaska, and go to Anchorage or

Fairbanks and transplant themselves and live a total different cultural life. That’s just not going to happen. And yet they’re on that

list. I hope people keep that in mind.

I understand what the gentleman is saying. There is 13 percent;

why aren’t they working in those garment factories?

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. Mr. Chairman, if I may?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Yes.

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. The unemployment rate in the CNMI is

5.5 percent. The 13 percent refers to the residents. The unemployment situation in the Commonwealth is a symptom of an ailing

economy that is suffering tremendously from the Asian crisis. Our

neighbor to the south, Guam, has an unemployment rate of a similar magnitude. The numbers can be misleading. We have a small

population.

The CHAIRMAN. Let me clarify one thing. Where’s the 13 percent

come from?

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. The 13 percent represents one subgroup of

the unemployed population in the CNMI.

The CHAIRMAN. One what?

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. The U.S. citizen resident workers.

The CHAIRMAN. Where’s the 5 percent come from?
45

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. The overall unemployment, which includes

subgroups representing the Micronesian population, non-resident

population.

The CHAIRMAN. So, in reality, the total unemployed population is

5 percent, then.

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. 5.5 percent.

The CHAIRMAN. Okay.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. I just wondered if I could say something.

The CHAIRMAN. Go ahead.

Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́. You know, one of the things to consider, please on this, when you go back. If you offer a job for $5.65 or for

$2.60, you might not get comers at $2.60. But at $5.65, you would.

So you have a higher, a minimum wage enforced in CNMI, then

those people who you say are not willing to work might be willing

to work for double the wage than they are now. I would just keep

that in mind. We found that out in Puerto Rico.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator.

Mr. MANGLONA. Mr. Chairman, I know these are complex issues.

And let me just point out at this point that the House did pass legislation several months ago and the Senate I believe earlier this

month passed that legislation, with amendments, and the bill now

is before the House. But this is the Fair Compensation Act. And,

basically, what this does is it requires garment factories and other

companies hiring non-resident workers to pay the local resident the

equivalent of the minimum wage plus other benefits such as housing to the non-resident workers. We hope that this will drive up

the wages for the local residents. So we are concerned about these

issues. We’re tackling that.

And, also, earlier this year I believe, we mentioned we passed the

wage review board and the wage review board should be coming

out shortly with recommendations on the minimum wages for various industries. So we are very concerned about this and that’s why

that’s one of the very first pieces of legislation that the governor

passed into law, the creation of the wage review board. Thank you.

The CHAIRMAN. You have a wage review board similar to American Samoa now? It’s not similar? But that would have to be

done——

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Would the chairman yield? Would the chairman yield?

The CHAIRMAN. I’ll yield to you—okay. You’re recognized anyway.

Have you asked questions already? You’re on your own time. Go

ahead.

[Laughter.]

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. All right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr.

Chairman, I submit that you and the gentleman from California,

Mr. Miller, not only as the most senior members of this Committee,

but certainly have the years enough to know exactly the process

and how the insular areas have come about. And the classic example of all is our friend and the gentleman now sitting before testifying as leaders representing the Northern Mariana Islands.

As you know, Mr. Chairman, we do have a very unique relationship with the Northern Mariana Islands. Unique in the fact that
46

it’s based on a Covenant relationship that was drawn between our

leaders and the leaders of the Northern Marianas. But probably no

example that I’ve ever known in my life, Mr. Chairman, in the six

years that I’ve served as a staff counsel in this Committee at that

period, were a nation of 200-and-some-60 million people were there

negotiating on an equal basis with these people who were only

15,000, because of our desire in wanting to get rid of some 400

years of colonialism that these people were subjected to. And doing

it after World War II, we had the strategic trust responsibility that

we’ve had and these people have vied and wanted very much to

join and become partnership with our country, unlike the other

areas that have now become independent.

And, because of this Covenant relationship, Mr. Chairman, and

as the members of the Committee may realize, the process has

granted also to these people U.S. citizenship. The process has also

given them the right to make their own laws as in reference to customs and immigration. The process has also allowed them to create

their own minimum wage. That’s the reason why I say it’s a very

unique relationship. It’s not a State like the rest of the other insular areas. The process also allows this country or you might say

this entity to elect their own government officials, which has only

taken place less than 25 years.

And I wanted to put that perspective as I will continue my comments, Mr. Chairman, because I think it’s important for the members to get that overall perspective. And as also part of the process,

is that these people have also given up all their lands.

As you know, Mr. Chairman, at the time of the negotiations with

you and Mr. Miller and Mr. Burton, you know that the Department

of Defense was probably the key agency that really had a lot to say

about what would happen to the future of Micronesia. And let’s

face the bottom line facts, not only from my brother here from

Guam, NMI, and other Micronesian entities, our only presence and

interest in there was the strategic. It is for our national security.

And this is the reason why they’ve agreed to allow our military, at

any given time when our national security is at risk. That’s the

sacrifice that they are making for us. And I think we need to understand that perspective, Mr. Chairman.

I know that things started happening when a gentleman by the

name of Willie Tan sometime 8 or 10 years ago was fined by the

U.S. Department of Labor some $9 million because of sweatshops,

because of the problems that they had with the textile environment

industry. And I think this is where the problem started eroding in

terms of the relationship. And one of their former governors even

testified to this Committee they didn’t need CIP assistance. And,

as you well know, this is what prompted the other insular areas

and, unfortunately, we’ve had to do this, historically.

I can say that my brothers and sisters here, NMI has a Covenant

relationship. We don’t have a Covenant relationship with America.

My friend from Puerto Rico has a Commonwealth relationship with

the U.S. We don’t. My good brother here from Guam has an organic

relationship with the U.S. We don’t have an organic relationship

with the U.S.

So when you put it in the pot, Mr. Chairman, we’re in a mess.

And it makes it very, very difficult to put it in proper perspective.
47

And I can deeply appreciate where my friend from California is

coming from. You’re U.S. citizens and we’re giving assistance and,

by golly, we’ve got to make sure that basic, fundamental, Federal

laws for the treatment of U.S. citizens ought to be the same

throughout. And, yet, at the same time, we’ve got these problems

hanging on us. And it’s a very difficult situation. And I’m not saying that what they’re doing is correct in every instance. I can tell

you a lot of governors in this country that have got a lot of problems, probably even worse than some of the problems that we’ve

had in the insular areas.

But, with that in mind, Mr. Chairman, I just wanted to share

that. And, by the way, too, my good friends in the NMI are the only

ones that are given the SSI. The rest of us are not given SSI,

thanks to Philip Burton, bless his heart. It was the kindness of his

heart that that happened. And I could also say it was a matter of

history and fact that the reason why a lot of our Micronesian

friends currently receive a lot of these social, educational programs

is because of you and Mr. Miller and Mr. Burton.

So it’s given that sense that 4.7 million Americans that live in

Puerto Rico and the Pacific and the Virgin Islands. The Hess Oil

is in the Virgin Islands and the pharmaceuticals are in Puerto

Rico. Tourism is in Guam. We have the largest tuna canning facility in the world right now and we’re having problems. So I want

to share that with the members of the Committee and the perspective that we can appreciate the problems that we’re faced with.

And it’s not easy.

And for some reason the concern that Phil Burton had about

having a delegate included in the Covenant, his fear was that the

Covenant would not have been approved if a delegate bill was included. And the feeling was at the time maybe at some point in

time the Congress will seriously consider allowing the CNMI to

have a delegate seat in the Congress. So I just wanted to share

that perspective, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA.And I know the concerns. As I’ve said, 10

years ago I’m sure these sweatshops existed. We wouldn’t have

fined Willie Tan $9 million and, by the way, he paid it immediately

because he had the money to do so. But in our visit, Mr. Chairman,

the members that visited NMI last year, this member can say distinctly I was very impressed with the improvements that have been

made.

My good friend here from Guam, we ended up in the midnight,

we had to meet with about 600 foreign nationals on the problems

they were faced with because of the contractual relationship that

some of these foreigners had with the I call them coyotes, but

maybe there’s another name for them. And these poor people are

brought to CNMI only to discover the employers couldn’t provide

them jobs and they ended up becoming wards of the state. And I

want to commend the governor and the speaker and the president

of the Senate and the government for taking instant, immediate

remediary action by now taking the position to give assistance to

these foreign nationals to send them back home because of the

problems that they’ve had with not only the employers, but the

people who were brokers in the process.
48

So, if I may, Mr. Chairman, I do have one question to our

friends. I suggested to the former governor of CNMI about eight

years ago, under the minimum wage system, as American Samoa

currently has, every two years the Department of Labor organizes

a minimum wage committee composed of national labor leaders,

the chamber of commerce, and local leaders and we get together

and find out what would be in the best interests of the economy

as a whole, whether or not the NMI territory can hold the minimum wage with the intent at some later point in time that we will

conform to the national minimum wage system. But, unfortunately,

this has never taken place. And I, for one, Mr. Chairman, would

like to offer that recommendation to this day that maybe that

would be another way to resolve the minimum wage problem that

we have in the NMI.

My question, Mr. Chairman, to my friends, what percentage of

NMI budget comes from Federal grants? And how much does it get

from Federal grants and loans?

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. I’m sorry, Mr. Congressman. The CNMI

government since 1993——

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. No, no, no. Just right now.

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. We receive zero Federal funding for government operations.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. No, no, no. Federal grants, like SSI, Food

Stamp, whatever other. CIPs.

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. According to the Department of Commerce, the U.S. Department of Commerce, we received a little over

$30 million in Federal grants last year.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. No, I don’t want the Federal Department of

Commerce. I want your department to tell us how much do you get

in all. Educational grants——

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. About $32 million, $33 million.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Okay. How much does your budget come

from local revenues? And what is the amount of local revenues you

get each year?

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. This year, we’re projecting local revenues

of $210 million.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. And so that makes your total budget for approximately how much?

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. Including the Federal grant money, general fund money, or Federal grant money, about $245 million.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. I see. Mr. Chairman, I know my time is up.

I will wait for another round.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Guam, have you asked

questions yet?

Mr. UNDERWOOD. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Okay. So I can start the second round? I am

going to let me Schaffer go forth, if necessary. I think that would

be appropriate. For five minutes. I think the people at the table

may be getting uncomfortable about now and so I’d like to wrap

this up, you know, within a period of time where we can go on to

the next panel.
49

Mr. SCHAFFER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’d like to ask the governor, what would be the impact of increasing the minimum wage

in CNMI and ask also whether that has been considered recently?

Governor TENORIO. First, Mr. Chairman, yes, recently I learned

that approximately about over 100 guest workers, non-resident

workers, returned to their country because of our economic impact

in the CNMI. I understand the importance of the minimum wage,

but whenever there is a minimum wage, also there’s a multiplying

factor because, in some cases, some of the so-called mom-and-pop

stores were closed down because they cannot afford to pay the minimum wage. In some cases, they have to reduce the number of employees in order for them to meet the minimum wage.

In the case of the non-resident worker, although they are receiv- ing only $3.05 per hour, they are also getting other benefits such

as health, food, places to stay, free transportation. So we feel that

the CNMI as we have established our own permission to come up

with a recommendation as to what minimum wage will be best for

the CNMI. I hope that—after the submission of this report, we will

be very happy, of course, to provide to the Committee.

The CHAIRMAN. Will the gentleman yield for a moment?

Mr. SCHAFFER. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. And the gentleman from American Samoa, listen

to this question. The minimum wage that’s developed in these

areas has to be considered with the local wages paid and the paying scale, is that correct?

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. It’s been considered on the overall economy

of the territory.

The CHAIRMAN. But what I’m just searching here for is just to

say we’re going to meet the Federal minimum wage, which will

be—and I’m going to vote for it—to raise it to $6.75, if that was

to be implemented in Saipan, for instance, that would be an extraordinary amount over the basic wage, would it not be? What is

the basic wage now for somebody outside? Because you just said,

governor, mom-and-pop stores and stuff would close. They’d have

to shut down, not employ as many people. What is the minimum

wage now for somebody to be employed? Is there a minimum wage

at all?

Governor TENORIO. Well, the—yes, sir. The minimum wage is

$3.05 right now, even at the mom-and-pop stores. But what I’m

trying to say is that because our economy is so bad that many of

the small stores, the small apartment will be closed down.

The CHAIRMAN. If we were to adopt the Federal minimum wage,

they couldn’t function.

Governor TENORIO. If they adopt the minimum wage, then, automatically, it will tremendously impact our resources in the CNMI.

The CHAIRMAN. And, again, if I’m remembering right, when we

passed the Covenant, one was to allow you to set the minimum

wage if that fit the territory instead of on the Federal level.

The CHAIRMAN. That is correct, sir. That’s why, if the minimum

wage were implemented right away, there would be more unemployment on the CNMI.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. Go ahead, sir. I’m sorry.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate your

clarifying that. I’d also point out that in June of this year, the Fed-
50

eral Wage Review Board for American Samoa considered those

exact factors and recommended no increase in the minimum wage

for three industries there and 3 cents an hour for an increase in

the tuna canneries and to increase minimum wage for the garment

industry from $2.50 to $2.60 per hour. So, while the minimum

wage is still lower than it is even in CNMI, with the Federal Government’s recommendation to keep it at that level, there are still

other factors that go into consideration, calculation of the minimum

wage in territories and insular——

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. SCHAFFER. Yes.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. I appreciate the gentleman mentioning

American Samoa’s situation, but, here again, it’s a very difficult

situation because I have a love/hate relationship with the largest

tuna canning facility in the territory. I mean this graciously in the

fact that a fish cleaner in Puerto Rico gets paid about $6 to $7 an

hour and the same fish cleaner that produces the same quality

canned tuna in American Samoa gets paid only $3.20 an hour. And

my question is why the discrepancy? And the problem has been—

and, of course, one of the reasons a lot of the incentives that are

given to these major corporations going to the insular areas simply

because of lower labor costs. And whether we like it or not, that’s

the bottom line.

And the fear is that if we keep putting pressure on our major industry to up the ante as far as minimum wage is concerned, then

they turn around and say, well, we’re going to leave you. And then

I’m stuck with 4,000 employees wanting to know what they’re

going to do after that.

The CHAIRMAN. That’s a big chunk of voters too, isn’t it?

[Laughter.]

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. I wasn’t referring to that aspect of it, Mr.

Chairman. But, you know——

Mr. SCHAFFER. Mr. Chairman, can I ask more question, is all I

ask.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Again, if the gentleman would yield, I just

wanted to mention as a clarification on this. They export over $450

million worth of canned tuna to the U.S. every year. Starkist company alone grosses over $1 billion a year in tuna worldwide. And,

as a subsidiary of Heinz Food Company, which is now valued at

about a $15 billion conglomerate, this is where the problem I have

currently with my friends.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. It would all collapse if they had to pay somebody more than $3 an hour.

Mr. SCHAFFER. One last question. We have focused in this panel

on the garment industry, some of the regulatory issues on CNMI.

Some of the reports that I read, a month ago, that are critical of

CNMI also mentioned the sex trade. And I would like someone

here to comment on the prevalence of prostitution, the response

that you all have taken as government officials, and whether—and

I’d just like to hear your description as to the significance of the

problem, the severity of it, and your response to it.

Governor TENORIO. Yes, sir. I would like to have Mark Zachares

to respond to that. But I just want to make a statement that pros-
51

titution is illegal in the CNMI, by virtue of the—in the Constitution.

Mr. ZACHARES. Thank you, Governor. Exactly that. Prostitution

is illegal in the CNMI. In fact, there has been added legislation

that was passed, anti-loitering provisions dealing with, you know,

street-corner type of activities. What we have done in the last year

and a half and, more specifically, in the last year, we got together

with the AG White Collar Crime Division, our Immigration DPS officers. We set up surveillance. Pretty much, we suffer the same

type of problems, pretty much, any major, I think, and anyone sitting here has the problems of prostitution in their districts. But we

attacked it in the way of using our Immigration, using DPS, using

the new loitering law, and aggressively going in and trying to prosecute those involved in it.

We have seen a drastic decrease in the tourist area. We call it

the ginza district in Garapan, of that type of activity. The aggressive pimps with the prostitutes on the corner. So we took a task

force type of approach, attacking it from—because there may have

been immigration aspects involved in it that we could take care of

and, additionally, the local police force in the AG’s office.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Have Federal officials been helpful in assisting in

this particular——

Mr. ZACHARES. Right. I’d like to address that too. The FBI and

the CNMI task force got together and prosecuted several cases

under the Mann Act and successfully prosecuted. And that’s part

of some of the success stories, that’s one of them, of the Federal

and local cooperation. Because without the local cooperation, our

agents involved in with the FBI—they’re cross-designated over—

they were successful in doing prosecution regarding the importation of prostitutes coming in and federally charging and convicting

them.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Miller.

Mr. MILLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If there’s one conclusion

to be drawn from this hearing today, I think it’s very clear that we

ought to just continue to have hearings, because everything gets so

much better right before the hearings take place. So this is a

worthwhile endeavor.

You know, we talked here about the intent of the Covenant and

why things were put into the Covenant and not put in. And Mr.

Faleomavaega talked about a number of those. And I think he gave

a pretty accurate history. And one of the parts of that history was

we decided not to make the immigration laws apply because there

was a great deal of concern within the CNMI that they would be

overwhelmed by non-citizens and that they would lose their indigenous culture and they would not be able to maintain that if people

8,000 miles away were making decisions about immigration.

So we come to the situation today where we have a situation

where now the indigenous population is dramatically outnumbered

by the non-citizen population. We see a situation where the island

can no longer hold onto its population. They continue to flee that

because they haven’t been able to build an economy. We see a situation where, essentially, as pointed by Mr. Abercrombie and Romero-Barcelo ́

, you have a taxation policy on the poorest workers on
52

the island that where 90 percent of the private-sector jobs are now

held by non-citizens, Asian-born individuals, and 90 percent of the

public-sector jobs, the highest paying jobs, are held by citizens. So

you have a transfer here of taxing the poorest people to support the

wealthier individuals in that. We see a situation here where we’ve

gone, in this decade, from about $200 million in garment exports

to over $1 billion in garment exports and, at the same time, the

amount of Food Stamps utilized in the island by the U.S. citizens

has doubled.

So we have all of the bad outcomes that they were worried about

before we signed the Covenant and I think that’s why it’s important that we review the Covenant, because, in fact, what we see is

the hole in the immigration laws that surround this nation are

what enabled the rest of this to happen.

I find it rather interesting. Maybe Mr. Doolittle and Mr. Schaffer

and others will join us in an amendment and we’ll have a line-item

for OSHA. This is an island of some 80,000 resident. I’ve got three

cities in my district that are larger than that. And if you put a fulltime OSHA inspector in each of those cities, I guess you’d probably

get the same how you got on Saipan when the editorial comment

was they wanted this Committee to subpoena people on why the

increased, stepped-up OSHA investigations and they wanted to

know who in the White House sicced OSHA on the island or why

were they having to undergo all of these additional inspections. Of

course they found out that the governor, of course, had requested

those inspections.

We find out that there’s 450 OSHA inspections for 50,000 people

and there’s 35,000 inspections nationwide for 70 million people who

are in work places in this country, nearly 20 times the number of

inspections. But, somehow, that’s apparently now not enough. It

used to be too much and they wouldn’t cooperate and they sent the

OSHA people packing. But now it’s not enough.

We see that, you know, we have 1,200 inspectors. These questions about why isn’t OSHA more active, why aren’t they in permanent residence, why aren’t they full-time is rather interesting from

people who came to Congress pledging themselves to abolish

OSHA. It’s like the guy, you know, who killed his parents and

threw himself on the mercy of the court because he was an orphan.

You know, I don’t get it and it just doesn’t ring true.

The suggestion is if the Federal Government was just out there

full-time, that these problems wouldn’t exist. Well, this is just some

of this is just old-fashioned law enforcement. Apparently you

cleaned up the prostitution problems when it was called to your attention. That’s just old-fashioned law enforcement.

You know, if people are violating—companies are settling for

back wages, companies are settling for all kinds of activities, you

know, nothing prevents, you know, the State of California, the district attorneys go in and they prosecute people for these violations

all the time, when you abuse your workers. So it’s rather interesting, one, that everything has gotten so well here as we host this

hearing. And the second thing is what we see from the conservative

side of the aisle is that we just need more Federal involvement.

You know, if we’re going to start having one OSHA inspector for

every 50,000 people or for every not even that many workers, then
53

I think that’s a different level of government participation in the

work place. In fact, most of the legislation has been about backing

out of OSHA; about relying on employers and local individuals to

inspect that. In the State of California, we control the inspection

and that’s why we passed the sweatshop laws in that particular interest.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. MILLER. Yes, I will yield.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. I want to say that it is irony, as the gentleman has stated earlier, that the feel was on the immigration aspects that there will be more Americans coming over to Saipan and

taking over then the Saipanese becoming the minority. But it was

not the expectation that there would be more foreign nationals.

And that’s what has now given to the situation that we’re faced

with.

But I think that was the concern, as I recall, and the intent.

That perhaps there will be more Americans coming over to Saipan,

the vast majority of U.S. citizens, but not realizing that now it’s

just the opposite, more foreign nationals being there.

Mr. MILLER. I thank the gentleman. Zachares, is it? Mr.

Zachares. I’m sorry. Zachares, excuse me. Zachares. You mentioned

that no longer do tourists are able to convert their stay. How many

have been prosecuted for doing that, to become workers?

Mr. ZACHARES. We have prose—I don’t have the actual numbers

right now for you, but I can make those available to you.

Mr. MILLER. Do you have it off the top of your head? I mean a

thumbnail guess here?

Mr. ZACHARES. I can say the prosecution of our immigration laws

in the last year and a half have increased tenfold, compared to in

the previous administration from illegal employment of aliens——

Mr. MILLER. How many people have been prosecuted for converting their reason for entrance to another reason?

Mr. ZACHARES. I don’t have that off the top of my head, sir.

Mr. MILLER. Will you supply that for the Committee?

Mr. ZACHARES. Yes, sir. I will.

[The information follows:]

Mr. MILLER. How do you determine those today?

Mr. ZACHARES. Determine?

Mr. MILLER. How do you know that?

Mr. ZACHARES. If they came in as a tourist and then——

Mr. MILLER. If a person comes in for a tourist for 10 days, do

they check out after 10 days? Do they go back to——

Mr. ZACHARES. Yes, we do have—we have a semi-automated system in place right now, but what would happen, how you would

find out is by the tourist stamp that would be in their passport

upon presentation of their passport. If they were working, they

would not have a valid permit. But if they did have a permit, they

would show a tourist stamp within their passport and the question

would arise, how do you get a tourist stamp when you have a working permit?

Mr. MILLER. And what’s the fine—I assume it’s a fine—for the

employer who hires——

Mr. ZACHARES. Oh, it’s a felony for an employer.
54

Mr. MILLER. It’s a felony. What’s the fine or what’s the punishment?

Mr. ZACHARES. I believe it’s a $5,000 fine and over a year.

Mr. MILLER. And how many employers have been prosecuted?

Mr. ZACHARES. Excuse me, it’s five years, sir.

Mr. MILLER. How many employers have been prosecuted?

Mr. ZACHARES. In the last year? If I can go to my notes, briefly.

Mr. MILLER. Yes.

Mr. ZACHARES. In the last year and a half, sir, we’ve filed over

30 criminal cases against 55 separate defendants. And that’s including garment factories, construction companies. We’ve also

seized over 500,000——

Mr. MILLER. What’s the breakdown? Do you have it there by industry? Construction versus hotel or——

Mr. ZACHARES. We do have a breakdown——

Mr. MILLER. I mean, I don’t know. How do you break it down?

By construction, hotel, or——

Mr. ZACHARES. Construction, whether it would be a garment;

whether it would be a hotel.

Mr. MILLER. And how does that break down?

Mr. ZACHARES. I do not have that breakdown in front of me, sir.

I will provide it to the Committee.

Mr. MILLER. Will you submit that for the Committee, please?

Mr. ZACHARES. Yes, sir.

[The information follows:]

Mr. MILLER. Thank you. I’ll wait for the next round.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. [presiding] You know, I don’t have any confidence in OSHA. And this hearing just is another reason why one

shouldn’t have any confidence in them when so much is made by

our Federal Government of the terrible problems in the CNMI and

then it turns out they don’t even care enough to be on-site to enforce these laws. It’s just absurd. It’s just totally hypocritical and,

as we’re finding out in another investigation, thoroughly political,

for partisan political ends. That’s what this is about.

I have only been to Saipan once in my life and to the Marianas.

That was earlier this year. Like my colleague from American

Samoa, I was very impressed by what I saw. I certainly didn’t see

anything resembling a sweatshop. I did see some pretty bad conditions for the people who came over here on false pretenses because

of the unethical business practices of some of these recruiters. And,

during that trip, the government of CNMI responded and, without

any legal obligation to do so, nevertheless provided monies to repatriate the people to where they came from. And I commend you for

that, governor, you and your government.

I would love to see the CNMI succeed and I think even in your

own business plan, the garment industry is only kind of a transitional type of industry, isn’t it? What is the future, if I may address

that to one of you gentlemen? What is the future for the CNMI?

I mean, is this going to be a place where the garment factories

thrive for decades? Or is that set to end and something else set to

happen?

Yes, sir, Senator, if you wish—or, Governor, who would you like

to answer? Mr. Sablan?

Governor TENORIO. Yes.
55

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. Mr. Congressman, we have done a gross

island product projection for the next five years. We see the garment industry leaving the CNMI when world trade agreements

come into play in the year 2004. We are seriously concerned about

the impact that would have upon our economy and our ability to

continue to run our government on a self-sufficiency basis. We have

been self-sufficient, as you know, for operations since 1993. The administration and the legislature has been working very hard this

past few months, past year and a half as far as I know, to develop

new alternative industries in the CNMI.

As the president, I believe, mentioned earlier, there is a bill now

before the Senate to establish free trade zones. That is perhaps our

best hope to recover when the garment industry does leave. Without that, we anticipate government revenues in 2004 dropping to

the 1994 level. And we’re doing everything we can to avoid a drastic drop in revenues of that magnitude.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. So, then, you clearly are heading for something

else. All this fuss about the garment industry, I mean, we’re almost

to 2004 is four and one-half years away.

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. It’s right around the corner, sir. There are

factories, in fact, I understand, who have closed. And we are told

by the garment association that orders, buyers, are dropping, are

reducing their orders. And we’re very concerned about that.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Is it your—I’m just looking at this. I guess we’re

going to hear about these from the government in the next panel,

these graphs. But, I mean, I was listening to Mr. Miller, but it

looks to me like, although, obviously, the alien population’s gone

up, your own population is increasing as well, or has been over the

years, as I interpret these graphs. Is that, in fact, the case.

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. Yes, it is. Mr. Congressman, if I may, the

last census that was done in the Commonwealth was in 1995. I

wouldn’t give too much—I wouldn’t rely too much on numbers since

1995. There is a 2000 census being planned. I understand the results of that census will be in the year 2001.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Well, what do you anticipate will be happening

with the alien as the—I mean, are the guest worker aliens, do you

expect that to steadily decline as well, along with the garment industry? Or how does that fit into the economic picture for the future?

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. According to statistics, and correct me if

I’m wrong, the number of guest worker permits this year has decreased approximately 26 percent from last year.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. And part of that is the Asian flu still, though,

right?

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. Excuse me, sir?

Mr. DOOLITTLE. I mean, a part of the decline is due to the poor

state of the economy in Asia.

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. Oh, of course, sir.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Yes.

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. We have businesses closing. It’s not a

CNMI problem; it’s a regional problem.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Right. But my point is let’s suppose the economy

is healthy, after 2004, in Asia. What do you anticipate is going to

be happening with the numbers of guest workers in the CNMI? Is
56

that still going to be increasing like this graph shows? Or do you

anticipate that’s going to level off and/or decline?

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. If and when the economy recovers, Mr.

Congressman, I don’t think anyone here could see our economy developing without the ability to hire guest workers, because of the

limited population we have. The free trade zone, for example, we

are doing everything we can to attract capital-intensive non-laborintensive industries, but the reality in our region, especially, is that

would be a very difficult, very competitive venture. But we’ll do everything we can. I, personally, I don’t see development in the

CNMI without the ability to hire guest workers to supplement our

limited population.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Well, and that reality, I presume, is why, in the

compact, you were given control over immigration, to deal with this

very situation. Yes, Mr. Babauta.

Mr. BABAUTA. Thank you very much. I was wanting to poind that

out earlier, that, while it is true that part of the reasons why we

were granted the authority to maintain immigration and minimum

wage was to protect us from the influx of migration and then, in

turn, becoming U.S. citizens and overwhelm the people. But the

other reason was because we needed it to start our economy until

such time that the military comes in and builds a military-type

economy base where, then, we have opportunities. And I wanted to

point out that, up until now, we still are not there. We’re not at

that point where the commitments were made, basically, and we

continue to need to control immigration and minimum wage to continue with our development.

What we’ve done, though, so far on the concerns that you’ve

raised as far as looking in the future and seeing the reduction of

non-resident workers is, you know, other than the legislations that

we have enacted, such as the moratorium laws and the caps, there

is also efforts by the administration—and this is as the result of

a push by the community, by the local people—to reduce the waste

in government, to reduce the size of government. And Governor

Tenorio has done a tremendous job in reducing the expense, the

waste in government. And what that actually does, there are so

many people that have contracts that have not been renewed, for

example, in government or positions that were not filled that could

have been filled by individuals. And those individuals will eventually be forced to go out and work in the private sector.

As time goes on and families have harder times, this idea that

I explained earlier about our culture, forces the families to send

their children out to find those and fill those positions and, eventually, we will eliminate the need for non-resident workers. As an example, personally, I have a 22-year-old son who lived with me after

he graduated from high school. And he was going from one job to

another because he had that choice. But now that he wants to start

his own family, he’s out there working eight hours a day and not

in a very high position in the private sector as a stevedore at the

docks. But he is one of those individuals that has gone out because

I had to force him out because I have three other children that I

needed to support. And he’s out there now supporting his own and

taking over jobs that, in the past, non-resident workers were needed to take. Thank you.
57

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Well, my time is actually up. I’d like just to clarify one thing. Governor, you wish to have the assistance of OSHA

in your Commonwealth, is that correct?

Governor TENORIO. We feel that the presence of OSHA in CNMI

should work closely with our labor and immigration so that we

could come up with whatever recommendations that they have in

order for us to maintain the employees. Because, in the past, we

have been getting workers’ complaints from different companies

and the OSHA always visit in a different time and also impose

some fine to the companies. And, of course, we would like to see

the OSHA more involved in administering the Federal law.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. All right. Well, you’re one of the few governments I know that really wants more OSHA presence. But since

you want it, here’s an invitation for OSHA. Now why aren’t they

taking up that invitation?

Governor TENORIO. No, sir. What I’m trying to say is that we are

being accused of all kinds of abuse and everything and the presence of OSHA are there and they are aware what is going on. And,

unfortunately, sometime I wonder where are those information are

coming in. They are the one who are submitting all of these reports, I believe, to the U.S. Congress. I have confidence in our department. We are having a inspection on almost on a weekly basis

to all the companies. And we are also trying to work closely with

the garment industry.

As a matter of fact, Mr. Chairman, when I first took office, I invited all of the garment industry, the construction company and we

met almost every week. And I told them that they have to police

their own company. Please try to comply with all Federal laws and

local laws so that we could work closely in helping each other.

Their success will be, of course, our success of the government.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Well, thank you, Governor. And I appreciate you

and your colleagues coming today. I’d like to recognize Mrs.

Christensen for any questions she may have.

Ms. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you for

holding this long-awaited and very important meeting. And I want

to say to you and to our guests who are here this morning that

please do not take my being late for lack of interest. This is an

issue that I’m very interested in. I want to take this opportunity

to commend our Ranking Member, George Miller, for his commitment over the years to securing justice for the alien workers of the

CNMI and to ending the practice of abuse that they received.

I’m glad that I was able to get over here to welcome the witnesses today. I know many of you have traveled long distances and

I’m sorry that we don’t have better weather for you here. We had

great weather when I was in CNMI. A special hello to Governor

Tenorio and the members of the delegation, including the speaker

of the House of Representatives, Diego Benavente, and President of

the Senate Paul Manglona. I want to publicly thank you for all the

graciousness and hospitality that you extended to me and the rest

of our delegation while we were in the CNMI last February.

And to welcome my colleague Juan Babauta. And it’s good to see

you again. I want to just say to you something that I said to you

when we were there, that this issue, for me, is separated from the
58

issue of whether you are a delegate or not and I look forward to

having you join us here in the near future.

Mr. Chairman and my colleagues, the situation with regard to

the alien worker population in the CNMI has been a very serious

one for years. And I’m afraid that, despite reports that it’s getting

better, I think it’s time for the Congress to begin to address it. I

was able to witness for myself the large number of foreign workers

who are living on the streets of Saipan. My husband would not

even go into some of the places that they lived, with me, as a result

of being promised jobs by CNMI recruiters in their home countries

only to find that there were no jobs available when they arrived

and, after paying recruiters thousands of dollars in fees. And we

were able to speak to some of these individuals about their particular plight, some of which were quite horrifying.

What is particularly troubling about all of this is that these problems aren’t new. They’ve been going on for several years prior to

my being elected to Congress. And, despite serious concerns being

expressed by successive administrations and members as far back

as 1980, if there has been any change, it’s been very little.

In response, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last year reported a bill sponsored by Chairman Murkowski,

Ranking Democrat Bingaman, and Mr. Akaka, to, among other

things, extend the provisions of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act to the CNMI. A similar bill focusing solely on extending

U.S. immigration laws was also introduced by the same three senators this year and a hearing, of course, was held last Tuesday.

While I am sympathetic to the issues of fellow U.S. off-shore

areas, particularly one that does not have a representative in Congress to defend their concerns, I regret that I must agree with

those who believe that the time has come to extend U.S. immigration laws to the CNMI, if for no other reason than to end the terrible abuses that have been shown to be occurring time and time

again. Extending U.S. immigration laws to the CNMI was not an

easy conclusion for me to reach because I am an off-shore

territorian, because even in my own district, the Virgin Islands,

many of our residents have voiced concern and interest in having

us have control over our immigration to the Virgin Islands. But, on

the other side, as a strong supporter of workers and workers’

rights, I find it unacceptable that workers in any part of the United

States should be subjected to the kind of forced working and living

conditions as those that we witnessed and that we hear about.

Again, I want to just thank the Chairman for holding this hearing. I have perhaps maybe just two questions. One, I was looking

at the graph here and it just called to mind that some unemployment issues that we heard of when we were in the CNMI and, as

I recall when you looked at employment or unemployment, that

there were still large numbers of citizens, U.S. citizens in the

CNMI, that were unemployed versus the non-citizens who were

coming for employment. What is the unemployment rate in U.S.

citizens and has that improved since we were there?

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. The unemployment rate this year for U.S.

citizens, residents, is a slight reduction from last year. Last year,

it was 14.3 percent. This year, it’s 13.4 percent. Again, the overall

unemployment in the CNMI is 5.5 percent. In the CNMI, because
59

of our limited population, percentages can be misleading. 13.4 percent represents 1,400 people in the CNMI.

Ms. CHRISTENSEN. Well, it’s, by proportion, in terms of your citizens, it’s a large proportional number even though the numbers are

small. I mean, we may have 10 percent of the Virgin Islands having a particular statistic and it’ll be maybe 11,000 people. It’s a

small number, but it’s still 10 percent of the population. And, in

this case, 13.4.

I had a question on the testimony. And I will read all of the testimony in its entirety. This is the one from the members of the legislature with regard to their quest for appropriate Federal funding

to reimburse the Commonwealth for financial costs that unrestricted migration has incurred upon the CNMI. And I’m not sure

I understand it because I understand in the case of Guam where

they do not have control over their immigration and they’re faced

with a situation like this. But I’m not—I don’t understand, since

you have control over immigration, why it is a matter that we

should still address on your behalf.

Mr. BABAUTA. Well, let me try to explain first. And as I’ve responded to the same question earlier, actually. Yes, we do have the

authority because we control immigration. We do have the authority to also treat citizens from the FAS as non-resident and would

be barred from coming into the Commonwealth except for tourist

or work permit. The fact is, we have chosen not to do so because

of several reasons. One of those reasons is the need for workers

that are required under the garment industries, which is required

to hire 20 percent U.S. citizens, and, for the purpose of the 20 percent, the FAS citizens are considered U.S. citizens.

We’ve also decided not to because of our relationship with the

FSM citizens of the states. As you know, we were part of Micronesia, one of the six districts of Micronesia, and we still value the

relationship that we have with them. We also—one thing that I did

not mention in my earlier response was the fact that we also are—

we recognize the United States policy with this matter and have

chosen to be consistent with that of the United States and allow

FAS citizens to come into the United States freely.

I think, most importantly, one of the reasons why we’ve chosen

all that is the fact that we would have been reimbursed just like

Guam for any of the expenses incurred by the influx of those citizens. Yes, we have the choice and, yes, we can stop. But we’ve chosen not to do so. But we feel that, still, because we’ve chosen not

to do so and because there are compact-impact that is costing the

government, we’re asking for that reimbursement that is a commitment by the United States. Thank you.

Ms. CHRISTENSEN. Thanks. At the risk of asking questions that

were already asked, again, I’m going to—I won’t ask any more

questions. But, as I said, I will read all of the testimony that’s been

presented thoroughly and take into consideration any arguments

that are made. And thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, my

colleagues, for allowing me to go out of turn. Thanks.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Thank you. I’d like just to observe that this

panel has now sat here for two and a half hours. At this rate, we’ll

finish the hearing at about 9 tonight because there’s three other

panels after this one. Are there members that feel compelled to
60

want to say something? Mr. Miller has indicated a desire to make

a few concluding comments. Anybody else who wanted? Maybe can

we do—just—yes, how about two minutes apiece? Is that okay?

Great. All right. Mr. Underwood and then Mr. Faleomavaega.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. Yes. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You

know, I’m not a big fan of OSHA in the sense that I want them

to be there all the time, but we have had an unintended consequence because I think if you guys could get OSHA to just go directly to Saipan, I’d appreciate it a lot more.

[Laughter.]

Mr. UNDERWOOD. Because I think they’ve had the justification of

having and you know that Guam and the CNMI have, because of

this overexposure to OSHA I think, has had a high rate of assessments. And I’m sure they would find the same number of abuses

if they had that level of inspection given.

But I do just want to make the point about minimum wage and

raise the issue again, perhaps in the context of what our friend,

Mr. Faleomavaega, has pointed out. When I first started going to

the CNMI to do training, primarily to teach classes, on a regular

basis, I remember back in the mid-seventies that I was having discussions with several of my students. And I went to Joten and I

asked the people in Joten how much money they made an hour.

They said they made 75 cents an hour. And then I asked some of

the people who were trying to get a bachelor’s degree to become

teachers. And they were indicating to me that, at that time, that

if they actually got a degree and became teachers, they would, in

the 1970s, make the equivalent of about $1.50 an hour.

And so, in recognition of that and in having several discussions

and in my understanding through, you know, multiple discussions

with a number of officials over the years, my understanding of the

minimum wage exemption was that they were going to get out of

that old trust-territory economy and into eventually an Americanstyle economy. And that was the reason for it. It wasn’t meant to

help sustain a foreign work force. That it was to provide a kind of

a natural bridge between people who were working as professionals

for $1.50 an hour in the 1970s so that today we assume that those

people would be making what would be comparable wages to the

rest of the United States.

And, yet, I’m puzzled because I don’t sense that—and I fully understand the desire. I fully understand—and I’m sure my other colleagues from the insular areas—fully understand the desire to tell

the Federal Government to butt out and to hold jealously as much

authority as you can because there’s so precious little authority

given to insular areas. But I must really ask the question about

minimum wage. Is the intent to have a Federal minimum wage

down the line?

I got an e-mail from someone who used to be in the previous administration under the previous Governor Tenorio, who e-mailed

me and said there’s something wrong with a system where he lives

next door to a 19-year-old young man out of high school who can’t

get a job and he looks across the street and he sees a young lady

from Nepal pumping gas. Now, the distinction between those two

is that, well, you can say, well, maybe the young man is culture-
61

bound to hang around with his parents. I don’t know. I don’t think

that’s the issue.

I think the issue is that the system that we have in place that

may, indeed, have many problems if we immediately address the

issue of a Federal minimum wage, would create a lot of disconnects

and disjuncture and a lot of economic dislocation. But I want to

hear: is the objective to get to a Federal minimum wage? Is that

the objective? Because if it isn’t, then I think we’re going to have

serious structural problems in the nature of your economy.

What is the minimum amount of money that a person can work

for inside the CNMI government? Because we have an overloaded

number of people who are CNMI residents who are working in the

government and none in the private sector. What is the minimum

amount that a person can make in the CNMI government?

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. Mr. Congressman, I think the lowest salary in government is approximately $11,000 or $12,000 per annum.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. And what does that come out to in terms of—

in comparison to the minimum wage in the private sector?

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. That’s approximately $5.28 per hour.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. And people are willing to work for the government. Local CNMI residents are willing to work for the government.

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. Yes.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. At $5.20 an hour. Well, I would submit that

that should be a valid objective. That should be the objective of an

economy that wants to not just help, you know—I understand the

need to have revenues and I understand the need to have an alternative to tourism. And I understand that Guam is fortunate to the

extent that they have the military economy. But, believe me, that

has its ups and downs as well.

But, in reality, at some point in time, I seriously believe we must

ask ourselves the question: What kind of economic opportunities

are we going to provide for our own people? The people that you

and I—you know, you and I, well all share the same ancestors. And

if we go back four or five generations in Saipan, we know that most

of them have connections to Guam, except Mr. Manglona there who

continually says the people of Rota, of course, are very different.

But——

[Laughter.]

Mr. UNDERWOOD. I say that respectfully. I say that respectfully.

But, in reality, you know, I’m trying to understand what is the objective of that? I mean, you know, the garment industry’s going

away. We’ve given a view of mom-and-pop stores. I’m just, you

know, I went way over my two minutes, Mr. Doolittle, but I appreciate that.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. And here, I want you to know, I’ve been liberal

today.

[Laughter.]

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Okay.

Mr. MILLER. Mr. Chairman, I want you to know, even though

you say it, we don’t believe it.

[Laughter.]

Mr. DOOLITTLE. I had Mr. Faleomavaega next. But, yes.
62

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Chairman, I just wanted to reserve that

Mr. Miller may not believe you, but I believe you. It’s just that I

know that it’s of no permanent nature.

[Laughter.]

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Faleomavaega.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Chairman, unlike my friend from

Guam, I happen to be very grateful for OSHA’s presence in American Samoa. And let me tell you why. For eight years, during the

Reagan Administration, OSHA was not even on the radar screen.

And after repeated efforts to talk to the management of Starkist

Tuna Company, about a lot of the violations as far as working conditions are concerned, they wouldn’t do anything until they finally

slapped a $1.8 million fine, which Starkist, by the way, paid immediately. And I say to myself, what is the worth of $1.8 million if

the lives of those workers in that canning facility would have been

at risk or they would have died as a result of hazardous working

conditions?

So, yes, we can go to the extreme about some of the bureaucratic

problems we deal with, but I, for one, am grateful for OSHA’s presence because I firmly believe in the working man’s conditions and,

certainly, they ought to be given fairness in that respect.

Governor, I have the highest admiration and respect for you and

I think in times past that we’ve discussed some issues that, for one

reason or another why, I have always tried to restrained myself in

terms of the fact that so much of the transitioning was effected

during the political campaign period. But now that you’re on board,

I just wanted to ask you: Can you distinguish clearly some of the

clear policies that your administration is currently doing as contrast to your predecessors and the problems that we’ve had to deal

with your predecessor?

Governor TENORIO. Thank you.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. In the spirit of bipartisanship, by the way.

Governor TENORIO. Well, my administration is trying to correct

some of the deficiencies that happened during the past administration.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. There is a provision in the Covenant relationship that allows the leaders of CNMI to conduct consultations

with the leaders of the United States Government. And I’d like to

ask the governor, what has been your experience in dealing with

that? And at what level is your government supposed to be discussing these consultations with the leaders of the United States?

Governor TENORIO. I believe that there is a section in our Covenant, Mr. Chairman, section 902 of the Covenant gives us the authority to meet periodically with the representative of the President and discuss some of the issues, whether it’s a Federal law that

will be affecting the CNMI or any other issue that will affect that

CNMI should be discussed during that forum. And, unfortunately,

we just recently we had one meeting with the representative of the

President and we have more or less been told that they are only

telling us that this is what we want. Indirectly, they are saying we

are not here to discuss some other issue. We want to discuss only

one issue, in that spirit.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My time is up.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Miller.
63

Mr. MILLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again, after listening to

this morning’s testimony, I think we continue to be saddled with

a problem that goes back to an inherent flaw in the current situation and that is the failure to have U.S. immigration laws apply

here. Because it is that failure that allows the CNMI to continue

to provide a surplus of labor within the CNMI which then continues to allow you to pay a substandard wage to those workers,

that allows a kind of abuse of those workers that we have witnessed over the past decade to continue because those workers are

put in the situation where they really, essentially, have little or no

rights with respect to their legal standing in the country. Where

workers continue to have the failure-to-pay actions against their

employers, failure to pay for hours worked and for time rendered

to their employers.

Where people are still able, because the conditions and circumstances in which people are brought to the CNMI because they

do not have to go through the kinds of checks, they do not have

the rights other people would have, under our immigration systems. That those individuals can be diverted into the sex trade,

they can be diverted into prostitution, they can be diverted into

barroom dancing, and all of the other activities that are well-documented, not a matter of speculation. And until we remedy that

problem, we will not be able to adequately provide for the protections and the rights of these individuals as human beings, whether

or not they are foreign guest workers or not.

The fact of the matter is we see a situation that is a false economy; that it’s failing. It continues to be subsidized by the inflow of

low-wage workers. And, yet, it fails to provide the kinds of needs

that the citizens of the indigenous people in Saipan are entitled or,

in fact, will carve out a future for those individuals.

It is also this gaping hole in our immigration law that allows us

to really have, in spite of all of the suggestions here this morning,

we really don’t have a way of validating the documentation, the

health care checks, the criminal backgrounds of the individuals entering the country. I appreciate they’re going to same clinic, but

let’s not pretend for a moment one of the hallmarks of organized

crime and those who seek to evade the immigration laws is about

false documentation. We have a way, under American immigration

laws, to at least dramatically reduce the probability of that happening and keeping track of those individuals.

I appreciate that you’re going to use the same clinics and the

same law enforcement people. Again, if you have to apply for a visa

to the United States under our law, it’s a far more extensive check

in terms of activity and past history and all of the rest of it. And

that’s what protects this country against communicable diseases.

That’s what protects this country against increases in crime and

the foothold of crime, to the extent that we can, in the drug trade.

So you can continue to resist applying American immigration

laws to Saipan and you may very well be successful. It’s well-documented that the leadership of this House is not interested in seeing

that legislation moving. I don’t know whether Senator Murkowski

and Senator Akaka will be able to move their legislation or not. I

know that they’ve asked you to comment on that. I would hope that
64

you would, because you apparently led them to believe that you

had some suggestions how to improve that legislation.

But the fact of the matter is, whether it’s because of when the

current international regime for garments and textiles comes off

and whether or not this business will go to China, as many suspect, or to yet a lower cost producer. Or just the fact that the garment manufacturers I meet with have decided that they’re going to

reduce their reliance on Saipan simply because they don’t want to

be associated with this kind of activity where workers are abused,

not paid, and exploited and they don’t believe that you have the

local capabilities to keep that from happening and so they, as many

of you have already testified, are reducing their exposure to that

kind of activity.

Mr. Chairman, I’ll finish when I finish, okay? So I don’t really

expect that these hearings are going to put you in great jeopardy.

You’ll just keep doing what you’re doing. You’ll just keep paying

the price. And, unfortunately, so will the citizens of Saipan, because all of the indicators are going in the negative fashion, in

terms of their wealth, in terms of their poverty, in terms of their

employability, in terms of their education, in terms of infant birth.

All of it’s going in the wrong direction. But if you continue to believe that that’s a great position for you to hold for the people you

represent, you’re certainly welcome to that.

As has been pointed out here, it’s a tragedy what’s happened

over the past decade to the thousands and thousands of workers

that have been there legally, illegally and have been exploited. And

whatever time is running on the textile arrangement between now

and 2004, I would hope that the situation would improve for them.

But, clearly, it’s not—you don’t have an ability at the time being

to do that with the current leadership in the House. So I suspect

that those workers will continue to be brought in illegally. They’ll

continue to be exploited because that’s the long history. And that’s

to the advantage of many people on Saipan.

And the fact of the matter is that, in the most recent episode of

many of the people you have paid to repatriate, those people came

not with forged documents, they came with official documents of

your government that were presented at the airport. They were

clearly duped by those recruiters and they continue to be beholden.

And I appreciate your gesture of $3,000. Many of those people are

out $35,000 and $40,000 to recruiters in their own country. They

borrowed money in good faith from the villages from which they

came, from their families, and from their friends. So they will not

be made whole and that’s unfortunate and it’s going to be unfortunate that there will continue to be others who will be put in that

same situation. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. [presiding] Governor, after that presentation, I

can tell you I’m quite pleased with what has occurred under your

stewardship. Most of the bad things that have occurred and the

media’s been reported were results of the previous administration.

By the way, it happened to be the party of my good friend on my

left. I always find that kind of ironic. We have, myself, have been

involved in this much longer than Mr. Miller has. And I have seen

the difference. And, again, because of the Covenant and because we

gave you the opportunity to have a House and a Senate and a gov-
65

ernor and department heads and you are duly elected, I think it

is very inappropriate for members of this Committee and, in fact,

this administration to decide it’s best to be run by the Federal Government.

The Federal Government itself has done a deplorable job in all

the territories. Absolutely disgusting. And, very frankly, I’m not

the least bit proud of the Federal Government, regardless of what

administration. I’m not particularly proud of this administration

because I believe, indirectly or directly, they’ve tried to impede,

even force the destruction of the Covenant. That didn’t happen a

year and a half ago. It didn’t happen two years ago. Didn’t happen

three years ago or four years ago when most of the atrocities were

taking place.

Now I’ve told you, Governor, and the speaker and the representative and Mr. President, because I was out there before, as long as

I continue to see progress—and I believe immense progress has

been made—if anybody takes time within the media to study the

progress that has been done in the media in the year and a half.

I also would like to suggest, respectfully, that there are different

areas and different cultures and different problems. That we have

to recognize a duly elected people have to have some say in what

occurs. It’s presumptuous to think that government has all the answers.

Anybody can show me that government is doing a good job in any

field that couldn’t be done better on a local level, without spending

a considerable amount of money. I can go back to the BIA, one of

my favorite subjects. The millions and billions of dollars they waste

trying to help out my aboriginal people. They should go directly to

those people; let them do it themselves. If they mess up, that’s

their problem.

So, as long as what you continue to do—and I want to compliment the panel—is to present to this Committee, as long as I’m

Chair, and I hope my predecessor will have the same courtesy to

duly elected individuals that opportunity. If you screw up, I’m

going to be on you. But I think I’ve seen great progress in the last

year and a half and I hope that continues. So this has been a good

panel. I’m sorry it took so long. But I think you traveled far and

far and I think it was important, so I do thank you and you are

excused. And stay available.

Mr. MILLER. Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Mr. MILLER. If I might——

Governor TENORIO. Mr. Chairman, if I may.

The CHAIRMAN. Yes, Governor?

Governor TENORIO. Just assert. You asked me to submit the Customs report?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Governor TENORIO. The Customs only gave us the report to us

in the condition not to release, because of its contents are confidential figure in the business. Can this Committee give us the authority to release the report, despite this?

The CHAIRMAN. The Customs cannot keep that report if I request

it.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Mr. Chairman.
66

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Governor TENORIO. Thank you, sir.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Mr. Chairman, I requested that report from the

Customs Department of the Treasury. They sent that report to me

just the day before yesterday.

The CHAIRMAN. That’s right.

Mr. SCHAFFER. So they have submitted to me already.

The CHAIRMAN. So you’re off the hook.

Governor TENORIO. Well, I just wanted to make sure, sir. Thank

you very much.

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Will the Chairman yield? Mr. Chairman, I

would like to ask unanimous consent if our distinguished guests

could sit with us here on the dais so that, in case or the event of

questions——

The CHAIRMAN. I have no objections to that, if they’d sit on the

lower dais. But first I think they ought to be excused to get a sandwich; go to the restroom; wipe your sweating brow; whatever you

want to do. Mr. Miller.

Mr. MILLER. Mr. Chairman, I would just say that I appreciate

your statements against the Federal Government, but it was not

the Federal Government that brought these thousands of people to

this island. And it’s not the Federal Government that imposed the

punishment and the exploitation on those individuals. And I appreciate cultural differences and I think my public service has been

very respectful of those, but I don’t know any culture where it’s accepted that you exploit other human beings. And I think that’s a

matter about laws and enforcement of those laws.

The CHAIRMAN. I thank the gentleman. You’re excused, gentlemen.

Mr. MILLER. Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman.

Mr. MILLER. If I might, I have testimony that I’d like to submit

for the record as part of—to make a part a part of the record of

this hearing.

The CHAIRMAN. From?

Mr. MILLER. From Mr. Wan Lan, who is a Chinese laborer; Mr.

Albert Meyerhoff, who is one of the attorneys in the lawsuits; from

the I guess this is the Take Pride in America Coalition; and Honorable John Dingell.

The CHAIRMAN. Without objection.

Mr. MILLER. Thank you.

[The information follows:]

STATEMENT OF ALBERT H. MEYERHOFF PARTNER, MILBERG WEISS BERSHAD HYNES

& LERACH LLP

My name is Albert H. Meyerhoff. I am a partner with the law firm of Milberg

Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP. I am also counsel for the plaintiffs in litigation

brought in January of this year arising from conditions in the garment industry in

the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (‘‘CNMI’’). I appreciate the opportunity to testify before this Committee today and would like to primarily focus

my remarks on a potentially landmark settlement agreement reached with several

of the U.S. retailer defendants in that litigation. Before doing so, however, let me

summarize events leading up to the litigation and the factual underpinnings of the

case.
67

Following an investigation conducted for the better part of a year, on January 13,

1999, two Federal class action lawsuits were filed on behalf of foreign ‘‘guest workers’’ from the Peoples Republic of China, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Thailand

now working in the CNMI garment industry. A third companion lawsuit was filed

in California state court by four national human rights and labor organizations

(Global Exchange, Sweatshop Watch, Asian Law Caucus and UNITE!) alleging that

U.S. retailers had engaged in false advertising (by claiming their goods were ‘‘Made

in the U.S.A.’’ or ‘‘No Sweat’’) and were trafficking in ‘‘hot goods’’ manufactured in

violation of U.S. labor laws. The facts providing the basis for these three cases can

be summerized as follows.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The Commonwealth includes the principal island of Saipan and a chain of 13

other islands north of Guam. After World War II, these islands were designated as

a U.S. territory and, since 1975, have been a Commonwealth of the United States.

While U.S. minimum wage and immigration laws were not extended to the Commonwealth, the Covenant establishing the Commonwealth did not exempt it from

all other applicable U.S. labor laws, including OSHA, the provisions of the Federal

Fair Labor Standards Act requiring the payment of overtime, and Federal civil

rights laws, including Title VII and Anti-Peonage laws.

The Covenant granted the Commonwealth authority over its own immigration

policies. While the purported intent of this provision was to provide for stricter control over immigration than existed on the U.S. mainland, the Covenant had the opposite effect, resulting over the last decade in a rapid influx of foreign immigrants

who now make up the substantial majority of Saipan’s population of 70,000.

Garment manufacturers operating on Saipan—more than 70 percent of which are

owned by foreign interests—actively promoted this immigration policy so they could

import contract foreign laborers to work in their factories. The foreign garment

workers in these factories are actively recruited by quasi-private agencies operating

in China, Bangladesh, Thailand and the Philippines at the behest of the Saipan garment factories. These recruiters advertise well-paying jobs in the U.S. with comfortable working and living conditions. However, the workers they recruit are

charged exorbitant recruitment ‘‘fees’’ of $2,000 to $7,000 or more for one-year contracts as a condition of obtaining such promised ‘‘benefits,’’ which are either paid

in advance or deducted from the workers’paychecks. As these workers receive a minimum wage of $3.05 per hour, between the average recruitment fee of $5,000 and

food and housing costs of $2,400 a year, they must work up to 2,500 hours a year

just to repay this debt—before earning a single dollar for themselves. Over 90 percent of the garment industry jobs in the Mariana Islands are now held by such foreign ‘‘guest workers.’’ Since 1996, over 200,000 apparel industry jobs were lost in

the continental United States.

The CNMI garment workers live in a state of peonage. If they are prematurely

terminated for failing to work as demanded or for complaining and are summarily

deported, either they or their families must nonetheless repay the huge recruitment

fee. Moreover, workers are routinely required to sign ‘‘shadow’’ employment contracts establishing unqualified obedience to their employers while prohibiting them

from participating in social, political or religious activities, asking for salary increases or alternative employment, marrying, becoming pregnant, attempting to

change employers, or engaging in worker organizing efforts. These contracts are enforced by threats of immediate termination of employment, deportation and other

means.

As documented by Federal agencies, members of this Committee and others, the

working conditions in the Saipan garment factories are, simply put, often deplorable. Little water is provided to workers during working hours, even though typically there is no air conditioning in these factories, where temperatures regularly

reach or exceed 100 degrees. Impossible piece work quotas are imposed; when those

quotas are not met, the workers are forced to provide ‘‘contributions to the company’’—specifically, involuntary overtime work for no pay, Mistakes also result in

uncompensated labor, as does perceived disobedience. Saipan’s garment workers

routinely work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, and late into the evening, often for

no pay beyond the first 40 hours or based on piece rates alone, with no overtime

premium based on hours worked. Documented OSHA violations are rampant and

are merely the tip of the iceberg, since inspections are announced sufficiently in advance to permit the CNMI contractors to remedy the most egregious violations.

Living quarters are overcrowded, with four to six persons in a 250-square-foot

room and barracks often surrounded with inward-pointing razor wire. The ‘‘kitchens’’ consist of a hotplate and fresh drinking water is routinely not supplied. The

food is of poor quality and often contaminated, resulting in several recent and seri-
68

1Selected press coverage of the litigation is attached to this testimony as Exhibit ‘‘A’’.

ous incidents of mass food poisoning. Workers who attempt to leave these barracks

have their names recorded and, unless they return within imposed curfews, are reported to management and forced to work unpaid overtime.

Major American retailers, such as The Gap, Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Tommy

Hilfiger USA, Inc. and others have reaped a rich economic harvest from this system

of exploitation. For the fiscal year that ended in October 1998, the wholesale value

of garments shipped duty-free to the U.S. mainland from the CNMI totaled over $1

billion; retail value is conservatively estimated at over $2 billion. Most of these garments enter the United States through California ports and are thereafter distributed nationwide. Notwithstanding that these garments are manufactured by foreign

workers in primarily foreign-owned factories using foreign cloth and materials, because the factories are located in the Commonwealth these garments are labeled as

being ‘‘Made in the U.S.A.’’ Such labeling enables these garments to be sold both

duty-free, at a higher price, and avoids quotas that would otherwise be in force if

the factories were on foreign soil.

Last year alone, the Federal Government estimated that CNMI contractors and

U.S. retailers avoided more than $200 million in duties for $1 billion worth of garments shipped from Saipan that would otherwise have been paid for the same clothing than if it were manufactured on foreign soil. Some Chinese garment interests

have moved their textile operations to Saipan virtually ‘‘lock, stock and barrel,’’ in

large part to avoid U.S. duties and quota restrictions. The Federal Government estimates that this increase in Chinese apparel production in Saipan has allowed China

to exceed its import quota by 250 percent in 1997 alone.

American retailers frequently acknowledge their obligation to eradicate sweatshop

conditions, but those promises are honored in the breach. For example, the National

Retail Federation Statement of Principles on Supplier Legal Compliance states that:

We retailers stand behind our responsibilities and commitments to our customers and our employees. It means we are committed to selling products that

are made legally, ethically and morally. It means we hold our suppliers accountable if they fail to uphold worker rights. Our employees expect it, our customers

demand it, and our reputations depend on it.

The Principles, signed by many of the U.S. retailers, also state that its members:

• Will require suppliers to comply with all applicable laws and regulations.

• Will take appropriate action against non-compliant suppliers which may include canceling the affected purchase contract, terminating the relationship

with the supplier, commencing legal actions against the supplier or other actions as warranted.

Based upon these facts, a complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the

Central District of California against both the largely foreign-owned CNMI garment

contractors as well as U.S. retailers for violations of the Racketeer Influenced and

Corrupt Organization (‘‘RICO’’), Anti-Peonage laws and the Alien Tort Claims Act,

also sometimes known as the ‘‘Law of Nations.’’ A second lawsuit was filed in the

CNMI solely against the CNMI contractors for violating the Federal Fair Labor

Standards Act and certain provisions of CNMI law. Finally, a third lawsuit was

brought by four national human rights and labor organizations against U.S. retailers for alleged false advertising, fraud and trafficking in hot goods.1

II. PREVIOUS GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS

A host of government and Congressional investigations, reports and previous litigation have documented the serious and ongoing problems in the CNMMI garment

industry, from forced prostitution and abortions to a working environment characterized by exploitation and fear of retaliation. In 1992, the United States Department of Labor filed suit against five garment factories owned by Mr. Willie Tan for

labor and safety violations. The lawsuit alleged that employees were forced to work

84 hours per week without overtime pay, wages were paid below the already-low

minimum wage, and employees were locked in their work sites and living barracks.

Mr. Tan paid $9 million in restitution to 1,200 workers—the largest fine ever imposed by the United States Department of Labor. Tan’s company also pled guilty

to felony charges for violating 18 U.S.C. § 1001, prohibiting fraudulent or false

statements to the government.

In 1997, a series of government and investigative reports were released detailing

serious problems in the CNNU’s administration of its labor and immigration policies, based on worker interviews and on-site inspections. These reports include: Office of Insular Affairs, United States Department of the Interior, Report to Honorable George Miller’s Congressional Delegation re: CNMI Labor and Human Rights
69

Abuse Status Reports, Jan. 29, 1998 to Feb. 14, 1998 (Aug. 12, 1998) (‘‘OIA Report’’);

United States Department of Labor, Evaluation of the Hays Report Minimum Wage

Analysis for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (Mar. 1998); Democratic Staff Comm. on Resources H.R. Beneath the American Flag: Labor and

Human Rights Abuses in the CNMI (Congressman George Miller (Mar. 26, 1998));

United States Department of the Interior, Federal-CNMI Initiative on Labor, Immigration, and Law Enforcement in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Third Annual Report (1997); Democratic Staff Comm. on Resources H.R., Economic Miracle or Economic Mirage? The Human Cost of Development in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (Congressman George Miller April 24,

1997). With the exception of a report by the Washington-based Hay Group (commissioned by the CNMI government at a reported cost of $1.48 million), all of these

reports are highly critical of the sweatshop conditions in the CNMI and advocate

a variety of sweeping reforms. In response to these reports, on May 30, 1997, President Clinton informed then-CNMI Governor Froilan Tenorio of the Government’s

concerns about the labor and immigration policies of the CNMI in a letter stating

that ‘‘certain labor practices in the islands . . . are inconsistent with our country’s

values.’’

In July 1997, the Clinton Administration issued its own inter-agency report that

corroborated the conclusions of these earlier studies and likewise called for fundamental changes in labor practices in the CNMI.

A government report dated February 14, 1998 and issued by the U.S. Department

of Interior, Office of Insular Affairs (‘‘OIA’’), described the degrading treatment,

abuse, and punishment of foreign garment workers, based on a two-week inspection

tour by government officials. The following excerpts provide a summary of the OIA’s

findings:

‘‘This is a report prepared by a seven member team who were retained by the

Office of Insular Affairs, United States Department of Interior to prepare an

itinerary for the Congressional delegation that was scheduled to visit the CNMI

in February 1998 on a fact-finding trip. The itinerary was to include opportunities for the visiting members of Congress and their staff to speak directly to foreign contract workers, and to visit sites that exhibit serious problems connected

to the present systems of labor and immigrants in the CNMI. The delegation’s

fact-finding mission was unexpectedly canceled at the last minute while team

members were in Guam making final arrangements to go to the CNMI. Nevertheless, the Office of Insular Affairs believed that it was important for team

members to gather the latest information regarding emerging problems of particular concern to the Federal Government. These issues included:

•The problems faced by the unemployed legal and illegal population of foreign

contract workers in the CNMI include fraudulent recruitment practices, substandard living conditions, severe malnutrition, and health problems, and

unprovoked acts of violence being inflicted upon foreign contract workers that

are not being addressed by an ineffective CNMI labor and immigration system;

• Underage Filipino or Chinese waitresses forced to work as bar girls, who have

been recruited under false pretenses to work as waitresses, garment factory

workers, or cashiers, but subsequently forced to work as strippers and prostitutes in Karaoke bars, discos, massage parlors and clubs;

•Living and working conditions of the Chinese garment workers prevalent in

CNMI garment companies, the restrictions imposed by ‘‘shadow contracts’’ they

are required to sign in China, and the flow of Chinese contract workers from

the CNMI into Guam to seek asylum;

• Reports of women from the People’s Republic of China who have become pregnant while working in the CNMI and are forced to return to China to have an

abortion or forced to have an illegal abortion performed in the CNMI.

• Workers describe a Chinese garmentwork force compelled to live and work

under conditions of employment that were tolerated due to the fear of retaliation, economic and otherwise from their government.

Shadow Contracts and Fear of Retaliation

From the time garment workers first came to the CNMI, to the present time, the

Chinese deploying agency sending them abroad has required all workers to sign contracts, kept by the deploying agency, which specify the workers’ conduct and control

over his wages while abroad. These contracts also contain sanctions the workers

face if they break this contract while working in the CNMI. Because one of the sanctions specified provides for punishment if the workers reveal labor-related problems

to the government agencies in the CNMI, workers are fearful of sharing any information to interviewers and investigators.
70

2 A photograph of typical CNMI garment worker housing is attached as Exhibit ‘‘B’’.

Copies of these contracts have been made available to the Department of Interior, and as they all contain essentially the same restrictive provisions, many

of which are in direct contravention to Federal and local labor and civil right

laws, this information will not be repeated here. . . .

• [W]orkers feared returning to China because while employed in the CNMI,

they had violated provisions of the Chinese contracts, also known as ‘‘shadow

contracts.’’ These are called shadow contracts because they are never made

available to governmental agencies or other interviewers. The violations they

had been involved in included attending religious services in the CNMI, refusing to have an abortion, and complaining about labor violations during the period of time they worked here.

Working and Living Conditions

•Two team members visited workers at the [Redacted] barracks. There appeared to be little change during the past year despite OSHA inspections of the

site.

• Workers are housed in rooms approximately 25 feet by 10 feet with four to six

people to a room. The floors are bare concrete and the beds are made of plywood

with light padding. The rooms are hot and stuffy because there is no air conditioning. Insect infestation is a common complaint and most workers need to

sleep under mosquito netting.

• An interview revealed that the water is turned on for only 15 minutes Per day

for bathing and house cleaning. At this time workers will fill buckets for use

later either flushing toilets or cleaning. Hot water is made by immersing heating elements into buckets and leaving them for a period of a few hours. Some

workers [Redacted] are not provided with drinking water at their barracks and

must fill bottles at the factory to bring back with them.

• During the course of this inspection, team members encountered a woman crying quite loudly in her bunk. Coworkers explained that she was new to the factory and still ‘‘needed to get used to the situation.’’ After more questioning it

was learned that the women was upset because of the little amount of money

she was earning. The workers made the claim that she must provide a certain

amount of free work to the factory every day. She was able to give a detailed

explanation of the quota system, which is based on hourly and total percentages. The woman was concerned that she would be unable to repay the money

she borrowed for her recruitment fees and she worried for the well being of her

family because she didn’t have enough money to send home.’’

OIA Report, at 1, 15-16 (emphasis added).

The Fourth Annual Report of the Federal-CNMI Initiative on Labor stated that

‘‘the Administration continues to be concerned about the CNMI’s heavy and

unhealthy dependence upon an indentured alien worker program and on trade loopholes to expand its economy.’’ (Emphasis added.) A press release by the United

States Department of the Interior accompanying the publication of this report stated, ‘‘the underlying immigration, labor, and trade problems of the Commonwealth

of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) remain as troublesome as ever, despite a

year’s worth of reforms set in motion by the recently-elected Governor of the

[CNNI].’’ Press Release accompanying the Fourth Annual Report of the FederalCNMI Initiative on Labor, at 1 (emphasis added).

Violations of OSHA regulations by the CNMI contractors have been frequent and

numerous. During the first half of 1997, OSHA sent four inspection teams to the

CNMI and found over 500 violations in the labor barracks alone. Inspectors found

that barracks were unhealthy, with overcrowding, unsanitary facilities, dirty and inoperable toilets, dirty kitchens and electrical hazards. Further, Federal investigators

noted evidence of class members being abused or fired for complaining about these

poor facilities. During the most recent inspections carried out in February 1998, the

OSHA Regional Administrator noted in an interview with a local news agency that

working conditions in Saipan were worsening. In fact, since 1993, there have been

over one thousand regulatory violations identified by OSHA inspectors in the CNNU

garment factories with which the U.S. retailers do business.2

Following these Federal OSHA inspections (and three weeks before hearings in

the United States Senate on labor and immigration conditions in the CNMI), the

local government in or about April 1998 embarked upon surprise inspections of its

own at various garment factories in the CNMI to check for illegal safety violations.

At one factory, inspectors found the emergency exit nailed shut and tape covering

smoke detector sensors. Another was cited for electrical wiring problems and dys-
71

functional air conditioning, and investigators discovered an unlicensed nurse and illegal medical clinic there.

Despite all of these reports confirming a system of peonage, indentured and involuntary servitude and illegal working conditions in the CNMI garment factories, neither contractors nor the CNNH government have acted to rectify these conditions.

Likewise, except as described below, American retailers—whose quality-control personnel routinely oversee production—have failed to require these conditions be either corrected or eliminated as a precondition of doing business in the CNMI with

the contractors.

III. THE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENTS

In a significant breakthrough concerning the pervasive problems confronting the

CNMI garment industry, on August 8, 1999, Nordstrom, J. Crew Group Inc., Cutter

& Buck and The Gymboree Corporation became the first U.S. retailers to settle

claims against them in the litigation described above. In addition, ‘‘agreements in

principle’’ have been reached with Polo Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan, Phillips-Van

Heusen, Chadwick’s of Boston and Calvin Klein. Under these settlements, the retailers have agreed in their future contracts to require their CNMI contractors to comply with a set of ‘‘monitoring standards’’ establishing mandatory minimum workplace and living standards. These standards will address a host of the problems

identified by members of this Committee, government agencies and others in the

past. They will require, for example, that employees receive at least the CNMI minimum legal wage with no ‘‘off the clock’’ or ‘‘voluntary’’ work, be ensured freedom

of movement within the CNMI, and freedom to worship as the workers please. Employees will be paid at least one and one-half times their regular wages for work

over 40 hours, and will be provided with safe and healthful working conditions. In

addition, contractors doing business with these retailers will no longer be permitted

to recruit workers from any employer broker that utilizes ‘‘shadow contracts,’’ contracts signed in China or elsewhere that limit freedoms guaranteed by U.S. law—

or that impose unlawful ‘‘recruitment fees’’ that now create a condition of indentured labor. While actual costs of transportation to (but not from) the CNMI and

legally-required government fees (e.g., for passports) will be allowed, they will be

capped, and no recruitment fees will be charged. If garment workers, in the future,

are required to pay such fees to brokers, their CNMI contractor employers will be

obligated to reimburse the workers for those fees.

Under the terms of the settlements, a comprehensive monitoring plan will be established to ensure that the standards are met. Monitoring will be performed by

Verite§, a Massachusetts-based non-profit organization that will establish offices in

the CNMI to oversee compliance with the standards. Verite§ is empowered to conduct inspections and evaluations of working conditions, including unannounced inspections and worker interviews, require CNMI contractors to ‘‘cure’’ identified violations, place them on probation for repeated violations and, in the case of a pattern

and practice, require the retailer to terminate the contract. A settlement fund of

$1.25 million will be established to fund the monitoring, as well as for public education, and to partially reimburse workers for unlawful recruitment fees paid in the

past. CNMI contractors that will now be subject to monitoring under the settlement

include Global Manufacturing, Inc., Concorde Garment Manufacturing Corp., TransAsia Garment Forte Corp., Jin Apparel, Inc., Marianas Garment Manufacturing,

Inc., Mirage Saipan Inc., N.E.T. Corp. dba Suntex Manufacturing, Inc., Onwel Manufacturing Saipan Ltd., Diorva Saipan Ltd. and Micronesian Garment Manufacturing, Inc.

These settlement agreements hold significant promise for improving working and

living conditions in the CNMI garment industry. By using their economic leverage,

these retailers will force change in the their contractors—or they will lose their

business.

IV. CONCLUSION

The controversy raging over conditions in CNMI’s garment industry actually

raises in a particularly visible context a more fundamental human rights debate

over globalization of particular industries—garment manufacture included—and the

duties and obligations of U.S. multinationals as global citizens. As trade barrier dissolve and American capital follows cheap labor, what will become of American values? Whose rights will remain protected? What laws will apply? And, in what form

will disputes be resolved?

For most Americans, the CNMI—and its principal island of Saipan—is remembered as the site of one of the great battles of World War II—where more than

100,000 Americans fought and 3,100 lost their lives. The freedom won for this tiny

island at the sacrifice of so many American lives should be protected, not exploited.
72

We should expect—and Congress should require—that U.S. companies ensure that

basic human dignity is protected in the CNMI.

In the long term, action by Congress is essential to address comprehensively the

continuing problems in the CNMI that have repeatedly been documented but never

resolved. Today’s hearings are an important step in that process, and we look forward in the future to working with this Committee and Congress in achieving fundamental reform in the CNMI.
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83

The CHAIRMAN. I also at the same time have a statement by Billy

Tauzin. I ask unanimous consent to have it submitted for the

record. Without objection, so ordered.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Tauzin follows:]

STATEMENT OF HON. BILLY TAUZIN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRES FROM THE STATE

OF LOUISIANA

As we again revisit the issue of local labor and immigration authorities exercised

by the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, two issues have significantly changed the legislative landscape from just a year ago. First, numerous press

accounts make clear that the Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) in the Department of

Interior—that part of the Federal Government charged with responsibility for managing insular policy—has in fact been secretly operating for years as an adjunct of

the Democratic Party and specifically of the Democratic Congressional Campaign

Committee.

At the time it was evident to even the most casual observers that OIA and Interior were waging jihad against the Marianas. In last year’s Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing, Secretary Bruce Babbitt described the islands

as a ‘‘plantation economy’’ where reform had failed irrevocably, whose un-American

practices could not be fixed and ‘‘should never be allowed under the American flag.’’

When Sen. Rod Grams raised questions in the hearing concerning politicization of

OIA and its then-Director, Secretary Babbitt dismissed them peremptorily, decried

the ‘‘massive campaign of intimidation’’ he claimed was being orchestrated against

that official, and the Secretary announced on the spot that he was putting the official in for a departmental commendation. Sen. Grams followed up with a letter to

the Inspector General of the Department of the Interior, but nothing was done.

Thanks to the careful investigation conducted by the Chairman of this

Commitdee, we now know that as these events gere unfolding, OIA’s then policy director was using his government computer in his government office on government

time to orchestrate a genuine campaign of intimidation. Using a hit list of Republican Members of Congress who had failed to see the wisdom of OIA’s solutions for

the Marianas, he sent memos, press releases, and whatever else he could find to

the DCCC and to those Members’ Democrat opponents. He explained that his aim

was to elect Democrats to the House. His reward would be the defeat of those he

targeted.

But this man did not act alone. He sent copies of his political prose to the Director. His decorated Director sent his own political memorandum to the DCCC on behalf of all the ‘‘politicals’’ at OIA urging that the Democrats repudiate the then

Democratic governor of the Marianas for the unpardonable sin of agreeing with Republicans opposed to OIA’s so-called solutions for the territory.

We know that what has been revealed thus far suggests violations of the Hatch

Act, along with other statutes intended to insulate Federal civil servants from politics on the job. This Committee’s investigation must determine which superiors were

informed of these actions, who else was involved and what they were doing. We can

hope that the issues Sen. Grams first raised more than a year ago in the Senate

Energy and Natural Resources Committee will finally be looked at by the Inspector

General, who belatedly has begun to ask some questions at Interior.

My has this bit of ‘‘mud politics,’’ as the Wall Street Journal calls it, changed the

legislative landscape? First, the full extent of what was going on at OIA must be

unearthed. Those who broke the law, and those who should have prevented them

from doing so, must be held accountable. Those whose responsibility it was, and is,

to manage the Department of Interior must provide solid assurances that this political ‘‘dirty tricks’’ operation has been shut down and cannot be resurrected. All these

things will take time. In the meantime, and for the foreseeable future, the credibility of OIA is seriously damaged. Officials willing to bend the rules in one area

are just as likely to have done so in others. The exaggerated Administration descriptions of conditions in the Marianas have always been suspect. The evidence of a secret effort to defeat those who took an opposite view calls into question the accuracy

of what we have been told by officials up to now. It is hard to discount the likelihood

that the secret war against Republicans had its public counterpart in the overt Administration assault on the Marianas.

One example of the hyperbolic excess we have come to expect from Interior is particularly noteworthy. The key charge made against the territory and its businesses

is the systematic mistreatment of its foreign worker population. Last year’s Senate

hearing record is replete with charges of worker abuse. Yet the Philippine Consul

in the Marianas, who looks after the largest group of foreign workers present in the
84

islands, took the initiative shortly thereafter to write the Governor of the Marianas

to inform him of a report the Consulate had prepared after investigating the treatment of Filipino workers. As she put it to the Governor, ‘‘The Consulate’s report emphatically reiterated the good working conditions of our Filipino workers and the effective coordination efforts between the Consulate and the local government.’’ Since

the Consul and her staff reside in the Marianas and have day-to-day contact both

with Filipino nationals and local officials, and because she appears to have no reason to be less than vigorous in her assessment, her report has a credibility I no

longer assign to Departmental testimony on this issue.

There is another new factor in the policy debate affecting the Marianas. This element is directly related to the Commonwealth’s immigration system. Last year and

this year as well the Congress was told that the immigration system in the Marianas was ineffective and not fixable. One of the Administration’s concerns was that

the Marianas did not provide a process for considering asylum claims, an obligation

the United States had assumed by international treaty.

This criticism, however, appears to contradict other recent actions by government

officials. This spring and summer Chinese smugglers, called ‘‘snakeheads,’’ have

navigated overcrowded, leaking vessels from the coast of the Fujian province towards Guam. The vessels have been jammed with thousands of illegal Chinese migrants from whom the snakeheads had extracted large sums to land them on American soil. Yet when these ships were interdicted en route to Guam, the Administration ordered many of them to the Marianas. Why? As one INS official later testified

before the House Judiciary Committee, this was considered ‘‘an effective response

to the recent increase in smuggling activity.’’ Gone were the concerns about asylum.

Front and center was the desire to quickly deport these illegals under Marianas’

law! As another INS spokesman put it, ‘‘We just wanted to make the message get

out that they should not go with these smugglers because they only expose themselves to danger only to be repatriated.’’ So much for a flawed immigration system.

The Coast Guard continues to send Chinese boat people to the Marianas.

Because this Committee is being asked by the Administration, specifically the Interior Department, to consider whether the Marianas should retain their labor and

immigration authorities, we should also take stock of what we really know about

conditions in the islands. We should listen with particular attention to what Marianas officials are able to report about how it is being administered and improved.

And we should examine with care the actual consequences, particularly the economic cost and consequences to the labor force, of changing those local authorities

that the evidence shows at least some parts of the Federal Government actually find

useful and effective, the protestations of Interior to the contrary notwithstanding.

Let us do what is best for the citizens of the Marianas.

The CHAIRMAN. Panel two: The Honorable John Berry, Assistant

Secretary for Policy, Management; Mr. John Fraser; Mr. Donald

Shruhan; and Mr. Nicholas Gess. Now before you all sit down, you

all have to stand up. And I see two people well aware of that. The

names that I just mentioned, Mr. Berry, Mr. Fraser, Mr. Shruhan,

and Mr. Gess—is it Gess or Geese? Gess, okay—will take the oath

and say I do or whatever it is when you get down.

[Witnesses sworn.]

You’re sworn in. You may take your seat and, Mr. Berry, you’re

the first one up.

STATEMENT OF JOHN BERRY, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR

POLICY, MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF

THE INTERIOR, WASHINGTON, DC

Mr. Berry. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I’d like to

begin by complimenting you, this Committee, and the Senate committee for reducing the rhetoric. And I will try to do the same on

this issue.

I would like to—there have been a number of press statements

and others over the past year by members of the Department of Interior. I want to make clear for this Committee that I know Governor Tenorio. I’ve worked with him. I know Representative John
85

Babauta and I’ve worked with him. They are good men. They are

honorable men. They are well-intentioned men. And this is a complex problem. And they have taken significant steps, like you have

been described, that you’ve heard this morning. And the Federal

Government has increased its presence and taken an increased

presence in terms of law enforcement, from the Federal perspective, on the Marianas Islands.

But, as Representative Babauta used the correct analogy, we are

chasing a symptom rather than treating the disease. Since 1995,

over $14 million has been spent on a law enforcement initiative

jointly by the Marianas Islands government, $5 million of that directly passed through to them for their initiatives, many of which

you heard this morning and over $8 million by Federal agencies

that has been transferred from the Interior Department to other

Federal agencies.

You’ve heard the Marianas. They have increased. They’ve hired

investigators. They’ve assisted with emergency shelter. And they’ve

assisted with health screening of aliens.

In the Federal perspective, we have increased the presence on

the island from 4 permanent people to 18 now present. We have

assigned Wage and Hour investigators. There was much discussion

about the NLRB and EEOC. In terms of NLRB, Mr. Chairman, I’m

informed that that member is now resident of Marianas Islands

and is located there. The EEOC has significantly stepped up.

They’ve made a number of cases. You heard some of those described about the prostitution cases and sexual discrimination

cases that they have pursued in the past year, aggressively, with

the Marianas government. They are also looking at establishing a

permanent presence. So I think you’re going to find that will come.

There have been U.S. attorneys, FBI, INS, DEA agents assigned.

The Ombudsman Office has been created in our office with two

people. Pam Brown, who is our ombudsman, as directed by the Appropriations Committee. We have established that office. It was

opened in May of this year.

Despite all of these efforts, as we’ve said, we’re chasing symptoms rather than treating the disease. And I think, when we look

at the scale of the problem or the scope of the problem, it’s akin

to holding back the tide. When you—it has often been referred that

this is—the economy is healthy. We would not perceive or at least

use terms of health when 90 percent of the private sector are alien

workers. And, as what has been discussed today, you heard 13 percent to 14 percent of locally born residents unemployment rate. If

you actually use—and I don’t want to get into a statistical war

here—but if you the Census and Department of Labor standards,

we believe that number is not 13 percent but 16 percent unemployment rate. So there’s a significant unemployment rate among the

local population. And, as has been discussed already, with the

heavy public payroll.

The immigration has gone—immigration control, which, as you

are well aware, Mr. Chairman, which was originally left to protect

the local population, has gone from 14,000 population in 1973 to

60,000 in 1995 to 80,000 in 1999. And, as you can see from this

chart, over 58 percent of the population of the island is now alien

population.
86

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Berry, if I should take and have that chart

put in front of the TV or get the TV out of the way, I might be

able to see it.

Mr. BERRY. Okay. I think we’ve also given you a copy to have in

front of you, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. That’s better right there. Okay. Go ahead.

Mr. BERRY. Okay. And the increase in the U.S. citizens line that

you note there, as was noted by Mr. Doolittle, is largely due to children born from aliens in the Commonwealth of the Marianas Islands who become U.S. citizens, obviously, upon their birth on U.S.

soil. So that U.S. citizen line, you can see from statistics in another

of those charts, is largely due to that result.

It’s our belief, Mr. Chairman, that things are not getting better

in terms of the overall situation that’s been described. The ombudsmans, you heard the governor that their complaints from labor

complaints have gone from 900 to 143. I think we may be able to

explain that in that, in the three months the Ombudsman’s Office

has been open, they’ve received over 760 complaints. So I believe

a number of those complaints that were originally going to the officials in the local government are now transferring over to the Ombudsman’s Office, which is trying to work effectively with the Marianas. But those complaints track all of the stories and the statistics

that you’ve seen in the past: payless days, holding back of wages,

other things that you ran into on your trip to the islands.

The labor permit issue. The governor testified that there was a

cap applied of 15,000 people. I think to accurately reflect that,

what I’ve been informed, at least—and, again, I think it’s going to

be important that we get these things straight—but the cap that

was in place on 1998 was 13,000 people. And last year, the local

government raised that cap by 2,500 to increase the aliens. So the

cap is now above the 15,000 number that you heard. But the Senate passed, just before the governor came here, legislation to,

again, raise those caps again. Now the governor, to his credit, vetoed that. But it is clear that this is sort of a pass/repeal game that

we’re in here and we have to be careful with that when we look

at that.

We are beginning to investigate complaints from the Philippine

Embassy, what was discussed here. People come in on tourist visas

and then are even given work permits or are illegally employed.

The Philippine Embassy figures that we’re working with, with the

Philippine Embassy now, that problem may be as high as 10,000

people on Philippine tourist visas in the past 5 years alone. So you

can see the numbers and the scale that what were dealing with

when we’re talking about sort of trying to hold back the tide.

The garment industry. The complaint has been made that the

garment industry is suffering. Our statistics show in the first half

of 1998, the garment industry orders were $493 million. In the first

half of 1999, they were $511 million, up a significant increase. So

the garment industry continues to increase and continues to expand their export of the made-in-the-U.S.A. goods by alien workers,

by alien companies, to the United States.

The CHAIRMAN. John, how much more do you have?

Mr. BERRY. About a minute and a half, sir. That will be okay?

All of that being said—and I think those statistics and we could,
87

you know, go back and forth on the statistics all day—I think, to

sum up, when you discuss the core problem here, I disagree with

Representative Babauta when he describes the core problem.

In my opinion, the core problem is when you have 90 percent of

your private work force that is not allowed to vote locally. They are

not—all of the horrors that we hear and all of the things that we’re

trying to enforce Federal laws to correct, all stem from the fact that

these people are aliens to the United States. They are aliens to this

community. And they don’t have a local presence. And if they do

raise their head and complain, I, quite frankly, Mr. Chairman,

have been very surprised at the number of complaints our ombudsman has received.

You’ve been there. It’s an island nation; an island culture. And

you’re well familiar with an island area. People know one another.

And when someone sticks their head up to complain, it’s very clear

who they’re complaining to and it’s easy to track that. And retaliation can occur. And we can’t protect them against that. So I’m pretty surprised at the number of complaints that have continued.

But we need, I think, the immigration system can’t control this.

They can’t provide the double-check that our current immigration

system does. They don’t have the embassies and consulates abroad

that can do the pre-screening before they get on-island, to do the

health screening before they get on-island. People coming in with

tuberculosis don’t have to be screened for 30 days. They’re present

on the island and exposing to workers and other residents of the

CNMI during that 30-day period. With U.S. immigration control,

we would have a much better handle on being able to address those

issues.

But I am very sensitive and I don’t want to leave the impression

in this Committee that I think this immigration is going to be a

magic wand to solve all of these problems. I agree with the governor. The economic situation in the territories—and I agree with

you, Mr. Chairman—is a tough one. And we need to be creative.

We need to create an economic diversification in the economy. The

proposal that both Senator Murkowski has introduced and the administration’s proposing is not trying to do this overnight. We’re

looking at an 8 to 10 year phase-in of these principles and laws of

immigration and minimum wage. We recognize you can’t shock an

economy like that.

But, at the same time, we can’t just say, do that and leave alone.

We have to have an active/proactive partnership with this Committee, with the government of the CNMI, to create that economic

diversification to help their tourist industry, to help attract other

American industries, so that they can employ higher wage jobs on

the island.

Mr. Chairman, thank you for your leniency in the time.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Berry follows:]

STATEMENT OF JOHN BERRY, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR FOR POLICY,

MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET

Mr. Chairman, and members of the Committee on Resources, I am pleased to appear before you today to discuss Federal law enforcement and the use of Federal

funds in the Northern Mariana Islands.

The Department of the Interior, itself, does not have Federal law enforcement responsibility with respect to immigration, labor and trade issues in the Common-
88

wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). The Departments of Labor, Justice, and Treasury have law enforcement responsibilities which their witnesses will

address. We will all explain why, despite the best efforts at Federal law enforcement, current Federal law is insufficient to correct the continuing inadequacies

caused by CNMI immigration and labor policy. It remains the position of the Administration that the need to apply—and phase—Federal immigration, wage, and

trade standards is inescapable.

Initiative Funding

In 1994, the Congress was sufficiently alarmed over the ever-worsening immigration and labor situation in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

(CNMI) that it appropriated $7 million for fiscal years 1995 and 1996 to the Department of the Interior for the Federal-CNMI Initiative on Immigration, Labor, and

Law Enforcement. The program was intended to be, and our first two annual reports reflected, a partnership between the Federal Government and the CNMI. The

goal was two-pronged: aid the CNMI in dealing with the problems the Congress

identified, and encourage Federal agencies to commit increased resources to the enforcement of Federal law in the CNMI, where they have authority.

As a result, we embarked on an ambitious Initiative with the CNMI to curb the

excesses of the CNMI immigration and labor system, with both CNMI and Federal

components. Since the inception of the Initiative in fiscal year 1995, the CNMI has

received $5 million. The CNMI used these funds for development of a special investigation unit for the Attorney General’s office, funding for a non-government protective service agency for alien workers with employment claims, the hiring of additional prosecutors and investigators, the updating of the CNMI criminal and labor

codes, and the prototype development of the Labor and Immigration Identification

system (LIIDS) database to track and control migrants and labor permit holders.

The LIIDS system was intended to be fully integrated for immigration arrival and

departure and on-island labor tracking. Despite the expenditure of $1.5 million, it

has never been used for immigration, but is limited to an alien labor picture and

identification system.

The Initiative has devoted $9 million to Federal efforts in the CNML Federal officials have used the additional funds to establish a more active presence in the

CNML This funding has increased law enforcement activities, technical assistance

and training by the Wage and Hour Division, Solicitor’s Office, Occupational Safety

and Health Administration, and the Employment Training Administration in the

Department of Labor; the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the U.S. Marshals Service the Drug Enforcement Agency, the

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Civil Rights Division, and the Criminal Division/Child Exploitation and Obscenity Division of the Justice Department; the Secret Service, U.S.

Customs Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms of the Department of Treasury; and the Diplomatic Security Service of the Department of State.

Law enforcement personnel on-island has increased from four law enforcement related personnel in 1994 to 18 in 1999. A number of Federal agencies budget additional funds of their own for CNMI enforcement actions. Attached to my written

statement is a more complete description of Initiative activities.

After two-and-a-half years of experience with the program, and increasingly dismal statistics and on-the-scene reports, the Administration, in 1997, concluded that

the problem is not a lack of resources and enforcement. The problem is the CNMI

immigration and labor system itself, and the lack of will to change it fundamentally.

This realization was reflected in the comprehensive 3rd and 4th annual reports

on the Federal-CNMI Initiative on Immigration, Labor, and Law Enforcement,

which fully described the problems and outlined a legislative solution. Draft legislation addressing immigration, minimum wage, and trade issues in the CNMI was

sent to the Congress on October 6, 1997. The Administration’s proposal was introduced as S. 1275, in the 105th Congress, and was reported with amendment by the

Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

The Problem

The Administration arrived at its position due to the unending stream of allegations, administrative determinations, court decisions, and statistics validating the

fact that alien workers are routinely mistreated in the CNMI, with severe ramifications for both the Federal Government and the people of the Northern Mariana Islands. The Administration’s firm position continues because the actions in the

CNMI do not bring improved results in either statistics or real world experience.
89

CNMI Actions

The current CNMI administration has sought to do more than its predecessors to

address immigration and labor issues. These actions, characterized by the CNMI as

ameliorating the immigration and labor situation in the CNMI, are:

• health screening for alien workers

• moratorium on hiring alien workers

• minimum wage review committee

• law for new funding for the CNMI deportationfund for workers with awards

• required exit for alien workers after 3 years in the CNMI

• 6-month limited immunity for self-reported aliens who are out of status

On the surface, it appears that these CNMI actions are intended to redress the

grave consequences of the CNMI’s immigration and labor policies. Startling CNMI

population growth statistics, however, bring us back to reality: 32,822 non-United

States citizens born in Asia were in the Saipan labor force in the first quarter of

1999—an increase of nearly 10,000 from the 1995 census and an increase of about

2,000 from the June 1998 survey, 9 months earlier. Violations of the spirit and letter of the moratorium law added to the increases in alien workers during the past

year. In 1997, the CNMI House of Representatives, in legislation, found there to be

7,000 illegal and undocumented aliens in the CNMI.

While possibly well-intentioned, these six CNMI actions merely address symptoms. They do not strike at the heart of the problem: (1) the indenture—a contract

between a CNMI employer and a poverty-stricken alien worker for his or her labor,

and (2) the availability of virtually unlimited numbers of such workers, at a minimum wage, and virtually a maximum wage, of $3.05 per hour (less for domestic

and agricultural workers). Under the indenture, the employee is tied to a specific

employer, with most job transfers requiring the permission of the current employer

or occurring at the end of the contract. During the year-long indenture or contract,

the employer has nearly unfettered sway over the employee, because the suggestion

of alternative employment will likely bring retribution, including return to the employee’s home country with no means of repaying huge debts owed to recruiters, and

a reduction in overtime work, which for some can be lucrative. The employee’s poverty in his or her home country, debts stemming from recruiting fees paid for jobs

in the CNMI, and extremely low wages paid in the CNMI, usually limit the employees choices to one—continuing to work for the same employer and bearing whatever

treatment the employer may mete out.

An increase in enforcement funding and personnel, either CNMI government or

Federal Government, will not solve this problem. The problem is inherent in the

CNMI system, not the fault of law enforcement. The Federal immigration and minimum wage laws that apply in the fifty states, and in prosperous Guam, only 35

miles away, are non-existent for the CNMI.

Mistreatment

The mistreatment and consequences that occurred under the CNMI’s immigration

and labor system in past years are well-documented in the Administration’s 3rd and

4th annual reports. Plentiful, recent illustrations continue to indict the CNMI’s immigration and labor system.

• During the past year, the CNMI reneged on its own moratorium on alien

workers: the Governor liberally exercised his executive discretion for granting

exceptions, the Legislature by admitting 2,500 aliens as garment workers, and

the CNMI Department of Labor and Immigration by giving work permits to

thousands of Philippine citizens who came to the CNMI on visitor permits in

violation of the CNMI-Philippine memorandum of understanding.

• CNMI attempts at fixing the symptoms of the problem often spawn their own

sets of problems. Such is the case with the CNMI’s limited immunity and illegal

alien registration act which gave temporary immunity to undocumented workers who identify themselves and then seek to secure work within the law’s 3

month limit. Several personnel or resident managers began charging workers

for guaranteed labor system that requires the massive importation of povertystricken, low-paid, indentured alien workers. It has harmful effects for the interests of the Federal Government, including:

•Loss of jobs for U.S. citizens in the CNMI

•Legal circumvention of the U.S. textile import quotas by countries that have

reached their quota limits

• Avoidance of over $200 million annually in U.S. tariffs—benefiting the overwhelmingly alien-owned CNMI garment companies
90

• A concession to the CNMI government of Federal control over the conferring

of United States citizenship in the CNMI

• An exception to the basic Federal immigration principle that aliens admitted

on a temporary basis may not fill permanent jobs

• Smuggling of aliens from the CNMI to Guam by organized crime syndicates,

with some seeking United States asylum

• Exposure of the mainland United States citizens to tuberculosis through travelers from the CNMI where a large number of aliens carry the disease. Embarrassment for the United States in the international community due to complaints from nations whose nationals are mistreated in the CNMI

The CNMI system also harms CNMI interests:

• 16.1 percent unemployment in 1999 among locally-born United States citizens—an increase of nearly 2 percent in 2 yearsaliens account for 76% of the

total working population of the CNMI, and

• more than 90 percent of private sector employment while 56 percent of locallyborn United States citizens work for the CNMI government.

• 35 percent poverty rate among locally-born United States citizens

• 32,822 non-United States citizens born in Asia were in the Saipan labor force

in the first quarter of 1999—an increase of nearly 10,000 from the 1995 census

and about 2,000 from the June 1998 survey

• a tuberculosis rate six times higher than on the United States mainland severe strain on infrastructure (mostly Federally funded) and social services due

to unanticipated population growth

• expansion of organized crime, including extortion, prostitution and smuggling

of illegal aliens into nearby Guam

• inefficient use of a large portion of CNMI government funding and personnel

to perpetuate this immigration and labor system.

ATTACHMENT A

FEDERAL-CNMI INITIATIVE ON IMMIGRATION, LABOR, AND LAW

ENFORCEMENT

Activities

In 1994, Congress appropriated $7,000,000 for fiscal year 1995 to address the

problems of labor, immigration, and law enforcement in the Commonwealth of the

Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). The Department of the Interior coordinated efforts from the Departments of Justice, Labor, and Treasury to work in partnership

with the CNMI to develop a plan to address the problems by establishing the Federal-CNMI Initiative on Labor, Immigration and Law Enforcement.

In the first year of the Initiative, the result of these interagency and intergovernmental efforts was the allocation of the $7,000,000 appropriation through direct

grants and reimbursable support agreements. CNMI was awarded $3,000,000, of

which $1,500,000 was used to develop a computerized alien identification and tracking system and $1,500,000 was used in local immigration and labor projects. The

Department of the Interior entered into a several reimbursable support agreement

amounting to $4,000,000 with the Departments of Labor and Justice; U.S. Customs

Service; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; and the U.S. Secret Service

to strengthen enforcement of Federal laws. The funds were used to hire additional

investigative agents, attorneys, marshals, and provide technical law enforcement assistance to the CNMI.

Congress continued to provide additional annual appropriations from fiscal year

1995 to the present with the enactment of Public Law 104-134, which authorizes

for the purposes of labor, immigration, and law enforcement in the CNMI a maximum annual $3,000,000 allocation through fiscal year 2002. The maximum

$3,000,000 was appropriated in fiscal year 1997, $2,000,000 in fiscal year 1998,

$2,000,000 in fiscal year 1999, and $2,000,000 is sought in fiscal year 2000. Additional Federal agencies have joined the Initiative including the National Labor Relations Board, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, the Bureau of Census, the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of the Interior, Center

for Disease Control, Immigration Health Services, and the Diplomatic Security Service.

Since the inception of this initiative in fiscal year 1995, the CNMI has received

$5,000,000. The CNMI used its share of the fiscal year 1995 and fiscal year 1997

funds amounting to $4,000,000 to address specific needs in its government institutions that could otherwise not have been funded in its operational budget. This in-
91

1The consultants who prepared this report were originally retained to assist a Congressional

delegation from the U.S. House of Representatives, Committe on Resources, in obtaining firsthand experience. The delegation’s fact-finding mission was canceled, the consultants who were

already in the area, were asked to compile the information on personal interview and site visits.

cluded development of a special investigation unit for the Attorney General’s office,

creation of a non-govenrment protective service agency for guest workers, the hiring

of additional prosecutors and investigators, and the updating of the CNMI criminal

and labor codes. The Labor and Immigration Identification system (LIIDS) database

to track and control immigrants and immigration labor permit holders was created

by this initiative. Although the system is not yet fully functioning, it is esed to issue

and track labor permits. In fiscal year 1999, the CNMI used $1,000,000: (1) to assist the Department of Public Health with its health screening program ($320,000); (2) to provide assistance for emergency housing and shelter for alien workers ($200,000); (3) to continue

joint law enforcement efforts by the FBI-CNMI Joint Task Force ($60,000; (4) to further supplement the Attorney General’s Investigative Unit to identify and prosecute

corruption relating to alien smuggling, organized and white collar crime, immigration and labor violations ($245,000); and (5) to enhance the canine unit at the Customs Department to detect drug trafficking, particularly in the arrival and departure of aliens to the CNMI ($175,000).

Federal officials have used the additional funds to establish a more active presence in the CNMI. This funding has increased law enforcement activities, technical

assistance and training by the Wage and Hour Division, Solicitor’s Office, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the Employment Training Administration in the Department of Labor; the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the

Federal Bureau of Investigations, the U.S. Marshals Service the Drug Enforcement

Agency, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Civil Rights Division, and the Criminal Division/

Child Exploitation and Obscenity Division of the Justice Department; the Secret

Service, U.S. Customs Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms of

the Department of Treasury; and the Diplomatic Security Service of the Department

of State.

Law enforcement personnel on-island has increased from four law enforcement related personnel in 1994 (1 Assistant U.S. Attorney, 2 FBI agents, and 1 U.S. Marshal) to 18 in 1999 (3 Assistant U.S. Attorneys, 5 FBI agents, 2 DEA agents, 2 U.S.

Marshals, 1 INS officer, 4 Wage and Hour labor investigators, and I part-time DOI

Inspector General criminal investigator). In addition, attorneys from these agencies,

the National Labor Relations Board, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have been temporarily assigned on occasion to the CNMI on special detail

to litigate and prosecute cases and additional Stateside Federal personnel have been

utilized. All the Federal agencies have provided technical law enforcement assistance to the CNMI, including the National Institute of Corrections has provided specialized expertise to plan for a new correctional facility. The Federal District Court

criminal cases, cases filed by the U.S. Attorney, and incarcerations have all increased dramatically since the beginning of this Initiative.

In fiscal year 1998, the Department of Justice increased its base operations budget to assume total financial responsibility for the additional law enforcement personnel in the CNMI. The Department of Labor increased its base operations budget

to assume twenty-five percent of its additional presence in the CNMI.

Through the Initiative, the Department of the Interior has provided assistance to

the Northern Marianas College to convene an economic development conference. A

report is to be written by a steering committee under the direction of the College.

The Department has also provided funding assistance to the Bureau of Census and

the CNMI Bureau of Statistics to produce population and labor surveys with statistical data. In addition, funding was used to prepare two reports by the Department

of the Interior consultant regarding labor, immigration and garment issues in the

CNMI in February 1998. The first report, on the living and working conditions of

the workers, consisted of hundreds of interviews. It was considered a ‘‘sample snapshot’’ of the situation in the CNMI.1 The second report, on garment companies and

transhipment, compiled by a national expert on transshipment of garments from

Asia via Saipan to the United states. While the report did not document the full

extent of transshipments through Saipan, it did confirm that specific incidents had

occurred in the past. Both reports were turned over to the Department of Justice

and Treasury respectively.

The CHAIRMAN. I thank you. And during the question and answer period, you can address some other things that you missed.

Mr. Fraser.
92

STATEMENT OF JOHN R. FRASER, DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR,

WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS ADMINISTRATION, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, WASHINGTON,

DC

Mr. FRASER. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Miller, other members, I’m John

Fraser, deputy administrator of the Wage and Hour Division at the

U.S. Department of Labor. And I am representing the Department

of Labor, which gives me the honor today to address questions you

may have about OSHA as well. So I look forward to that and I’ll

be honored to do that and straighten out some of the——

The CHAIRMAN. And, Mr. Fraser, you know, I have not mentioned OSHA, so somebody else will answer those questions.

[Laughter.]

Mr. FRASER. Mr. Chairman, you haven’t, but you missed some interesting discussion and we need to straighten that out, I think.

All of us have submitted written statements, which I trust will

be put in the record. I’d like to focus on just a couple of points in

my statement this morning. The first of those is that there are extremely serious, pervasive, and stubbornly persist immigration,

labor, and human rights problems in the Commonwealth of the

Northern Marianas. And I hope all the witnesses you hear from

today will at least acknowledge the existence of those problems.

But, secondly and more importantly, these problems arose in the

first place and they will persist because they derive from systematic, structural weaknesses in the legal framework in the Commonwealth and any solution to these problems demands a comprehensive, structural solution. I have a great deal of respect, like my colleague Mr. Berry said, for the governor; for his colleagues; for our

colleagues, our law enforcement colleagues in the Commonwealth.

Their efforts can help solve the problem. Their commitment to reform, if it lasts, if it persists, can help solve the problem.

Enhanced Federal law enforcement is part of the solution to the

problem. External economic influences, like the monitoring that

will be done as a result of the settlement of part of the garment

lawsuit that was filed in January of this year can be part of the

solution.

But the cause of the problems, as you’ve heard over and over

again this morning, the cause of the problems in the Commonwealth is a structural, inapplicability of Federal law and that’s the

only solution that we see that doesn’t constitute a Band-Aid on

what’s otherwise a gaping wound. The system in the Commonwealth, Mr. Chairman, produces casualties and the best we can do,

through Federal law enforcement, through the Commonwealth efforts, is treat the wounded. We should be approaching this problem

in a way so that we’re not—we don’t have a system that creates

casualties.

One of the things I think I can do for the Committee is to refute

the notion that the problems in the Commonwealth are ancient history. And just to give you some information, just from this year’s

Department of Labor Enforcement in the Commonwealth, the

Wage and Hour Division has found more than $8 million in back

wages owed to more than 2,600 workers of 13 employers in the

Commonwealth. To give you some perspective, to put that in perspective, that’s 7 percent of the private sector work force owed back
93

wages in our cases. That’s $3,000 a person. That’s about 800, 900

hours of work for which they weren’t paid.

In one of these cases earlier this year, we found that, for the second time in one year, within nine months of having entered a consent judgment in court with a commitment to future compliance,

we found a Micronesian garment manufacturing failed to pay its

workers for 3 months and ended up having to pay—this was the

second time, after finding them owing $550,000 in back wages, getting a consent judgment, they stopped paying their workers again,

didn’t pay them for 12 weeks, and owed $1 million in back wages.

In two other cases, not included in the statistics I gave you, we

found and obtained a default judgment against the gentleman

named Byung Yong Moon for more than—almost $900,000 in back

wages. But we’ve been unable to locate this gentleman. We’re suing

two other companies: Hyunjin Saipan, it formerly did business as

Coral Fashion, which was formerly S.R. Saipan, to recover back

wages for those workers. And there are other cases just like that.

And I think the most discouraging new development this year, as

you know—I believe part of this occurred during your visit earlier

this year—is that there have three episodes of food poisoning affecting large numbers of workers. In February of this year, 50

workers at TransAsia and Concorde Barracks, owned by Tan Holdings, became ill in a food poisoning incident. A week later, 150

workers employed at United International barracks, owned by Mr.

James Lin, became ill in a food poisoning incident. On March 24,

1,100 workers at Tan Holdings barracks became severely ill with

food poisoning. It created an unprecedented health emergency in

the Commonwealth.

Unfortunately, the day before, OSHA had tried to inspect that facility. They’d been denied access, so the incident occurred when

OSHA was out trying to seek a warrant. Unfortunately, when the

hospital tried to respond and send medical personnel to the factory

and to the barracks, they were denied access and had to get the

local police to allow them in to treat the workers who were ill.

So the problems are pervasive. They’re serious. They’re current.

Federal enforcement’s a part of the solution, the efforts of our colleagues in the Commonwealth government are part of the solution,

but we really do need structural changes to address the structural

weaknesses that give rise to the recurrence of these problems. And

we’ll be happy to talk some more about that in the question period,

Mr. Chairman.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Fraser follows:]

ATTACHMENT B

We are writing to urge Congress to enact legislation extending Federal immigration and wage laws to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, as originally anticipated by the Covenant agreement that joined the Commonwealth in political union with the United States in 1976.

For close to 15 years—through the Reagan and Bush Administrations and now

during the Clinton Administration—Federal officials have expressed deep concern

about the CNMI’s growing dependence on indentured alien labor paid at unfairly

low minimum wage rates to build its economy.In the past five years, we have found

that conditions have deteriorated, including high unemployment, failure to pay

wages, poor living and working conditions, even incidences of ‘‘hidden’’ contracts forbidding the exercise of political and religious rights. These problems have become

so severe that the United States has received formal complaints from three coun-
94

tries concerned with the treatment of their citizens in the CNMI. The current CNMI

Governor has acknowledged many of the problems that have resulted from these

policies and he is responding with changes in local laws and more vigorous law enforcement.

Despite these efforts, however, we remain deeply concerned that the local reforms—like those that have come and gone before—will not solve the problems inherent in an economic policy of relying on a majority population of indentured alien

workers who account for more than 90 percent of the private sector workforce. The

situation does not appear to have improved. For example, because of the favorable

treatment the CNMI enjoys under our trade laws and the low minimum wage paid

to alien workers, garment shipments to the United States continue to increase at

a rapid rate (about 40 pecent for the year June 1997 to June 1998, now close to

$1 billion annually); the number of indentured alien workers has not declined nor

has their vulnerability to exploitation and human rights abuses decreased; and

there are continuing adverse impacts of ineffectiual, border control, such as organized crime and public health problems, smuggling of illegal aliens to Guam, and

strained infrastructure. Past local reforms have proven to be fleeting. Throughout

the years we have supported many local reforms, only to have those reforms repealed or ignored when local administrations change or media attention fades.

In this regard, we were both perplexed and disappointed to learn that the CNMI

government recently canceled consultations with the President’s Special Representative, Edward B. Cohen, to discuss fundamental Federal concerns with the CNMI’s

immigration and labor policies. In fiscal year 1999,the CNMI used $1,000,000: 1) to assist the Department of Pub- lic Health with its health screening program ($320,000); 2) to provide assistance for

emergency housing and shelter for alien workers ($200,000); 3) to continue joint law

enforcement efforts by the FBI-CNMI Joint Task Force ($60,000; 4) to further supplement the Attorney General’s Investigative Unit to identify and prosecute corruption relating to alien smuggling, organized and white collar crime, immigration and

labor violations ($245,000); and 5) to enhance the canine unit at the Customs Department to detect drug trafficking, particularly in the arrival and departure of

aliens to the CNMI ($175,000).Federal officials have used the additional funds to

establish a more active presence in the CNMI.

This funding has increased law enforcement activities, technical assistance and

training by the Wage and Hour Division, Solicitor’s Office, Occupational Safety and

Health Administration, and the Employment Training Administration in the Department of Labor; the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Federal Bureau

of Investigations, the U.S. Marshals Service the Drug Enforcement Agency, the U.S.

Attorney’s Office, Civil Rights Division, and the Criminal Division/Child Exploitation and Obscenity Division of the Justice Department; the Secret Service, U.S.

Customs Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms of the Department of Treasury; and the Diplomatic Security Service of the Department of State.

Law enforcement personnel on-island has increased from four law enforcement related personnel in 1994 (1 Assistant U.S. Attorney, 2 FBI agents, and 1 U.S. Marshal) to 18 in 1999 (3 Assistant U.S. Attorneys, 5 FBI agents, 2 DEA agents, 2 U.S.

Marshals, I INS officer, 4 Wage and Hour labor investigators, and 1 part-time DOI

Inspector General criminal investigator). In addition, attorneys from these agencies,

the National Labor Relations Board, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have been temporarily assigned on occasion to the CNMI on special detail

to litigate and prosecute cases and additional Stateside Federal personnel have been

utilized. All the Federal agencies have provided technical law enforcement assistance to the CNMI, including the National Institute of Corrections has provided specialized expertise to plan for a new correctional facility.

The Federal District Court criminal cases, cases filed by the U.S. Attorney, and

incarcerations have all increased dramatically since the beginning of this Initiative.

In fiscal year 1998, the Department of Justice increased its base operations budget to assume total financial responsibility for the additional law enforcement personnel in the CNMI. The Department of Labor increased its base operations budget

to assume twenty-five percent of its additional presence in the CNMI.

Through the Initiative, the Department of the Interior has provided assistance to

the Northern Marianas College to convene an economic development conference. A

report is to be written by a steering committee under the direction of the College.

The Department has also provided funding assistance to the Bureau of Census and

the CNMI Bureau of Statistics to produce population and labor surveys with statistical data. In addition, funding was used to prepare two reports by the Department

of the Interior consultant regarding labor, immigration and garment issues in the

CNMI in February 1998. The first report, on the living and working conditions of

the workers, consisted of hundreds of interviews. It was considered a ‘‘sample snap-
95

shot’’ of the situation in the CNMV. The second report, on garment companies and

transhipment, compiled by a national expert on transshipment of garments from

Asia via Saipan to the United States. While the report did not document the full

extent of transshipments through Saipan, it did confirm that specific incidents had

occurred in the past. Both reports were turned over to the Department of Justice

and Treasury respectively.

The consultants who prepared this report were originally retained to assist a Congressional delegation from the U.S. House of Representatives, Committe on Resources, in obtaining first-hand experience. The delegation’s fact-finding mission

was canceled, the consultants who were already in the area, were asked to compile

the information on personal interview and site visits.

The Administration has proposed legislation, introduced as S. 1275, that would

phase-in Federal immigration and wage laws over a 10-year period. While S. 1275,

as amended, has been reported by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural

Resources and would take steps toward addressing the immigration issues discussed

above, we believe that the Administration’s proposal more appropriately balances

the CNMI’s legitimate concerns about its economy with the Federal Government’s

interest in resolving these long-standing concerns over the negative consequences of

the CNMIs labor, minimum wage and trade policies. We, therefore, urge Congress

to enact legislation that appropriately addresses the full range of concerns set forth

in the Administration’s proposal before the close of the 105th Congress, and thus

complete implementation of the Covenant as anticipated in 1976.

The CHAIRMAN. Just for your comment, Mr. Fraser, about food

poisoning. They just had an outbreak in the United States Senate

cafeteria, too.

[Laughter.]

Mr. FRASER. I take your warning, Mr. Chairman.

[Laughter.]

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Shruhan.

STATEMENT OF DONALD K. SHRUHAN, JR., EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DOMESTIC OPERATIONS WEST, U.S. CUSTOMS SERVICE,

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY, WASHINGTON, DC

Mr. SHRUHAN. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of

the Committee. My name is Donald Shruhan. I’m the executive director of Domestic Operations West, the Office of Investigation,

U.S. Customs Service. I’m pleased to be here today to discuss the

responsibilities of the U.S. Customs in enforcing laws in the Northern Marianas Islands. I have submitted a complete statement for

the record. And, with your permission, I’ll summarize it now.

CNMI is considered, for U.S. Customs purposes, to have the

same relationship in the U.S. as Guam, meaning that we do not

have title 18 authority. In other words, U.S. tariff laws do not

apply in the CNMI. We do have title 18 authority for criminal investigations, with a few exceptions. We can conduct criminal investigations and can make arrests in CNMI, as we do in Guam. Investigations are conducted by agents from our offices in Guam and

Honolulu. As we work with CNMI Customs, we provide training on

customs interdictions, contraband enforcement, money laundering,

transshipment of textiles, and narcotics controls. CNMI Customs

has implemented a number of recommendations we have offered relating to examination of containers.

The following are U.S. Customs enforcement initiatives conducted in the CNMI. Textiles. Garment exports from CNMI

reached $1 billion last year and is expected to exceed that amount

this year. CNMI Customs Service relies upon reviews of documents

that are presented by the manufacturers as to the production capabilities of the factories. We have and will continue to work with
96

CNMI Customs Officials on this issue in order for the U.S. to accept as accurate the import documents certified by CNMI for export.

In September of 1988, agents from our Honolulu office, Customs

inspectors from the Port of Honolulu, and a Customs Service import specialist from San Francisco conducted an on-site assessment

of textile shipments in CNMI. Working with CNMI Customs officials, they examined 51 inbound containers. All of the examined

shipments were found to contain fabric, as had been manifest by

the Asian suppliers. The team also examined records maintained

by CNMI Customs. All of the production data was provided by the

manufacturers with little verification being completed. The team

found no direct evidence of finished products being imported into

the CNMI from Asia. We expect to continue our efforts with CNMI

Customs on this issue.

Narcotics. Our agents have been involved in investigations concerning the smuggling of narcotics into CNMI. Crystal methamphetamine, also known as ice; heroin; and the import of marijuana continue to be counted in the CNMI. CNMI Customs Service

has requested our assistance in identifying internal airline conspiracies involving illegal importation of narcotics. We continue to work

with CNMI Customs on narcotic investigations and on enhancing

their investigative capabilities.

Money laundering. Customs has investigated the possible laundering of money derived from drug trafficking and illegal weapons

sales by Asian organized crime syndicates. The U.S. currency report requirements do apply in CNMI, however enforcement by

CNMI officials has been sporadic over the past years. There is a

growing concern that money from the legalized casino gambling

will be moved internationally without compliance with the reporting requirements.

Pornography and international property rights. There’s anecdotal

information that export violations and child pornography activities

are occurring in CNMI. We are looking into both of these issues.

There has also been alleged that vendors related to the tourist

trade have been selling counterfeit merchandise protected by trademark and copyright laws. Recent information suggest that Japanese organized crime members may be involved in the trafficking

of such merchandise.

U.S. Customs will continue to work with CNMI Customs on each

of the areas I’ve mentioned. We believe the U.S. Customs Service

has sufficient authority to address any potential illegal activity

coming out of CNMI and directed towards the United States. The

administration’s proposed legislation will include additional investigative authority that would be useful for addressing illegal activity within CNMI itself through our office in Guam and Honolulu.

I can assure the Committee that enforcing the laws of the United

States is the primary concern of the Customs Service. Mr. Chairman, this completes my remarks and I’ll be happy to answer any

questions.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Shruhan follows:]
97

STATEMENT OF DONALD K. SHRUHAN JR., EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DOMESTIC

OPERATIONS WEST, OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS, UNITED STATES CUSTOMS SERVICE

Good morning Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee. I am pleased to be

here today to discuss the responsibilities of the U.S. Customs Service in enforcing

laws in the Northern Mariana Islands. We share the concerns of this Committee

that the relationship between the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

(CNMI) and the United States not create an opportunity for violations of U.S. laws,

particularly regarding the importation of goods.

First let me explain the relationship the Customs Service has with CNMI. The

agreement by which the CNIMI joined the U.S., provided that the islands would be

outside the Customs territory of the U.S.—as are smaller territories—but their products would be able to enter the U.S. Customs territory duty free. This enables the

goods of nearby foreign countries to enter the islands at lower cost but the islands

also have the benefit of having the U.S. effectively be the islands’ market. With the

signing of Presidential Proclamation #4534, the CNIMI is considered, for U.S. Customs Service purposes, to have the same relationship with the U.S. as Guam. In

fact, the agreement mirrors Customs law for Guam in the CNMI. That means that

the U.S. Customs Service does not have Title 19 authority relating to Customs duties. This means that tariff laws do not apply in CNMI. We do have Title 18 authority for criminal investigations with a few exceptions to include, Section 545 dealing

with the smuggling of merchandise and Section 542 dealing with the entry of merchandise through false statements. The U.S. Customs Service conducts criminal investigations and can make arrests in CNMI as it does in Guam.

The U.S. Customs Service participates as a member of a joint Federal working

group for the Federal/CNMI Initiative on Labor, Immigration, and Law Enforcement. Our Resident Agent in Charge in Honolulu, Hawaii (RAIC, Honolulu) is the

regional representative of the Customs Service for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Investigations are conducted by agents from the Resident

Agent Office in Guam and the RAIC, Honolulu office. In addition to textile transshipment investigations, we also conduct narcotics smuggling investigations and

other investigative case categories enforced by U.S. Customs. As we work with

CNMI Customs, we provide training on; customs interdictions, contraband enforcement, money laundering, textile transshipment and narcotics control. Based on recommendations made by U.S. Customs to the CNMI Customs during an on-site assessment, the CNMI Customs recently relocated its office space adjacent to the area

utilized to off-load inbound container shipments. Further, facilities have been established at that location to allow for conducting intensive container examinations. At

the suggestion of the U.S. Customs, the CNMI Customs has begun to conduct container examinations without the consignee/importer present. Prior to this, most container examinations were conducted in the presence of the consignee/importer and

at the importer’s premise. CNMI Customs collects a 3.7 percent excise tax on garments produced in CNMI and exported. There are no excise taxes levied on imported material used in the textile manufacturing process. Therefore, CNMI Customs concentrates on exports as opposed to imports.

U.S. Customs Service conducts investigations and enforcement initiatives on

CNMI, in conjunction with CNMI Customs with existing authority however, we do

not have the authority to examine containers without prior notification to CNMI

Customs. To that end the following are U.S. Customs enforcement initiatives conducted in the CNMI:

TEXTILES

The most significant U.S. Customs Service enforcement initiative involves textile

transshipment. Given that merchandise that originates in CNMI enters the United

States duty free, and that wages there can be lower than the minimum wage in the

United States, many overseas garment manufacturers have opened plants in CNMI

in the past 10 years. These manufacturers typically use all Asian equipment, materials, management, and workers. These workers are primarily from the People’s Republic of China, the Phillippines, and Bangladesh.

The CNMI garment industry can legally produce goods with the ‘‘Made in USA’’

label. In July 1997, the country of origin regulations changed to make the origin

of the goods the country where the apparel was assembled. Prior to July 1997, the

country in which ‘‘cutting’’ of the material took place constituted the country of origin of the merchandise. Fabric therefore had to be cut in CNMI in order to shipped

to the U.S. duty or quota free. Presently, the country in which the merchandise is

assembled constitutes the country of origin for duty and quota purposes. If components are imported and assembled in CNMI, they will be quota free. However, concerning duty, if the components are from a third country and only assembly costs
98

are added in CNMI, the cost of the assembly must be more than 50 percent of the

value of the imported product to qualify for duty free treatment.

The export of garments from CNMI reached 1 billion dollars last year and is expected to exceed that amount this year. Given that volume of exports, allegations

of textile transshipment are expected to continue. At the present time, the CNMI

Customs Service does not have the expertise or manpower to determine production

capabilities in the factories. Instead, they review documents that are presented by

the manufacturers as to the production capabilities. We have and continue to work

with the CNMI Customs officials on this issue in order for the U.S. to accept, as

accurate, the import documents certified by CNMI for export.

In September, 1998, agents from the RAIC/Honolulu, inspectors from the Customs

Area Port of Honolulu and a Customs Service Import Specialist from San Francisco

conducted an on-site assessment of textile-related importations and exportations in

CNMI. During this assessment, these U.S. Customs officers, working in conjunction

with CNMI Customs officials, examined fifty-one inbound containers destined to textile manufacturing facilities. All of the examined shipments were found to contain

fabric as had been manifested by the Asian suppliers.

The team also conducted an examination of the records being maintained at the

CNMI Customs Garment Section. The export records were very detailed since they

are the basis for the collection of the CNMI Government’s 3.7% User Fee. Hogever,

all the production data was provided by the manufacturers with little verification

being completed by the CNMI Customs officials. The CNMI Customs outbound inspectors were inundated with processing the paperwork generated by the $1 billiona-year export industry. The team we sent found no direct evidence of finished products being imported into the CNMI from Asia. The amount of textiles being produced in the area however, does make it easier for fraudulent activities to be commingled with legitimate activity. At present, the CNMI Customs has taken suggestions provided by the U.S. Customs Service to address these observed shortcomings.

We expect to continue our efforts with the CNMI Customs on this issue over the

next few of years.

NARCOTICS

The U.S. Customs Service is concerned about the possible trafficking of narcotics

in and through the CNMI. Our agents based in Honolulu and Guam have been involved in several investigations involving the smuggling of narcotics into CNMI

from Asia and other Pacific islands. Crystal methamphetamine (‘‘ice’’), heroin, and

imported marijuana continue to be encountered in the CNMI.

The CNMI Customs Service has requested U.S. Customs assistance in identifying

internal airline conspiracies involving the illegal importation of narcotics. In the

past we have helped identify corruption within the confines of the international airport. We continue to work with CNMI Customs on narcotics investigations and on

enhancing their investigative capabilities.

MONEY LAUNDERING

Another area of concern is money laundering. In the past few of years, Customs

has investigated the possible laundering of money derived from drug trafficking and

illegal weapon sales by Asian organized crime syndicates. The U.S. currency reporting requirements do apply in CNMI, however, enforcement by CNMI officials has

been sporadic over the past years. The reporting requirements act as a trigger

mechanism to identify other violations of law in CNMI. There is a growing concern

that money from the legalized casino gambling industry on the island of Tinian will

be moved internationally without compliance with the reporting requirements. It is

suspected that Asian organized crime will move their money through Tinian.

PORNOGRAPHY AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

There is anecdotal information that export violations and child pornography activity are occurring in the CNMI. We will analyze the intelligence regarding this information and develop a strategy to address these concerns while seeking more solid

evidence.

Finally, due the tourist trade in the CNMI, it has been alleged that many vendors

have been selling counterfeit merchandise protected by trademark and copyright

laws. Recent information suggests that Japanese organized crime members may be

involved in the trafficking of such merchandise.

U.S. Customs will continue to do factory inspections in conjunction with CNMI

Customs. We will also continue to work with and help them develop the capability

to perform production verification visits to factories in CNMI. We also plan to continue to work with CNMI law enforcement personnel on conducting narcotics trafficking and money laundering investigations. We believe that the U.S. Customs
99

Service has sufficient authority to address illegal activity coming out of CNMI and

directed towards the United States.

As noted by the other Administration witnesses, the Administration will be submitting its proposed legislation on CNMI shortly. The proposed legislation will include additional investigative authority that will be useful for addressing illegal activity within CNMI itself through our offices in Guam and in Honolulu.

I can assure the Committee that enforcing the laws of the United States is the

primary concern of the Customs Service. We will continue to work with the other

agencies and the CNMI Customs Service to ensure that all applicable laws are enforced. Mr. Chairman, this completes my prepared remarks. I will be happy to answer any questions.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Mr. Shruahan. Mr. Gess.

STATEMENT OF NICHOLAS M. GESS, ASSOCIATE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, WASHINGTON, DC

Mr. GESS. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, Congressman Miller, members of the Committee, good afternoon. My name is Nicholas Gess.

I’m an associate deputy attorney general of the U.S. Department

of Justice. First, let me thank the Committee for the opportunity

to testify today. Second, I have provided and submitted a written

statement and I recognize that the Committee’s time is particularly

valuable. Mr. Chairman, I’d ask you to make my written statement

a part of the record and allow me to—thank you.

We have had a very positive impact on crime in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Although it’s a special

and remote location, you’ve heard testimony earlier today about the

active task force operations that occurred with participation by

both the FBI and local law enforcement. That’s as it should be in

the CNMI and it’s as it should be everywhere in this nation. People

of the CNMI are entitled to the same level of protection from crime

as all America and law enforcement needs the tools to get it done.

Despite the lengthy distances involved to travel from the Continental United States, we are doing all that we can to enforce Federal criminal law. We have increased the operating strength of the

United States Attorney, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and

DEA, and we’ve placed a liaison officer from INS on the islands.

At the same time, you should be aware that, in addition to permanent resources, we have made specialized resources. We’ve detailed

attorneys from here at the Justice Department out there on an asneeded basis.

However, as crime victims and law enforcement alike tell us

across the nation, our first and most important duty is to prevent

crime in the first instance. Clearly, once a crime is committed, we

have a duty to investigate it and, if appropriate, prosecute. But if

we can prevent the crime from occurring, we are all safer and the

victims are spared whatever agony is involved.

A crucial link is missing in the CNMI and that is the simple fact

that the INA does not apply. Hence, foreign organized crime elements are readily able to infiltrate the islands and will continue to

do so until and unless there is an effective immigration mechanism. And that, unfortunately, means applying the INA in the sensitive manner described by my colleague from the Interior to the

CNMI. The analogy I would give you, Mr. Chairman, is simply

that, if 15 people showed up at a hospital emergency room with

broken ankles reporting that they had stepped in a hole in the
100

pavement, if I were the hospital administrator, I could say, boy, I

need to go out and hire more orthopedic specialists. But I would

suggest that it would be far better to go fill the hole and not go

through that. And that is the crux of the problem.

Choices are stark and, so long as the INA does not apply, we will

do our best to mop up by investigating and prosecuting. But when

the CNMI is afforded the protections of the INA, we will be better

able to protect the people and, for that matter, the rest of the citizens of America who are the worse off for allowing foreign organized crime to get a toehold on American soil.

I am here to answer the Committee’s questions and to assure

you, on behalf of the administration and Attorney General Janet

Reno, that we are here to work with the Committee. Thank you.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Gess follows:]

STATEMENT OF NICHOLAS M. GESS, ASSOCIATE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL,

I. Introduction

Mr. Chairman, Congressman Miller, and members of the Committee, good afternoon. I am Nicholas M. Gess, Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United

States Department of Justice. I would first like to thank the Chairman, the Ranking

Minority Member, and the Committee Members for the opportunity to testify today.

The issue of law enforcement in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas is

as important to the Department of Justice as law enforcement anywhere else in the

United States, and we are grateful for your invitation to provide our views to the

Committee.

II. Law Enforcement Problems in the CNMI

Under the leadership of Deputy Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr, several components of the Department of Justice have taken important strides to address law

enforcement issues in the CNMI. The United States Attorney’s Office, FBI, DEA,

and Civil Rights Division, as well as the Child Exploitation and Obscenity, and Public Integrity Sections of the Criminal Division, the INS, Marshals Service and National Institute of Corrections are all involved in the Department’s effort to combat

crime in the CNMI. This effort addresses specific areas of crime in addition to systemic problems we face in enforcing laws in this newest jurisdiction of the U.S.

The Department of Justice, in cooperation with the Departments of Labor and Interior, has had a positive impact on the law enforcement situation in the CNMI. We

have been successful in prosecuting individual cases. We have shut down illegal

businesses and taken drugs and guns off the islands. While we are doing everything

we can and our efforts have produced measurable results, our hands are tied to correct the problem.

Every day as we work to investigate and prosecute these cases, more criminals

arrive on the CNMI. As we investigate to determine whether a recruiter who promised jobs to workers to get them to come to the CNMI committed fraud or is just

a bad businessman, another group of cheated workers lands at the airport. As we

seize a load of drugs brought in by members of the Japanese Yakuza or Chinese

triad gangs, others are already on their way, ensured of easy access to the islands.

As we put one gang member in jail, others arrive. In short, we are winning individual battles, but we may be losing the war.

Law enforcement in the CNMI is complicated by a number of factors not present

in most U.S. jurisdictions. These factors, which go to the heart of effective law enforcement, arise from the immigration policies of the CNMI government.

Under the agreement by which the CNMI joined the United States, Congress has

the authority to extend the Immigration and Nationality Act to the CNMI at any

time. The Federal Government agreed for several reasons to not apply the INA immediately (in a decision which was not intended to be permanent) in the mid-1970s

when it negotiated the eventual termination of the U.N. trusteeship over the islands. A reason put forth by the CNMI was the fear of the islands’ negotiators that

their archipelago might be overwhelmed by a massive influx of immigrants from

nearby countries. Ironically, what has resulted from local CNMI control over immigration is indeed an explosion of the alien population that has had drastic consequences for the islands. This is not an immigrant population admitted for integrating into society with a view toward eventual citizenship. These alien workers

are permitted by the CNMI to remain in the CNMI only for periods of a year or
101

two, but we find that many workers are staying much longer. As a result, CNMI

policies have led to a continual population increase of exploited temporary workers

that lack political power. This alien population now actually accounts for 76 percent

of the total working population of the CNMI.

This immigration policy has had a severe negative effect on law enforcement.

Many of the aliens who find themselves on the CNMI are the victims of fraud. They

left their homelands to follow promises of good paying jobs and U.S. citizenship and

arrived in the CNMI to find neither. Many gave everything they owned to crooked

recruiters and have no means of returning home. They are recruited and employed

under indenture contracts that give their employers virtually total control over their

stay.

These unfortunate souls have few options. They lack the resources to return

home, and are forced to work for twenty or thirty dollars a day in a place with a

cost of living comparable to that of Hawaii, one of the highest in the Nation. Until

recently, many of these shops were surrounded by barbed wire fences. The barbed

wire arched inward, as if to keep the workers in, rather than to keep others out.

Even today almost all of the factories and many barracks are surrounded by high

cyclone fences, with security guards controlling the movement of employees. Conditions in many of these factories are deplorable.

The dire situation these workers find themselves in causes them to shun law enforcement. Few legal aliens will step forward to report crimes for fear of losing their

jobs, and even fewer will testify. Many come from countries where the citizens do

not trust law enforcement officials, which leads them further away from our efforts.

Others entered into foreign-based recruitment agreements that discourage any form

of cooperation with law enforcement. We have discovered Chinese ‘‘shadow contracts’’ that forbid an employee to cooperate with CNMI labor officials. In one case,

we had to join forces with the Philippine Labor Office to protect some of our witnesses who were being prosecuted criminally for cooperating with our efforts. The

case involved waitresses working in a bar run by Japanese Organized Crime who

were subject to lock-down conditions. Fortunately, we were able to get the Philippine law suit quashed and the case resulted in $600,000 judgment for the waitresses. The lock-down conditions were terminated as a result of the case.

Workers will endure a tremendous amount of hardship in order to remain and

work because they need to pull themselves out of debt and they know that their

contracts are good for only one year. If they fail to please their overseers and monitors they will be ostracized and returned home in debt. Once a worker is branded

as a ‘‘snitch’’ he or she is blacklisted by the garment industry and will unlikely be

legally employed in the CNMI again. Another obstacle to cooperation has been the

local bureaucracy. The CNMI Department of Labor and Immigration (DOLI) has

often been reluctant to issue work authorization to laborers who are seeking relief

through the Federal system. With both local industry and local agencies often

colluding to ‘‘starve out’’ those who cooperate, there is little wonder why workers

find it so difficult to assist our law enforcement efforts.

The lack of Federal immigration authority also directly facilitates the entry of

criminals. As opposed to a local jurisdiction like the CNMI, a sovereign nation such

as the United States is able to operate a ‘‘double-check’’ immigration system. Our

double-check system is one in which (except for temporary visitors from certain nations that experience has shown present a low risk of immigration violation, and

therefore can be screened at the port-of-entry), arriving aliens are screened twice

by trained officers, first by a consular officer at a State Department post abroad before issuing a visa, and then by an immigration inspector at a U.S. port-of-entry.

Although no screening system is foolproof in deterring criminal elements, our officers have access to international and U.S. lookout information that in many cases

enables them to detect criminals, terrorists and other dangerous aliens attempting

to enter the United States.

None of these important safeguards exists in the CNMI, which has no consular

operations abroad and therefore cannot operate a double-check system, nor are

CNMI immigration facilities sufficiently secure to be granted access to Federal lookout information. As a result, members of Chinese Triad and Japanese Yakuza gangs

have infiltrated the CNMI, bringing with them the criminal trades they plied in

their homelands—drug trafficking, money laundering, gun sales, and corruption.

Perhaps the worst thing they bring to the population of the CNMI is fear. Those

who might otherwise be willing to report crimes or even to testify refuse to do so

because they fear violence—either to themselves from gang members on the island,

or attacks directed at their families back home.
102

III. Recent DOJ Efforts in the CNMI

These problems complicate law enforcement in the CNMI. Last year, Deputy Attorney General Holder convened a working group of Department of Justice agencies

involved in the CNMI to work toward solving the major enforcement problems there.

The Department has implemented a number of the recommendations of the working

group. Consistent with the Administration’s Anti-Violent Crime Initiative, these efforts are in partnership among the agencies and the local authorities.

As I noted above, one of the major problems with prosecuting crimes in the CNMI

is the reluctance of witnesses to cooperate and testify. In order to encourage witnesses to report and provide evidence of crimes the Department has established a

victim/witness coordinator and has created a Temporary Witness Protection program. These programs are aimed in appropriate cases at making the decision to become a government witness less dangerous, and less difficult. And, because so many

of the witnesses are non-English speaking, we are engaged in an uphill battle to

locate and hire translators capable of working with prosecutors to gather evidence.

We have also provided training to the CNMI law enforcement personnel in gathering, retention and use of forensic evidence, and in numerous other areas.

The Yakuza and Chinese Triad gangs have brought with them the trafficking of

drugs, including Methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana. As a result, drug trafficking has become a serious problem in CNMI. To combat this problem, the DEA

has established a working group with the CNMI authorities to combat narcotics

trafficking. To date, the task force has produced 64 arrests and 42 convictions and

has seized 1260 grams of Methamphetamine, 14 kilos of heroin, and numerous assets associated with the seized drugs. In addition to its work with the task force,

the DEA has provided and continues to provide counternarcotics training to CNMI

law enforcement officers. The DEA continues to assist and support the establishment of a Drug Demand Reduction Program by the CNMI government, but the local

government currently lacks the funds to institute it. DEA has committed further resources to the enforcement effort by supplyinq a second DEA agent to the CNMI

in June of this year.

The Department of Justice has also taken steps to assist the Federal agencies in

fighting public corruption. Last year, an attorney from the Public Integrity Section

of the Criminal Division traveled to the Marianas to determine how the Department

could best help. The Public Integrity Section has committed to providing training

and assistance to the U.S. Attorney’s office as it investigates corruption. The FBI

has established a joint task force with the CNMI government to investigate public

corruption, and is working in cooperation with the appropriate investigative units

in the other Federal agencies involved in the CNMI to uncover and prosecute corruption.

Trafficking in women and forced prostitution also exist in the Northern Marianas.

Last year, an attorney from the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the

Criminal Division went to the CNMI to assess the prevalence of trafficking in

women, and to determine how the Department can best address the problem. The

Department is currently reviewing her recommendations. The U.S. Attorney’s Office

recently obtained convictions in three separate cases of persons who had forced

young women from the Philippines and from China to engage in prostitution. Attorneys from the Civil Rights Division assisted the U.S. Attorney’s office in prosecuting

these cases. The Civil Rights Division also sent an attorney for two months to the

CNMI to investigate potential criminal and civil violations of the civil rights laws.

Although the INS does not have immigration law jurisdiction in the CNMI, it has

stationed an immigration officer there since 1996 for liaison purposes, and has provided technical assistance and training to CNMI officials. The Marshals Service also

has a presence on the islands. Two Deputy U.S. Marshals are assigned to the USMS

office on Saipan, and three court security officers are assigned to the U.S. Courthouse.

IV. Application of the Federal Immigration Law is Essential

We can and will continue to do our best to fight crime in the CNMI, and to work

with other Federal agencies and the government of the CNMI to do so. We will continue our efforts, targeting specific areas of crime, and providing support for investigations and prosecutions. However, in order to control crime in the CNMI, the U.S.

government must be able to prevent criminals from gaining unlimited access to the

islands. We cannot expect to stop the flow of drugs, or guns, or trafficking in women

and forced prostitution, unless we keep out the people who we know are already

committing these crimes. The Immigration and Nationality Act that applies on the

mainland and in other U.S. jurisdictions helps keep criminals out, and it is the position of the Department of Justice that the only way to fight effectively the larger

crime problem on the CNMI is to apply the Act as it is applied in other U.S. juris-
103

dictions with appropriate transitional phase-in provisions to prevent avoidable adverse impacts on the economy.

As was reiterated at a hearing before the Senate on Tuesday, the Administration

both supports (with some necessary amendments) pending legislation that would

apply Federal immigration law in the CNMI with appropriate transition provisions,

and is preparing to send forward a legislative proposal that would make the necessary immigration reforms and address other needs such as a Federal minimum

wage. Federal immigration authority would allow us to screen those who would seek

to enter the CNMI to keep out known gang members and other international criminals who would come into the United States to continue their harmful and dangerous activities. Merely preventing these known criminals from entering the CNMI

would be a major step toward reducing crime on the islands.

V. Conclusion

Applying the Immigration and Nationality Act to the CNMI is a necessary beginning, but we also will need the resources to enforce those laws effectively, including

detaining, removing from the United States, and in appropriate cases prosecuting

and imprisoning those who violate them. The Department of Justice stands ready

to assist in this effort, and we remain committed to effective law enforcement in the

Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas.

I wish again to thank the Chair, Congressman Miller, and the Committee Members for the opportunity to provide the views of the Department of Justice on this

important issue. We look forward to working with you.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Mr. Gess. I had one impression when

I was out there with the Federal representatives that there was a

sense that they had already made up their mind that it was a

hopeless and the only way they could solve it was by Federal takeover and including your FBI. I’m hoping that is not the intention

of the Justice Department or anybody else to think the only solution is the Federal solution.

Mr. GESS. Absolutely not. Mr. Chairman, I can assure you at this

point that later today I will be sitting down with the attorney general to review what has occurred at this hearing because she particularly asked me last night for impressions that I receive regarding cooperation out there, because it is a distant place.

The CHAIRMAN. You see, cooperation is a two-way street. Like I

say, every one of the Federal officials out there, I believe, had an

attitude that they knew the answers. Don’t bother. The government doesn’t owe anything, we don’t owe anything to the State representative or the Senate or the governor. And, of course, under the

Covenant and the recognition of the Marianas by this Congress, we

gave them that authority. And I hope everybody at this table understands that this has to be a working relationship. I don’t think

they can solve all the problems themselves. They can’t do it without your help. But don’t think you can solve the problems if you

exclude them. I hope you’ve got that in your mind. As long as it’s

on my watch, that isn’t going to happen.

Mr. Berry, I’ve got to ask you one question that’s of interest to

me. During the past three years, you and the Department of Interior officials have accompanied non-U.S. citizens previously with

the CNMI to appear as witness or give statements before congressional hearings or meetings with congressional staff. Describe to

me all assistance provided by the administration to help these nonU.S. citizens to appear before Congress.

Mr. BERRY. Sir, the report that you’re referring to—there are two

reports. One, which we had done in preparation for the trip that

you mentioned that you were going to take over—that unfortunately got canceled.
104

The CHAIRMAN. By the way, you canceled it. I didn’t cancel it.

The administration canceled it.

Mr. BERRY. Well, I appreciate that Mr. Chairman. I guess the

Department of Defense canceled it.

The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Yes.

Mr. BERRY. We were eager and hopeful for your attendance and

we appreciate your follow-up visit thereafter. In dealing with the

CNMI, we face a number of issues. One is language.

The CHAIRMAN. Yes. I understand that. But I’m asking directly,

now, John. How did these people get here? Who paid for them? And

I’ve got a series of questions after that. How did that occur and

how were they picked?

Mr. BERRY. Mr. Chairman, I know we paid for their activities in

the CNMI and the cost of that, my understanding is, approximately

$175,000 for both——

The CHAIRMAN. To bring them here?

Mr. BERRY. No, to do the report that was subsequently——

The CHAIRMAN. No. I’m talking about the witnesses that come

before the committees and talk to staff that were brought here

under your wing.

Mr. BERRY. Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman. I’m informed that we did pay

for the travel of those people. They were brought in under the request of staff for the hearings that both the Senate and the House

were preparing and we did cover that. In terms of the exact

amount, if you would be okay, we could provide that for the record.

[The information follows:]

The CHAIRMAN. Okay. How was their entry cleared by the INS?

Mr. BERRY. Mr. Chairman, I’ll have to—I’m not exactly clear of

the procedures that were followed. If we could——

The CHAIRMAN. I’m going to ask the director of your office of district affairs be—come up and answer these questions. You’re right

behind him. Instead of whispering in his ear, I want to swear you

in, too.

Mr. BERRY. This is Danny Aranza. He’s the director of the Office

of Insular Affairs.

The CHAIRMAN. Yes. I’m going to swear him in. Danny, raise

your right hand.

[Witness sworn.]

The CHAIRMAN. You heard the question. How was their entry

cleared by the INS? Or was it cleared?

Mr. ARANZA. Mr. Chairman, the witnesses—the workers in question were brought into the United States under what’s called a

‘‘significant public interest parole,’’ which means that they came in

for—the justification was they were coming in specifically to provide information for these congressional hearings.

The CHAIRMAN. Okay. Who provided for the transportation and

the living expenses while they were here?

Mr. ARANZA. My office, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Your office did. What happened to these individuals after they appeared before Congress and where are they now

and what is their immigration status?

Mr. ARANZA. I understand, Mr. Chairman, that they were paroled in for a period of one year. That several of them have applied
105

for asylum and that these witnesses now reside in Seattle, Washington.

The CHAIRMAN. How were these individuals identified?

Mr. ARANZA. They were identified, Mr. Chairman, by Federal

agencies and human rights activists in the Commonwealth of the

Northern Mariana Islands.

The CHAIRMAN. By the governments there or by individual parties?

Mr. ARANZA. It was based on people who knew the community,

who thought that the congressional committees who were having

hearings could get the best information from different sectors of the

workers community there.

The CHAIRMAN. Were they told that the results, that they would

have free transportation, room, and board and a possibility of asylum?

Mr. ARANZA. They were not told about the possibility of asylum,

Mr. Chairman. What they were told was that Congress, staff wanted information regarding the situation in the CNMI. That, as workers, they had a unique perspective to share. And that my office

would defray the expenses.

The CHAIRMAN. I’m just concerned about how they were picked

out. I mean, if I was an individual from Bangladesh or from China

or somebody else and was aware that I’d have a free trip to the

United States to appear before the Congress, get my room and

board paid for, and I doubt if they didn’t know they’d have a possibility of asylum, I would volunteer in a second. I mean, I’m just curious how it occurred.

And, by the way, when the Committee traveled to the Marianas

this year to see firsthand the conditions of the islands, a number

of alien workers appeared with signs outside of Federal buildings

where Members of Congress were meeting with alien workers. Mr.

Berry, were you aware of any funds or inducements being provided

or suggested to individuals to take part in activities to protest,

demonstrate, or lobby against the conditions in the CNMI?

Mr. BERRY. No, sir, I was not.

The CHAIRMAN. You are not aware?

Mr. BERRY. I am not aware.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Aranza, were you aware of this?

Mr. ARANZA. No, I wasn’t, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Now, remember, you’re under oath.

Mr. ARANZA. Mr. Chairman, I was not aware.

The CHAIRMAN. All right. That’s fine. I just want to make sure

you’re aware of it. The Office of Insular Affairs is directly under

your management and responsibility as the head of the office’s policy and budget and management. Describe your involvement or

your awareness of any action by Federal officers to permit the entrance of non-U.S. citizens into the U.S. from CNMI to lobby for

conditions in the Marianas. Anybody aware of that?

Mr. ARANZA. Mr. Chairman, our only involvement as an office

was to bring in these workers for the congressional hearings from

last year.

The CHAIRMAN. I’m sure both of you are aware that I’m deeply

involved in this, your office. And I’m sure you’re aware you’re

under oath. I do appreciate that.
106

Mr. Customs man, what you were saying, you found nothing

wrong, did you?

Mr. SHRUHAN. Pardon me?

The CHAIRMAN. You found nothing wrong with what was going

on over there. You had found no illegal—like there have been some

allegations made by the media and certain individuals that there

was being manufactured goods laundered through Saipan. Is that

correct?

Mr. SHRUHAN. Well, there have been allegations of the transshipment of textiles.

The CHAIRMAN. And you found none of that, did you?

Mr. SHRUHAN. Well, when we did that assessment, we were not

able to verify that. However, we do have ongoing investigations

into that.

The CHAIRMAN. And I hope so.

Mr. SHRUHAN. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. I’m not saying that. But the allegations were

made and they were printed in the papers and—without any backing up. But you found none and yet you’re the head Custom person

who did this investigation.

Mr. SHRUHAN. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Okay. The other thing that concerned me. You

know, I heard reports of the recent report on the investigations and

it says, ‘‘This report remains the property of the U.S. Customs

Service’s internal use only. Please ensure that its contents are not

released to the public or other agencies without our permission.’’

Mr. Schaffer referred to that. Why was that restriction put in and

why wasn’t it reported to the Department of Interior and why

wasn’t it reported to the media and who else is involved? Why

didn’t we have a copy of it until yesterday?

Mr. SHRUHAN. That report was requested by Congressman Schaffer and we provided it to him. The findings and recommendations

were provided.

The CHAIRMAN. But the governor was told not to release it. And

why wasn’t it submit—what I’m suggesting is this was a good report.

Mr. SHRUHAN. Yes. We shared that report with the governor.

There was some proprietary information in there that could not be

released.

The CHAIRMAN. There’s some proprietary information?

Mr. SHRUHAN. That’s what I’ve been advised.

The CHAIRMAN. Like individuals or—what would be proprietary

about it? Did Interior know about it? Did Interior have that report?

Did they know about it?

Mr. SHRUHAN. They’re aware of the visit, yes.

The CHAIRMAN. But were they aware of the—see, what I’m getting to—out of the Department of Interior, there’s been a lot of

hanky-panky going on concerning the Marianas. Now why wasn’t

that report—and the governor had it—why wasn’t that report sent

to the Interior? And why wasn’t it made public? Because the allegations, again, were coming out that this was a terrible thing occurring there. Now how can you reverse allegations when they’re not

factual unless the presentation is made with facts that say this

isn’t happening?
107

You know, frankly, we didn’t have it. He just got it. The Department of Interior didn’t have it. Do you know who said to make it

an exclusive document?

Mr. SHRUHAN. No. No, I can get that information.

The CHAIRMAN. Would you do that for me to find out, you know,

who said that and so on?

[The information follows:]

The CHAIRMAN. My time’s up. Mr. Miller.

Mr. MILLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Gess, is it?

Mr. GESS. Yes, sir.

Mr. MILLER. In your statement, you say, ‘‘This immigration’’—

and I believe it’s on the second page—‘‘This immigration policy has

a severe negative impact on law enforcement.’’ Can you elaborate

on that? You’re talking about the immigration policy within the

CNMI, is that correct?

Mr. GESS. Yes, Congressman, we are. Fundamentally, law enforcement is a seamless web. It is not simply a set of organized

crime or narcotics or customs or immigration laws. It functions as

a package. The best example I can give you is that Al Capone went

to jail for violating Federal income tax laws. Had they not applied

in Illinois in the 1930s, he would have gone scot-free. Fundamentally, the problem in the CNMI is that there is virtually unfettered

access to the islands. Once people are there, they’re there to stay.

The problem is that that gives perfectly good people and a lot of

bad people the chance to get there, to get a toehold on American

soil.

Mr. MILLER. When you say ‘‘unfettered access,’’ you’re suggesting, therefore, that they have the inability or the unwillingness

to keep out people who you think engaged in illegal activities.

Mr. GESS. Yes. The CNMI is—this is not a criticism of a local

government. State governments and territorial governments are

simply not in a position to run an immigration service. And that

protection of the borders to the colonial times has been the function

of the Federal Government for exactly that reason. We provide a

dual system of protection, which is consular officers of the State

Department abroad doing the first-level screening and Immigration

officers at the point of entry doing the second screening.

Mr. MILLER. So when the gentleman from the Department of

Labor from the CNMI suggested that somehow they now have in

place a parallel system, parallel is not to suggest comparable in

terms of the checks that are done. When they say they’re going to

use a health clinic that our government uses in China or the Philippines and they’re going to use a local law enforcement agency,

that in no way mirrors what we do in terms of immigration policy?

Mr. GESS. Your term is correct. It parallels; it is not the equivalent of.

Mr. MILLER. And so that system, if I read your testimony correctly, that system is an impediment to law enforcement in the

CNMI and, eventually, you’re suggesting, in this country?

Mr. GESS. It is. It puts our Federal law enforcement officers behind the eight-ball playing catch-up.

Mr. MILLER. You also suggest that you’re basically working a revolving door here. You say in the top of that page—I believe it’s—

yes, same page: ‘‘As we seize a load of drugs brought in by mem-
108

bers of the Japanese Yakuza and the Chinese triad groups, others

are already on their way, ensured of easy access to the islands.’’

Mr. GESS. That’s exactly the problem. We, again, are playing

catch-up from behind the eight-ball.

Mr. MILLER. I assume, when we look at our drug policy elsewhere in the country, that there is a merging between drug policy

and immigration policy in terms of trying to screen people we

would suspect of or historically have been involved in the drug

trade in one fashion or another?

Mr. GESS. In fact, that is the seamless web of law enforcement.

Mr. MILLER. That’s why we go through the double-check system

in the country of origin and that system also allows us to check

other countries where that individual may have gone, is that not

correct?

Mr. GESS. That is correct. We have——

Mr. MILLER. So a person applying from the Philippines or applying from China or from Korea or from Bangladesh, where-have-you,

the best that the CNMI can do is check some kind of law enforcement arrangement in that particular country, but that does not extend to the extent to which our consulates and our embassies

would check that individual against all the rest of the information.

Mr. GESS. That’s absolutely correct. We could not expect any one

territorial or State government, it doesn’t matter how large or how

small, to maintain a consular relationship with every nation.

Mr. MILLER. So, again, you know, we’re in the position of commenting on the testimony earlier. They really don’t know very

much about people who enter the CNMI at all?

Mr. GESS. It’s hard to say. They cannot—what’s fair to say——

Mr. MILLER. They don’t have access to the same system.

Mr. GESS. They simply do not have access.

Mr. MILLER. It’s a secure system. You’re in the law or you’re not

in the law.

Mr. GESS. That’s exactly it. They cannot get access to the secure

systems and do not have the relationships with unrelated foreign

governments with which one might not ordinarily expect to have

information.

Mr. MILLER. To what extent is the fact that these people do not

have the protections now, if you will, of American immigration law,

does that impeded their willingness, their ability to come forward

and to lodge complaints, either of a criminal nature or over in the

Justice Department, people coming forward now to the ombudsman

or, prior to that, lodging—because, earlier, the policy was, if you

filed a complaint, you would be deported. I think that’s now

changed and you have, apparently, some right of reentry, which is

interesting for a person from Bangladesh who’s $30,000 in debt

that they would have the right to reenter. But to what extent does

the lack of having INS control deportation as opposed to CNMI

change the circumstances of those people lodging complaints?

Mr. GESS. Clearly, there needs to be a partnership in law enforcement between Federal and local enforcement efforts, but the

impact is that, unless the task force officers who are engaged in a

particular operation can assure prospective witnesses or cooperating individuals that they can protect them adequately, there sim-
109

ply is no question but that a rational prospective witness will not

cooperate.

Mr. MILLER. Because as I understand it—and correct me if I’m

wrong—many of these people either have paid recruiters—although

it was suggested now that the recruiters are no longer allowed or

you can’t hire from them—but many of these people, in fact, are

found within the foreign countries and have been—and some continue to be—subject to shadow contracts about their rights and

they can, in fact, be deported by the CNMI government under current law. Is that not correct?

Mr. GESS. That is my understanding.

Mr. MILLER. So if these people have borrowed money or have

some other obligation, they or their families in the country of origin, they place themselves at great jeopardy by being deported because deporting them, in fact, could trigger their failure to pay off

their debt or some obligation of their family. Is that not correct?

Mr. GESS. That is correct. And, moreover, it puts those people beyond the protection of U.S. law enforcement authorities because

they are in a foreign nation where we don’t have jurisdiction.

Mr. MILLER. Right, so deporting people or the policy of having

the local government here, the CNMI government, the Commonwealth, having it is both a weapon, if you will, and a shield. You

can shield people by getting people out of the country, employers

who have large complaints against them for back wages or whathave-you or it’s a weapon against somebody not to complain about

their circumstances or what’s happened to them if they’ve been

forced into prostitution or into the drug trade or have not been paid

wages.

Mr. GESS. Yes, Congressman.

Mr. MILLER. Under American immigration law, if the State of

California wanted to deport this individual for complaining against

an employer, they would have to go to the Immigration office of the

United States Government and try to make that case.

Mr. GESS. They would.

Mr. MILLER. That that would be grounds for deporting somebody.

Mr. GESS. They would.

Mr. MILLER. I don’t know if that’s for deportment or not. But the

fact of the matter is there is a protection that is given these indentured workers who have been brought here under these circumstances that is not afforded to them in the local immigration

laws.

Mr. GESS. That’s just as a matter of necessity because we lack

authority. And I do say ‘‘we’’——

Mr. MILLER. You have no ability to enforce or to question those

local immigration laws.

Mr. T4Gess. That’s correct.

Mr. MILLER. Because our laws don’t apply.

Mr. GESS. That is correct.

Mr. MILLER. And so if a local immigration law facilitates the

entry of drugs or facilitates the entry of communicable diseases,

there’s nothing that we can do with that with regard to the immigration laws. Is that correct?

Mr. GESS. Right. We lose a piece of the seamless web.
110

Mr. MILLER. So then once the person is already on the island,

then you try to catch up to them in terms of capturing the drugs

that they may be bringing with them, as opposed to trying to prevent them from crossing the ocean to get there.

Mr. GESS. That is correct, except that, at the catch-up point, it

is the collaborative task force that——

Mr. MILLER. No, I understand that, because there you have an

illegal substance; you have a violation of that law. But the fact is,

the person got to the airport on the CNMI or got to the port in the

CNMI under a much more lax system than would be allowed anywhere else in the United States.

Mr. GESS. That is a fundamental problem, that they get to the

CNMI in the first place.

Mr. MILLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’ll have my other questions on the next round. Thank you.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. [presiding] Mr. Fraser, it’s my understanding

that American Samoa and the CNMI have similar wage review

committees. Is that your understanding?

Mr. FRASER. Structurally, they’re similar, Mr. Doolittle. The minimum wage setting system in American Samoa is established under

Federal law. It is a provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act. That

does not apply in the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth has enacted its own similar procedure for setting minimum wages.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. And——

Mr. FRASER. Which, by the way, has not happened yet, as I understand it.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. What has not happened?

Mr. FRASER. They have established the structure, but they have

not—that industry committee process has not resulted in recommendations for any changes to the minimum wage. It’s been the

same for the last three years.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Well, it’s my understanding that American Samoa’s done it, but CNMI has gone through the process, have they

not? All right. Well, I guess it’s in the process. Apparently, in

American Samoa, though, they voted to raise the garment minimum wage by 10 cents, I believe. Is that your understanding?

Mr. FRASER. That sounds correct, sir.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Okay. And I think the Federal Government recommended 30 cents. And that was rejected and they went to 10

cents, instead, for $2.60 an hour.

Mr. FRASER. Well, perhaps, Mr. Doolittle, it would be useful to

take a minute to just explain the process. In American Samoa,

under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Secretary of Labor appoints a committee of external parties. By statute, those parties

have to represent workers, employers, and the public’s interest.

Nominations for members of that committee are solicited from a

variety of sources, including from the governor. But that committee

does the analysis; hears the testimony; makes the recommendations; and the findings of that committee, the conclusions of that

committee, have to be implemented by the Secretary. The Secretary doesn’t have any discretionary authority to change the recommendations of the committee. So this is an outside party. It’s not

the Federal Government.
111

Mr. DOOLITTLE. No, I understand that. I recognize American

Samoa is not the CNMI. But they’re both American territories, sort

of far-flung from the rest of the United States. I’m just looking at

what happened with this committee you’ve been describing. There

was no increase at all in the minimum wage for hotel. No increase

for tour and travel services. No increase for private hospitals and

educational institutions. Garment manufacturing: they did increase

it by 10 cents.

So we hear all of this criticism about the low minimum wage in

the CNMI, but, in fact, another American territory has similarly

low wages and we don’t hear criticism of that. And I just wanted

to note the comparison, I guess, because I think CNMI is being

really hit for its low minimum wage, but other American territories, American Samoa, has a similarly low wage. Its biggest, I

guess, industry, fish canning, they increased it 3 cents.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Yes. I’ll—sure. Well, yes, I’ll yield, but let’s be

brief, though.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Just to say, briefly, that we have been

under the Federal umbrella now for the last 50 years and from

which the Federal Labor Relations Act has provided that for us to

do that. Now, I’m not necessarily favorable to recommendations

that the Committee has made for the past several years because

increments of 3 cents an hour, to me, is utterly ludicrous. But

that’s exactly what we’re faced with. And tied into probably rather

than being a banana republic, we’re a tuna republic and our whole

total work force is tied to the situation that I wish that there could

be some better ways of doing it. But I just wanted to note that.

My friends in NMI is completely, totally locally controlled and

managed. There’s no Federal input whatsoever in the process.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. You know, I understand that. All right——

Mr. FRASER. Mr. Doolittle, if I could just finish the point. I think

it’s important to emphasize that the results of the industry committee process in American Samoa are not the recommendations of

the Federal Government. They are not the recommendations of the

Secretary.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Yes, I know. You made that clear.

Mr. FRASER. The law makes us go through a process that has

these results. That’s not—I don’t think—to say that we wouldn’t

criticize low minimum wages in American Samoa any more than

Mr. Faleomavaega might.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. I just wanted to bring out for the record—and I

wish now to reclaim my time—that the fact of the matter is CNMI

is made to appear in the media and, frankly, made to appear, I

think, by statements of people in the administration, that this is

somehow extraordinary and unique when, in fact, it’s one territory.

We only have a handful of them. And another one that’s out there

in the Pacific with them has got the same kinds of low minimum

wages. That’s the only point that I wish to make.

Mr. FRASER. And perhaps the counterpoint, sir, would be

that——

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Well, I’m not looking for a counterpoint. My time

is up and I’m going to recognize now—who?—Mr. Underwood, I
112

guess. Is that right? Is that the correct order? I don’t want to—

what is my—I don’t have my order here.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. Yes. That’s the correct order.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Underwood.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. You could always change it to alphabetical, if

you want.

[Laughter.]

Mr. UNDERWOOD. I always end up at the end on that system. But

I thank you, Mr. Chairman. And just a comment on ‘‘far-flung,’’ you

know. When you say a territory is ‘‘far-flung,’’ it implies that it’s

been flung. But we were always there. We’ve always been there.

We were never flung anywhere.

[Laughter.]

Mr. UNDERWOOD. I wanted to raise a couple of issues because I

know that—and all of you have made commentary on the genuine

efforts that have been made by the Tenorio administration and the

current leadership of the legislature. And we all know them to be

men of honor and they face very difficult challenges, but I just

wanted to ask a general statement, perhaps, of Mr. Gess and Mr.

Fraser. As a result of their efforts, have we seen any kind of improvement in the conditions which we would consider measurable?

Mr. Gess.

Mr. GESS. We can get back to you with a specific assessment.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. Is that because you’re under oath or——

[Laughter.]

Mr. GESS. No, I——

Mr. UNDERWOOD. I was just looking for a general impression.

Mr. GESS. It’s hard to give general impressions. I can say that

I’ve had the pleasure of working directly with Mr. Zachares under

horrible conditions, late at night, given the time differences. And

it’s a pleasure to do so. It’s a collegial relationship. It’s the partnership that ought to exist between Federal and local government,

whether a territory, a commonwealth, a State, or a city.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. Okay.

Mr. GESS. I am just simply not in a position, sitting here in

Washington, to assess the impact and that’s why I would prefer to

get back to you.

[The information follows:]

Mr. UNDERWOOD. Okay. Mr. Fraser.

Mr. FRASER. Mr. Underwood, I think from the Department of Labor’s perspective, there has been some progress, not just from our

enhanced enforcement and expanded enforcement, but from the relationships we build with our colleagues in the Commonwealth. I

think my OSHA colleagues would say that we’ve seen some improvements in some of the garment barracks. But I think we would

all agree that there are still incredible challenges, incredibly difficult circumstances for many, many of the workers that are there

and a long way to go before we’d be anything like satisfied with

the conditions either in terms of wage payment or occupational

safety and health.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. I appreciate the discussion about the nature of

the structural problems that are involved. But I did want to give
113

some credence to the notion that at least the current political leadership in the CNMI has made an effort, within their resources and

their capabilities to do so. Now I understand that there may be

structural problems involved, but I did want to make that point.

Mr. Shruhan, you’re not suggesting anything that would include

the CNMI inside the Customs zone, are you? Because if you are,

we’re going to have some real problems in Guam.

Mr. SHRUHAN. Could you say that again, sir?

Mr. UNDERWOOD. You’re not suggesting anything, any kind of

policy directive, which would include the CNMI in the Customs

zone?

Mr. SHRUHAN. That is correct. We’re not.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. Okay, thank you. Mr. Gess, when, in the hearing the other day, the issue of the illegal Chinese that have been

smuggled into Guam and then, subsequently, taken to the CNMI,

just before they entered into Guam was raised and I think that

INS made a kind of a surprising announcement that the CNMI was

going to be reimbursed $750,000. Of course, that’s of great concern

to us in Guam when the total now is approaching over $5 million

and, you know, we haven’t seen 5 cents yet of reimbursement. And

so is there any movement on that from the perspective of DOJ?

Mr. GESS. Well, yes, Congressman. Actually, it’s from the perspective of the entire administration. I can tell you that there is a

supplemental request to supplement our Fiscal Year 2000 appropriation request which would provide the funds to reimburse the

government of Guam. Because I know this is a very big issue for

you and for Governor Gutierrez.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. Thank you. And, just lastly, Mr. Berry, you

raised the issue about—and people have raised the issue—that all

the insular areas face some structural economic problems. But just

as a point of comparison, wouldn’t you say that more effort has

been devoted to enforcement of Federal regulations in the territories than trying to help them develop alternative economic structures? Certainly in the case of the CNMI, that seems to be the

case.

Mr. BERRY. Yes, sir.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. I would then add that, you know, it would be

very useful for the Department of Interior to become more involved

in trying to develop sustainable ways of maintaining a healthy

economy so that we wouldn’t have to go through this process repeatedly. Thank you very much.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Schaffer is recognized.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Aranza, let me

ask some more questions of the chairman’s, but maybe a little differently. I just want to press this issue one more time. Were you

aware of any activity by Federal employees to assist non-government individuals in the preparation of materials to lobby Congress

or promote the administration’s positions regarding conditions in

CNMI?

Mr. ARANZA. I am not aware of those activities, but I’ll be glad

to review my files and provide a supplemental answer to that question.

[The information follows:]
114

Mr. SCHAFFER. The individuals that you mentioned that your

agency had assisted in receiving being paroled? Is that the word?

Mr. ARANZA. Yes.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Receiving parole immigration status to come to

Washington, are any of those individuals that your agency assisted

to be here in the room today or scheduled to testify today?

Mr. ARANZA. No, Congressman.

Mr. SCHAFFER. They are not. So am I correct to understand that

your agency provided no assistance to anyone who is here to testify

today or in the room, presently.

Mr. ARANZA. To my knowledge, Mr. Congressman, we have not

provided any financial support for anyone here to provide testimony to this hearing.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Understood. Mr. Berry, in your statement, you

said, ‘‘It remains a position of the administration’’—the written testimony. I don’t recall whether you actually said this. ‘‘It remains

the position of the administration that the need to apply and phase

Federal Immigration Wage and Trade standards is inescapable.’’

Now I would like to ask you further about the seriousness of the

administration to work on this issue and problem in CNMI and its

objectives that it seeks to achieve here.

Mr. BERRY. Congressman, as I said in my testimony, we see that

as an active component of the solution, but I add, as the governor

and this Committee have pointed out and as Congressman Underwood just mentioned, we need to also diversify that to include assistance that we can provide to attract more private sector location

of industries.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Understood. The reason I’m asking is because I

want to know how that squares with the memo from Mr. David

North who is in your department. The memo, again, that I referenced earlier and is now part of the Committee record. He says,

‘‘You need to be—and I could be fired, not shot for this—more distant from the Clinton Administradion. Bill Clinton has not made

this a personal battle with Congress. So I guess, a second point, the

administration has not spent—is not spending as much money as

it should on enforcement, nor has the Justice and Treasury operations been as strong as its Labor and Interior programs. We will

need to figure out how you can say that without implicating me.’’

Now when Mr. David North issued those statements, who’s

wrong? Are you wrong or is he wrong?

Mr. BERRY. Well, Congressman, he’s wrong. The President is

committed. The President has been committed. The administration

has been attempting to seek legislation in this regard. Could we do

more? Yes, we have been trying to step up on the enforcement side.

Could we do more on the economic diversification? Yes, we need to

be doing that. But the President is committed.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Are you—first of all, are you aware of this memo

I’m referring to, which was subpoenaed by the Committee?

Mr. BERRY. No, sir, I’ve not read that memo.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Have not read the memo? Let me go on further.

These are all editing suggestions to a private report that has been

presented to the Committee and was being—in the drafting phase.

Here are some themes he suggested in the editing, these are some

themes: ‘‘Notably, a description of what you saw as a part of a
115

giant conspiracy. Maybe of how the PRC is taking over with the

unwitting help of the American conservatives. A whole American

island. This, I think, is a little sexier than the detailed litany of

very real human rights abuses.’’

Do you think—is it the position of the Department of Interior to

help paint a picture of a conspiracy where American conservatives

are helping to take over a whole American island?

Mr. BERRY. No, sir.

Mr. SCHAFFER. What would you say your responsibility is for a

memo like this, in preparing a private report?

Mr. BERRY. I’m not sure I follow the question.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Well, I assume somebody in the Department of

Interior is eager to claim responsibility for these kinds of activities.

I was hoping it might be you. Do you believe you have some responsibility for these kinds of memos.

Mr. BERRY. Oh, absolutely, sir.

Mr. SCHAFFER. What is the extent of that responsibility?

Mr. BERRY. It would be to ensure that that person follows policies and laws and regulations of the United States, I think, and

consistent with the administration policies as well. I think, in that

case, that person clearly got carried away.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Very good. In terms of the question I asked Mr.

Aranza before about providing the assistance for individuals who

have been here before, the Committee received another memo from

Mr. David North, Office of Insular Affairs, Department of Interior

to Steven—let’s see—oh, it’s from Steven Galstar, which requests

the Department of Interior to help somebody get here.

And then it results in a second memo on Department of Interior

letterhead which is to ‘‘David Johnson, Officer in Charge of INS in

Guam’’ and this memo suggests that, ‘‘There’s an organization we

know and trust and has our advice to help securing brief visits in

Washington, DC, via Guam for a Bangladeshi national who has

been active in the workers’ rights movement in Saipan.’’ And then

it says that, ‘‘We need his assistance and advice as to how to proceed. I assume that a parole would be in order, but there may be

some other mechanisms causing this individual to return to Bangladesh—causing him to go back to Bangladesh to secure a visa

would not be possible because of both financial and time considerations. Ideally, you or someone on your staff would fax or call Steven Galster and tell him what steps to take before the request was

made.’’

That was, indeed, done, as I understand that individual is here

in Washington, DC. Are either of you aware of your department’s

involvement in assisting in the parole—achieving this parole to

come here?

Mr. ARANZA. Mr. Congressman, when I answered the previous

question, I think I made it clear that we didn’t provide any financial assistance to a particular witness. I think, based on that

memo, it appears as though—was that a North memo, Mr. Congressman?

Mr. SCHAFFER. A what?

Mr. ARANZA. Was that a memo from Mr. North?

Mr. SCHAFFER. Yes, it was.
116

Mr. ARANZA. Well, if it was from Mr. North, then—and it was on

Department of Interior letterhead, it appears, then, that we had

communicated with the INS.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Thank you. Who’s from Customs? The Customs

report? Mr. Shruhan. Congressman Young, the chairman, is exactly

right that there was some effort in the States—right?—in the cover

letter to the governor of CNMI that the Customs report, ‘‘remains

the property of U.S. Customs and it is for internal use only. Please

ensure that its contents are not released to the public or other

agencies without our permission.’’ Now that letter was January 11,

which is, I presume, approximately when the report was concluded.

Can you tell us one more time why this report was not shared publicly or was not able to be used until Tuesday in a forum like this?

Mr. SHRUHAN. What this report—was done was an assessment.

We went out—the U.S. Customs Service went out to CNMI with a

team to do a textile verification assessment to look at the operations on CNMI in conjunction with CNMI officials. CNMI Customs officials were present at the time. This was done with CNMI

Customs and with U.S. Customs officials. As a result, we shared

their, basically, the findings and recommendations with CNMI officials.

Mr. SCHAFFER. In addition to the finding of—or no finding of any

problems in transshipments on the day of the investigation——

Mr. SHRUHAN. It was a week of investigations where we looked

at approximately 51 containers.

Mr. SCHAFFER. The issue of opening containers while the owner

of those containers is nearby was one that you raised in the letter.

I just want to be clear and understand. Am I accurate to understand that U.S. Customs has suggested that CNMI Customs

downlist the risk factor of those containers from the high-risk factor that they placed under today?

Mr. SHRUHAN. Well, that is CNMI’s—what we would like to do

is see that the containers be searched without the consignees

present.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Right now those containers are regarded as highrisk when they come from another country.

Mr. SHRUHAN. According to their policy now, I believe that’s so.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Right. And your recommendation is to lower the

risk of those containers. Is that correct?

Mr. SHRUHAN. I believe our recommendation was we should do

this—CNMI Customs should do the search without consignee

present.

Mr. SCHAFFER. So, where it says here that, ‘‘In addition, containers arriving in CNMI which are manifested as fabric should be

considered low-risk and not subject to the restrictions.’’ You’re saying that you said something other than ‘‘low-risk’’? Is it——

Mr. SHRUHAN. Right now——

Mr. SCHAFFER. Did you suggest they be characterized as low-risk

rather than high-risk?

Mr. SHRUHAN. I believe from during our inspection out there,

CNMI Customs has indicated that they have searched numerous

containers entering from Asia and they have not found any trans—

they’ve only found fabric.
117

Mr. SCHAFFER. Just to be clear, you believe it to be prudent to

lower the risk category of those containers when they come into

CNMI? Am I reading this incorrectly?

Mr. SHRUHAN. The people that did the assessment believe that

to lower it would be fine.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Abercrombie.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Berry—oh, by

the way, even though I’m not under oath, Mr. Chairman, I think

I should tell you I have a great deal of affection for Mr. Berry as

a result of his work in Hawaii and that Mr. Aranza is a personal

friend of longstanding, whom I’ve met through his wife. Is that sufficient? His wife who worked and whom I love and admire. I want

to make sure that no one misunderstands anything I have to say.

Mr. Berry, if somebody in the Department of Interior abused his

or her authority or responsibility or obligations, either as an employee or as a representative of the policy or obligations of the Department of the Interior, that person would be disavowed, would he

or she not be?

Mr. BERRY. Yes, sir. And further than that, we would begin investigations. In this case, in both cases, Mr. North, for example, is

no longer with the Department of Interior. But there is an ongoing

inspector general investigation. The minute that I was informed—

I have an ongoing policy under my administration of the Office of

Policy, Management and Budget, whenever anything alleging any

illegality or impropriety is brought to my attention, I immediately

refer it to the inspector general and ask for his or her advice on

what should be done.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Okay.

Mr. BERRY. In this case, this case was Mr. North. As soon as the

committee made us aware of it, it’s been referred to the Office of

the Inspector General but, further, it’s also been referred to the Office of the Special Counsel, which is an independent government

agency set up to investigate violations of the Hatch Act.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. So, to the degree and the extent this individual did anything along the lines that you’ve just outlined, you

were not aware of it until it was brought to your attention. Is that

right?

Mr. BERRY. Yes, sir.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. And when it was brought to your attention,

you took appropriate steps immediately, right?

Mr. BERRY. Yes, sir.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. So if somebody in the department here or

even perhaps in the United States Congress does something stupid

or illegal that presumably when that stupidity is made manifest or

the illegality is found out, appropriate action will be taken?

Mr. BERRY. Yes, sir.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. And you disavow anything that was said—I

don’t know if you can disavow anything that was said stupidly because you might not have enough time during your tenure in office

to do it.

[Laughter.]

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. But anything illegal or, for that matter,

against the policy of the department and so on, you disavow.
118

Mr. BERRY. Yes, sir. Absolutely.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Thank you. You notice I didn’t say it will

never happen again, right?

[Laughter.]

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Fraser, maybe you can help me with this.

I want to understand exactly the question around, not so much the

minimum wage, which I have an idea is pretty close to the maximum wage. Would that be a fair statement? Is there much wages,

except for the instance that we mentioned about some government

jobs, in which the minimum wage is $3.05? Is that pretty much the

mean average wage, excluding those other occupations?

Mr. FRASER. Mr. Abercrombie, there are very rare exceptions. If

you look at the want ads in the local papers, almost all the jobs,

no matter what they are, are listed at the minimum wage. If it’s

an accountant, whatever it might be.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Okay.

Mr. FRASER. But there are some few exceptions, that you will

find some job listings, a few job listings where $3.05 per hour is

not the advertised pay.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Okay. If that’s the case. Then, what’s the situation with the so-called recruiter fees? Why wouldn’t the manufacturer pay the recruiter fees? Why on earth would the employee

coming pay the recruiter fees? Doesn’t that put what amounts to

an indentured—I won’t say indentured servant—but an indentured

worker at almost an immediate disadvantage in which he or she

will, in all likelihood, be playing catch-up for the rest of their working time in the contract?

Mr. FRASER. Not almost an immediate disadvantage. Many of the

workers I’ve talked to in the Commonwealth have typically had to

borrow money or sell assets to come up with $3,000 or $5,000 or

$7,000 to get on a list of potential workers to be referred for employment in the garment industry or in construction or in——

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. And is in the nation of origin?

Mr. FRASER. Both in their home country and, in some cases, in

third countries, they will have to come up with these fees. In fact,

we have—and I think the Committee today will hear evidence that

this very practice goes on within the Commonwealth when employees seek—when employees are dismissed and seek to find a new job

or are transferring from one employer to another. They are commonly asked by the employer to pay a fee to be considered for employment. So the employee doesn’t start out whole.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. So is the practice—I’m sorry, I don’t understand it. Does this mean that some—I’m not quite sure. What is

the recruiting? If the country—if you’re paying $3.05 an hour,

that’s not a lot of money in the American economy. Okay? And

someone’s coming to take the $3.05 an hour, and you’re telling me

that the recruiting fee may be in the thousands——

Mr. FRASER. Several thousand dollars typically, yes.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Several thousand dollars. Well, I mean, is

that money taken out of the salary as it’s earned? Because they

couldn’t have it ahead of time.

Mr. MILLER. Would the gentleman yield?

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Sure.
119

Mr. MILLER. Because I think it’s very hard for us to comprehend

this. No, the money’s not taken out of the salary. The money is

paid to somebody in the country of origin or the third country for

the right to get a ticket to come to America. That’s what it’s about.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. It’s paid upfront?

*Mr. MILLER. As many of these have testified, they, their

village——

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Who pays it?

Mr. MILLER. [ continuing] or their family believe that they’ve

won the lottery by getting the ticket because they’re told they’re

going to America. And then they pay the money. They come here.

They found out they don’t have the job. Now they’re in violation of

the law in the CNMI. And now they do the best they can.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. I see. So these—am I correct—I’m sorry to

sound naive about this, but I’m trying to get through all this. I’m

reading the material and when I see it, I haven’t quite grasped how

it works. That’s a lot of money. How do people accumulate that

money—I’m thinking about how the plantation system worked in

Hawaii, you know, 100 years ago. Or even to the point of the Filipino workers coming in after World War II. How would people in

Bangladesh or the Philippines, for that matter, accumulate that

kind of money to send somebody to work? And at the idea that it’d

be $3 an hour, because the ratio doesn’t make sense to me.

Mr. FRASER. Well, if the worker is lucky enough not to be a victim of recruitment fraud and arrive in Saipan only to find out there

isn’t a job and that they are unemployed and don’t have any way

of paying it back——

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Well, even if they are employed, at $3 an

hour, that’s 100——

Mr. FRASER. They have 20 weeks, 30 weeks, 40 weeks, in some

cases a year or more work to do before they can start paying

back—before they start earning money that they don’t already owe

before they’ve arrived.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Okay. All right. Well, I’ll let that go at this

point. But that seems to me that that amounts to, essentially, to

slavery.

Mr. FRASER. Well, it’s part of the reason that we are here talking

about the need for a structural solution. That normally, in a situation where an employer or an economy is investing in low-wage,

labor-intensive industry, when it doesn’t have a labor force, you

question the wisdom of that economic strategy, but you’d also think

employers would have to go out and spend money to recruit workers. What’s happening in this upside-down economy is just the opposite. Workers are spending money to get these jobs. Employers

are facilitating that. That’s coming out of their earnings. So the already low earnings they have are already owed to somebody else

when they start that work, if they’re lucky enough to have a job.

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Thank you.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Thank you. Mr. Faleomavaega is recognized.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is one of

the biggest problems that those of us who do represent the insular

areas, when one insular area is pitted against another for findings

of fault and shortcomings and the problems attending to not only

NMI, but certain the territory that I represent. And I’m certain
120

that it was not all intentional, but this is where we are and that’s

the problem that we have to deal with.

Mr. Berry, you mentioned that 90 percent of the work force currently in NMI is alien workers?

Mr. BERRY. Of the private sector, Congressman.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. I see. And——

Mr. BERRY. And 76 percent of the total work force, as I’m advised.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. And 90 percent of the work force of the government is NMI?

Mr. BERRY. The exact percentage, Danny, do you have the

exact——

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Can you submit that for the record? I know

my time is short, so I want to——

Mr. BERRY. Yes, sir. But it’s in that approximate range.

[The information follows:]

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Berry, it’s my understanding over the

years that the Department of Interior is the lead agency for the insular areas, whether we like it or not. The DOI is the lead agency

on matters affecting the welfare and the needs of the territories.

Basically, the position that you currently hold towards NMI—and

I think, as it was alluded to earlier by my friend from Guam—

we’re exposing the problems affecting NMI’s needs and the limited

resources. We can go regurgitate all of that, but my question is

what is the Department doing to give assistance to NMI to resolve

these basic issues? If you’re saying that they are structurally incapable of fulfilling its responsibilities towards immigration and so

on. And what—how much of an effort has really been made by the

administration to give assistance? Or should you give assistance?

Mr. BERRY. Well, Congressman, in terms of—as we’ve described

and I think as has been discussed and debated fully this morning,

the issue of immigration, it’s not a question of more enforcement

of a Federal law, it’s the ability to enforce a law that we cannot

do right now. That is one, as we believe, as the administration believes, is one of the cornerstones to much of the pain and problems

we find. There are many other things that we’ve discussed that

apply, as you’ve correctly identified, to all of the territories, including the Virgin Islands in the Atlantic, that we need to seek a way

to encourage American companies to invest in our American territories.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Berry, this has been a farce, you and I

know that, for the past 50 years. American companies will not

come to these insular areas to invest. I guess, by chance, we were

lucky to have Starkist, our canning industry, to come because it

had no 3A in section 936 that was also benefiting Puerto Rico. And

that’s the only reason why they’re down there. It’s not because they

have a love for the Samoan people. They want to make the money.

And exporting $450 million worth of canned tuna to the U.S., it’s

not pennies, as far as I’m concerned.

So we talk about self-sufficiency that has already been there. The

words that have been used for how many years now? But it’s not

getting there. And I just wanted to ask you, what are the real advents of what the administration has done to improve the situation? Because you’ve given us the problems, give us the solutions,
121

now, to these problems. Aside from, you know, a bill has been introduced in the Senate to do this. Does the administration support

that?

Mr. BERRY. Sure. Congressman, could I ask Danny to discuss

some of the initiatives that we’ve taken in Insular Affairs, along

these lines? We have begun——

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Well, my time is limited. Can you submit

that for the record?

Mr. BERRY. Absolutely.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. I would like to personally know about this.

The information follows:]

Mr. BERRY. One of the things we’ve done which I would like to

seek to expand to the other territories as well is we have begun a

process of working with the Marianas Islands. We have had a

study in place, jointly with the Marianas Islands, on economic diversification. It——

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Okay. My time. I’ve got to run to Mr. Fraser

now. As I’ve said earlier, now my territory is being pitted against

NMI because of low wages. Mr. Fraser, you know, we recently had

a Wage and Hour Committee hearing in American Samoa. And I

always felt comfortable this has the umbrella of the Federal presence because it will help us. Now, given the fact that some of these

industries are giving only a 3 cents raise here, 10 cents—my God,

it will take 132 years before we reach minimum wage, which is

supposedly the Federal goal for American Samoa to achieve.

Now these wage recommendations, to tell you quite honestly, it’s

unpardonable, as far as I’m concerned. But I’d like to hear your

comment. I don’t even know what our standard of living, the cost

of living, the per-capita income, the price indexing. The food that

we buy costs almost the same as in Hawaii and other States in

America. Our per-capita income now is somewhere $6,000 per

annum, which is twice below the poverty level of this country. I

mean, that’s what we’re faced with economically. And I must say

that the wage-price committee has not given justice to this idea

that we’re supposed to come up to the minimum wage. We’ve been

doing this for the last 30 years and we haven’t gotten anywhere.

Can you help us on that?

I think my criticism of the Department of Labor is that we

haven’t had any real economic specialists that could really give us

the bottom line as to where we’re at and what we’re doing and

where we’re going.

Mr. FRASER. Mr. Faleomavaega, we’d be delighted to work with

you on this. This has been a problem from our perspective as well.

This industry committee process used to apply in many of the insular areas. It applies now under Federal law only in American

Samoa. As I explained earlier to Mr. Doolittle, we do not have

power over the activities of—the department, the Federal Government does not have power over the activities of the Committee except in the appointment process. And that is strictly limited.

The committees are supposed to serve two purposes, as you’ve

properly pointed out. One, is to——

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Fraser, I know my time is up. And I

know——

Mr. FRASER. Okay. For the record, Mr. Faleomavaega——
122

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. I definitely would like to work with you. Mr.

Berry, with all due respect, you’re my dear friend, but I was very

dismayed, and the Department of the Interior is the lead agency,

to find out from my colleagues that you had made a recommendation to our budget cycle this year, without even consulting me. And

I’m very, very disappointed that, if the Department of the Interior

is the lead agency giving assistance to the territories and not even

the courtesy of notifying their respective—and, yes, I’m a delegate,

I don’t vote on the House Floor, but I do vote in the Committee.

I really, really would appreciate the courtesy of working with my

office to find out what your policies are towards American Samoa

so that the governor and I could be made better aware of your concerns and the problems that we’re faced with. Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Thank you. I sense a great deal of frustration by

our government officials in the CNMI, who seem to have an expectation—and as I understand the way this is supposed to work, they

are entitled to have an expectation—that the Federal officials,

through the Department of Interior, but all the Federal officials

that are supposed to be involved with their commonwealth are supposed to kind of help them. I mean, I thought that was sort of the

role of the Interior Department of Federal officials to help these

territories get on their feet and progress. I don’t know. Maybe

that’s paternalism in the good sense. I don’t know. But that was

what I thought was the purpose of this relationship.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. If the chairman would yield, I just want to

say that I’ve always felt that the relationship is supposed to be a

partnership.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Well, I think that’s true. It is a partnership.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. It’s supposed to be a partnership.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. That’s what it should be, is a partnership.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. It hasn’t happened that way, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Instead, it seems like—it doesn’t seem like

there’s a very helpful attitude reflected. Mr. Berry, you’re over all

of this, at least in the Department of Interior. Would you care to

react to that observation?

Mr. BERRY. Mr. Chairman, as I’ve discussed, we can do better

and we’re going to do better. We have begun that dialogue with the

Marianas. It must be a partnership. And to be effective, it’s going

to take both of us rowing in the right direction. But, at the same

time, this issue of immigration, which we see is key to many of

these problems, we could triple Federal law enforcement. We could

quadruple by an exponential factor of 100. It will not solve this

problem.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Well, may I just react to that? I mean, the Marianas came into the United States. It was via the compact, wasn’t

it? There’s a Covenant. I mean, it was an agreement between these

two entities. And to sit here and hear all of you from the Federal

Government attack one of the underlying premises of that Covenant. I mean, it’s fundamental. Which is that they get to control

their immigration. That, to me, seems like it’s not acting in good

faith. That was the terms of the bargain when they joined us.

Mr. BERRY. Mr. Chairman, it was not a permanent term of the

bargain. It was recognized in the beginning to protect their indige-
123

nous population. But when you see that the majority of the population, over 58 percent of this island, is now alien indentured work

force, the principle and the spirit with which that was negotiated

has been woefully abused.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Well, you’ve heard them acknowledge in testimony that this whole thing with the garment industry is going to

top out and decline. And it’s going to happen in less than five

years. So instead of expending so much effort, from the administration’s viewpoint, in focusing on just this, what are we doing, what

plans are being laid to help them transition to what they, themselves, want to get to? And they admit it is going to be something

new and different than where we are.

I mean, they are sort inherently disadvantaged because they are

one of these remote territories, so why don’t we just work on finding a solution for them and I’m frustrated to hear the constant attack on their minimum wage and all of that. And it’s kind of relates—I mean, it’s principally focused around the garment industry.

Okay. I mean, in five years the garment industry is on a decline.

So what else do we have to—how are you going to help them get

to the next stage? That’s what I’m interested in.

Mr. FRASER. Mr. Doolittle, if I may, I’d like to start with the first

part of the question—and I’m sure John would want to address the

next steps. When you say, ‘‘Focus on just this,’’ let’s remember

what ‘‘jusd this’’ is. It’s 33,000 poor, vulnerable, entirely dependent,

young men and women from Asian countries.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. All right. Now, Mr. Fraser, it’s my time and I’m

going to reclaim the time.

Mr. FRASER. Okay.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Just to observe I’ve been there. I don’t have the

advantage of having comparatives, like Mr. Young did, but to listen

to those who saw it years ago versus how it is now, it’s come a long

ways. Mr. Berry, do you feel that we’ve made progress in the CNMI

in terms of their overall economic condition, between now and

when the Covenant was entered into? Yes or no?

Mr. BERRY. Yes.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Thank you. I appreciate hearing that. My time

is up and I’m going to recognize Mr. Miller for—we’re on the second

round of questioning now, which I intend to be the final round.

Mr. MILLER. Well, Mr. Doolittle, we have—under the rules, we

have time to ask each of the witnesses five minutes worth of questions. So let’s see where we go with this.

Well, I certainly wouldn’t want to say in my congressional district that success is and improvement is when we’ve doubled the

number of people receiving Food Stamps while we’ve engaged in a

great economic experiment here that has taken its toll on the number of poor, vulnerable workers that you describe. I find it interesting, with all due respect to the gentleman from Samoa, that,

yes, you are the lead agency and yet we continue to resist the notion of your recommendations. We have the recommendations of

the Justice Department, of the Labor Department, of the Department of Interior, who are far more familiar with this than the

members of this Committee, who tell you we have a gaping hole

in our system. Most Americans would be shocked to find out that,
124

given the entire immigration system of this country and the protection of America’s borders, that there’s a big hole sitting out there

in the middle of the Pacific where people can simply show up and

we will have no knowledge of their background, their intentions, or

their ability to carry out activities against this population or other

populations.

You wouldn’t accept this in Texas. You wouldn’t accept it in Canada. You wouldn’t accept it in Kansas. You wouldn’t accept it in

Florida. But right out there, that’s what you have sticking out into

the middle of the Pacific.

The goal, as we’ve heard from numerous Justice reports, this and

others, is to get your toe on the foothold here. Because then you

go here, you go to Guam, you go to the United States. And that’s

why the gangs keep coming. And that’s why the poor and the dispossessed keep coming is they keep telling them they’re getting a

ticket to America.

So I find it rather interesting. We keep saying we want a partnership. And my friends on the other side of the aisle here say they

want the Federal Government to do more, which is kind of an interesting chant. They want the Federal Government to do more.

They want to be partners. Yes. We’re the partners on the deck of

this ship and the CNMI is the partners below the water line and

they won’t fix the hole in the ship, but they want us to remodel

the cabins.

That’s not a partnership. And this ship is sinking, as has been

pointed out by every one of these graphs. All of the indicators in

the CNMI are negative, they are continuing to go negative, and

they’ve been going negative a long time. And why? Because you

have no ability to build an alternative economy when you have an

economy that’s so heavily reliant on the illegal use of labor in the

United States, where you get the benefit of the ‘‘made in the

U.S.A.’’ label; you get the benefit of no quotas; and you can use

that time and time again. And when you can reinvent yourself in

businesses, you get a claim against somebody for back payment of

wages, they reinvent themselves, and the CNMI—not the Federal

Government—the CNMI allows them to open up another business

under another name and everybody knows who they are.

When we ask people how do people get in under these false documents? You show them the documents, they say, oh, we know these

people who signed this document. Yes, I know this man. No, these

people never had a job. That’s not a business. That person lives

down the street. It is an island, as you say, and they do know

what’s going on. And the level of corruption is allowed because the

immigration laws cannot be enforced.

We can argue over minimum wage until the cats come home. You

know what? If you didn’t have this huge subsidy of illegal labor,

of people who could get in under the immigration law, who

mightn’t be, in many instances, wouldn’t be otherwise able to get

in, the minimum wage problem would take care of itself. Because

people on the island would have to make a decision about what

they’re prepared to work for or not work for.

Now most of the citizens have already made that decision.

They’re working for the government. But all the aliens are working

out here in an area where they have no labor protections. They
125

have no rights of a green card under our immigration laws. It is

very difficult for law enforcement to pursue their rights. And yet

we’re told, somehow, this is a system that’s going to transition? It’s

not going to transition into anything. It’s going to continue its

downward spiral. But that’s what the political system in the CNMI

is endorsing and supporting and they’re welcome to it. They’re entitled to do that; that’s their rights.

But let’s understand the ramifications of what’s taking place. But

when you ask the chief law enforcement people what their recommendations are and you continue to reject them and the problem continues, don’t put it on their back to clean up the problem.

They have told you that they don’t believe—throughout their testimony—additional manpower or additional efforts because they are

constantly after the fact because they can’t engage in preventative

activities by knowing and protecting people who come to this country. And, again, there’s nowhere else.

I mean, you howled against the protection of the borders and

people coming in from Mexico and California’s southern border.

We’ve joined to put the troops on the border. We’ve joined to beef

up the INS. We’ve taken away people’s rights. We’ve deported people. But you know what? In the CNMI, none of it applies. It doesn’t

apply to drugs. It doesn’t apply to diseases. It doesn’t apply to

criminal activity. It doesn’t apply to employment protections.

So this is, as your leader Mr. DeLay said, if this is a wonderful,

successful experiment in the free marketplace, then something’s

terribly wrong with that free marketplace that you would take the

poorest people, in some cases, the poorest people in the world and

you would exploit them and tax them to support other people.

We have—and, I don’t know, maybe there are witnesses who can

testify, but we talked to a number of people. You have people who

are on the welfare system as citizens—of the country of CNMI—

of the United States as citizens of the CNMI, who engage, in fact,

have foreign workers as their maids and their servants. And

they’re on the welfare rolls. That’s an encouraging notion of the

free market system and of this great experiment and the fact that

this is a success. The fact of the matter is that it isn’t.

I would like, before we go to the next round, if you want to let

me just finish up with Mr. Fraser.

Mr. Fraser, in your testimony, you do recount—you say, ‘‘Neither

stepped-up Federal law enforcement, nor enduring commitment on

the part of the CNMI itself to reform and enforce local laws can

solve these problems without structural changes.’’ And then you go

on to account that, despite what you consider a strong commitment

and the best efforts of the DOL and participating Federal agencies,

unfortunately reality is that the problem persists and, in many

cases, is getting worse. And then you go on to talk about the question of the rights of the—many of these foreign workers. Do we still

see the presence of shadow contracts?

Mr. FRASER. Absolutely, Mr. Miller. It’s very common. They’re

hard to get your hands. They’re hard to penetrate. But it’s very

common. We hear that it’s typical. We’d love to have more information about it.

Mr. MILLER. Some of these contracts, if the person complained

against the country, there are contracts in some cases made with
126

people in China and I guess in other countries, that, as a condition

of that contract, if you complain against the company, the company

tells the holder of your shadow contract and you’re deported.

Mr. FRASER. Yes.

Mr. MILLER. That wouldn’t be allowed under American immigration laws.

Mr. FRASER. No, sir.

Mr. MILLER. That wouldn’t be a condition for that.

Mr. FRASER. Again, I’m not an immigration law enforcement

agency.

Mr. MILLER. No, no, I——

Mr. FRASER. But I have never heard of such a circumstance.

Mr. MILLER. So, in fact, so when we’re told, again, as we were

putting a good face on what the previous panel told us that they

believe that the recruitment, you know, you’re not allowed to hire

anybody who used a recruiter, that hasn’t solved the problem of the

shadow contract that can have every bit as much hold on these individuals while they’re working in the CNMI.

Mr. FRASER. That’s correct, Mr. Miller. And if I understood the

governor’s testimony correctly, I don’t believe the Commonwealth

has eliminated the use of recruiters entirely, but for certain industries. In the guard service industry in particular where it was a

very serious problem I think they’ve taken steps to try to eliminate

the use of recruitment, at least for guard service employment. But

I don’t believe that’s the case across the board.

Mr. MILLER. So, in fact—and, again, they’ve given their check

system of people before they come—and maybe somebody can answer this in Justice—they would have no way of knowing whether

a person had a shadow contract. They don’t have to ask the question. The person doesn’t have to tell them the truth. And they

wouldn’t know. If that person knew it was illegal to say you came

with a recruiter, why would you answer the question yes? There

would be no way to verify that under current immigration laws, is

that correct? I don’t know, maybe Justice is more comfortable—if

you’re not comfortable answering the question, then we can get it.

Mr. GESS. I frankly am not comfortable answering that.

Mr. MILLER. All right. Leave it there.

Mr. GESS. I could certainly obtain one for you.

[The information follows:]

Mr. MILLER. But, again, if we don’t know about the criminal

background of individuals and we don’t know all the rest of it, it’s

highly unlikely we’d know whether or not their family had entered

them into a shadow contract or had paid money to get them to the

United States.

On the question of—you talked about the default judgment, Fraser, against Byung Yong Moon for $870,000 and you say you can’t

find him. Is his company still in business?

Mr. FRASER. No, sir. We are pursing litigation against the successor company, which is Hyunjin Saipan, to try to recover some

or all of those wages.

Mr. MILLER. Do we know if that’s truly a successor company?

Mr. FRASER. We understand that that company acquired the assets of Mr. Moon and his former companies and that’s why we’re
127

pursuing that enterprise to recover the back wage liability. Whether we’ll be successful or not remains to be seen.

Mr. MILLER. I see.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Will the gentleman yield just a moment?

Mr. MILLER. Yes, sir.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Gess has a pressing engagement that requires him to leave and, just before he does, does any member of

the Committee wish to pose any questions?

Mr. MILLER. I would like—because it may be joint, but maybe

Mr. Fraser can answer the question.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Well, let me just observe—and you still may

wish to ask him—but he’s going to leave behind a representative

that could answer questions. But, anyway, go ahead.

Mr. MILLER. My question is, with respect to the recovery—and,

Mr. Gess, if your representative can answer. But with respect to

the recovery of unpaid wages, back wages, and the $3,000 program

that was put in place for the stranded Bangladeshis and maybe

some others, I’d like to know the complications in recovering that

money and what we do about it. Because, again, I understand that

in many instances, if you make a claim for back wages, you’re then

in jeopardy of being deported under CNMI policy. And whether

that hampers, if you will, the prosecution of justice.

Mr. GESS. I am, frankly, not in a position to answer that question.

Mr. MILLER. Okay.

Mr. GESS. But, as I heard it, it is an area that I know internally

the Justice Department needs to look at. We will and I would like

to share that information with the Committee as well.

Mr. MILLER. Thank you. Mr. Fraser, you indicate in your statement that the relief provided under the Act, and that was the Commonwealth Non-Resident Worker Relief Act, is only available to

those workers who filed complaints with the local CNMI labor

agency and not to those holding orders or judgments from Federal

agencies or courts of competent jurisdiction.

Mr. FRASER. That’s correct, Mr. Miller. That was the point I was

going to make in response to your question. That provision to provide up to $3,000 in return airfare and back wages is not available

to any of these 2,600 workers for whom we’ve found—the Federal

Government, the Federal Department of Labor—has found back

wages are owed only if the case is brought to the Commonwealth

government and an administrative finding issued by the Commonwealth government is that available.

Mr. MILLER. So, in all of these arguments we heard this morning

about greater cooperation with the Federal Government and the

Federal Government should do more, we have judgments for back

wages for 2,600 individuals and they won’t let you go ahead and

process those. So those individuals can get an airplane ticket and

$3,000 and go home, in theory.

Mr. FRASER. Oh, I wouldn’t want to put that in the context of cooperation, Mr. Miller. That’s my understanding of the law that was

enacted by the Commonwealth legislature.

Mr. MILLER. I understand why the law was enacted. Listen, I

think I’m fairly well schooled on why the laws were enacted in the

Commonwealth. Not what they are, but why they are.
128

You state that, in many instances, I believe—don’t let me put

words in your mouth—but in many instances the judgments for

those individuals far exceed $3,000. So by taking this great humanitarian act, the worker gets screwed out of whatever is over $3,000

and an airplane ticket. And I understand in some cases the airplane ticket is deducted from the $3,000. So really what we have

is a heavily indebted Bangladesh person going home no better off

than they came, even though they worked and provided labor and

goods and services for their employer.

Mr. FRASER. That’s my understanding, Mr. Miller, that many of the workers have administrative decisions well in excess of $3,000.

That in some cases, at least the cost of the airplane ticket is deducted from that. That the maximum amount payable is $3,000.

Mr. MILLER. So what happens to those administrative decisions

and/or those judgments? How are they collected?

Mr. FRASER. That’s really a question I think Mr. Zachares is

much better situated to answer than I. If it’s a Federal finding in

a Federal Department of Labor determination, we would try to ascertain whether assets are available that we could go after, as we

are doing in these cases referenced in the testimony. But you’re

asking a question about how one would proceed under the Commonwealth’s law and I do not know the answer to that.

Mr. MILLER. So for every worker that I as the Commonwealth can convince to take the $3,000 and the airplane fare, in many

cases, I am saving the employer the cost of paying that judgment.

Mr. FRASER. Yes, sir.

Mr. MILLER. That’s a wonderful, humanitarian Act. I am really

thankful to the legislature for passing that Act. Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Schaffer. Oh, let’s—just a minute. Did you—

are you going to address to Mr. Gess? Because I want to be able

to let him go. Go ahead. Okay.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Yes. That’s the only question I’ll ask and I’ll save

the rest for the rest of my turn. Mr. Gess, I want to get at the

question of the Department of Justice’s practices in CNMI and

similar places as well. Does the Department of Justice pay nonresident aliens to perform any work for the Department of Justice?

Mr. GESS. I don’t know, Mr. Congressman. That’s an answer that

I would need to get to you.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Can you envision any kind of scenario or situation where it ever appropriate for the Department of Justice to pay

non-resident aliens for services performed for the Department of

Justice?

Mr. GESS. I’m just simply not familiar with the topic, but I can

assure you——

Mr. SCHAFFER. How about specifically with respect to translation? Do you know if the Department of Justice pays translators

who are not residents to translate in a courtroom?

Mr. GESS. Congressman, I don’t know. But I do know after talking with Fred Black, the United States attorney out there, that one

of the most severe problems that assistant U.S. attorneys and

agents face is interpretation. So your question sounds a bell that

really tells me that I need to talk with Mr. Black and find out. Because I know it’s a severe law enforcement problem.
129

Mr. SCHAFFER. Just, given that conversation took place between

you and Mr. Black, do you think it’s, with all the concern the Department of Justice has and all the other Federal agencies represented here with illegal, you know, work arrangements and so

on, do you suppose it’s possible that the Department of Justice has

ever hired non-resident aliens to translate for them in a courtroom?

Mr. GESS. Congressman, I really don’t know. My understanding,

though, is that courtroom interpretation is by the courts. But,

nonetheless, it’s the same concern. And I understand it. Understood.

Mr. SCHAFFER. If I told you I had a check stub of a U.S. Department of Justice check written out to an individual who translated

who is not a United States citizen who was here on a tourist visa,

would that sound out of the ordinary?

Mr. GESS. Again, Congressman, this is just simply a topic that—

the only reason it rings a bell is the United States attorney telling

me that there’s a problem with obtaining interpreters. Nobody has

suggested who is used or who isn’t used. If you have any information, may I contacd your staff after the hearing and ask for a copy?

Mr. SCHAFFER. You can contact me, sure. But let me just say I

have one check stub of that sort that I was able to find in my five

days on the island. I would appreciate information from you, frankly, if there are others like this. I would like those, instead.

Mr. GESS. Congressman, absolutely. I am only asking for the document because it starts a paper trail. I can assure you that we

want the answer too. We’ll obtain it. Again, as with everything

else, we will share it with the Committee.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That’s the only question I have for Mr. Gess.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Thank you. All right, Mr. Gess, we’ll—oh, yes.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. We each have one question for Mr. Gess.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Oh, you do. All right. Well, okay. Mr. Underwood.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. Okay, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Much has

been made about this chart which has been carted out as to the

proportion between non-U.S. citizens and U.S. citizens and I guess

the lack of the application of the INA has been suggested as part

of this.

If you made a comparison to the population of Guam and you

drew the comparison in terms of people who have a parent that

was born on Guam, you’d get almost relatively the same proportion

of people who had roots in Guam versus people who didn’t have

roots in Guam because of the INA. So the issue—and I appreciate

and I want to separate the issue of enforcement under the INA,

which may be appropriate in some instances—but to use the INA

argument as the application of the INA argument as a way to keep

the local indigenous population from being overwhelmed, that simply does not hold water because, in the case of Guam, that has not

been the case.

And, in fact, it is because of the Guam experience that many

CNMI people originally asked for this authority. Admittedly,

they’ve done other things with it, but I just wanted to make that

case.
130

To the point that I’m asking is that would the Department of

Justice or would the administration entertain having—and as has

been suggested in the case for Guam—if you want to continue to

apply the INA, why could you not have a locally negotiated quota?

Mr. GESS. Congressman, my answers earlier were solely directed

to the enforcement issues that we find. My background as a career

prosecutor and working with agents and talking to them is that

this is an enforcement problem for us. I understand there were

other reasons for this. But from our enforcement perspective, we

find a problem in not having the immigration—I hate—I’m not trying to make light—but the immigration piece of the pie is missing.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. Well, I just wanted to make the case and I

think it’s rather clear that the end result is relatively the same

thing.

Mr. GESS. Understood, Congressman.

Mr. FRASER. And, Mr. Underwood, if it helps, to answer that

question, the administration’s bill does contemplate, in the transition provisions in phasing in the INA, it does contemplate local negotiation with the CNMI regarding transitional foreign worker programs. So the administration approach is very much along the

lines that you’re suggesting.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. Well, and I’m very glad to hear that, Mr. Fraser, because I hope the same courtesy is extended to Guam in

terms of the application of the INA. Because that’s the issue——

Mr. FRASER. We’ve had this discussion before, Mr. Underwood.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. I know we’ve had this discussion before. But

the point that I’m making is that, if this chart is utilized to create

a certain impression, as if, somehow or other, although, admittedly,

enforcement issues play a role in this and this process was sped up

for the CNMI in comparison to Guam, but the application of the

INA to Guam has been no great shakes either. Thank you.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Chairman.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Yes, Mr. Faleomavaega.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Just one quick question to Mr. Gess. He’s

the legal authority here in our hearing. Mr. Gess, any alien born

in North Marianas, does that person become automatically a U.S.

citizen?

Mr. GESS. I don’t know the answer to that. I can get that for you.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. So the reason for my question is that the

33,000 workers, you know, under circumstances where some of

them give birth there in NMI, do they automatically become U.S.

citizens?

Mr. GESS. I understand from my colleagues that the answer is

yes. I simply——

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Did somebody nod yes? Danny Aranza?

Mr. ARANZA. Yes.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Is that by our Federal law? The operation

of our Federal law?

Mr. ARANZA. Yes, that’s an actual—also a provision of the Covenant.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Thank you.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Have you concluded? Okay. Okay. Mr. Schaffer

still has time remaining. Let’s say three minutes. And he has other
131

questions now to pose to the remaining—thank you, Mr. Gess. We

appreciate your being here. So, Mr. Schaffer, you’re recognized.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Mr. Abercrombie asked Mr. Berry if he knew of

any illegal or improper activities by OIA employees and he said not

until this Committee told him. Mr. Aranza, I have a similar question for you. When did you become aware that anyone employed by

OIA may have engaged in partisan political activity or lobbied with

Federal resources?

Mr. ARANZA. I first became aware of those allegations, Mr. Schaffer, when the subpoenas were issued and the documents were produced.

Mr. SCHAFFER. At any time, did you become aware that OIA employees were offering cash or other things of value to people to help

organize or participate in any protests or demonstrations?

Mr. ARANZA. I am not aware of any such activity.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Was the prospect of green cards or visas or U.S.

passports ever mentioned to Bangladeshi workers, that if they protested or demonstrated and it resulted in Federal takeover of the

island, that those kinds of benefits might accrue to them?

Mr. ARANZA. I am not aware of any such promises.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Let me tell you, I did spend five days in Saipan

and interviewed many individuals, including Bangladeshis and

have heard three accounts since then, two while I was there, one

that I have since received in writing, that you were at a meeting

of that sort and suggested to Bangladeshis that many people told

their problem—let me go jump back a little. He writes in broken

English in the letter that I have in front of me. For protests

against—okay. ‘‘Danny Aranza. We met with him at two

Bangladeshis and a fellow to discuss with them about CNMI and

help U.S. and to help them collect documents against CNMI labor

and immigration. By this way, many Federal officials met with

Bangladeshi workers and encouraged them to protest against

CNMI.’’

Were you ever at any meeting like that where you encouraged

Bangladeshis to protest against the CNMI government?

Mr. ARANZA. Absolutely not.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Do you recall being at any meeting where

Bangladeshis might have come away with the impression that you

were encouraging them to protest against CNMI activities or in

connection with any congressional activities, visits, or hearings?

Mr. ARANZA. There were several times I was in the CNMI where

I did visit with various worker communities, Bangladeshis included. But in none of those meetings, do I recall making any

promises of asylum or cash awards or anything.

Mr. SCHAFFER. You know, I asked my previous question asked

about when you became aware of any of the illegal allegations. I

guess I want to be more specific. At what point were you aware of

any illegal actions involving lobbying or political work by OAI employees?

Mr. ARANZA. Could you put that in a clear context?

Mr. SCHAFFER. I want to know if you were aware of anything illegal that occurred to you that it might perhaps be illegal or inappropriate, any activities prior to the subpoenas being filed by the

Committee?
132

Mr. ARANZA. I believe, Mr. Schaffer, with respect to the Guam

negotiations, I believe there some allegations about fundraising.

But that wasn’t related to my office.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Did you receive a memo from Mr. David North?

The date on it is May 10, 1998, where he described a scheme to

have the Fish and Wildlife Service inspectors come on the island,

CNMI, to help open containers because of, as the memo says, ‘‘Fish

and Wildlife inspectors have powers in the CNMI and, for Guam,

for that matter, that U.S. Customs inspectors lack. Fish and Wildlife inspectors can open anything that is in international trade.

Probable cause for them in the ninth Circuit is simply something

that has crossed an international border. Fish and Wildlife has an

interest in shell buttons.’’ And he goes on and describes how he had

had conversations with the Fish and Wildlife Service to engage in

this kind of a joint effort with other law enforcement agencies to

look for shell buttons, I suppose, in the garmend containers.

Do you remember receiving that memo?

Mr. ARANZA. I don’t recall receiving that memo. I’d be glad to receive that and refresh my memory.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Just to be fair, your name is mentioned as one

of the three individuals who received the memo. Alan Stamon, you,

and Nancy Fanning. Let me ask Mr. Shruhan, are you aware of

any plans or any activities where the Fish and Wildlife Service was

involved in any inspections of garment containers?

Mr. SHRUHAN. None.

Mr. SCHAFFER. None. I have lots more questions, Mr. Chairman,

but I want to finish on time, too. Thank you.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. I appreciate the gentleman’s concern. Gentlemen, this will conclude the second panel. There will be further

questions which members of the Committee may wish to ask and

those will be propounded in written form and we would request

your prompt response and the record will be held open for that purpose. With that, we will excuse you and thank you very much for

your patience and your testimony.

And we will begin panel number three. Ladies and gentlemen,

we welcome you, finally, to have your chance to testify as our third

panel. May I please ask you to rise and raise your right hands for

the purpose of taking the oath. Thank you.

[Witnesses sworn.]

Let the record reflect that each answered in the affirmative.

Please be seated and we will begin our testimony with Ms. Lynn

A. Knight, vice president of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce. And

I’m going to ask Mr. Schaffer to take the Chair for a few moments.

Ms. Knight, you’re recognized.

STATEMENT OF LYNN A. KNIGHT, VICE PRESIDENT, SAIPAN

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, SAIPAN, MP

Ms. KNIGHT. Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, my

name is Lynn Knight. I’m here today on behalf of the Saipan

Chamber to discuss the state of business in our islands and the impact of changes to our economic freedoms which are being considered by this Committee.

It’s difficult to afford to be here in the midst of the worst recession we’ve ever had. But I’m here because, as a small business
133

owner, I’m afraid of a future we can’t control. Like many others,

I’ve invested everything I own in Saipan and I believe it’s imperative that we continue to control our own economic destiny.

While the words may sound a bit strange to your ears, the words

Federal takeover instill fear in most business owners. The possibility of a loss of control over our immigration, minimum wage, and

special trade advantage spells economic disaster. This doesn’t mean

we are any less proud to be Americans. Our community shares the

same values that you do. We believe that work places should be

safe and that employees should not be taken for granted, that we

should hire from the local community first, and that our staffs

should receive a decent living wage.

But we differ in other ways. If you were to live on a remote island, you’d see that the costs of running a business are extremely

high, that small economies of scale make it difficult to make a profit and that the local labor pool is very limited. Our educational system could never fully prepare people to work in the wide range of

jobs that exist in our community.

We live where East meets West. And, as such, we’re affected by

regional economic conditions which are in serious decline. Bridging

the various cultures and currencies has always offered significant

challenges. In the past 13 years since I’ve made Saipan my home,

I’ve seen a vast improvement in the quality of life, but we’re still

far behind the mainland. We don’t yet have fresh drinking water

from every tap. We’re anxiously awaiting new capital improvement

projects which may help jumpstart our ailing economy. But funds

for such projects are short, due to the Asian economic crisis.

Our tourism industry’s down 30 percent. Garment factories are

reporting a 25 percent reduction in orders and that means a lot

less money circulating in our economy. Retail and auto sales have

plunged, up to 50 percent. One in every 10 businesses has closed.

We’re trying to attract diversified industries, but no one will invest

in the Northern Marianas now. We can’t attract new investment

with the threat of a massive change that a Federal takeover would

bring: the possibility of doubling our minimum wage and the removal of necessary access to a labor supply. It’s impossible to plan

for the coming months, let alone recruit investments.

Clearly we’re in a crisis, one that many businesses will not survive if drastic changes occur in the way we must operate. Our recession is also forcing the local government to downsize. This

should give the private sector the opportunity to hire more local

workers, however even if we were to hire all 5,000 of the government staff plus the 1,400 unemployed, it would not equal the

25,000 jobs that we have.

Do we have an economy that could withstand a doubling of its

minimum wage? Going from $3.05 to $6.15 an hour will mean that

businesses will be forced to do more with significantly less resources. That means layoffs and an increase in the cost of living

at the worst possible time. The Federal minimum wage is based on

the cost of living in a highly developed mainland economy. We have

our own minimum wage review board and we believe this system

best accommodates local employment and economic conditions.

I won’t say that we haven’t had labor problems in the past. Loopholes that needed to be closed. We’re working closely with the
134

CNMI government on reforms and we see substantial progress in

all industries.

Mr. Chairman, I understand that there’s a concern that we have

what many consider to be too many aliens in our population, but

based upon the rules of the game that we were given under the

Covenant, we built industries that could not have existed without

outside help. If our immigration control ends, we can’t fulfill all of

our employment needs with local residents, Micronesians, or Americans who live at least 6,000 miles away.

If we lose our ability to hire skilled guest workers, please consider a few of the likely victims from among our Chamber. Working

women, like myself, who have small children and elderly parents

to take care of will not be able to work. Our small inter-island airline will cease flying or be forced to double its rates. Air conditioning companies will lose their skilled technicians. A 40-year-old

family bakery will close. We respectfully ask whether the loss of

these businesses and many others like them constitute reform for

the Marianas.

For most foreign workers who have been recruited to our islands,

it’s meant a greatly improved quality of life. Most of the foreign

employee’s needs are provided for by locally mandated benefits, including unlimited 100 percent health care. In this 1998 communication, the Philippine consulate praises the Marianas for the

good treatment of their workers. A copy of this document has been

submitted with our written testimony.

But rather than recognizing the positive, rather than working

with us on reforms, our critics on the Federal side seem to prefer

a one-size-fits-all approach, Federal takeover. We’re left feeling like

a child who’s done something wrong. Rather than teaching the

child, the parent simply takes the matter over and does it their

way. This is not the way to ensure that a child never makes another mistake.

Would a takeover mean that there would never again be an

OSHA violation or disagreement between an employer and employee? If such problems can and do exist all across America, they

will surely continue in the Northern Marianas, even under full imposition of American laws. The answer clearly lies not in a takeover, but more emphasis and partnership with the Federal Government in education training and law enforcement.

In its wisdom, Congress in 1976 agreed that we needed certain

advantages in order to help us achieve economic development.

We’ve heard that a goal of this Committee is to promote economic

development in the insular areas. To this end, we urge the Committee to lay such takeover legislation aside. Let us concentrate on

improving our local laws with Federal guidance. Let us meet somewhere along the road. Thank you.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Knight follows:]

STATEMENT OF LYNN A. KNIGHT, SAIPAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, on behalf of the Saipan Chamber

of Commerce, I am pleased to be here today to discuss the state of business and

commerce in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). We believe it is important to convey how our businesses are now faring at this particular

time and, more importantly, how they will fare under circumstances of a Federal

takeover—shorthand for the legislative eradication of the Northern Marianas’
135

unique Covenant authorities of local control over the minimum wage and immigration.

In the Northern Mariana Islands, the words ‘‘federal takeover’’instill fear in most

business owners. This phrase has become synonymous with economic disaster. One

executive of a major international firm on Saipan said his business plan for the coming year anticipated further cost cutting and hardship due to the Asian economic

crisis. He went further to say that if the pending ‘‘takeover’’ bills in U.S. Congress

were to pass, he would have to throw all his business plans out the window. This

is but one example of what a ‘‘federal takeover’’ would mean to the business community of the Northern Marianas.

This doesn’t mean we are any less proud to be Americans. We share the same

basic values as mainland America. We believe that work places should be safe and

that employees should not be taken for granted, that we should hire locally when

possible and that our staffs should receive a decent living wage.

The Northern Marianas became an American territory by overwhelming local

vote, but there are few similarities with most American jurisdictions. Our small insular territory of approximately 70,000 people—which is across the international

dateline and 9,000 miles from the nation’s capital—is more a part of Asia than the

Western Hemisphere. The investment we have managed to attract since we became

an American jurisdiction only two decades ago has been virtually all Asian. Our

largest industry, tourism, attracts almost exclusively Asian visitors. When Asian

markets dropped two years ago, so did our visitors.

We differ in other ways as well. We still don’t have fresh drinking water from

every tap and the sewer system is antiquated. Our roads are improving and the

power system has just begun to meet our needs. Recently we connected to worldwide

communications systems via our first undersea fiber optic cable. We continue to

strive to improve our infrastructure with both private and public funds, but these

funds have rapidly diminished with the Asian economic crisis.

In general, the growth in our economy has meant an improved quality of life. The

simple fact, however, is that we are an isolated group of islands that only recently

was more like a third world country. We do not have the same economy as the U.S.

mainland, and therefore the economic policies that work for the mainland cannot

be indiscriminately applied in the Marianas. We are highly affected by regional economic conditions, which are in a serious decline.

The authors of our Covenant to Establish the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands recognized the differences. In its wisdom in 1976, U.S. Congress developed the rules of the game upon which our economy was built. They gave us the

ability to control our own minimum wage and immigration due to our unique circumstances. They also gave us the ability to trade freely with the U.S. Based upon

these rules that we were given just 20 years ago, we have built a small, but successful multi-national society. Out of necessity, we employ approximately 25,000 guest

workers from Asia and other foreign countries. This number is fixed by a local moratorium dictating a cap on foreign hires.

While we would prefer to hire primarily local residents if we could—it would certainly be less expensive and less risky—we do not have enough citizens to staff our

businesses. Even if we had the numbers, our limited educational institutions could

not produce enough skilled workers in all the positions we need to fill. Even if our

local government shut down and forced all of its 5,000 employees into the private

sector, there would simply not be enough people to fill all the jobs.

Our local economy has assimilated foreign workers into our community and they

have become a major consumer of and user of local goods and services. Today most

successful companies in the Northern Marianas have made marketing efforts to encourage foreign workers to buy their products and services. If these people were

forced to leave under the U.S. immigration system, many establishments that cater

to Filipinos, Japanese, Chinese and Koreans would close from the loss of business.

A good example is in telecommunications. The top destinations for long distance

calling are the Philippines and China due to the large number of guest workers

from these countries who call home. The volume of calls helps ensure that we have

competition in providers. If this calling ceases, the cost for all other destinations will

rise. The telephone companies will lay off local people, their suppliers will suffer,

the government will receive less in taxes and so on.

In the continuing debate over immigration, we often ask ourselves: we are a tiny,

isolated group of islands with a small indigenous population, but must we also be

limited to a tiny economy? If we didn’t have the ability to recruit from overseas,

would we still live as our Micronesian neighbors, dependent upon Federal handouts

and subsistence living?

The Saipan Chamber of Commerce member businesses represent 79 percent of the

private sector work force, yet nearly all of our members would fit the definition of
136

small businesses. We believe it is vital that the Northern Marianas continue to control our own immigration and minimum wage, and that we be allowed to continue

with the same trade advantages that were granted under the Covenant. To take

away these benefits would take away the very foundation of the economic structure

of the CNMI and frustrate the mandate of the United States under the Trusteeship

Agreement, ‘‘To promote the economic advancement and self sufficiency of the inhabitants.’’

The Northern Mariana Islands have received international media attention due

to the problems of our rapid economic growth, confusion about applicable labor laws

and complaints of worker abuse. As a community we are doing something about the

problems we all agree must be addressed. Painstaking reforms are underway. Local

leaders from business and government have been meeting frequently to share ideas

and work together as never before.

But rather than working with the Northern Marianas government on reforms,

rather than helping us to enforce the law, some of our critics prefer a one-size-fitsall Federal takeover. We are left feeling like a small child who has done something

wrong. Rather than teaching the child, the parent simply takes the matter over and

does it his or her way. But is this the way to ensure that the child never makes

another mistake?

Would a takeover of our immigration and minimum wage, the removal of our tariff status mean that there would never again be an OSHA violation, a staff member

who wants a higher salary, a disagreement between employee and employer regarding overtime? If such problems can and do exist throughout work sites all across

America, they will surely continue in the Northern Marianas, even under the full

imposition of American laws. The answer clearly lies more in education, training

and law enforcement.

On a personal note, I moved to Saipan from California in May 1986, recruited for

an assignment by a former employer who desired to do business within the Pacific

Rim. At the time, the notion of doing business with China and anywhere in the Pacific Rim was hot for investors around the world. Attracted by the opportunity to

live and work in an international atmosphere with people of other cultures, I stayed

in Saipan and opened a small business. At that time the island was booming. Foreign investors were welcomed with open arms to build resorts, garment factories

and other businesses on Saipan, a place where East truly met West.

Bridging the various cultures offers significant challenges for training, education

and doing business in general. For most Asian workers recruited to Saipan, however, living here has meant a greatly improved quality of life. In fact, the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines praised the CNMI last year, reiterating

‘‘the good working conditions of Filipino workers’’ that they found in our islands.

(See Appendix A—April 21, 1998 letter from Philippine Consul Julia Heidemann.)

Virtually all of a foreign employee’s needs are provided for by locally mandated

benefits, including housing, transportation and unlimited 100 percent health care.

This enables them to send most of their strong American dollars home for the benefit of families.

Closely tied to the economies of Asia, our business community has grown with

tourism and the trade opportunities in the Pacific. But now the tide has changed.

The strength of the dollar against the yen, the won, and the peso is good for foreign

employees and their families, but it is devastating for tourism. Virtually every other

competing tourist location in Asia is now a better value than our dollar-based destination. Meanwhile, the U.S. mainland is enjoying unbelievable prosperity while

the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is in the throes of recession.

While Asia is reeling and America is celebrating, we are caught helplessly in the

middle. The Asian economic crisis hit us hard and unexpectedly. Built on two major

industries—tourism and garment manufacturing—we don’t have enough diversity to

weather a long and severe recession. Together tourism and garment manufacturing

account for 4 out of every 5 jobs in the Commonwealth today and more than 7 out

of every 10 jobs held by permanent residents. Virtually all small businesses exist

in some way to support those two industries. If a garment factory or hotel closes,

a myriad of other small businesses will close.

It may seem that if an investor has the money, such a down market may mean

an ideal time to come to the Northern Marianas. Land prices have plummeted. Office and retail space is available everywhere. More than 1,300 business licenses

have not been renewed and many companies are for sale. Bankruptcy filings have

increased tremendously. A savvy investor could take advantage of bargain opportunities.

As we prepare for the new millenium, we have undertaken a new study to develop

an economic strategy for the Commonwealth. The objective of this study, designed
137

and funded by the CNMI leadership and the Office of Insular Affairs, is to provide

some insight into the future directions of the CNMI economy so that policy makers

in Washington, DC and the CNMI can adapt policies to achieve maximum benefits

for the people of the CNMI. The Chamber’s summary of that draft study is attached.

(See Appendix B.)

A group of volunteers from our Chamber have also been working hard with local

government officials to examine ways that we can attract new and diversified industries. They call this group the Governor’s Economic Revitalization Task Force. But

no one will invest in the Northern Marianas now.

We cannot diversify our economy in the face of an unrelentingly negative campaign launched by those who would demonize our culture and take away our local

economic controls. Add to the equation the possibility of a 100 percent hike in the

local minimum wage at the worst possible time, and the removal of necessary access

to our labor supply. Further add to this a variety of new local laws our government

has instituted in order to improve our labor and immigration systems. These circumstances have created an air of instability for any investor, whether foreign or

local.

The effect on existing businesses is staggering. For most, it is impossible to plan

for the coming months, let alone recoup investments that will take years to recover.

Potential investors have simply turned away. Clearly we are in a crisis, one that

many will not survive if drastic change occurs in the way we must do business. Consider these facts:

Tourism, a primary driver of our economy is down 30 percent. Garment manufacturers have lost 25 percent of their orders. Automotive sales are down nearly 50 percent as is much of retail in general. One in every 10 businesses has closed. Hundreds more that cater to Filipinos, Japanese, Chinese and Koreans will close overnight if all of our guest workers have to go home.

Is this a community that could afford to replace and re-train its private sector?

Is this an economy that could withstand a doubling of its minimum wage? A hike

in the wages at this time will carry significant costs: slower job creation, fewer

hours, and lost jobs. The evidence is overwhelming that raising the minimum wage

will help few working men and women. It will demand that small businesses do

more with significantly fewer resources. It will cause higher-level wages to be increased, thus boosting inflationary pressures in an already precarious time.

The Federal minimum wage rate is based on the cost of living and prevailing

wage levels in a highly developed mainland economy. The imposition of the mainland minimum wage on the Commonwealth’s employers may in fact force many of

us out of business.

The Commonwealth has enacted its own minimum wage law and formed its own

Minimum Wage Review Board, which we believe is consistent with the intent of the

Covenant. We believe this system best accommodates local economic and employment conditions. It is unfortunate that the positions on this board reserved for Federal representatives have remained vacation, despite numerous invitations to participate.

It seems clear that because of the special characteristics of its economy and despite the growth that has been realized in recent years, the Commonwealth would

be unable to absorb an immediate increase to the U.S. mainland minimum wage

without the possibility for serious economic disruption. The Chamber of Commerce

respectfully urges this Committee to consider these consequences when it is asked

to deliberate proposals designed to eliminate immigration and labor problems, which

we believe are aimed at eliminating our garment industry. Simply put, bills that

force a Federal takeover will cause many businesses, both large and small, to collapse.

Consider some of the likely victims from among our Chamber members: a small

inter-island airline will have to cease flying or double its rates; an air conditioning

company will lose its skilled technicians; a security company will be unable to serve

its customers; restaurants and hardware stores will lose their customers; a 40-year

old family bakery will fold.

We respectfully ask whether the loss of these businesses and many others like

them constitute ‘‘reform’’ for the Marianas. We believe the answer is no and that

Congress should instead consider giving our reforms an opportunity to work. The

results of a cap on new alien hiring are just now being realized. A full range local

and Federal laws give comprehensive protection to employees. Our amnesty program encourages any illegal foreign workers to come forward. We are also deeply

involved in efforts to provide more on the job training and to create incentives for

local hiring. In short, we are taking stock of the present and have begun planning

for the future. Perhaps even more significantly, we have our first bonafide recession

to challenge us to be better businesses.
138

And while we do so, we ask that the Federal Government share in the responsibility for the crisis atmosphere that has been created in CNMI-Federal relations.

Let us work together on law enforcement to the end that you will feel comfortable

that the incidence of labor abuse in the Northern Mariana Islands has declined and

will decline further. We are but a tiny concern for such a powerful body as U.S. Congress—but if you look closer, we believe you’ll see that our efforts to educate our

businesses on all applicable Federal and local laws are working. The reforms that

have been put in place by our local government are making a difference.

Given the devastating consequences, the Saipan Chamber of Commerce cannot

support legislation that will have a serious negative impact on an economy we believe is headed into even more uncertain times. We urge the Committee to lay such

‘‘takeover legislation’’ aside permanently. We do not, however, suggest that this is

all that the Committee should do. Congress can and should direct the Administration to shift from regularly criticizing the CNMI activities to making a real commitment to providing training and assistance in operating more effective programs.

The Chamber believes that a genuine spirit of Federal-Commonwealth cooperation

would go much farther than any Federal takeover in addressing the immigration

and labor problems we all agree must be resolved. It would also provide the business community and the Commonwealth government the time, and potential investors the confidence, to bring new and diversified economic opportunities to the Marianas.

Our message to the Committee is simple: please don’t cause a collapse of our economy by adopting legislative ‘‘solutions’’ that may seem unremarkable in the context

of the economic boom now enjoyed in the 50 states but that are so foreign to the

CNMI. We are all Americans, yet we work in vastly different economies that are

indeed a world apart.

APPENDIX A

The Honorable Governor Pedro P. Tenorio

Commonwealth of the Northern

Mariana Islands

Dear Gov. Tenorio,

It is an honor to furnish you a copy of a press release dated 20 April 1998 issued

by the Philippines’ Department or Foreign Affairs concerning the Filipino workers

in the Commonwealth. It was based on the report submitted by the Philippine Consulate.

While the press release was meant to be for home consumption to allay the fears

and concerns of the families of Filipino workers in the CNMI, the local media might

find it interesting.

An AP news report from Washington DC during the U.S. Congressional hearing

of CNMI’s labor and immigration found its way to the Philippine media early this

month. The Philippine Consulate was tasked to verify and investigate the allegations of sexual slavery and maltreatment of workers insofar as Filipinos are concerned. The Consulate’s report emphatically reiterated the qood working conditions

of our Filipino workers—and the effective coordination efforts between the Consulate and the local government.

Personally, I am happy that the Philippines is now aware of the true labor situation in the Commonwealth. It is worth the persistence and at times frustrating attempts to demand fairness in media coverage.

With this development, the Philippine Consulate hopes to forge closer relations

with your administration through regular dialogue and consultation. Meantime, I

would like to inform you that in view of the effectiveness of the consultation talks

between the Consulate and DOLI, our Labor Representative has proposed to Sec.

Mark Zachares the resumption of the bilateral consultations on labor issues.

With best personal regards.

STATEMENT OF HON. DIEGO T. BENAVENTE AND PAUL MANGLONA

1. Introduction

On behalf of the members of the Eleventh Northern Mariana Islands Commonwealth Legislature, we are honored to be given the privilege to testify before the

Committee on Resources of the U.S. House of Representatives which has oversight

jurisdiction of the territories and commonwealths of the United States, including the

Northern Mariana Islands. The hearing today before this Committee is focusing on

three areas. The first relates to the adequacy of enforcement of Federal laws in the
139

Northern Mariana Islands, particularly the Federal labor laws, the equal employment opportunity laws, and the occupational health and safety laws. The second will

examine the use of Federal funds by Federal departments charged with the enforcement of Federal laws in the Northern Marianas. The third will examine the use of

Federal funds for capital improvement projects by the Commonwealth Government.

Because Governor Pedro P. Tenorio is separately addressing the signIficant

progress being made by the Commonwealth Government in the enforcement of local

laws with respect to immigration and labor reforms in the Commonwealth since he

began his administration a year and a half ago, our testimony will focus on the reform legislations that the Commonwealth Legislature has enacted to combat labor

abuse in the Commonwealth and to improve our local system of immigration. We

shall, however, briefly address the areas that are the subject of this hearing in relation to our reform efforts, and set forth our views, observations and concerns, if any,

with respect to those areas, particularly the adequacy of enforcement of Federal

laws in the Northern Marianas and the use of Federal capital improvement funds

by the Commonwealth Government.

Finally, we wish to bring to the attention of this Committee, an issue that we

would like the U.S. Congress to look into: our request for Congress to appropriate

Federal funding to reimburse the Commonwealth for the financial costs that unrestricted imigration from the Federated States of Micronesia, Belau, and the Republic of Marshalls has had on the Commonwealth over the years, under the Compacts

of Free Association.

2. Local Reform Legislations

Mr. Chairman, we begin our testimony today by going over the series of reform

legislations that the Commonwealth Legislature has enacted or is in the process of

enacting since early 1998, immediately after the immigration and labor hearing before Senator Frank Murkowski’s Committee on Energy and criticism leveled against

the Commonwealth by the national news media, various human rights groups, and

officials at the Department of Interior. The purpose of the hearing before the Senate

Committee on Natural Resources last year, as well as the hearing held two days

ago before the same Committee was to consider proposed Federal legislation intended to make the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act applicable to the Northern Marianas.

Proposed legislation was introduced in the U.S. Senate in 1998 and again re-introduced this year to take away our local control of immigration matters, in part because of widely-publicized criticism that guest workers in the Commonwealth were

abused by their employers. Another criticism was that guest workers had outnumbered the local resident population. A third criticism was that guest workers

were working and living in deplorable and unsanitary conditions. A fourth was that

many aliens have been illegally overstaying in the Commonwealth beyond the term

of their entry permit. A fifth was that the garment industry was taking advantage

of the non-quota, duty-free treatment of manufactured products given the territories, a privilege intended for the benefit of local businesses and local workers.

We know that you, Mr. Chairman, your Committee, and other members of the

Congress are likewise concerned with these issues and have been working steadily

to promote improvements in the Commonwealth situation. You have personally

taken time from your busy schedule to visit the CNNH and see for yourself conditions there. We thank you for your sincere and forthright approach to these questions. We also find it especially useful when members of Congress work in a cooperative way to help us address labor and immigration issues and to help us better

understand Federal concerns. We believe this kind of approach provides a more effective approach to what problems may exist and is a far greater service to our respective constituents than confrontation and condemnation. We see these hearings

in this light and look forward to continue to work with the Congress and this Committee to better conditions in the Commonwealth for residents and nonresidents

alike.

Governor Pedro P. Tenorio immediately began taking action to address the concerns raised, from Day One of his administration. Through the CNMI Department

of Labor and Immigration (DOLI) he began conducting unannounced inspections of

the working and living conditions of guest workers, particularly those employed by

the garment industry. The Commonwealth Legislature joined the Governor’s call for

reform and began considering legislation that would address the labor and immigration criticisms mounted against the Commonwealth.

One of the first pieces of legislation that was enacted by the Commonwealth Legislature was the moratorium law (Public Law 11-6), which imposed a moratorium

on the hiring of additional guest workers. The law was enacted in response to the

criticism that the non-immigrant guest worker population had already out-num-
140

bered our locaL resident population. We understand from the Department of Labor

and Immigration that, since this law was enacted, there has been a 22.7 percent

decline in the issuance of guest worker permits for 1998, as compared to those

issued in 1997.

To strengthen the moratorium. with respect to alien garment workers, Public Law

No. 11-76 was enacted establishing the maximum number of garment workers for

individual manufacturers and imposing attrition provisions. Because of our moratorium laws, which are still in effect, we expect the number of guest worker perrmits

issued for 1999 to go lower than 1998. Our goal is to continue to decrease the number of guest workers to an acceptable level and hire only guest workers that we

truly need to supplement our local work force.

A second significant legislation that was enacted by the Commonwealth Legislature soon after the March 1998 hearing before Senator Murkowski’s Committee on

Energy and Natural Resources was Public Law 11-69 which limits to three-years the

maximum length of stay in the Commonwealth for non-resident workers; after

which they must exit the Commonwealth for at least six (6) months before applying

again to return to work. This legislation is similar to the Federal regulation promulgated by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) limiting to 3-years

the maximum length of stay of H-2B workers admitted to work in the United

States, after which they also must exit the United States for at least six (6) months

before entering again to work. This measure is intended to remove the criticism that

a substantial number of guest workers have been staying in the Commonwealth for

many years without having any voice in our political process.

A third legislation that we enacted in 1998 is Public Law 11-22, which establishes

‘‘special industry committees’’ charged with studying the several industries in the

Commonwealth, such as the hotel and tourist industry, and recommending to the

Commonwealth Legislature the minimum wage rates appropriate for employees of

a particular industry. This measure is patterned after the Special Industry Committee established by Congress for American Samoa many years ago. As you know,

Mr. Chairman, for several years now the Department of Interior has chastised the

Commonwealth for not implementing outright the Federal minimum wage in the

Northern Marianas.

Our economic conditions and circumstances, however, are far different from the

economy of the continental United States, forcing us to adjust our wage levels based

on the factors that affect our economy, which is directly dependent on the economies

of Asia and Japan. This direct reliance on the economy of Asia and Japan is best

illustrated by the adverse effect that the Asian economic crisis, which began in 1997

and is still continuing, has had on the economy of the Northern Marianas. Since

the financial crisis in Asia began two years ago, our tourist industry has suffered

a severe decline of at least 30 percent in the number of visitors to the Commonwealth. This has translated into a corresponding 30 percent decline in local government revenue, which has crippled our ability to provide essential public services.

A fourth piece of legislation that we enacted within the past year was Public Law

11-66 which addressed the plight of our guest workers who were abandoned by their

employers and were left stranded without any means to feed themselves or to return

to their country of origin. This was one of the criticisms seized upon by the national

news media and later became the rallying cry of some officials at the Department

of Interior and human rights group seeking the federalization of immigration in the

Commonwealth. Unfortunately, the focus of the criticism was not on the employers

who had abandoned these workers, but on the Commonwealth Government which

had allowed the hiring of these workers without fully scrutinizing the financial resources and commitment of their employers.

Public Law 11-66 established a deportation fund to purchase airline tickets for

abandoned guest workers and provide at least a 3-month salary for those who had

received judgments for back wages. Since February of this year, over 1633 abandoned workers have been repatriated under this law, and 111 of these workers

qualified for the salary relief. An additional 50 workers are also seeking similar relief. So far the program has cost the Commonwealth $359,000, a fairly hefty sum

considering the Commonwealth’s continuing revenue decline.

A fifth important piece of legislation that we enacted in early 1998 was Public

Law 11-33 which established a ‘‘limited immunity program’’ for illegal guest workers

who were encouraged to come forward, register and become legal. The Commonwealth had been criticized that a large number of aliens were staying illegally in

the Commonwealth. This law provided the opportunity to rectify the situation. It

was a huge success: 3,079 guest workers who had overstayed beyond the term of

their entry permit stepped forward and were registered. The program was a voluntary one and no threat was made to any guest worker. The Commonwealth Government thereafter assisted the workers in locating employment locally. 1,246 have
141

since been employed under one-year contracts. Those who cannot find employment

are being asked to voluntarily depart.

A sixth piece of reform legislation has just been passed by our legislature and has

been transmitted to the governor for his review and consideration. This is Senate

Bill No. 11-15, S.S.I., which requires a health and criminal background, pre-clearance check for each guest worker in the guest worker’s country of origin, before

being issued an entry/work permit to enter the Commonwealth for employment.

This legislation would ensure that all guest workers entering the Commonwealth

are free of communicable or contagious diseases and do not have any criminal background. It accomplishes this by providing that the Commonwealth will use the same

sources for health clearance certification and criminal background checks as those

relied on by the U.S. State Department and the Department of Justice.

A seventh piece of legislation that is now being re-drafted for consideration by the

Commonwealth Legislature is the Resident Workers Fair Compensation Act. This

measure is intended to attract our unemployed resident population to work in the

private sector, such as the hotel and tourist industry. The measure proposes to

‘‘level the playing field,’’ so to speak, with respect to the ‘‘true wages’’ being paid

non-resident workers and what the equivalent wages should be for resident workers

if employed for the same positions. All of the benefits being given a non-resident

worker, such as free housing, food, and medical insurance, for example, are computed in order to determine the true wage that is being paid a guest worker for a

particular position. This measure proposes to address the criticism that the Commonwealth has a high unemployment rate of 14 percent for local residents, yet has

continued to allow the hiring of guest workers without first finding work for unemployed local residents. The goal of this legislation is to attract our local residents

to work for the private sector, to reduce the resident population’s unemployment

rate, and to lessen the number of residents working for the local government.

The foregoing illustrates the many legislations that the Commonwealth legislature has passed and enacted into law, or is now considering, to address the immigration and labor issues for which we have been criticized. It is a Joint effort between the CNM executive and legislative branches, with the assistance and participation by interested parties, such as the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, the Hotel

Association of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Saipan Garment Manufacturers

Association, and others. We shall continue considering other legislation that would

assist in addressing and eliminating our immigration and labor problems. We are

committed to rectifying the abuses of the past so that we do not repeat them again,

and so that we will regain our credibility and reputation in the eyes of those around

us.

3. Adequacy of Enforcement of Federal Laws in the Commonwealth

The first area that the Conumittee is focusing on at this oversight hearing is the

adequacy of enforcement of Federal laws in the Northern Mariana Islands, particularly the Federal labor laws, equal employment opportunity laws and the occupational safety and health laws. Based on our general observation over the 20 years

since we became a member of the American political family, the U.S. Department

of Labor, particularly its Wage and Hour Division, has established and made its

presence known in the Commonwealth through the prosecution of highly publicized

cases involving employer violations of wages and hours of employment. We believe

that Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has done a good job of monitoring and prosecuting various violations of the Federal wage and hour laws.

As to the enforcement of the equal employment opportunity laws, we wish to note

that staff of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) only recently

began coming to the Commonwealth to take complaints from aggrieved employees.

EEOC has no permanent office in the Commonwealth, as far as we are aware. As

you know, Mr. Chairman, the enforcement of any law is only as good as the personnel and resources committed by the agency enforcing the law. The presence of

EEOC staff on Saipan for about a week every month or so is clearly inadequate.

It is difficult for Commonwealth employees to follow-up or to find out the status of

one’s case without a local office. EEOC should hire at least one or two permanent

staff for Saipan. On a positive note, however, we are happy that EEOC staff has

begun conducting seminars and training sessions for private employers and local

government agencies so that the Commonwealth is now becoming more aware of the

various EEOC laws and regulations.

The third Federal law that the Committee is addressing is the occupational safety

and health laws. Our major complaint with OSHA is also the fact that it does not

have any permanent staff on Saipan to assure continuity and to provide assistance

and information to employers and employees. OSHA investigators come to Saipan

fairly regularly, mispect job sites and conditions of employment issue citations and
142

impose fines; then they leave. We believe that OSHA should have one or two permanent staff on Saipan so that the enforcement of OSHA laws and regulations would

have permanency and continuity in terms of enforcement. Our second concern is

that fines collected under OSHA laws is not turned over to the Commonwealth as

is the case with Federal taxes and fees collected in the Northern Marianas, pursuant to the Covenant. We would like to see that fines collected under OSHA be also

remitted to the Commonwealth just like the Federal taxes and fees collected in the

Northern Marianas.

We also wish to mention the Office of the Federal Labor and Ombudsman which

recently opened. By all accounts, this is a very helpful and welcome office. We have

a very good working relationship between local officials and the new Labor Ombudsman. Already the office has begun to help expedite resolution of a large number of

complaints.

Finally, we want to note that we urged Congress last year to provide the CNMI

with its own United States Attorney. Although we believe the U.S. Attorney’s office

is doing a good job and continues to improve its record of prosecutions, we remain

convinced that a separate U.S. Attorney for the CNMI is justified and would significantly enhance Federal law enforcement in the Commonwealth. One benefit would

be a better focusing of Federal legal resources based on the particular circumstances

and unique needs of the Commonwealth.

4. The Use of Federal Funds by Federal Agencies to Enforce Federal Laws

in the Commonwealth

We respectfully defer to the respective Federal agencies to explain to this Committee how they have used Federal funds to enforce Federal laws in the Commonwealth.

5. The Use of Federal Funds For Capital Improvement Projects in the

Northern Mariana Islands

In the topic regarding the use of Federal funds for capital improvement projects

in the Northern Mariana Islands, we wish to take this opportunity to thank the U.S.

Congress for its constant support of the Commonwealth’s continuing need for capital

improvement funds, particularly under Section 702 of the Covenant. Contrary to the

belief that others appear to have, Covenant Section 702 funding is the primary

source of funding that we have for capital improvement projects in the Commonwealth. For example, this is the money that we have been depending heavily on to

construct the Commonwealth’s new solid waste disposal facility, away from the environmentally unsafe Puerto Rico Dump; to construct a new correctional facility; to

build much needed classrooms; and to carry out essential water, power, and sewer

infrastructures; and so forth.

In order to use Covenant Section 702 CEP funds, which requires a ‘‘dollar for dollar’’ local matching, the Commonwealth is required to adopt a prioritized CEP

project listing. The Commonwealth Governinent completed the CIP Project Plan listing in 1998, which was adopted by the legislature recently. Attempts have been

made to divert our Covenant funding to other jurisdictions on the

mischaracterization that the Covenant funds that remain are ‘‘an unused balance

from previous construction grants.’’ This is not true. All of the Covenants funds have

been earmarked for specific projects. What held back its usage in the past was either the absence of a prioritized project listing or the need to identify the required

matching funds. Thus, for the Third Funding Period under the Covenant (FY1996-

FY2002), we have now identified all of the essential capital improvement projects

that will be funded. The Federal funds available for this period is $77 million, plus

the $77 million in local matching funds, bringing the total CIP Funding to $154 million. We humbly ask the Congress to please not divert this money to other jurisdictions. We need the money for urgent CEP projects in the Commonwealth that have

already been identified. To ensure that we have the matching funds needed, legislation has passed our House and Senate authorizing the Commonwealth Development

Authority to float a $60 nuillion general obligation bond on behalf of the Commonwealth Govemment for CIP projects.

6. Financial Assistance Under the Compacts of Free Association

Mr. Chairman, while we are on the subject of Federal funding, we would be remiss if we do not bring to the attention of this Committee a matter that in the past

has not been given much attention or was not considered important enough by the

Department of Interior. This is the matter of appropriating the funding needed to

reimburse the Commonwealth for the financial impact that the unrestricted migration of Freely Associated States citizens into the Commonwealth has had on our

treasury. In past years, Interior has given small grants to the Commonwealth to

somehow defray the costs to the Commonwealth for its delivery of essential public
143

services to FAS citizens. We ask the Congress to take a closer look at the issue and

consider the substantial expenses that have been or are bemig incurred by the Commonwealth on behalf of FAS citizens who live in the Northern Marianas.

The CNMI Department of Commerce recently performed a study to determine the

so-called ‘‘Compact-Impact’’ costs to the Commonwealth. The study, using both a ‘‘direct cost method’’ and a ‘‘percentage of total cost method,’’ has concluded that our

Compact-Impact cost for 1997 was $13.7 million and for 1998, it was $15.1 million,

for a two-year total of $28.8 million. The Commonwealth has requested and wants

to be reimbursed for this amount. In approving the Compacts of Free Association

which the United States entered into, Congress has stated: ‘‘In approving the Compact it is not the intent of the Congress to cause adverse consequences for the

United States territories and Commonwealth or the State of Hawaii.’’ The Compact

has in fact adversely affected us financially in terms of the delivery of public services. The Commonwealth, upon request by this Committee, would be very happy to

determine the compact-impact costs for the years prior to 1997.

7. Conclusion and Recommendation

Mr. Chairman, we thank the Committee for giving us the opportunity to submit

this testimony. The hearing before your Committee on the enforcement of Federal

laws in the Northern Mariana Islands and on the use of Federal funds to enforce

those laws, in essence, complements the hearing held two days ago before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources chaired by Senator Frank Murkowski with respect to legislation being proposed to implement the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act to the Northern Mariana Islands. We believe that the INA

should not apply to the Commonwealth. We believe that the Commonwealth should

be allowed to continue to enact and enforce laws that would eliminate guest worker

abuse and address the criticisms that have earlier been made against the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth has earnestly begun to reform itself. We believe that

a necessary ‘‘part of the equation’’ in our enforcement effort is the active participation of Federal agencies in the enforcement of Federal laws. Although there are

signs that Federal agencies, like the EEOC, are beginning to make their presence

in the Commonwealth known and felt the permanent presence of these agencies in

terms of office and staff in the Commonwealth would make a big difference.

Thank you very much.

Mr. SCHAFFER. [presiding] Thank you. Mr. Sablan.

STATEMENT OF RONALD D. SABLAN, PRESIDENT, HOTEL

ASSOCIATION OF THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS, SAIPAN

Mr. RONALD SABLAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman

and honorable members of this Committee, my name is Ronald

Sablan and I’m president of the Hotel Association of CNMI. Thank

you for the opportunity to once again represent our tourism industry, specifically our hotels. This hearing is about enforcement and

application of Federal statutes, expenditure of Federal funds in our

islands, but because it is so critical to us, we must focus our comments on the so-called Federal takeover issue.

I must state now that with all due respect that we stand firmly

against Federal takeover of our Commonwealth immigration and

application of U.S. minimum wage. The U.S. Congress should not

place the same restriction limits on tiny isolated islands as it would

a powerful country nearly half the world away. Please consider geographical location and the unique limitation of islands. As you

know, this is exactly why special provisions were written into our

Covenant.

While the U.S. has experienced prosperity, the past two years

have been the worst in our economic history. The main driver of

our economy, tourism, has dropped more than 30 percent during

the Asian economic crisis. Many hotels, particularly family-run operations like mine, are barely surviving. A severe recession is the

worst possible time to raise wages and force the replacement of 61

percent of our work force from other countries.
144

There is no relevance within our economy and that of the mainland. In fact, the rise of the dollar against the yen is never good

news for a tourism-based economy. Please remember when the U.S.

dollar goes up, our economy goes down. Special consideration

should be given to the fact that we are more closely tied to regional

economic conditions which are now in a recession. We have already

cut 15 percent of our hotel personnel. By increasing the minimum

wage, business owners will be forced to make tough choices. More

layoffs, increase prices, increase working hours, or simply throw in

the towel.

As our hotel industry began 25 years ago, we recruited employees from nearby Asian countries out of necessity, due to the fact

that our small local population could not meet the need for a

skilled work force. Much of our industry developed by Japanese investors, marketing to Japanese tourists. Naturally, many personnel

are recruited from Japan.

Now I would like to address the question we are often asked. If

Guam can live with U.S. immigration and minimum wage, why

can’t you? Our economy is vastly different than our neighbor to the

south. An island with four times the citizen population, a major

hub of transportation, shipping, communications for the region, not

to mention the military inputs to the Guam economy. With the exception of wages, virtually every cost of operating a hotel is more

expensive in Saipan than in Guam due to the fact—due to much

smaller economic scales, shipping costs and infrastructure requirements.

We are also asked if we could recruit from Micronesia where the

vast majority of people have very little or no work experience. Notwithstanding the cost of training and assimilating these people into

our more developed society, what do you think it would do to the

fledgling economy of these islands if the CNMI were to suddenly

need to recruit nearly 27,000 employees from their small adult population? We can say with certainty that a regional economic crisis

will occur.

Could we hire from the mainland? Experience has shown that

this is not viable option due to great distance and recruiting costs,

as well as the high turnover rate of U.S. employees that have left

families to come to our island.

We cannot predict when the Asian economic crisis will end nor

when visitors will return, but we do know this. If the CNMI loses

its immigration control, we lose our ability to staff our businesses,

there will be no recovery of this industry for the foreseeable future.

Mr. Chairman, we are located very closely to Asia, but our islands

have very limited resources. We are fortunate to have a very successful tourism industry, which is highly competitive with other

destinations. This is due to our exceptional environment and service-oriented personnel. Anything we do to reduce our service level

or increased the packaged costs will mean a reduced marketshare

of mature travelers.

In addition to poor economic conditions, the threat of a takeover

of our immigration has been the major factor in damaging our investment climate. It has meant significant delays, relocation, and

outright cancellation of investment. There is an ongoing concern for
145

financiers and lending institutions. This I know well, as my own

hotel expansion was halted for this reason.

I believe that your good intentions are to clean up the sensationalized labor and immigration problems of the past, but a takeover is not an all-win solution. Our problems are proportionately

nothing more than what occurs in cities across America. The

records of our tourism industry shows a clean, well-run industry

with a reputation of fair treatment of employees. We have educated

our hotels about the CNMI and Federal laws. We have worked

hard to train and recruit local workers. But whatever we do,

there’s not enough local citizens to fulfill all the jobs.

In closing, Mr. Chairman, the people, the businesses, and the

government of the CNMI have the sincere commitment to improve

our labor and immigration systems. At the same time, we need to

bring up the level of education and training that is available to our

people. Rather than an outright takeover, we must approach this

properly to build an honest supporting working relationship between the Federal and local agencies. One without any hidden

agendas. Help us to enforce the laws rather than seek problems to

capitalize on. Only through a cooperative and focused approach can

we accomplish real solutions. Thank you.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Ronald Sablan follows:]

STATEMENT OF THE TAKE PRIDE IN AMERICA COALITION

Mr. Chairman, Ranking Minority Member Bingagaman, and Members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the Take Pride in America Coalition

would like to thank you very much for the opportunity to submit this testimony

today.

Our Coalition (membership list attached) is growing larger even, day, and already

represents a broad and diverse cross-section of the American people. The members

of our coalition include business, labor, consumer groups, senior citizen groups, and

human rights organizations—all dedicated to seeking reform legislation regarding

the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI, or Saipan).

Our coalition includes such esteemed representatives of American business as Dupont, Summitville Tile, Milliken & Company, the Knitted Textile Association, and

the American Textile Manufacturers Institute.

We also have as members such great American labor organizations as the Union

Label and Service Trades Department. AFL-CIO, the United Mine Workers of

Ainerica, the United Food Workers, the Utility Workers, the Steelworkers. UNITE,

the Sheet Metal Workers, and the Bollermakers, just to mention a few.

Additionally, we have such prominent and effective representatives of U.S. consumers and seniors as the National Consumer League and the National Council of

Senior Citizens, as well as human rights organizations.

Mr. Chairman, we all join in applauding you and Ranking Minority, Member

Bingaman for holding today’s hearing.

Despite persistent interests that would benefit by keeping the American people

in the dark about the situation in Saipan. Mr. Chairman, you and Ranking Minority

Member Bingaman, Senator Akaka and others on the Committee have been determined to shine some necessary light oil the serious problems in this American territory, and we commmend you for it.

Our Coalition appreciates your knowledge and experience on issues related to the

CNMI, Mr. Chairman, and that of the Members of our Committee. There is little

question that, had the government of the CNMI listened to your earlier warnings

and those of Senators Bingaman, Akaka and others about the need to institute voluntary reforms, Saipan would not be having—and causing—the problems that it is

today.

The Reagan Administration Issued The First Warning

But, as we have seen, there is a long history of the CNMI failing to listen to warnings urging reform of CNMI policies—warnings from this Committee and warnings

from every one of the last three Administrations.
146

As far back as 1986, the Reagan Administration warned the CNMI that continued

importation of contract workers into the CNMI garment industry would not be tolerated. In the attached letter to Governor Pedro Tenorio of the CNMI. Reagan Assistant Secretary of Interior Richard Montoya, wrote:

. . . As I have often stated, the intent of Congress in providing the privilege

of Headnote 3(a) to the territories is to benefit local and not alien job and business growth. The extensive and permanent use of alien labor will Headnote 3(a)

industries is all abuse which cannot be tolerated by the [Reagan] Administration. . . .

‘‘Recent reports again indicate all unwarranted increase in the use of alien labor

in the NNI garment industry . . .

‘‘These events may lead to the ruin of textile opportunities under Headnote 3(a)

not only for the NMI but for all of the U.S. territories. Furthermore, the uncontrolled influx of alien workers in many segments of the NNJI econoiny can only

result in increased social and cultural problems. The objectives of the recently

negotiated Covenant financial agreement could be derailed as the wholesale

transfer of U.S. tax, trade and social benefits to non-U.S. citizens occurs under

the NMI’s alien labor promotional policies . . .’’

Mr. Chairman. the situation in Saipan has grown much worse since the Reagan

Administration issued this crystal clear warning to the CNMI in 1986. At that time

there were fewer than 7,000 alien contract workers in the CNMI. Today as you have

noted there are 28,000 alien workers with estimates of another 10,000 illegal aliens

in the CNMI.

All told, there are almost 40,000 non-U.S. citizens in the CNMI today almost

twice as many as there are U.S. citizens in the CNMI.

Also, when the above warning was issued by the Reagan Adiministration, there

were only ten garment factories in the CNIQL. Now, there are over 30 garment factories there. And, every one of these garment factories uses almost all foreign contract workers!

Clearly, the potential situation in the CNMI that former President Reagan’s Assistant Secretary of the Interior warned about—where continued importation of foreign contract workers results in trade benefits intended for U.S. citizens going primarily to foreign citizens—has arrived with a vengeance.

The massive importation of these alien contract workers has lead to almost all

private sector work being done by foreign workers. Incrediby, 91 percent of Saipan’s

entire ptivate sector workforce is now composed of non-U.S. citizens.

Saipan: Free Market Success or Failing Welfare State?

The immigration problem in Saipan continues to grow worse each year. Mr.

Chairman, we strongly agree with your statement that Saipan’s economy is not

prosperous and diversified but in fact has ‘‘a far more fragile economy that is becoming ever more dependent on a system of imported labor.’’ (Statement on the introduction of S. 1052, ‘‘The Northern Mariana Islands Covenant Implementation Act’’).

As you point out, the public sector in Saipan has doubled recently and is rapidly

becoming the employer of last resort for U.S. citizens in the CNMI. Almost one half

of the U.S citizens who are employed in Saipan are working for the government!

Through its massive import of indentured alien workers, Saipan has crowded out

private sector jobs for the U.S. citizens on the island, and the unemployment rate

among E.S. citizens in Saipan hovers around 15 percent.

What’s mobe, in another sign of welfare state decay. Federal officials have recently reported an increase in organized crime in the CNMI and increased activity

of Chinese and Japanese organized crime groups.

And even though the Saipan garment factories have quadrupled their exports to

the U.S. since 1991, the food stamp applications of the U.S. citizens in the CNMI

have doubled during the same period of time. (See charts below.)

Mr. SCHAFFER. Thank you, Mr. Sablan. Mr. Teitelbaum.

STATEMENT OF MICHAEL S. TEITELBAUM, ALFRED P. SLOAN

FOUNDATION, NEW YORK, NY

Mr. TEITELBAUM. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the

Committee. My name is Michael Teitelbaum. I’m a foundation executive at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in New York. By background, I am a demographer. I hold a doctorate in this field from

Oxford University.
147

May I just begin by saying it’s a pleasure to appear before you

today, though I fear you may be getting somewhat weary. I am

doing so at your invitation and entirely in my personal, professional capacity. I am representing no person or entity other than

myself.

In October 1997, I undertook a site visit to the Commonwealth

of the Northern Marianas at the invitation of the commission on

Immigration Reform, of which I was then a member. The commission had been asked by the U.S. Department of Interior to undertake its own independent analysis of the immigration situation in

the CNMI. We agreed to do so only with the understanding that

our assessment and any recommendations that might result would

be wholly independent of the Department. We emphasized that our

views might well be at variance with the opinions and positions

that the Department had already expressed, and, indeed, they

were, ultimately. The Department officials involved agreed to these

ground rules and, to my knowledge, did not make any attempt of

any kind to influence our findings or recommendations.

This is the report quoted by Representative Juan Babauta, the

resident representative of the CNMI, just to pull things together.

And I do believe Mr. Sablan and—we met in a very cordial meeting

and interesting meeting while we were there.

At the time I agreed to undertake this trip, I had no prior knowledge or opinions about the CNMI. In preparation, I did read a large

compilation of articles and reports that reflected all perspectives on

the subject. I believe we learned a great deal during our five-day

visit. In addition, there was a one and a half day, rather rushed,

stopover in Manila on the way home. And I took a one-day side trip

to nearby Guam.

Many of our meetings were arranged by the CNMI government,

who were our hosts. But we did undertake some independent meetings. In fact, on our very first day—it was a Sunday, as I recall—

before we had begun our scheduled meetings and, indeed, before we

had met any of the CNMI officials, I and some of my colleagues set

off in a private rental car on our own without announcement and

unaccompanied, of course, to inspect two of the garment industry

hostels for workers from the People’s Republic of China.

We did so because, in my view, any such site visit requires that

one avoid being entirely controlled by one’s hosts. It’s really the

only way to get a reasonably clear picture of a situation that is in

passionate dispute and is otherwise quite distant from most of us

in this hearing room. Now, given the limitations of time, I’m going

to restrict myself to the following brief points.

First, the decisions taken by the CNMI government over the past

decade essentially to use its exception from the Immigration and

Nationality Act to import thousands of foreign garment workers on

temporary contracts as its principal strategy for economic development and tax generation are, in my view, most unwise and quite

unsustainable, both economically and politically. They are also contrary to core values of U.S. Immigration policy.

Second, the economy that has emerged in the CNMI over the

past decade is one of the strangest in the world. You’ve already

heard some of this described. I will very quickly say the CNMI is

an entity with a very small land mass and a small indigenous pop-
148

ulation. It decided to use its Immigration exception and Customs

preferences to build an economy based on the garment industry,

one of the world’s most labor-intensive and lowest productivity industries. As a result, the entire indigenous population of the CNMI

is now literally outnumbered by foreign contract workers.

And I won’t go over the other things. You’ve heard them already.

Nine out of 10 workers in the for-profit sector are foreign contract

workers. Oddly enough, the for-profit sector is the low-wage, lowbenefit part of the economy.

To my knowledge, no democratic society has allowed such an

economy and immigration system to develop. The only economy in

the world that I know of that is at all similar to that of the CNMI

is the economy of Kuwait. But Kuwait is not part of the United

States. It has only limited provisions regarding democratic governance and individual rights. And it has a core economy, obviously,

that is based upon enormous reserves of oil.

Third, to be frank, the CNMI government is unable to manage

the immigration policy that it has created. And to be fair, this

should not surprise us. No U.S. State, no U.S. territory could hope

to effectively manage its own immigration policy. None has the embassies. None has the consulates around the world that it would

need to pre-screen those applying for visas and to issue the visas.

I live in the State of New York. New York State is much bigger,

as a government than that of the CNMI. I am sure that the New

York State government could not do what the CNMI government

is trying to do.

Fourth, Foreign contract workers are easily exploited under the

condition of their contracts and CNMI law enforcement. You’ve

heard this already. I won’t belabor it. During our visit, we heard

directly from numerous such workers alleging exploitation. And we

also saw for ourselves the disgraceful living conditions in one of the

two garment industry hostels we visited independently on that

Sunday afternoon. The living conditions in the second hostel were

somewhat better than disgraceful, but they were still rather bad.

Fifth, I had not realized before this trip that the CNMI immigration system, which falls under the sovereignty of the United States,

is a diplomatic embarrassment to the United States Government.

I know this to be true from first-person discussions we held in Manila and it appears to be the case elsewhere in Asia. This on the

basis not of first-person but on press reports and testimony.

And then I would add, finally, that the CNMI immigration system fails to provide an avenue through which political asylum

might be claimed. This is another embarrassment and one in direct

contravention of U.S. treaty obligations, obligations that the U.S.

State Department energetically urges upon all other countries.

The commission report in late 1997 expressed reservations about

immediate imposition of Federal immigration controls then being

recommended by the executive branch. In part, this was out of concern about the economic dependence on thousands, tens of thousands, of imported contract garment workers that the CNMI government had allowed to develop. It was also based, in part, out of

concern about the health of the tourism industry, represented so

ably by Mr. Sablan. And, finally, it was based, in part, on indications we received that the immigration service would not be willing
149

or able to commit the personnel resources that would be needed for

Federal enforcement of Federal immigration law, coupled with reasonable doubts that the local government could be expected to enforce effectively a Federal law which it opposed.

Nearly two years has now passed since this recommendation was

issued. And, in the interim, the CNMI government has changed

hands and the current governor has expressed more concern about

these problems. And some improvements, as you have heard, seem

to have been made in enforcement and protection of contract workers rights.

Our second reservation concerned the willingness of the executive branch to commit the INS and other agency resources needed

for effective enforcement. Here I would ask you to get it in writing,

Mr. Chairman, because, according to the hearing record before the

cognate committee on the Senate side, in 1998, the executive

branch has committed itself to providing the necessary INS and

other personnel that would be needed. If you obtain—if you have

or obtain written assurances on this key point, then this source of

the commission’s hesitation and caution would no longer be at

issue.

Mr. Chairman, there’s one disagreement between the CNMI government and the Federal Government that I hope you will be able

to resolve. And we’ve heard it here today. The CNMI government

officials told us during our visit and continued to say today that the

exception from the Immigration and Nationality Act, agreed during

the 1976 Covenant negotiations, was intended to allow large numbers of foreign temporary contract workers to be imported to the

CNMI.

The Federal Government, both the executive branch and the relevant congressional committee reports that I have seen, say that

the intention of the exception was the very opposite, to protect the

small island territory and its small indigenous population from

being inundated with immigrants under the terms of the INA, an

issue raised by one of your members just a few moments ago.

Obviously, these are dramatically different interpretations of the

very same negotiations and the same Covenant. I hope you will be

able to resolve this matter to your own satisfaction.

During our commission delegation meeting with then-Governor

Froilan Tenorio, he told us that if the U.S. Government continued

to insist the Federal immigration law should apply to the CNMI,

he would consider moving towards independence for the Northern

Marianas. My own view is that, as a U.S. territory, the CNMI

should have such a right of self-determination as to future independence. If the majority of the citizens of the CNMI, in an open

and fair referendum, were to vote to reverse the terms of the Covenant and thereby to cancel their U.S. citizenship so that they

could become an independent state, their wishes should be respected.

I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Teitelbaum follows:]

STATEMENT OF MICHAEL S. TEITELBAUM, ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION, NEW YORK

Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, Ladies and Gentlemen:

I am Michael S. Teitelbaum, a foundation executive at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in New York. By background I am a demographer, with a doctorate in this
150

field from Oxford University. I first became interested in data and research on international migration while serving from 1979-81 as Staff Director of the House Select

Committee on Population. For the past 15 years I have done considerable research

and analysis of immigration and refugee policies in the United States and many

other countries.

From 1991 through 1997, I served as a Commissioner and Vice Chair of the U.S.

Commission on Immigration Reform, the Congressionally-appointed Commission

widely known as the Jordan Commission after its late Chair, former Congresswoman Barbara Jordan. Its eight members were appointed by the House and Senate

majority and minority leaderships, its Chair by the President. I was appointed by

the Senate Republican Leader Mr. Dole, though I am a political independent. Prior

to this, I also served as a Commissioner on the U.S. Commission for the Study of

International Migration and Cooperative Economic Development (chaired by Ambassador Diego Asencio), which completed its report to the Congress and President in

1990.

It is a pleasure for me to appear before you today. I am doing so at your invitation, and entirely in my personal professional capacity, representing no person or

entity other than myself

In October 1997, I undertook a site visit to the Commonwealth of the Northern

Marianas (CNMI) at the invitation of the Commission on Immigration Reform, of

which I was a member. The Commission had been asked by the U.S. Department

of Interior to undertake its own independent analysis of the immigration situation

in the CNMI. We agreed to do so only with the understanding that our assessment,

and any recommendations that might result, would be wholly independent of the

Department. We emphasized that our views might well be at variance with the

opinions and positions that the Department had already expressed. The Department

officials involved agreed to these ground rules, and to my knowledge did not make

any attempt to influence our findings or recommendations. I was accompanied on

this trip by a fellow Commissioner, Robert Charles Hill, and by the Commission’s

Staff Director Susan Martin and two other staff members, David Levy and Monica

Heppel (the last two traveled to CNMI a few days in advance in order to make arrangements for meetings with CNMI officials and other meetings and visits.) This

visit, along with other data collection and analysis efforts, was the basis of the November 1997 report Immigration and the CNMI, of which I believe you have copies.

At the time I agreed to undertake this trip, I had no prior opinions about the

CNMI. In preparation, I did read a large compilation of articles and reports reflecting all perspectives. I deliberately included in my reading list both the criticisms

emanating from the U.S. Department of Interior describing the CNMI policies as

failures, and the arguments prepared by the CNMI and its Washington supporters

that described its policies as a successful model of free enterprise. Though I was reluctant to undertake such a long trip, it was clear to me from this reading that it

would be impossible to make any fair determinations of the facts without seeing the

situation firsthand.

We learned a great deal during our 5-day site visit, a 11⁄2 day stop in Manila on

the way home, and a 1-day side trip I took to nearby Guam. With one or two notable

exceptions, we were treated with courtesy and professionalism by CNMI officials,

private sector leaders, and Federal Government officials. I should also report to you

that in a few cases, CNMI officials took us aside to confide that the official CNMI

government position was not really accurate, and the ‘‘true story is’’ Moreover, on

our very first day (a Sunday as I recall), before we had begun our scheduled meetings, I and some of my colleagues set off in a private car on our own, without announcement and unaccompanied by local officials, to inspect two of the garment industry ‘‘hostels’’ for workers from the People’s Republic of China. In my view, any

such site visit requires that one avoid being entirely controlled by one’s hosts; this

is really the only way to get a reasonably clear picture of a situation that is in passionate dispute and is otherwise quite distant from most of us in this hearing room.

Given the time limitation, I shall restrict myself to the following brief points:

1. The decisions taken by the CNMI government over the past decade—essentially

to use its exception from the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to import thousands of foreign garment workers on temporary contracts, as its principal strategy

for economic development and tax generation—are in my view unwise and quite

unsustainable, both economically and politically. They are also contrary to core values of U.S. immigration policy.

2. The economy that has emerged in the CNMI over the past decade is one of the

strangest in the world. To summarize:

the CNMI is an entity with a small land mass and small indigenous population—it decided to use its immigration exception and Customs preferences to
151

build an economy based on the garment industry, one of the world’s most laborintensive and lowest-productivity industries—as a result, the indigenous population of the CNMI is now outnumbered by foreign contract workers

9 out of 10 workers in the whole of the for-profit sector are foreign contract

workers, and it is this for-profit sector that is the low-wage, low-benefit part of

the economy

most of the indigenous Chamorro workforce works for the local CNMI government, and this government sector is the high-wage, high-benefit sector of the

economy.

The only economy in the world that is at all similar to that of the CNMI is Kuwait’s—but Kuwait is not part of the United States, has only limited provisions regarding democratic governance and individual rights, and has a core economy based

upon its enormous oil reserves.

3. To be frank, the CNMI government is unable to manage the immigration policy

that it has created. To be fair, this should be no surprise: no U.S. state or territory

could effectively manage its own immigration policy, since none has the embassies

and consulates around the world that it would need to pre-screen those applying for

visas. Even the large state governments of New York and California could not do

this; and neither can the much smaller CNMI government.

4. Foreign contract workers are easily exploited under the conditions of their contracts and CNMI law enforcement. Most are tied to a single employer, and most

need to keep working to pay off the debts they owe to the labor recruiters who hired

and transported them.

During our visit, we heard directly from numerous such workers alleging exploitation. We also saw for ourselves the disgraceful living conditions in one of the two

garment industry hostels we visited independently; the living conditions in the second hostel was somewhat better than ‘‘disgraceful’’, though still rather bad. (Of

course this is not a statistically representative sample.)

We also heard much about young female foreign contract workers employed as

prostitutes. While of course it is very difficult to observe open prostitution, anyone

taking a late evening walk in the entertainment district—literally right across the

road from the principal hotel, the Hyatt—could not miss seeing the groups of scantily-dressed young women (who appeared to be Filipina and Chinese) beckoning to

male tourists.

5. I had not realized before this trip that the CNMI immigration system, which

falls under the sovereignty of the United States, is a diplomatic embarrassment to

the United States. I know this to be true from first-person discussions we held in

Manila, and it appears to be the case elsewhere in Asia (this on the basis of press

reports and testimony we received).

The CNMI immigration system also fails to provide an avenue through which political asylum might be claimed—another embarrassment, and one that is in direct

contravention of U.S. treaty obligations, obligations that the State Department energetically urges upon all other countries. In this regard, however, I did note recent

press reports about the serious difficulties U.S. Government officials in neighboring

Guam are facing in applying U.S. asylum procedures to the increasing numbers of

Chinese from Fujian Province who are paying Chinese people-smugglers

(‘‘snakeheads’’) large sums to smuggle them into Guam in order to claim asylum.

Given this experience, I would urge that you assure yourselves that U.S. asylum

laws can be effectively enforced in Guam before they are applied to the CNMI.

The Commission report in late 1997 expressed reservations about immediate imposition of Federal immigration controls then being recommended by the Department of Interior. In part this was out of concern about the economic dependence on

thousands of imported contract garment workers that the CNMI Government had

allowed to develop. It was also based in part on indications we had received that

the INS would not be willing or able to commit the personnel resources that would

be needed for Federal enforcement of Federal immigration law, coupled with doubts

that the local government could be expected to enforce effectively a Federal law

which it opposed. For these reasons, the report recommended that the CNMI and

U.S. governments enter in negotiations to find mutually-agreed policies that would

be consistent with U.S. immigration traditions but recognize the special labor needs

of the CNMI, especially with respect to the tourism industry.

Nearly two years has now passed since this recommendation was issued. In the

interim, the CNMI government has changed hands, and the current Governor has

expressed more concerns about the CNMI’s immigration system than did his predecessor. Some improvements seem to have been made in enforcement and protection

of contract workers’ rights. Yet (as I understand it) the present Governor himself

initiated the contract worker program in the garment sector, while he was in office

during the 1980s, and recent statements that I have seen by him continue to em-
152

phasize the importance of the garment industry for the CNMI economy and for the

revenues to the CNMI government.

In my opinion, any immigration policy like this one—promoting large-scale importation of low-skill temporary contract workers into a small tropical island, for the

purpose of sewing shirts at low wages for export to the U.S. mainland—is not a viable option either in terms of sustainablev economic development OR in terms of

basic American principals and treaty obligations.

Our second reservation concerned the willingness of the Executive branch to commit the INS and other agency resources needed for effective enforcement of U.S. law

in the CNMI. According to the hearing record before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on March 31, 1998, the Executive branch has now committed itself to providing the necessary INS and other personnel that would be required to enforce the INA. I would respectfully urge the Committee to obtain written assurances on this key point, but if these are already in hand or forthcoming,

this source of the Commission’s caution would no longer be at issue.

Given the passage of time and the fact that the CNMI government apparently

continues to be committed to immigration policies that are not consistent with U.S.

immigration traditions, and given the lengthy transition periods in both the House

and Senate bills designed to allow the CNMI economy to adapt, I believe the case

for the recommendation of further negotiations on these issues is no longer a strong

one.

7. There is one disagreement between the CNMI government and the Federal

Government that I hope you will be able to resolve.

CNMI government officials told us during our visit, and continue to assert publicly today, that the exception from the INA agreed during the 1976 Covenant negotiations was intended to allow large numbers of foreign temporary contract workers

to be imported to the CNMI.

The Federal Government, both the Executive branch and the relevant Congressional committee reports, says that the intention of the exemption was the very opposite: to protect the small island territory and its small indigenous population from

being inundated with immigrants under the terms of INA, which does not differentiate between immigration to the U.S. mainland and to a small island territory on

the fringes of Asia.

Obviously these are dramatically different interpretations of the very same negotiations and the same Covenant. I hope you will be able to resolve this matter to

your own satisfaction.

Since you have asked me for my opinion, here is what I think about these two

possible interpretations. If the CNMI view is correct, I think the U.S. negotiators

made a serious error that needs to be corrected. If the U.S. government view is correct, then the INA exception has been used for purposes opposite to those for which

it was intended, and it should be terminated.

During our Commission delegation meeting with then-Governor Froilan Tenorio,

he told us that if the U.S. government continued to insist that Federal immigration

law should apply to the CNMI, he would consider moving toward independence for

the Northern Marianas. My own view is that as a U.S. territory, the CNMI should

have such a right of self-determination as to future independence, and I understand

that in the last Congress Congresswoman Mink introduced legislation to this effect.

If the majority of the citizens of the CNMI, in an open and fair referendum, were

to vote to reverse the terms of the Covenant and thereby to cancel their U.S. citizenship so that they could become an independent state, their wishes should be respected. Such a referendum, with appropriate monitoring provisions, could be incorporated into pending legislation, limited to a specified time period (e.g. 1 year from

enactment). It would presumably give CNMI citizens voting in the referendum two

clear options:

• application of the terms of U.S. immigration law, with appropriate provisions for

transition;

• or, reversal of all provisions of the Covenant and establishment of full independence for the Northern Marianas, with acquisition of a new Northern Marianas citizenship by the indigenous people of the islands accompanied by cancellation of the

U.S. citizenship that the Covenant accorded to them as a group during the 1980s.

I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you for your invitation, and for your kind attention.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. [presiding] Thank you very much. I’m going to

reserve my questions at this time and recognize Mr. Schaffer for

his.
153

Mr. SCHAFFER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate all of the

witnesses being here and making trips to accommodate our schedule today and I’m even more grateful that the weather allowed us

to be the only hearing in town so that we could actually sit through

a whole hearing for a change, which we rarely get to do.

Let me ask the two industry representatives just a general question. You know, on the five days that I spent there, I had a chance

to look at the number of aspects of CNMI’s economy and visited I

think eight or nine garment factories in the time we were there

and had a chance to talk with a lot of local officials and met the

two of you there as well. And there are acknowledged and legitimate concerns about many of the allegations that occurred here

today.

My perspective is that the degree of those problems are perhaps

different than have been described by some who have resorted to

sort of an extreme kind of description, but labor conditions that

need to be addressed, nonetheless. Those labor conditions also

occur in the rest of the United States and we see a pretty vigorous

effort by industry representatives and groups to try to resolve those

internally in a way that seeks to avoid the heavy hand of the Federal Government as a worse, less desirable, option.

I would like you to discuss that as well, with respect to—well,

we’re going to hear from an individual a little later who has problems with the hotel industry. That’s what brought him to CNMI

and the reason he’s here to testify about the harsh working conditions on the island, as well. Let me start there with the hotel industry, with the Chamber of Commerce in general. What kinds of

things is your industry doing or trying—which direction are you

trying to—can you give us an idea of the kinds of things you’re trying to do internally, as business owners and community leaders, to

resolve many of the legitimate concerns that are, from time to time,

raised about the labor and employment conditions and immigration

issues in the Commonwealth?

Ms. KNIGHT. Well, the Saipan Chamber of Commerce does have

a code of ethics and we also spend a great deal of time educating

our members about all the applicable Federal and local laws. We

are fortunate to have an attorney on our board of directors. And

he regularly puts out information to the members and we encourage forums where we can talk about the laws and how to enforce

them.

Our community does care about the people that have had problems in the past. Personally, I have gone down and brought food

to the Bangladeshis. We haven’t done anything in a formal way, as

a Chamber of Commerce. But, you know, I can assure you, we’re

working, in the best way we know how, which is—and that is to

educate our members about the proper things to do.

Mr. RONALD SABLAN. The same thing, Congressman. The hotels

also have an attorney on board and we try to disseminate information that is relevant to enforcement of applicable CNMI and Federal laws. There’s a little concern in reference to owners and employee’s cultural differences. Sometimes what is not good for us in

the U.S. families might be acceptable in Asia. But, you know, those

are the concerns that—or one of the reasons that we try to ask
154

Federal agencies to come to guide us, help us as to what

applicabilities can be stricken out before any problem arises.

I have asked two times from the regional administrator of OSHA

to come in and give us managers and engineers as to how we can

apply the OSHA regulations. In the past, inspections had been, it

was more focused on the garment and construction industries. We

have asked them, but, until now, we haven’t received any responses and we’ve been getting a lot of citations, not knowing what

our requirements, especially in housing situations. So that’s one of

the reasons we’re, again, asking for Federal agencies to come in

and educate, especially owners of different nationalities in reference to applicable Federal laws.

Mr. TEITELBAUM. Congressman, may I add one word of endorsement to that?

Mr. SCHAFFER. Please do.

Mr. TEITELBAUM. My impressions were that the hotel industry,

the industry of large hotels, at least, the large tourist hotels, is consists of responsible employers who do not engage in inappropriate

or exploitative behaviors that I even heard about, much less observed. The main problem industries in the CNMI are not the large

hotel, tourism industry. In fact, our commission was concerned that

it not be caught in the backwash of concern about other kinds of

problems in other industries and, thereby, damaged unfairly.

The problem industries seemed to be the garment industry,

which is very big and is a problem; domestic workers; security—

you already heard about that; many small businesses, but we

couldn’t tell how many; and agriculture, as well, which we learned

very little about, but there are contract workers in agriculture as

well. Those are the problem areas. The large hotel industry, I do

not believe, is a problem area.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Thank you. Ms. Knight, Mr. Teitelbaum has indicated that he heard in Manila we looked upon poorly or negatively because of CNMI’s treatment of Filipino workers during his

October 1997 visit. But you’ve submitted a letter, as I understand,

and press releases from 1998 and 1999 that reflect good working

conditions of Filipino workers in the CNMI. Have you seen evidence of a change in labor and immigration practices by the CNMI

since 1997?

Ms. KNIGHT. I’d also like to add to what you just said and that

is that the Philippine consul, who is, on Saipan, is actively participating in our business organizations, not only the Chamber of

Commerce, but also the Rotary Club. So she spends a lot of time

talking to business owners and managers. And, yes, she has submitted a very favorable letter and press releases from her organizations that oversee Filipino contract workers overseas. And we were

very encouraged by that. That’s why we included that as part of

our testimony.

I’d like to take a moment also, if I could, just to say that there’s

a misconception that our community has, you know, citizen workers at one level and alien workers at a far lower level. We have—

we employ alien workers at all levels, from minimum wage on up.

I mean, the two alien workers that I employ, for example, one of

them makes $20,000 a year and has a company car. So it’s a little
155

bit discouraging to hear people talk about alien workers as if all

of them make minimum wage.

Also, they get a substantial number of benefits. The unlimited

100 percent health care that I talked about earlier is very significant. And I hope that people will remember that we do provide

these benefits.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. I apologize. Regrettably, I missed most of the

testimony of this panel while I was out of the room, but how long

have you been there in the Northern Marianas?

Ms. KNIGHT. I’ve lived on Saipan 13 and a half years.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Have you seen steady improvement in conditions

there?

Ms. KNIGHT. Steady improvement not only in how people are employed, but also in our quality of life in general. When I first moved

to the island, the telecommunications and the power system were

very bad. The roads were filled with potholes. Our community is

moving up in a lot of different ways. We’re becoming a more sophisticated place to live and we have a lot more choices and opportunities than we’ve ever had before. And I think our employees do as

well.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Are you optimistic about the future for the Commonwealth?

Ms. KNIGHT. I remain optimistic, although, as I said earlier, this

is the worst recession we could have ever have imagined. It came

up sharply and suddenly without warning. But I believe that this

recession is also an opportunity for us to become a better community. By going through a difficult time, it’s forcing us to examine

how we live, how we do business, how we treat one another. And

I think we’re going to come out as a better tourist destination and

just, in general, as a better community.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. As the representative of the Chamber of Commerce, did you address the issue of the decline of the garment industry? I mean, is that your belief, that it’s going to decline because of the provisions under GATT, I guess, kicking in and sort

of disadvantaging, competitively, the CNMI vis-a-vis other nations?

Ms. KNIGHT. Well, I see two declines. One is happening now because of the lawsuit that was filed in January. In talking with a

lot of factory managers and owners, I’ve been led to believe that

we’re going to see a 25 percent drop in orders by the end of this

year.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Can you tell us—maybe you’ve discussed this—

the lawsuit refers to what?

Ms. KNIGHT. The class-action lawsuit that was filed in San Diego

and San Francisco and Saipan against factory owners and also

some major U.S. retailers. That’s the first decline we’re having, because of that lawsuit. The second will, of course, be from the new

world trade agreements which will take place in I think it’s 2004.

But I don’t think that will destroy the industry. I think we have

some very good businesses that are running factories on Saipan. I

had an opportunity to meet and tour several of them and I saw

that they were modern. They’re doing quality work. They also have

very good clients. I don’t think they’re going to disappear entirely.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Thank you. Mr. Faleomavaega.
156

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I want to

thank the members of the panel for their testimony this afternoon.

I just wanted to ask Ms. Knight. You had indicated earlier that

this figure of 90 percent work force—alien workers is somewhat

misleading. Do you have an accounting of exactly the number of

alien workers that are in mid-management or in high positions

that are paid high salaries? I mean, is there a breakdown? Is it 1

percent out of the 33,000 that are alien workers? What level do

they fit in as far as the salary range scale?

Ms. KNIGHT. Well, they fit in all levels. I mean, we do have—let

me tell you, we’re doing a survey of the Chamber of Commerce

right now to find out exactly how many are in management and

supervisory positions. But I just know from my own experience. We

have a lot of managers in companies, supervisors, specialists that

are paid a lot more than minimum wage.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Well, I’d like Mr. Sablan in the governor’s

office to submit that for the record. Is there such a record to give

indications in terms of exactly where the—because I am very curious. Because 90 percent is a very high rate as far as foreign workers are concerned.

Ms. KNIGHT. We do, every quarter, as an employer, we’re required to turn in records of what we pay every person on our staff.

It’s the employer’s quarterly withholding report. And that would

show what aliens and residents are making.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Well, I would like to request Governor

Tenorio for those statistical data, if I could, Governor.

[The information follows:]

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Okay. There was an indication, Mr. Sablan,

concerning the hotel industry. What’s the total number of hotel

units that you now have in Saipan?

Mr. RONALD SABLAN. Right now, we have 4,588.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. 4,500 rooms.

Mr. RONALD SABLAN. Yes.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. And your current tourism——

Mr. RONALD SABLAN. The Hotel Association is comprised of 67

percent of that.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Give me the total number of hotel rooms

you currently have right in Saipan.

Mr. RONALD SABLAN. 4,588.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. 4,500. Okay. And you have currently how

many tourists come to Saipan every year?

Mr. RONALD SABLAN. As of right now, it’s a little over 380,000.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. And before that, you were getting about

600,000 tourists.

Mr. RONALD SABLAN. 700,000.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. A year?

Mr. RONALD SABLAN. Yes.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. On your hotel industry, what percentage of

the workers are alien workers in the hotel industry in Saipan?

Mr. RONALD SABLAN. We have 61 percent contract foreign workers; 39 percent local U.S. citizen.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Okay. And, of that, how many of the

Saipanese are in management positions?
157

Mr. RONALD SABLAN. I don’t have the exact percentage for that,

Congressman, but I can provide it.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Yes. I would be interested to know if that

could be provided.

Mr. RONALD SABLAN. We have the same as the Chamber. We put

out the survey at the same time.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Yes.

Mr. RONALD SABLAN. So I can get all the stats in.

[The information follows:]

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. I notice also, Dr. Teitelbaum, that you made

an interesting statement here that there is—the CNMI government

officials told your commission that the 1976 Covenant negotiation

was intended to allow large numbers of foreign temporary workers,

contract workers, to be imported to the CNMI. I’m going to really

look into the record, because that’s not my understanding when we

were in process of negotiation. The apparent fear that was among

many of the members of the Congress was the instant travel of

U.S. citizens going to CNMI. And, of course, then the being careful

as well to see that we don’t dominate, our citizens coming from the

U.S. coming to CNMI would then dominate the economy as well as

the social and governmental structure of the island.

But this is what you were told in you——

Mr. TEITELBAUM. Yes, Congressman. We were told that. And, actually, a similar point was made today during these hearings, I believe, several times. So I believe that CNMI officials believe that

to be the case. And that’s why I put in my testimony that it would

be useful for you, as the members of this Committee, to clarify that

matter. Perhaps you should ask the congressional research service

to do a report on that. I don’t know the details of those negotiations. But the reports we got were polar opposite as to what the

intention.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Oh, we’re definitely going to look into that.

Another point also, Dr. Teitelbaum, that you made concerning the

Kuwait and CNMI, I’ve been to Kuwait and I know that a vast majority of the workers there in the Kuwait work force are aliens,

some from Jordan, even from the Philippines. But, of course, Kuwait has the oil, as it were. It can do pretty much what it wants

as a sovereign nation and you’re quite accurate about that.

Ms. Knight and Mr. Sablan, Mr. Fraser earlier documented some

abuses, very serious abuses, in terms of the immigration and the

labor laws, as far as some of the people, the foreign workers that

were brought to the territory. Is this account accurate, in terms

of—is this just glancing at the situation or is it—because from the

statement of Mr. Fraser, it’s very, very serious. Or is this just an

account of just a few cases that I sincerely it has been resolved.

But is this something a lot deeper than what Mr. Fraser describes

in his testimony here? Do you agree with Mr. Fraser’s assessment

that it is a very serious problem?

Mr. RONALD SABLAN. I would say, Congressman, those were isolated cases in the past. There’s always going to be problems.

There’s always going to be problems between employer and employee. But the rates, the prosecution, and the cases filed recently

have been lower than what it used to be. And I would say that the
158

abuses that were claimed before are—a lot of it, as I mentioned

earlier—was, again, it’s either the employees were misinformed——

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Okay. My time is up, Mr. Sablan. But one

more question, if I may, Mr. Chairman. Could the economy and the

people of Saipan, just on its hotel industry alone, with the number

of the people of Saipan operating the hotels in terms of whatever

they could do in that investment in the hotel industry, tourism for

that matter, in the same fashion that the State of Hawaii is totally

dependent on tourism, is it really absolutely necessary that you

have to have a garment/textile industry to provide for that, critical?

Is it critical that you have to have the garment industry as part

of your work force?

Mr. RONALD SABLAN. Well, I wouldn’t say it was critical, Mr.

Chairman, but I think that any economy has to be diversified. I

think tourism is always going to be the number one industry in the

CNMI. But we also have to have another industry to fall on. Hopefully, we can get into an industry where it’s less labor-intensive.

But that’s definitely something that we need to look at.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. I know my time’s up, Mr. Chairman.

Ms. KNIGHT. Can I answer that?

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Please.

Ms. KNIGHT. We’re very fortunate to have two legs to stand on

instead of one, now that we have the Asian economic crisis, which

has dropped our tourism industry so drastically. If we didn’t have

the revenue from the garment manufacturing right now, I don’t

know what we would be doing. We would all be coming to you with

our hands out. The garment industry employment multiplier in our

community is something just under 1.5. So what that means is that

for every two garment workers, there’s one other worker out in the

community that has a job. So, yes, I believe we need that industry.

I don’t think we can wipe it out and live with that, overnight.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. If I could ask Mr. Sablan of the governor’s

office. What percentage of your total budget comes out of the garment industry?

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. Mr. Congressman, as I mentioned earlier,

the industry as a whole contributes about $85.7 million.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. No, no, no. I want the percentage. What

percentage comes out of the garment industry?

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. It’s $85 million out of $210 million. About

39 percent, if I’m not mistaken.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. About 39 percent?

Mr. MICHAEL SABLAN. 39 percent.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Ms. Knight, you referred to the multiplier effect.

Do you have—do you or anyone else out there—have any sense as

to that worker that has a job because of the garment industry,

which employs, I guess, almost—or mostly alien workers, is the

worker who’s got that job, the other job created by the garment industry, does that tend to be an American or another alien? Do you

have any sense of that?

Ms. KNIGHT. It’s both. It certainly provides a lot of government

jobs. Government jobs, people that own mom-and-pop stores, local

residents that are leasing their land for the place where the factories are located, transportation companies, shipping companies,
159

stevedore employees, Customs officials, you name it. I mean, it is

a big part of our community and there are a lot of other small businesses that support that industry.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Okay. Thank you. Unless the members have further questions?

Mr. MILLER. Mr. Chairman.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Yes.

Mr. MILLER. I do not have questions now. I just want to say to

Mr. Teitelbaum, I had an opportunity to read his testimony and I,

obviously, as you could tell this morning, I agree with much of your

discussions of the problems and some of your conclusions about

where I think this is heading. And I appreciate the work of the

commission. And I thank the other witnesses for their testimony.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. I, too, thank the witnesses today. You’ve had a

long day waiting to make your testimony and we appreciate your

doing that. We will have, no doubt, further questions to propound

to you and would ask for your prompt response. And we’ll hold the

record open until that comes. And, with that, we’ll excuse the members of the third panel.

We will now proceed to the final panel. And, as the opportunity

becomes available, please assemble yourselves up front here at the

witness table. Gentlemen, if you will please rise and raise your

right hands.

[Witnesses sworn.]

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Thank you. Let the record reflect each answered

affirmatively. We welcome you here. We appreciate you coming.

And we will begin by recognizing Mr. Steven Galster, executive director of the Global Survival Network. Mr. Galster.

STATEMENT OF STEVEN R. GALSTER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,

GLOBAL SURVIVAL NETWORK, WASHINGDON, DC

Mr. GALSTER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Steven

Galster. I’m the director of the Global Survival Network, which is

a human rights and environmental organization based here in

Washington, DC.

GSN has extensive background for investigating cases of human

trafficking. Our investigative work on trafficking has been the

focus of a lot of media exposes in CNN, New York Times, ABC,

Washington Post, and a number of other media outlets. We’ve also

worked with the State Department on public awareness programs

aimed at preventing women from the former Soviet Union from

falling into traps by sexual traffickers. And we’ve also—the recommendations and research we’ve done have been the focus of two

pieces of legislation currently floating through the House and Senate chambers to combat trafficking. And our report on Saipan,

called ‘‘Trapped’’ was also the focus of an ABC 20/20 piece in May

as well as a Washington Post and other newsprint stories on that

subject.

Although not always apparent to visitors to Saipan, including

some congressional delegations, debt bondage is a way of life for

many foreign workers living in the CNMI. Taking full advantage

of the CNMI’s special status as a U.S. territory, foreign corporations, Chinese employment agencies, criminal traffickers from

across Asia, and opportunistic middlemen from the CNMI profited
160

at the expense of thousands of foreign workers in search of jobs in

the USA.

They’ve also made somewhat of a mockery of our government’s

reputation as a leader of human rights. Instead of finding the dollars and democracy most workers seek in the CNMI, many do end

up becoming trapped in debt bondage situations.

This situation has gone on for quite a long time. And I think the

question now remains: What’s this Committee and the Senate Committee on Energy and Resources going to do about it? I hope that

they’re not going to simply shift the blame onto Federal agencies

and conduct witch hunts against former Federal employees.

Because the basic problem is not that existing U.S. laws are not

fully enforced by Federal agencies on Saipan. The basic problem is

a systemic one. Congress has allowed a situation to develop in

which the transplanted Asian garment industry simultaneously enjoys substantial U.S. sanctioned tax breaks while flooding the local

CNMI labor market with tens of thousands of powerless foreign

workers. The industry is protected by U.S. tariffs, but the workers

lack Federal protection, in part because Federal agencies, even if

they had a full-time presence, would be constantly chasing criminals and labor violations that pile up as the result of the lax immigration and labor system regulated by the CNMI government.

GSN decided to focus on the CNMI because we had learned that

Russian and Asian women were buying jobs as waitresses there,

being sold jobs, that is. But then being forced into prostitution once

they got to Saipan. We later learned that Saipan was full of garment factories, as well as stories of sweatshop abuse. Employer

watchfulness and intimidation of workers, be it in brothels or garment factories, makes it difficult to obtain reliable information

through traditional interviewing methods. In response to these constraints, we conducted an undercover investigation on top of our

conventional research to document the existence and degree—or

non-existence—of human trafficking in the CNMI.

During our investigation, among other things, we learned and

documented the following. First, most foreign workers in the CNMI

are working and living under debt bondage. They have incurred between $1,500 and $12,000 in recruitment fee debts for the right to

have a job in the CNMI. That’s before other debts might have been

incurred once they got there.

Secondly, in many cases, a foreign worker in the CNMI will have

to work one full year or more at 60 hours per week to pay off their

debt before they start to earn money for themselves. Once on

Saipan, most of these foreign workers give up their right to change

jobs or return home if they decide they want to. Or to leave their

job.

Security guards and sewers working for garment factories matter

of factly stated that if they took their respective complaints, whether it was about worker harassment, employer harassment, or nonpayment, to the local Department of Labor and Immigration, the

DOLI, they would lose their chance at having any job in the CNMI,

which, given the debts they had compiled, was not a viable option.

Obviously, some people do take their complaints to officials, but

many, I would submit do not.
161

Workers who do manage to leave their abusive employers are

often forced to buy another job, usually at the rate of $1,000. Many

foreign women and some girls have been deceived by traffickers

who promised them jobs as waitresses, but, upon arrival on Saipan,

they were forced into prostitution, sometimes working in Chinese

and Japanese owned clubs, run by what the women told us or described to us as Mafia.

Many garment workers are still working in squalid conditions,

specifically I’ve witnessed fire hazards in factories, air unfit for

breathing in others, dirty and cramped living quarters, and unsanitary water conditions. Garment factory bosses are known to prepare their factories in some places, and workers, for visits by U.S.

legislators or garment monitors by warning workers not to speak

badly about their jobs and by cleaning up factory floors in advance

of the visit.

Domestic servants in CNMI are often abused psychologically and

sometimes physically by their employers, who often pay them late

and sometimes not at all.

The last two points I’d like to make are that the CNMI government is neglectful of and sometimes complicit in labor abuse. Job

permits have been sold by CNMI officials to traffickers, who turn

around and sell jobs, sometimes non-existent ones, to foreign workers.

And, secondly, CNMI politicians and CNMI businessmen feel free

to abuse workers because, first of all, the local government agency

in charge of investigating labor abuse, the DOLI, is oftentimes less

than diligent in investigating these allegations.

And, secondly, and perhaps most disturbing, is that they feel

they have close friends here in Washington, namely on this Committee and in other parts of Congress. The top garment executives

as well as some CNMI legislators that I met, while working undercover—they didn’t know who I was—claimed that House Majority

Whip Tom DeLay promised he would manipulate congressional

processes to prevent CNMI labor reform and that he had convinced

the House Committee Chairman Don Young to quote, unquote

‘‘back off.’’

I hope this Committee is not going to back off this issue. I hope

your not going to conduct simply witch hunts into what the Federal

Government has been doing or not been doing. I hope you’ll address

the real issues here.

I hope you will extend the Immigration and Nationality Act to

the CNMI, because it’s my opinion that leaving control over immigration and labor in the hands of the CNMI administration will

delay even longer the justice and the protection that they deserve

and need. And justice delayed is justice denied. Thank you.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Galster follows:]

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Thank you.

Our next witness is Dr. Christian Wei, with the Christian Way

Missions.
162

STATEMENT OF CHRISTIAN WEI, Ph.D., CHRISTIAN WAY MISSIONS, INC., CHINESE FOR CHRIST INTERNATIONAL, GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA

Mr. WEI. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Christian Wei,

president of Christian Way Missions, Inc. and the senior pastor of

Chinese Bible Church, located in Greenville, South Carolina. Our

ministry is focusing on preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to the

world, especially the Chinese worldwide.

Since 1992, our organization has engaged in the ministry in the

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to preach the gospel to many Chinese contract workers, or guest workers. The Chinese workers come to the CNMI seeking to earn money so that

they can have better lives when they go back to mainland China.

Most of the Chinese workers are satisfied with their situation. This

is because they know they would not have their freedom back home

and they also know that they will not have the freedom and opportunity when they return. They have freedom in the CNMI to worship God, to work hard, and get paid. They do not want to lose this

opportunity to work in this free country.

Reverend Kok Hiong Pang, pastor of the largest Chinese church

in Saipan, and our coworkers have worked very hard to reach out

to these Chinese contract workers. Because in the last 7 years, we

have seen more than 1,200 Chinese workers get saved and 1,000-

plus get baptized. Among these 1,000 baptized newborn Chinese

Christians, around 800 have gone back to China and more than 20

house churches have been established. We believe the best way to

change or transform that nature of the Chinese government is

through sending back born-again Chinese Christians.

Last year, Reverend Pang and one of our coworkers came to

Washington, DC, to testify in the Senate against the untruthful information presented by the media, the Department of Interior,

Members of Congress, as well as some human rights organizations.

The decision of the Senate was wise because they did not accept

all the untrue data that the human rights organizations had submitted. This is because the majority of the foreign workers in the

CNMI are still satisfied with their situation. However, the media

and the above-mentioned groups did not reflect the views of these

satisfied workers.

I would, therefore, testify that the allegation of so-called religious

persecution and forced abortions are untrue. However, the cases of

forced prostitution are isolated situations which can happen and do

happen anywhere. Therefore, the above-mentioned groups and

some of the media did not present the truth. They did not interview those or present the view of those who are satisfied and willing to come back to work in the CNMI for another term. I have

spoken to many workers that want to stay and, if given the opportunity, they will come back. In fact, I have never spoken to any

workers who would choose to never come back.

Thus, it is wrong to mislead the public to think that in the CNMI

all are bad, all are guilty, all should be punished, and all laborers

are criminals, and all are unhappy and have turned to prostitution.

Another important point is that major factories have encouraged

their laborers to go to worship services. The buses of the factories

have also been used to transport Chinese laborers to our church.
163

One factory has even set up a chapel inside the company for Christians to pray and to worship there. Our church is growing rapidly.

On behalf of my ministry, I urge you to oppose any attempts by

the Federal Government to take over the CNMI. Furthermore, I

urge you to oppose any legislation that would directly impact the

present situation of the CNMI.

Through our ministry, over 25,000 Chinese workers have learned

the principles, values, and freedoms of democracy, through the

word of God. There is no better way to change a nation like China

than through this back door. Therefore, current legislation would

destroy opportunities for us to preach and train workers and later

send them back to China to work for democracy.

Thank you.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Wei follows:]

STATEMENT OF CHRISTIAN WEI, PH.D., CHRISTIAN WAY MISSIONS, INC., CHINESE FOR

CHRIST

Mr. Chairman, my name is Christian Wei, president of Christian Way Missions,

Inc. and the senior pastor of Chinese Bible Church located in Greenville, South

Carolina. Our ministry is focusing on preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the

world, especially the Chinese worldwide.

Since 1992 our organization has engaged in the ministries in the Commonwealth

of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) to preach the Gospel to many Chinese contract workers. The Chinese workers come to the CNMI seeking to earn money so

that they can have better lives when they go back to Mainland China. Most of the

Chinese workers are satisfied with their situation. This is because they know they

would not have the freedom back home and they also know that they will not have

the freedom and opportunity when they return. They have freedom in the CNMI to

worship God, to work hard and get paid. They do not want to lose this opportunity

to work in this free country.

Rev. Kok Hiong Pang, pastor of the largest Chinese church in Saipan, and our

coworkers have worked very hard to reach out to these Chinese contract-workers.

Thus in the last 7 years, we have seen more than 1,200 Chinese laborers get saved

and 1,000 plus get baptized. Among these 1,000 baptized newborn Chinese Christians, around 800 have gone back to China and more than 20 house churches have

been established. We believe the best way to change or transform the nature of the

Chinese government is through sending back born again Chinese Christians.

Last year, Rev. Pang and one of our coworkers came to Washington DC to testify

in the Senate against the untruthful information presented by the media, the Department of Interior, Members of Congress as well as some human rights organizations. The decision of the Senate was wise they go back to Mainland China. Most

of the Chinese workers are satisfied with their situation. This is because they know

they would not have the freedom back home and they also know that they will not

have the freedom and opportunity when they return. They have freedom in the

CNMI to worship God, to work hard and get paid. They do not want to lose this

opportunity to work in this free country.

Rev. Kok Hiong Pang, pastor of the largest Chinese church in Saipan, and our

coworkers have worked very hard to reach out to these Chinese contract-workers.

Thus in the last 7 years, we have seen more than 1,200 Chinese laborers get saved

and 1,000 plus get baptized. Among these 1,000 baptized newborn Chinese Christians, around 800 have gone back to China and more than 20 house churches have

been established. We believe the best way to change or transform the nature of the

Chinese government is through sending back born again Chinese Christians.

Last year, Rev. Pang and one of our coworkers came to Washington DC to testify

in the Senate against the untruthful information presented by the media, the Department of Interior, Members of Congress as well as some human rights organizations. The decision of the Senate was wise because they did not accept all the untrue data that the human rights organizations had submitted. This is because the

majority of the foreign workers in the CNMI are still satisfied with their situation.

However, the media and the above mentioned groups did not reflect the views of

these satisfied workers.

I would, therefore, testify that the allegations of so-called religious persecution

and forced abortion are untrue. However, the cases of forced prostitution are isolated—situations which can and do happen anywhere. Therefore, the above men-
164

tioned groups and some of the media did not present the truth. They did not interview those or present the view of those who are satisfied and willing to come back

to work in the CNMI for another term. I have spoken to many workers that want

to stay and if given the opportunity they would come back. In fact, I have never

spoken to any worker who would choose to never return.

Thus, it is wrong to mislead the public to think that in the CNMI all are bad,

all are guilty, all should be punished and all laborers are criminals, and all are unhappy and have turned to prostitution.

Another important point is that major factories have encouraged their laborers to

go to worship services. The buses of the factories have also been used to transport

Chinese laborers to our church. One factory has even set up a chapel inside the company for Christians to pray and to worship there. Our church is growing rapidly.

On behalf of my ministry, I urge you to oppose any attempts by the Federal Government to takeover the CNMI. Furthermore, I urge you to oppose any legislation

that would directly impact the present situation of the CNMI.

Through our ministry over 25,000 Chinese workers have learned the principles,

values and freedoms of democracy through the Word of God. There is no better way

to change a nation like China than through this backdoor. Therefore, current legislation would destroy opportunities for us to preach and train workers and later send

them back to China to work for democracy.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Thank you. Our next witness is Mr. Nousher

Jahedi. Mr. Jahedi.

STATEMENT OF NOUSHER JAHEDI, WASHINGTON, DC

Mr. JAHEDI. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and the members. My

name is Nousher Jahedi. I am from Bangladesh. I am the victim

of human rights abuse and human trafficking in the United States

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Island. I am one of 40,000

foreign guest workers trapped there.

After my father passed away, I had to provide for my mother,

four sisters, and young brother. I took a job at an American military base in Saudi Arabia where I learned to speak English. I also

came to admire the culture and the values of the greatest culture

on the earth.

I paid a $7,000 recruitment fee to arrange for a job in Saipan,

USA. The job I was offered by the recruiter, who worked for a U.S.

citizen from the CNMI, was working as a cleaner for a hotel. That

was the beginning of a nightmare that has yet to end.

After I and 11 other Bangladeshis left from our homes, we were

taken by the recruiter to the Philippines, where we remained for

115 hellish days. We were kept in a room so small that only three

of us could lie down at the same time. The recruiter, a predatory

human trafficker, even robbed me of $1,700 at gunpoint, dollars,

sir.

Things got worse when I finally reached Saipan. The employer who had recruited us demanded an additional $29,000 to obtain—

$29,000 U.S. dollars to obtain our job that only paid $3.05 per

hour, in essence forcing us to each work 20 weeks for free. This

was my first glimpse into how life under the U.S. flag in the CNMI

is different than anywhere else on earth.

I and the other Bangladeshis couldn’t pay our prospective em- ployer $29,000, so we found ourselves homeless and destitute. I

lived hand-to-mouth for a year before finally finding a menial job.

On some days, I only had one meal. On others, I and the others

went without food.

I came to the CNMI legally and I had working papers issued by

the CNMI Department of Labor and Immigration. So I filed a legal

complaint against my employer. Two and a half years later, my
165

complaint is still being processed in a system overwhelmed with

similar complaints from trafficking and exploited workers.

I have lost my everything and I can’t believe that I and 40,000

of my sisters and brothers were treated like an animal under the

U.S. flag. And ‘‘everything’’ includes not only my physical possessions, but my personal life as well. I borrowed $3,500 from

Bangladeshi money lenders to pay half of my recruitment fee. I

was unable to repay the loan or its exorbitant interest. As a result,

my family was trying to help me, instead has been mercilessly harassed, even threatened.

I came to Washington, DC, to urge you the law makers to extend

the rights and protection every other worker laboring under the

American flag enjoys. And, thank you very much.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Jahedi follows:]

STATEMENT OF NOUSHER JAHEDI

My name is Nousher Jahedi. I am from Bangladesh. I am the victim of human

rights abuses and human trafficking in the United States Commonwealth of the

Northern Mariana Islands. I am one of forty thousand foreign guest workers

trapped there.

After my father passed away, I had to provide for my mother, four sisters, and

young brother.’’ I took a job at an American military base in Saudi Arabia, where

I learned to speak English. I also came to admire the culture and values of ‘‘the

greatest country on Earth.’’

I paid a $7,000 ‘‘recruitment fee’’ to arrange for a job in ‘‘Saipan, USA.’’ The job

I was offered by the recruiter, who worked for a U.S. citizen from CNMI, was working as a cleaner for a hotel. That was the beginning of a nightmare that has yet

to end.

After I and eleven other Bangladeshis left our homes, we were taken by the recruiter to the Philippines, where we remained for 115 hellish days. We were kept

in a room so small that only three of us could lie down at the same time. The ‘‘recruiter,’’ a predatory human trafficker, even robbed me of $1,700 at gunpoint.

Things got worse when I finally reached Saipan. The employer who had ‘‘recruited’’ us demanded an additional $29,000 to obtain our jobs that only paid $3.05

per hour—in essence forcing us to each work 20 weeks for free.

This was my first glimpse into how life under the U.S. flag in the CNMI is different than anywhere else on Earth.

I and the other Bangladeshis couldn’t pay our prospective employer $29,000, so

we found thernselves homeless and destitute. I lived hand-to-mouth for a year before finally finding a menial job. On some days I only had one meal; on others I

and the others went without food.

I came to the CNMI legally. I had working papers issued by the CNMI Department of Labor and Immigration. So I filed a legal complaint against him employer.

Two and a half years later, my complaint is still being processed in a system overwhelmed with similar complaints from trafficked and exploited workers.

I have lost everything, everything. I can’t believe I and forty thousand of my

brothers and sisters are being treated like animals under the U.S. flag.

‘‘Everything’’ includes not only my physical possessions, but my personal life as

well. I borrowed $3,500 from Bangladeshi money lenders to pay half of my recruitment fee. I was unable to repay the loan or its exorbitant interest. As a result, my

family was trying to help have instead has been mercilessly harassed, even threatened.

I came to Washington DC to urge lawmakers to extend the rights and protection

every other worker laboring under the American flag enjoys.

I face an uncertain future when I return to the CNMI. Since coming to the Washington, I have been warned I may be the next victim of hate crimes in the CNMI.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Thank you. Our final witness will be the Reverend Raymond Kinsella, president of Grace Christian Ministries

in Saipan. Reverend Kinsella.
166

STATEMENT OF RAYMOND KINSELLA, FOUNDER AND

PRESIDENT, GRACE CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES, SAIPAN, MP

Reverend KINSELLA. Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today

to speak in opposition to the Federal takeover of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

I am Reverend Raymond Kinsella, founder and president of

Grace Christian Ministries, the largest evangelical ministry in the

CNMI. Included in this organization are churches, Christian

schools, and family social services. I also serve as the district superintendent of the Northern Marianas district of the Assemblies

of God of Micronesia and I’m a member of the Traditional Values

Coalition of the CNMI. In addition, I was born and reared in Guam

and have lived in the CNMI for the last 13 years.

Over the last few years, there have been a number of news articles and programs that have been unfavorable and unfair to the

CNMI. Recently, I watched the 20/20 program and did not recognize its portrayal of my home, the place where I’ve lived, worked,

and ministered. As a result, I felt compelled to come to Washington, DC, and try to bring another, more accurate, perspective of

the CNMI.

The CNMI has a deep-rooted history of Catholicism and now a

growing evangelical community. There are more than 55 churches

in the CNMI and this is more per capita than in most American

cities.

In an attempt to seek out the truth and to either confirm or deny

these allegations, I personally visited garment factories and surveyed workers. I met with garment, business, and church leaders

and reviewed government reports and met and surveyed guest

workers in my own congregation. While my study was not scientific, my goal was simply to gain a better understanding so I

could form an intelligent opinion regarding these allegations and be

able to speak truthfully.

As a result, I have formed the following conclusions. I understand religious persecution to exist when an individual group is

singled out and deprived of basic liberties because of a profession

of faith. However, the incidents I am aware of appeared to be more

resolvable employment disputes than cases of religious persecution.

For example, in some instances, employees are required to work on

Sunday and get a weekday off in the compensation. I do not believe

these are examples of persecution or repression, instead, issues

that can be resolved through mediation and consciousness raising.

Furthermore, some factories provide transportation to church services on Sundays and Wednesday evenings for the employees.

The issue of forced abortion follows along the same lines. The

people of the Commonwealth overwhelmingly approved a constitutional provision opposing abortion. Any and all attempts to the contrary have failed due to the unwavering stand of the majority.

Abortion is not acceptable in the CNMI, despite the impression the

national media may convey. We have no evidence of forced abortion

among our flock, nor do we hear reports of such from them.

Prostitution is prohibited in the Commonwealth by section 1341

of title 6 of the Commonwealth Code and again in Public Law 11-

19, passed just last year, which is a strong indication of where the
167

majority stand on this issue and on strict enforcement of the law.

While there is prostitution in the CNMI, as there is, regrettably,

everywhere throughout the globe, it is neither rampant nor unrestrained in the CNMI. And I support the local government’s crackdown on prostitution. Where there have been issues of prostitution

among workers, some of the Christian community have worked together with government officials to address the problem.

However, corruption on the grand scale, suggested by the 20/20

story and other reports, does not occur in a community with such

strong religious standards.

We are aware that bills have been introduced in Congress that

would end the CNMI’s ability to bring in foreign workers. Such

bills would have devastating effects on our own ministries. In my

own ministry, 50 percent of our students are children of guest

workers. Fifty percent of our staff are guest workers. And 60 percent of our congregation are guest workers. Our members are

grateful for the chance to work and to live for a time in the CNMI.

We thank God for the opportunity it has given our churches to

spread the gospel among them.

In addition, we view such bills as destructive measures that will

humiliate and ultimately degrade the people of the Commonwealth.

The negative publicity we have received has been devastating. I

honestly believe that such a takeover would not only be a grave insult, but also unfair. No one in the CNMI denies that problems

exist. However, recent media stories and efforts by the Clinton Administration have created the illusion that nothing is being done

and that we are not competent to resolve these problems. This is

unfair and untrue.

Mr. Chairman and the members of the Committee, we all take

responsibility for the problems within the Commonwealth. We reap

the benefits of this relationship and we are accountable for the mistakes. I appeal to the Committee to allow the partnership of the

local government, the business, and the church to prove their commitment to resolve this once and for all. Thank you again for this

opportunity for me to bring this message for myself and my CNMI

colleagues.

[The prepared statement of Reverend Kinsella follows:]

STATEMENT OF RAYMOND KINSELLA, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, GRACE CHRISTIAN

MINISTRIES, SAIPAN, MP

The CNMI has a deep-rooted history of Catholicism, and now a growing evangelical community. There are more than 55 churches in the CNMI. This is more per

capita than in most American cities.

In an attempt to seek out the truth and to either confirm or deny these allegations, I personally:

—visited garment factories

—conducted a survey of garment factory workers

—conducted a survey of pastors—and met with pastors

—conducted a survey of my own congregation

—reviewed reports supplied by the offices of the Governor of the CNMI and the

Washington, DC Representative for the CNMI

—met with Governor Tenorio, Lt. Governor Sablan and Washington Representative

Babauta

While my study was not scientific, my goal was simply to gain a better understanding so I could form an intelligent opinion regarding these allegations and be

able to speak truthfully. As a result I formed the following conclusions:

1. I understand ‘‘religious persecution’’ to exist when an individual or group is singled out and deprived of basic liberties because of a profession of faith. However,
168

the incidents I am aware of appear to be more resolvable employment disputes than

cases of religious persecution. For example, in some instances, employees are required to work on Sunday and given a weekday off in compensation. I do not believe

these are examples of persecution or repression, instead issues that can be resolved

through mediation and consciousness raising.

Furthermore, some factories provide transportation to church services on Sundays

and Wednesday evenings for their employees. Clearly those who accuse the CNMI

of rampant religious persecution know little of our island. Perhaps these accusers

have not read the papers or visited places like Sudan, Iran or Iraq—where religious

persecution really does exist.

2. The issue of ‘‘forced abortion’’ follows along the same lines. The people of the

Commonwealth overwhelmingly approved a constitutional provision opposing abortion. Any and all attempts to the contrary have failed due to the unwavering stand

of the majority. The Catholic Bishop, His Excellency Bishop Tomas A. Camacho, in

his testimony to the CNMI House of Representatives stated, ‘‘both Federal and local

laws prohibit the capture of Haggan (turtles) and the penalty for violation for this

is a $25,000 fine. The proposed bill states ‘any person who is found guilty of abortion shall be punished by . . . a fine not to exceed $20,000. Are Haggan worth more

than Chamolinian babies?’’ Abortion is not acceptable in the CNMI, despite the impression the national media may convey. We have no evidence of forced abortion

among our flocks nor do we hear reports of such from them.

3. Prostitution is prohibited in the Commonwealth by Section 1341 of Title 6 of

the Commonwealth Code and again in Public Law 11-19, passed just last year,

which is a strong indication of where the majority stand on this issue and on strict

enforcement of the law. While there is prostitution in the CNMI, as there is, regrettably, everywhere throughout the globe, it is neither rampant nor unrestrained in

the CNMI. I support the local government’s crackdown on prostitution.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. I am going to reserve my time and recognize Mr.

Schaffer.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Jahedi? Is that

how—how do I pronounce your name, properly? How do I pronounce your name properly?

Mr. JAHEDI. Jahedi. Nousher Jahedi.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Your last name?

Mr. JAHEDI. Jahedi, sir. J-A-H-E-D-I.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Do you go by the name Poppen as well? Is that

correct?

Mr. JAHEDI. Yes, sir. It’s my nickname. My parents called me

Toppen.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Toppen. I appreciate your taking my call last

night. It was a nice conversation. I appreciate that. You mentioned

your plans here in the United States, that there may be some

chance for—what’s the word?—asylum. Is that your goal and objective, to seek asylum in the United States?

Mr. JAHEDI. No, sir.

Mr. SCHAFFER. It is not?

Mr. JAHEDI. Before I left from Bangladesh, I thought that Saipan

was the United States of America.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Right.

Mr. JAHEDI. When I arrived in Saipan, I realized that Saipan is

not America. It’s only a U.S. commonwealth. But I was told by the

recruiter when I arrived in——

Mr. SCHAFFER. I understand that. I’m speaking about the conversation we had last night.

Mr. JAHEDI. Yes.

Mr. SCHAFFER. About—I asked how long you were staying in the

United States. You said you were seeking asylum. Is that still the

case, today?

Mr. JAHEDI. Yes, sir.
169

Mr. SCHAFFER. Yes. How have—can you tell me a little bit about

the process of seeking asylum? What are you doing to seek asylum

now?

Mr. JAHEDI. I was involved in a political party in Bangladesh.

When the new government came to the party on June 23, so I left

Bangladesh.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Okay. The history is not what I’m after. Let me

ask you, is Global Survival Network helping you achieve asylum in

the United States?

Mr. JAHEDI. No, sir. It’s my own.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Are you aware that—I just want to be certain.

Are you aware that the Global Survival Network, in helping to

apply for the parole to come here for this hearing, guaranteed to

the Office of Insular Affairs that they will guarantee your return

to CNMI at the end of your stay? Were you aware of that?

Mr. JAHEDI. Sorry, sir?

Mr. SCHAFFER. That Mr.—can’t remember names today. Mr.

Galster in a letter that he assigned to—the memo to the Office of

Insular Affairs has guaranteed your return to CNMI after the

hearing. Were you aware of that guarantee, that this was a condition of coming here today?

Mr. JAHEDI. Yes, sir. I know that.

Mr. SCHAFFER. That you must go back to CNMI?

Mr. JAHEDI. Yes, sir. I know that I have to return to Saipan.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Were you aware of this guarantee?

Mr. JAHEDI. Sorry, sir?

Mr. SCHAFFER. Were you aware of this guarantee?

Mr. JAHEDI. I did not understand. Can you please make it easy

for me please?

Mr. SCHAFFER. Did you know that this guarantee exists? That

Mr. Galster will guarantee that you’ll be returned to CNMI after

your stay here?

Mr. JAHEDI. Yes, sir. I know that.

Mr. SCHAFFER. You understood that?

Mr. JAHEDI. Yes.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Thank you. Now let me ask, when Chairman Don

Young was in Saipan.

Mr. JAHEDI. Yes, sir.

Mr. SCHAFFER. As I understand, you were at a rally there?

Mr. JAHEDI. Yes, sir, I was. I was with the workers.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Right. How did you learn about the rally?

Mr. JAHEDI. Sorry, sir?

Mr. SCHAFFER. How did you learn that the rally was going to

take place?

Mr. JAHEDI. We know that Mr.—I read it from the newspaper

that Mr. Don Young and other members of the Committee is going

to have a plan to visit the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana

Island. And, by that time, before Mr. Young came out there——

Mr. SCHAFFER. Right. Can you tell me about the car you borrowed to drive to that rally? Who did you borrow the car from?

Mr. JAHEDI. My friend, sir.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Your friend? That same friend tells me you accepted $1,200 to help round up other friends for food, gas, and for
170

the vehicle, to help find other Bangladeshis to go to the rally. Is

that true?

Mr. JAHEDI. No, sir.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Did you receive any money or compensation at all

for attending that rally and rounding up friends?

Mr. JAHEDI. No, sir. No, sir.

Mr. SCHAFFER. None at all?

Mr. JAHEDI. No.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Do you know any others who did?

Mr. JAHEDI. No, sir. I don’t know about that.

Mr. SCHAFFER. On my visit to Saipan just two weeks ago.

Mr. JAHEDI. Yes, sir.

Mr. SCHAFFER. I heard from two separate individuals that you

received $1,200 from a Federal official, frankly, to attend that rally.

And that you used it to help pay for food and gas and so on. Is that

incorrect or is it correct?

Mr. JAHEDI. No, sir. It’s not correct.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Okay.

Mr. JAHEDI. It’s not correct.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Do you know any others who received money to

attend that rally from any Federal officials?

Mr. JAHEDI. No, sir.

Mr. SCHAFFER. None at all?

Mr. JAHEDI. No, sir.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Let me—how about the signs that were used at

the rally. Did you make those signs?

Mr. JAHEDI. Not only me, sir.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Now where did they come from?

Mr. JAHEDI. Sir, we made the banner, sir, and the placards. The

placards, sir?

Mr. SCHAFFER. The chairman would ask—like me to stop asking

questions. Okay. Yes, the signs. The signs you were holding.

Mr. JAHEDI. Yes, we hold it. We make it on the boat, you know,

the cartons. We use the cartons.

Mr. SCHAFFER. And where did those materials come from?

Mr. JAHEDI. We grab it from the street some and we buy from

the Joten some, though, not all though, everything, only the few.

Like the six pages that we buy from the Joten. The colored one.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Thank you. Mr. Miller.

Mr. MILLER. Maybe Mr. Schaffer could tell us the answer to

these questions, because apparently—well, no, if there is, I mean

you’ve—I don’t know—accurately or inaccurately, whatever, you

suggested Federal officials paid people to go to—that this gentleman received money. He says he didn’t. So what’s the allegation

and then maybe people can help out and find out what the answer

is.

Mr. SCHAFFER. If the gentleman would yield.

Mr. MILLER. Yes.

Mr. SCHAFFER. I will tell you with absolute certainty, while I was

there in CNMI and interviewed a number of garment workers and

others, in the case of this question, Bangladeshi workers, I was told

on multiple occasions that individuals received funds, in fact,
171

$1,200 from Federal officials to attend this rally and go rent cars,

fill up the tank, and feed people.

Mr. MILLER. And you were also told that this gentleman received

money. And he says no.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Yes. The testimony I received mentioned you by

name as one individual who received money from a Federal

official——

Mr. JAHEDI. And—excuse me, sir. How do you believe that the

person who told you that I received the money? Because I am a victim. I suffered. I care for—as a human being, I have little respect

to myself. That way, my employer make me suffer. Of course, I will

join with them and I will try my best to protest against this.

Mr. SCHAFFER. I think, in all fairness, the conclusion I reached

that you——

Mr. JAHEDI. I did not take any money from anybody, sir.

Mr. SCHAFFER. [continuing] your answer is part of the inquiry

that is ongoing, frankly. I think I’ve been forthright in telling you

that while I was there somebody suggested——

Mr. JAHEDI. Yes. And that——

Mr. SCHAFFER. Two individuals that we—that—that——

Mr. JAHEDI. Yes. No, sir. I understand that.

Mr. SCHAFFER. On two separate occasions, in addition to another

letter that I’ve received since then, that mentioned you by name.

I’m merely giving you a chance to respond to that. If you say it’s

not true——

Mr. JAHEDI. Yes, sir.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Then that is a fine answer for you to give us

today.

Mr. JAHEDI. Yes. But——

Mr. SCHAFFER. Now is that the answer.

Mr. JAHEDI. I—yes, sir. I just joined the party for—I just joined

the demonstration because I am also——

Mr. SCHAFFER. To answer your question, Congressman

Miller——

Mr. MILLER. Yes. No, that’s what I wanted to know.

Mr. SCHAFFER. During my investigation——

Mr. MILLER. Because he has said that what you were told was

inaccurate and I don’t want to leave the suggestion that somehow

that that story is more accurate than what this gentleman has told

us, because he said, in fact, it didn’t happen. So what we have, for

the moment here, is we have an allegation.

Mr. SCHAFFER. That’s right.

Mr. MILLER. Of which we don’t know the——

Mr. SCHAFFER. Fairly stated.

Mr. MILLER. [ continuing] truth or not. And I guess that’ll be determined down the road. I want to thank you, Mr. Jehedi, for your

testimony. I don’t know your particular case, but I did have an opportunity to meet with many of the young Bangladeshi men, who

were brought under really false pretence and fraud and really a

criminal conspiracy to defraud them of whatever money they could

get from you and others to come to the CNMI. The tragedy is that

it appears that many people in the CNMI were part of that same

operation, since many of you were given official documents. They

weren’t forgeries. They were given by other government officials to
172

these individuals that took you for all that money. And it’s a very

sad state of affairs that you’ve been put in this situation.

I also find it rather interesting that, in a time when you’re in a

very desperate situation and the government acknowledges that

you and many of your friends have been fraudulently taken advantage and criminally taken advantage of, that they would rather

bring additional workers to the CNMI than give you the job so you

might have a chance to earn your way out of your predicament

back home.

Because, as I understand in talking to many, many people during

the days that we were there, many people had borrowed from

friends and from family and from other people in their towns and

their villages to pay the recruiter to come to America, they thought.

They later found out, of course, it was the CNMI, which was not

the same, under immigration laws.

And I find it rather disheartening that the government in many

cases, many, many of the Bangladeshi young men—for those who

aren’t aware of this—had been working as day laborers, they’d

been working for people and people have constantly hired them,

promised them wages, and not paid them, at the end of the jobs,

as they’ve tried to form a commune and support one another and

get work where they can. But rather than let them have eligibility

for other jobs in the area, they have not been able to go to work

except in an illegal fashion and, obviously, if they’re in an illegal

fashion, then they can immediately be deported. The people who

employ them know that, but that’s not unique to the CNMI; it happens, unfortunately, in some of the States in this country where

people’s alien status is used against them.

So it’s a tragedy. And it’s one that these young men, while they

could be earning some of the debt that they have incurred in good

faith on their part to go back, but the government hasn’t seen fit

to do that. As we’ve heard, many of them, some of them have, that

have been able to work, have claims for unpaid wages that exceed

the amount of money that the government is willing to give them

along with the plane ticket. And so they’re going to lose money not

only to those who took it from them illegally, but those who are

taking the money from them under the rubric of enforcement of the

law, which is a double tragedy for these young people. And I guess,

you know, that’s why formal complaints have been lodged by their

embassy.

Mr. Galster, let me thank you for your testimony and for your

work on this issue. I don’t think I need to go through a lot of questions with you. I agree, obviously, with much of what your findings

were and the information that you conveyed.

And, finally, you know, for the other two witnesses, I’d just say

to continue to try to pass off that somehow this is all about the

media. I don’t know how many indictments, I don’t know how

many convictions, I don’t know how many tragic cases it’ll take. It’s

not a matter of speculation. It’s thousands of workers who people

have stipulated they’ve withheld their wages, they’ve been convicted of withholding their wages, they’ve entered into settlement

agreements, in some cases they’ve been prosecuted under the criminal laws of this nation. I don’t know how much evidence you’ll need

to understand that tragically this is going on all too often.
173

This isn’t the exception. Over the last decade, tragically, this has

been much of the rule of the relationships with these people who

were brought to the CNMI. That’s not to suggest that there aren’t

people there who have not been victimized and many people there

who have different circumstances. But the numbers run into the

thousands and thousands and the amounts of money run into the

millions.

And I don’t know how much prostitution it takes before you decide that this is factual. The prosecutions that have gone—I don’t

know. We prosecute people under the Mann Act and all that. So

it’s not about the media. It’s not about the media. It’s about hard

facts that human rights workers and others have developed and,

tragically, people like the young Bangladeshi gentleman and his

colleagues have suffered through, that they’ve told—you know, it

wasn’t the media that told their story to this Committee, that told

the governor and the others that they ought to pass a law to try

to help these people financially. This Committee on both sides of

the aisle believed these young men when they told us their situation. The U.S. attorney has validated that. The prosecutions, to

some extent, have validated that.

So I think to suggest that somehow this is just something that

the media has made up is a tragic disservice to the thousands of

young people who have been caught up in this effort who are doing

nothing more than, one, looking for an opportunity, obviously, to

come to America and to search for the better and to work very,

very hard. And whether they’re exploited or not, obviously, when

you go into these factories, you see people who are working very,

very hard, trying to earn some wherewithal within their families

or relatives, however it’s apportioned out. And to suggest that

that’s just a figment of 20/20’s imagination or something else would

be a tragic disservice to those individuals.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. I recognize myself for five minutes and yield the

time to Mr. Schaffer.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Thank you. Mr. Galster, who wrote the report?

The ‘‘Trapped’’ report?

Mr. GALSTER. I was the principal author.

Mr. SCHAFFER. The principal author. Now, in your testimony,

you mentioned that there were a team of investigators. How big

was the team?

Mr. GALSTER. There were two principal investigators and then

we had about three or four—yes, about three or four other people

helping us on the ground. So I’d say a team of five to six altogether.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Let me ask, did the United States Department of

Interior play any role in helping to edit or write any or all of the

report?

Mr. GALSTER. No. What I did is I sent a draft of that report

around to about 14 different people for a peer review, including

David North, including other people we had interviewed, even including two business people in the CNMI who were very sort of

anti-Federal takeover. All of them came back with comments. We

were mainly doing a factual——
174

Mr. SCHAFFER. It’s Mr. North, at the time, the Department of Interior employee that I’m interested in. Can you tell me about the

title, ‘‘Trapped: Human Trafficking for Forced Labor in the Commonwealth’’? Where did that title come from?

Mr. GALSTER. I think that was a series of titles that we had

thought about and brainstormed about. It seemed to me——

Mr. SCHAFFER. Let me ask, in the second batch of——

Mr. MILLER. Will the gentleman yield. You’ve got to let the witness answer the question. You keep breaking him off in the middle

of the question.

Mr. SCHAFFER. With the second—I’d be happy to if you would

yield the time to me so I could do that. I would——

Mr. MILLER. You can take all the time you want, but let him answer.

Mr. SCHAFFER. The second—let me—the second draft report of

notes from Mr. North said, ‘‘Regarding the title, here are some possibilities: Trapped. Trapped Under the U.S. Flag. Trapped: Human

Trafficking in the Marianas. Trapped On Saipan. Trapped Under

the U.S. Flag on Saipan.’’ Do you think any of those suggestions

had anything to do with your choice of the title ‘‘Trapped: Human

Trafficking in the Forced Labor of the Commonwealth of Saipan’’?

Mr. GALSTER. They might have. I mean, we were playing with a

whole bunch of titles at the time.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Might have?

Mr. GALSTER. I would suggest, though, if you’re investigating all

this and you want to look for ghostwriters, you might want to look

right behind me at some of the lawyers and other lobbyists who

have helped write the testimony for some of the other people who

have testified today.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Very good. Did you and your organization commit

to the Office of Insular Affairs that, with respect to Toppen, that

you would guarantee that your organization would pay for his travel and daily expenses, ensure his return to the CNMI at the end

of his brief stay, and chaperon and accommodate Mr. Jahedi during

his stay?

Mr. GALSTER. Yes, I did.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Has your organization done that, in fact?

Mr. GALSTER. I paid for—our organization paid for Nousher to

come over. I guaranteed that we would get him back. Once he got

here, we thought that—we wanted him to come over and be able

to speak to the media and possibly testify, because I found during

my investigations that he was one of the more forthright and articulate person who was willing to speak.

Mr. SCHAFFER. I agree.

Mr. GALSTER. Once he got over here, it was clear to me if we sent

him back I felt like I was sending him back to get killed. So I

backed off of that commitment.

Mr. SCHAFFER. The——

Mr. GALSTER. I hear sneers in the background here, so I’d like

to just follow up on that.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Your guarantee to ensure his return to CNMI at

the end of his brief stay was made—I guess he arrived here May

12, May 13, somewhere around that?

Mr. GALSTER. Yes, somewhere around then, that’s right.
175

Mr. SCHAFFER. When is—how long is the brief stay?

Mr. GALSTER. He would get a 90-day visit, so I think it was an

open-ended ticket for 90 days. And at that time, I think, we were

hoping that there were going to be hearings on this issue sometime

in May.

Mr. SCHAFFER. How many—during the course of your investigation, how many factories did you investigate?

Mr. GALSTER. Nine.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Nine?

Mr. GALSTER. Nine.

Mr. SCHAFFER. And can you—the—and over what kind of time

period?

Mr. GALSTER. I went to Hong Kong for a week. I went to Saipan

for another four weeks. Five weeks altogether.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Were all the factories on Saipan?

Mr. GALSTER. Yes.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Okay. And can you tell us under what pretense

you managed to investigate these factories?

Mr. GALSTER. Sure. We’d conducted two levels of inquiry. One

was conventional research in which I told people who we were. Another one, I was an undercover investigator purporting to be a New

York-based garment executive who was interested in placing orders, possibly interested in placing order with Saipan-based factories.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Now, Toppen, can I ask you a couple more questions? Do you know Jeff Shore?

Mr. JAHEDI. Sorry, sir?

Mr. SCHAFFER. Do you know Jeff Shore?

Mr. JAHEDI. Yes, he’s working in the Department of Interior

Saipan, sir.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Right. Has Jeff Shore ever given you any amount

of money for any reason?

Mr. JAHEDI. No, sir. No, sir.

Mr. SCHAFFER. No. And has Alan Stamen ever given you any

amount of money for any reason?

Mr. JAHEDI. No, sir. No.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Did Jeff Shore or anyone else ever ask you to

help in getting people together for demonstrations or protests?

Mr. JAHEDI. No, sir.

Mr. SCHAFFER. No? Did Jeff Shore or anyone else ever ask you

for help in getting cars to round up people?

Mr. JAHEDI. Excuse me, sir?

Mr. SCHAFFER. Getting cars to round up Bangladeshis?

Mr. JAHEDI. No, sir.

Mr. SCHAFFER. No? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Faleomavaega is recognized.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This has been a

long afternoon, to say the least. I do have just two questions that

I want to communicate with Governor Tenorio or Mr. Zachares or

anybody in the NMI administration that I would like to just clarify

for the record. Can anybody come and help me on that? Is Mr.

Zachares there? Governor Tenorio or somebody? Please.

There’s been a lot of the statements and also the proposition that

was brought forth by the government witnesses earlier this morn-
176

ing, Mr. Zachares. I don’t think there’s any question, in terms of

the past record, that there have been abuses. Can that be safely

said, for the record, that there have been abuses of the use of labor

and immigration law, as far as the NMI government is concerned?

Mr. ZACHARES. As far as the government is concerned?

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Yes. And I’m not one to try to go into the

sins of the past. I’m just trying to project, at this point in time,

since Governor Tenorio took over as the new governor, I’d say for

the past one year, can you tell me exactly, for the record, what is

the procedure before a foreign worker can come to NMI to work,

do you still have shadow contracting going on as part of the process?

Mr. ZACHARES. Not that we recognize and not that we’re aware

of, sir.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. No. That’s not my question. Do you still permit shadow contracting in the process?

Mr. ZACHARES. No, sir. No, sir. No, sir.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. So, right now, if I want to get the gentleman

from Bangladesh and somebody does the contracting or the

brokering, is that still permitted as part of the process of bringing

a foreign workers to NMI?

Mr. ZACHARES. Okay. Could you say that one more time, sir? I

couldn’t——

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Let’s say I’ve got five people in Bangladesh

that want to come to work in Saipan. Somebody in Bangladesh

goes and says, hey, I know somebody in Saipan, USA, that wants

to bring five workers to work there in Saipan, USA. Does that coyote or does that middle man still exist as part of the process?

Mr. ZACHARES. Should not. Should not there. First of all, would

not come in from Bangladesh. Second, would be subject, under the

moratorium and we would recog—that middle man in Bangladesh

should not be there.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Are you saying you now have current laws

in the books in NMI that restricts this kind of procedure?

Mr. ZACHARES. We are looking into the legislation to restrict this

procedure——

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. You mean, it’s still going on right now?

Mr. ZACHARES. No, sir. We would not recognize that individual.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. No, I don’t—maybe I’m not clear in my

question. Right now, as a matter of policy or as a matter of law——

Mr. ZACHARES. Well, as a matter of policy, sir, no, we would not.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. But it’s not under the law right now, as far

as NMI is concerned?

Mr. ZACHARES. No, sir.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. So, in other words, they can still come with

contract brokers, living in Bangladesh or Pakistan or wherever

they go?

Mr. ZACHARES. Well, what we’ve done in those countries with the

high incidence of exploitation——

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Gee, you know, please appreciate, I was

there when that rally was held. It wasn’t very pleasant. I was there

when we had 600 of these people and Mr. Jehedi. At midnight, we

were hafing a rally next to the hotel and people groping and wanting to know what can we do? Because they couldn’t find employ-
177

ment. They can’t—you know, I mean, it was really a very sad situation. And I just wanted to know, within the one year period, that

my good friend Governor Tenorio had has this administration, is it

the policy of the administration now that forevermore you don’t

have this kind of contracting, not to allow these kinds of people to

come in and be employed?

Mr. ZACHARES. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. In point of fact, in the countries

where we found the high exploitation of workers, for example, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, that you were—we’re not even bringing

in workers from those areas right now, because of the level of

abuse in the past that was there and because of the exploitive nature of the people that were coming in.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. So what you’re saying, Mr. Zachares, as a

matter of policy, as far as Governor Tenorio is concerned, that’s his

policy.

Mr. ZACHARES. Yes, sir.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. But it is still not a law.

Mr. ZACHARES. It’s not currently a law, no, sir.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. So you could have a policy, but it could still

abuse it, because there’s no law that will govern this very real serious issue and problem.

Mr. ZACHARES. Well, there are other laws in place right now. For

example, one, as I pointed out, there are some countries that we

are not bringing workers in. Second, the moratorium laws that are

in place. There are other laws that are covering. And the policy is

we are not recognizing that, sir, no.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Chairman, I just want to say, in closing,

this is really a sad day for the territories. I say it with due respect

to my good friend Governor Tenorio and all his efforts that has

been in trying to rectify the problems the NMI have had to go

through in the past, and abuses, as it has recognized.

Traditionally in this Committee and the members that deal with

issues affecting the insular areas, it’s been on the process of bipartisanship. But there was no partisanship in terms of whether it’s

a Democratic or a Republican issue. And I’m sad to say, Mr. Chairman, that today is now we’re at the pits. It has now become a very

partisan issue. And it really saddens me because I just hope and

wish that this would not be the case with NMI and I just really,

really am saddened that it has now come to this.

And I wanted to ask Governor Tenorio, earlier Dr. Teitelbaum

made a very astute observation. Because it’s almost now to the

point where some members who know Tenorio say, hey, if you want

to become independent, will you be willing to become independent

tomorrow and forget about U.S. citizenship. Because this is where

it’s leading to. And I want to ask Governor Tenorio, what is your

feeling about this issue because this is where members now are

getting at each other. It’s now NMI independence or commonwealth

or on your own. And I would like to have Governor Tenorio’s observation because, as I said, it’s a sad day for the territories, because

it’s now become a very partisan situation.

Governor TENORIO. Congressman, on my testimony, I made it

very clear that we are very proud to be part of the United States.

And we continue to do so.

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
178

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Zachares, while you’re up there, Mr. Miller

in the last panel in his line of questioning, it came out, or at least

this is what I picked up, that people who were repatriated lost

their claims for whatever they might have had in terms of the back

wages, the travel expenses. This is the Bangladeshi situation. And

it was my understanding that the government would continue to

pursue those claims and that whatever recoveries were obtained

would be forwarded to them. What is the situation on that?

Mr. ZACHARES. That is the policy. And let me elaborate on that

just briefly. We continue to go after civil enforcement. We filed 142

cases against 170 individuals, 57 corporation, 18 bonding companies. We’re seeking $1.5 million for 459 workers in just the last

year, 108 of them being Bangladeshi workers. We also collected $1

million in a judgment against a garment factory to which we will

be disbursing the funds to the workers that are already back in

China.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. So you got $1 million recovery.

Mr. ZACHARES. Yes, sir, we did.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. And so how many workers is that going to be

distributed to?

Mr. ZACHARES. That’s approximately I believe between 300 and

400 workers. I’m not quite sure on the exact numbers of that. But

under the compensation, if—and there’s one other area that we’ve

exploited. For example, the Benavente security case, and I would

like to bring that up. That’s a very high-profile case that U.S.

Labor was involved, numerous people were involved. We went in.

We filed 162 count indictment and sought and got a $3 million bail

against the person who put up property and is supposedly under

bankruptcy now, which would extinguish all the claims of his administrative orders.

We are seeking to go after the person in the criminal vein, due

to the restitution that we can gain under the criminal aspect of it.

If we can identify, then that would not be extinguished under the

bankruptcy, so we’re looking in the areas of criminal prosecution

in order to try to recover some of the restitution for these workers.

We filed 5 other cases against 5 other security companies totaling

147 count indictment. We just received a five count illegal employment indictment against one other woman who was running a security company and she was sentenced to three years in prison.

Under the compensation, they get up to the $3,000, the plane

ticket, the $2,300 if it’s $700 and we take their names, addresses,

and information and if we recoup the money, we have the record

of what was owed them and we would reimburse them the difference, if we do make the claim. For example, under the

Benavente, if a person under Benavente security took advantage of

this, which we’ve had people take advantage of it, and we do recover under our criminal and restitution, if we do, we will try to

forward those monies. We will forward those monies to those people.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Thank you. I have a couple of minutes left and

I yield them to Mr. Schaffer for any questions he may have.

Mr. SCHAFFER. I have a couple more questions for Toppan. I

wanted to know if there was—you observed or were able to—if you
179

know of anyone who was involved in organizing the rallies that

took place?

Mr. JAHEDI. Sorry, sir? Can you come again, once again, please?

Mr. SCHAFFER. If there was anyone involved in organizing the

rallies that took place?

Mr. JAHEDI. On February 18, sir?

Mr. SCHAFFER. When Don—when Chairman Young came to

CNMI?

Mr. JAHEDI. Yes, sir.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Who?

Mr. JAHEDI. There was my—there was many of us. Not only me.

There was Filipino. There was Nepalese. Sri Lanka. Me, too. Chinese also.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Now, have you ever—has it ever been suggested

to you that, if we here on the Committee and the Federal Government impose our laws on CNMI, that your chances of getting a

green card or a visa or a passport or citizenship would be better?

Mr. JAHEDI. No, sir.

Mr. SCHAFFER. No one ever suggested that to you?

Mr. JAHEDI. No one at all, sir.

Mr. SCHAFFER. The menial job that you mentioned in your testimony. You said that you found a menial job. What was that job?

Mr. JAHEDI. The first job of mine, sir?

Mr. SCHAFFER. No, the one you described as menial.

Mr. JAHEDI. The first employer, she hired me as a commercial

cleaner and when I came to Saipan, there was no job waiting for

me. And the second——

Mr. SCHAFFER. Okay, you used menial to describe the third job,

actually——

Mr. JAHEDI. The second.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Or the second job on Saipan.

Mr. JAHEDI. Yes, sir.

Mr. SCHAFFER. I asked you last night about the dramatic just

then, the language of previous comments and testimony that the

Committee has been in receipt of and the well-written testimony

that you have today. You suggested someone helped you write that

testimony. Who helped you write your speech.

Mr. JAHEDI. Sir, I told you that last night between when I spoke

to you, I write it in my own language and I asked Mr. Rick if he

can translate it. I explain to him so he can make it sound good.

Mr. SCHAFFER. So someone else actually translated what you had

written?

Mr. JAHEDI. Sorry, sir?

Mr. SCHAFFER. So someone else had translated what you had initially written?

Mr. JAHEDI. No, no, no. Not translate. I explain to him what’s my

problem and how did I come to from Bangladesh to Saipan and

that’s all.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Sure. Can you tell me who was it that translated

your speech?

Mr. JAHEDI. Not translator, sir. I speak to him in English.

Mr. SCHAFFER. In English.
180

Mr. JAHEDI. Yes. And try—you know. I am not so good in

English. I hope you understand that English is not my mother

tongue.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Okay. Okay. So who used the word ‘‘menial,’’ for

example? Is that a word you used?

Mr. JAHEDI. Sorry, sir?

Mr. SCHAFFER. The word ‘‘menial’’? Is that a word you used?

Mr. JAHEDI. No, no, sir.

Mr. SCHAFFER. No? What does ‘‘predatory human trafficker’’

mean?

Mr. JAHEDI. Like the human being taking money from the people

and take to the different place and can no way to get out of place.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Okay. How would you describe Washington, DC?

Would you say it’s ‘‘hellish’’?

Mr. JAHEDI. No, sir.

Mr. SCHAFFER. You would not?

Mr. JAHEDI. No.

Mr. SCHAFFER. What does that word mean to you?

Mr. JAHEDI. Sorry, sir?

Mr. SCHAFFER. ‘‘Hellish’’? What does that word mean to you?

Mr. JAHEDI. Like what happen in Philippines, when I was in

Philippines.

Mr. SCHAFFER. In the Philippines? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. MILLER. Mr. Chairman, I’d like to submit for the record some

additional questions and I would also like to submit for the record

of all of the witnesses who prepared their testimonies too. Because

we are in receipt of e-mails that suggest that lawyers have been

working on behalf of other witnesses and I didn’t know that was,

you know, a problem in this country. But I’d like to know who. So

we’ll submit that for the record and to the witnesses directly.

Thank you.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Mr. Chairman.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Yes, Mr. Schaffer.

Mr. SCHAFFER. I did not make any comments at the opening or

didn’t really make too many statements during the course of the

hearing.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. I’ll be happy to recognize you.

Mr. SCHAFFER. As far as my opinion. I’d like to do that now.

Mr. MILLER. I would like to reclaim my time. Mr. Galster.

Mr. GALSTER. Yes, please, just real quickly before we finish up.

I just wanted to speak about the shadow contracts. They still exist.

It’s not primarily from Nepal and Bangladesh. In terms of numbers, most of them are from China. I learned this when I was in

Hong Kong talking to the factory bosses there and they explained

that they’re still signing, sometimes verbally, agreeing to two-year

contracts. And what happens is that the Chinese, mainly women,

mainly from the countryside, mainly from Fujian Province have to

borrow around $8,000, which they pay to an employment agency,

actually. It’s a Chinese quasi-government agency. And then they

get the work permit, which is issued by the CNMI to this company

for usually a real job because most of those are sewing jobs.

So they do exist and once they get on the island, they understand

that the real governing boss there is not the government. It is their

garment factory boss. And that was explained to me and I quote
181

what one of the major factory owners in Saipan said, he said, ‘‘The

worker that goes to Saipan gill sign a two-year contract. It’s unlike

the factories in other countries like in Thailand, China, or the Philippines, whatever. They can change their employee as they wish.

Say you sign a two-year contract going to Saipan and work there

for two years. And if they want to go from one factory to another,

they have to apply to the government and say I want to transfer

from factory A to factory B. They, the worker, cannot do that without the government approval. And the government usually asks

whether we want to transfer this person or not. Usually we don’t

say yes. Usually we refuse.’’

So I think that’s important to remember. That’s what we mean

by debt bondage. And that is forbidden under a couple of UN treaties that this government is a signatory to. So, in addition to the

U.S. laws, you’re talking about and the effectiveness of enforcement

of Federal agency laws in the Saipan, remember we have some obligations to some international treaties with respect to human

rights that forbid this kind of debt bondage.

The other thing. When I said that I didn’t want to send Nousher

back because I feared for his life and I heard some sneers in the

back here. And I think there’s even people laughing who are from

Saipan. But that doesn’t surprise because sometimes you can be

close to this kind of situation, this kind of debt bondage situation,

and not know it exists. It’s kind of an invisible slavery, because

most workers won’t speak up about it because of the situation I

just described. They have nothing to gain from speaking to a congressman who comes there. Nousher and some of the Bangladeshis

have really taken a lot of risks. Some of them have been beaten

up and there have been a couple of people killed.

So please don’t forget that. It’s not an exaggeration. And I hope

this Committee will do something about it. Thank you.

Mr. MILLER. So does the shadow contract exist? Mr. Zachares.

Mr. ZACHARES. The only contract that we recognize is the CNMI

labor contract.

Mr. MILLER. How would you know if the shadow contract existed?

Mr. ZACHARES. We would not, unless they came forward. Unless

a worker brought it forward and said, this contract is——

Mr. MILLER. And how would you know if that worker paid a recruiter or not?

Mr. ZACHARES. If they would come forward and either let us

know or the Federal Government, U.S. Labor, know or my department know.

Mr. MILLER. But, absent that, we don’t really know whether or

not——

Mr. ZACHARES. I can tell you in the four years I’ve been in Labor

and Immigration, I’ve yet to see in front of me someone bring in

a shadow contract.

Mr. MILLER. I understand that. But when you say, earlier in

your testimony—it seems like a long time ago this morning—you

indicated that you no longer use recruiters. You no longer are allowed to use recruiters. The fact is we don’t know whether or not

people—and I’m not—because you get jobs how you get jobs, the

best way you can, you get this opportunity. We don’t know for a
182

certainty whether or not they are continuing to use recruiters,

whether they are continuing to pay money, and/or whether or not

they’re continuing to use shadow contracts in some places.

Mr. ZACHARES. We do know from the CNMI side, but from the

other side, it’s difficult at best to enforce.

Mr. MILLER. That, I think, again going back to earlier this morning, that goes to the questions of, you know, the ability to enforce

these policies. You know. Okay.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Schaffer.

Mr. SCHAFFER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I went to Saipan and

spent five days. Visited probably eight or nine factories in the time

that we were there. And, with the exception of two or three, all

were unannounced. We literally showed up based on testimony we

had taken from other workers that we had heard off-premises of

work sites and worked kind of backwards. Found out where the

complaints were first, then went to the factories and met—showed

up at the gate and asked to come in and sometimes there were exchanges between the gate and the front office, but, in all cases, we

were eventually let in, never took more than five minutes at the

longest.

The first factory we saw was a Chinese-owned factory, owned out

of Hong Kong. It was probably the worst one we saw. My experience was not the same as those who said they had been there and

found things to be wonderful. I found a number of specific factories

and specific incidents that I found to be offensive and believed they

need some attention, clearly. Those issues I’ve discussed with a

number of people and, for my part, my five-day investigation is not

over. This hearing is certainly part of it and there’s still a lot of

documents that we’ve requested that we have yet to receive.

But I will say this. We spoke with lots and lots of workers, not

just on work sites. We met with about 10 who had plaintiff’s attorney bringing lawsuits against the garment industry, had helped arrange for us. We met with several at a church on Sunday. And with

the exception of those that were organized by the plaintiff’s attorney—obviously they had complaints of some merit or they wouldn’t

have been there—almost all workers said they would come back to

CNMI. The biggest complaint we had was that, because of the work

slowing down, the number of contracts seemed to be dropping, that

workers are not able to work as much as they want to. They like

the overtime hours and they like the time and a half pay that they

receive and they want to work more. And that was probably the

biggest complaint.

That and the workers from southern parts of China don’t like the

cooks from the northern parts of China because they use more rice

than noodles and that was a complaint we heard a few times at

lunch.

I took a bunch of photos and these are just right out of the box.

They came here today. Anybody can take a look them as long as

you don’t walk off with them. They’re all—and I didn’t, you know,

pull anything out or edit them. I tried to get all the tourist ones,

except for this one of the Japanese gun that shot down or sunk the

Colorado. That’s I wanted to take a picture. Anyway, these are all

just the shots that we saw and there are things to be concerned
183

about and others that look like any factory you might see anywhere

in the United States.

For me, in my personal experience, I worked in a salmon cannery

for a while. I worked my way through college on a farm and I

would say for most of my constituents who worked in farm labor

and worked for low pay and under the hot sun and toil long hours,

a trip through many of these factories would not seem out of the

ordinary. I learned enough from my experience to know I did not

want to do this kind of thing for the rest of my life. And nonetheless.

And I have to tell you, Mr. Chairman and Committee, of one of

the most amusing things we saw. The worst factory we went into

was the Little MGM, as it’s called. After we went through the tour,

the manager there was kind of annoyed that we were there. We

kept him off to the side and didn’t let him follow us around and

that’s where some of the worst pictures you’ll see in here are in his

factory.

After it was over, we went in his office to chat a little bit. And

while we were talking, we asked a bunch of questions about ownership and about this contract, these shadow contracts, and so on. To

finish up, I said, you know, I can’t help but notice that picture of

the President of the United States hanging on your wall. And hearing a little bit about the affection the President has sometimes

been known to have for the Chinese, I said, is he a friend of yours?

Do you have some high regard for the President. And he said absolutely not. He said, but the reason we have the picture on the wall

is because he’s wearing one of our shirts in the photo.

[Laughter.]

We have a picture of that. So I would point that out.

You know, there are, in all seriousness, there are real problems

in CNMI that need to be addressed. I am encouraged that there

has been a new election in January and there is some new leadership that seems to be a little more forceful in bringing about some

of the changes that need to occur. I’m also impressed that the industry itself seems to have gotten a little more serious in the last

few months about trying to enforce some of its own internal standards. And we did see some evidence of that, not just because they

told us, but because we interviewed workers and asked them about

changes that they’d seen, whether they knew about the rights that

they had and how they found out and how they had read them.

But question is one that does ignore the importance of maintaining and preserving and elevating the level of human dignity for any

human being. That is not in dispute in my mind. What is in dispute is how to arrive at securing that goal, whether we resort to

Washington, DC, and our laws here in Washington to accomplish

that or whether we rely on the ingenuity of local governments.

Congress is almost a continuous investigation like this. Every

day you can walk somewhere around Capitol Hill and find an investigation about some American scandal, whether it’s selling missiles to the Chinese, whether it’s letting the Chinese government

steal sensitive nuclear technology out of our most sensitive areas,

whether it’s a labor disputes, whether it’s sweatshops in New York

City. And so the notion that somehow we are the definitive characters in deciding what laws are most appropriate is just nonsense.
184

The INS, for example. I would hate to see the CNMI have a

record similar to the INS in the United States. When I call the

INS, when we find illegal aliens in my district, they laugh at us

and tell us we’ll get there in a year or two if we feel like it. Now

nobody can tell me that those kinds of laws will be in the best interests of CNMI.

The Department of Interior, for example. Now I heard the gentleman from Samoa talk about the unfortunate nature of these

hearings becoming political. When the Department of Interior itself

fires off memos that says, ‘‘As a one-time candidate with a similar

district against a Frelinghuysen in the old New Jersey fifth, I understand the utility to all hands of administrative candidate communications on such matters.’’ Now this is a communication involved directly in a political campaign about this issue at CNMI.

I’m sorry the administration has decided to make this topic a political issue. It should not be and it’s unfortunate that it has become

such.

Yes, the Department of Labor. I could go on about all the efforts

that I’ve seen in my own district of the Department of Labor putting people out of work and reducing the number of jobs in my district.

And then, of course, you know, I don’t what I’d say about the Department of Justice, the least of which is that they themselves in

the CNMI hire non-resident aliens to do jobs for them. You know,

we could go on about the other investigations going on in the Senate about the new revelations that the Department of Justice down

there in Texas. FBI background checks. Chinese campaign checks

making their way to Democratic National Committee going

uninvestigated. The independent counsel and on and on and on.

I guess the final conclusion is that there are acknowledged problems in CNMI but Washington, DC, is the absolute last place anyone should look to fix them because this government has proven

time and time and time again that, in the end, at the end of the

day, people around here in DC tend to make matters worse, not

better.

Reverend KINSELLA. Congressman Schaffer, can I respond? I

know you’re out of time.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Well, let me—I’m going to take the time and I’ll

allow you to respond, Reverend Kinsella. Go ahead.

Reverend KINSELLA. You know, I’ve sat here all day listening to

the debate and the issues are really very complicated and very

complex. One of the things I think, you know, that was brought out

I think by Congressman Underwood was that, you know, there’s

something about the islands and something that every one of the

islands feels and that is, you know, that sense of dignity and that

sense, you know, of ownership. The sense of being able to do our

own thing and run our own show. And it’s not to mean that, you

know, we’re being rebellious or snobbish or anything like that, but

there’s something about the islands that, you know, wants to be

able to say, we have done this. And, yes, it was hard and, yes, it

was difficult and, yes, we made mistakes, but we’ve learned, we’ve

grown, we’ve changed. And we have the capability to do it.

You know, I have grown up in the island and I know that they’re

very capable people of handling the problems. It’s not going to be
185

easy and I don’t think that the government alone is going to be

able to do it. I don’t think the business community alone is going

to do it. And it’s not going to be the church alone that’s going to

do it. Or Washington. I think, though, that if everybody will kind

of come together and everybody begin to start focusing on what is

happening, that’s the one thing I think that’s coming out of all of

this. People are coming together. People are paying attention. People are making the effort. And they’re doing it together.

And I see some signs, really, down the road where more of this

is going to happen and I feel very confident that we can do this.

I don’t think it’s needed. I don’t think we really need to let Washington do it. I think we need Washington’s help, but I don’t think

that Washington’s the answer. I think that there’s a lot that we

can do and we’re going to do it together. But, you know, it’s something that I think we are growing in. I think we’re really young

and we’re growing. We’re making mistakes, but we’re learning and

we’re growing and I think we’re getting to the point where we’re

seeing some progress.

So don’t take it away. You know, don’t—what analogy will—don’t

kick us out yet. Don’t take over and send us to the room. Give us

some room. And I know that I’m committed. And as long with the

other churches. Things that maybe we haven’t done as much as we

should have. But I think we’re ready and we’re committed and I

think we’re going to be able to do things together. Thank you.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Reverend, I wanted to ask you, your congregation is how large?

Reverend KINSELLA. We’re about 350 in the church and 620 in

the school. It includes also a family service that includes a domestic violence shelter, a girls’ home, as well as ministries in Rota and

Tinian. Both school and a church in Tinian and Rota.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. All right. So you’re going to have a pretty good

basis to answer this next question, then. Obviously, wherever you

serve as a pastor, you’re going to have people who have different

kinds of issues and problems. And I’m sure that your congregation

has the same types of issues and problems—or many of the same

types—as you might find any place. How long have you been a pastor?

Reverend KINSELLA. I’ve pastored in Saipan for 13 years.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Okay. Well, I didn’t spend five days in Saipan.

I think I was there for two or three. But I thought I got a pretty

good sense of it, but not as good a sense as you’re going to have.

As you kind of assess overall the overall spiritual, emotional, physical condition of the people that you are the pastor to, how would

you sum that up, say, compared to an earlier time? I mean, I don’t

know, is it excellent? Good? Fair? Poor? How does it rank there?

Reverend KINSELLA. I think we are at this time in our history,

in the time since we’ve been in Saipan, there’s a lot more confidence, a lot more willingness for the contract workers or the guest

workers to begin to become involved. We’re pulling together the

church in a cross-cultural setting. That’s one of the things that we

have felt a real goal in. Because we didn’t want different groups

to just simply be separated. But we wanted one group to be able

to feel the same dignity and the same confidence, to be able to say,

just because I’m Filipino, you know, I’m not as good as an Amer-
186

ican. Or I’m not as good as a Carolinan or Chamorro. And that

process is happening.

So we’ve seen some great success and great growth in the ministry. Where there’s a lot of helping one another out. We have the

Filipinos and the Chamorros going and working, you know, to help

a Carolinian, an American. And so there’s a lot of pulling together

and that sense that was there before of just kind of pulling back

and being alone or separated from, you know, the mainstream of

the Americans or the Chamorros is changing.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. All right. So it would be fair to say there’s a

sense of hope rather than hopelessness.

Reverend KINSELLA. Yes. I think there’s great hope.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. All right. Well, that was my impression and I

just wondered how you would assess that overall.

Mr. WEI. Mr. Chairman, may I say a few words?

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Yes.

Mr. WEI. Thank you. I have heard a lot of this debate, but a lot

of time people just focus on the small picture instead of the big picture. We have to consider a lot instead of just the human rights

things and those abuse.

You have to think that if the takeover, that Saipan will be the

welfare state and who is going to pay that. And if that happens,

then the economy immediately will lose touch and then who is

going to pay all those lost? Saipan has worked very hard, to work

thus far, and now they are still struggling. And when we debating,

we didn’t consider the Asian economy crisis hit the last few years.

You have seen all these Asian countries, they just collapse. But

Saipan still continues. And nobody pats their backs and said, you

did a good job. And they just take out just a small thing and then

try to take over.

Now if we take over, can we manage Saipan? That’s a big problem and we need to consider it, too. Now we had—our organization

had tried very hard to help those Chinese workers to know God

and get saved. Once they get saved, they have the right attitude

to work and they serve their master, physical master, well. And

they try their best to do well. And so you see the whole atmosphere

has been changed because they know God. And so I feel there’s a

great hope.

And plus there’s a lot of paths we see the government in Saipan

is trying to improve all the service, try to deal with the crashing,

try to deal with the problems. There’s no perfect place in this

earth. But if there’s a problem and we face the problem and solve

the problems. And I think we should let the government run their

own government instead of we take over. If we see the problems

and we jump on, let the Federal Government to take over, then we

should take over all the States, instead of just sit there and try to

discover what is Saipan’s issue.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Well, let me just say that, as one observer, I’m

very impressed with the caliber of leader that we have in the

CNMI. It really stands out. And they’re deeply committed people,

hard-working people, who I feel have a great deal to be proud of

and no place, as you pointed out, is free of problems, especially the

place that we’re in right now or the city that we’re in right now.

I think Saipan compares very favorably. And let me just say that
187

we don’t expect you to be problem-free. What we do, is we want you

to allow you to continue to have self-determination and we want to

continue to fulfill the obligations that the Federal Government has

made to you.

I do feel that there has been some gross abuse of power at the

Federal level. Some shirking of duties where they could be helping

you and haven’t adequately. I don’t think all of them are ill-intentioned. There’s some who are good-intentioned. But we can do a lot

better I think, as Mr. Berry indicated. And I would hope that the

administration will take seriously its obligations. We will try and

support them in that from here. And support you in your efforts

to achieve good government in the territory of the CNMI. And with

that, I thank you all for——

Mr. GALSTER. Mr. Chairman, may I make one last comment? I’ll

be very brief.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Okay.

Mr. GALSTER. I just wanted to submit some information which I

think is relevant. One is that, during our investigation, it became

clear to us that some of the garment factories are planning to move

out of Saipan, regardless of what happens. They are starting to diversify and move to places like Mongolia, Central America, and

Cambodia, so I think, whichever way one goes with the policy on

Saipan, that’s useful information.

And I would just like to back up some things that Mr. Schaffer

said. I thought that there are improvements being made in the garment industry on Saipan and some of the factories and it was clear

they felt that they were being watched a little more closely and felt

that they needed to make some of those changes.

I would just reiterate, though, that these shadow contracts and

the debt bondage situation, it is invisible and you can’t really get

to it when you go to the factories. They’re not going to come up and

speak about that. And a case in point, at the factory you went to,

Little MGM, I just received a letter two weeks ago from a woman

who was fired from that factory. She was fired because she spoke

to ABC. And the—Okay, so——

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Is Little MGM is that in Hong Kong or Saipan?

Mr. GALSTER. It’s actually in Saipan. It’s a Hong Kong-based

company. It’s got some factories over there.

And she just wrote, and I’ll just read three lines from her letter,

because she actually sent this to Congress, too, and cc’ed myself.

And she writes, ‘‘Currently my situation is very difficult. If I return

to China, its Governmental International Company,’’ which is the

agency that recruited her, ‘‘would seek revenge and punish me. If

I don’t go back to China, my life is threatened here. Every day, I’m

on tenterhooks, hiding, while seeking jobs that are not to be found.

I can’t support myself or basic expenses such as food, rent, and

going to the doctor. I’m at the end of my rope. If you don’t help me,

I continue to live like this. I may die in Saipan. Reach the stage

of collapse. Please give me a hand.’’

So the problem is in Saipan to a large degree and Washington

is being asked to do something by a whole bunch of people. So I

hope we don’t just stand back in this city and think that it’s going

to sort itself out. We’ve tried that before and it hasn’t. Thank you.
188

Mr. DOOLITTLE. Thank you. Well, let me just say, I don’t think

anybody’s proposing that. But it’s either going to be a partnership

or, to achieve a partisan political goal to aid the friends of one

party to try and destroy this territory. The only territory that

shows any promise of becoming self-sufficient. And I, for one, do

not plan to stand by and allow that to happen without putting up

a good fight. And I know I have a lot of allies in that.

So I thank all of you for coming today and for your testimony.

We will ask you to answer further questions I am sure and we will

hold the record open for your response. With that, this hearing is

adjourned.

[Whereupon, at 6:03 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.]

[Additional material submitted for the record follows.]
189

Notes Good Situation of Overseas Filipino Workers in the Marianas Islands and

Commends Filipine Consulate in, Saipan

DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Leonides T. Caday commended

the Philippine Consulate in Saipan for its active response to the needs and problems

of than Filipino workers in the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Islands

(CNINU).

Undersecretary affirmed that Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in the islands

are enjoying working conditions and the same social benefits as the local population,

including free education and school bus services for children and accessibility to social services. They are also adequately protected both by local laws and the Federal

laws of the United States, in matters of adequate living quarters, transportation,

safety and medical welfare.

The random inspections conducted by the Consulate on living quarters of OFW&

have confirmed that decent standards for housing set by law are generally being observed by employers. The Consulate’s weekly consultations with Marianas labor officials on complaints and problems of OFWs has not only resulted in raids in garment

factories which uncovered and rectified some cases of below standard living conditions, but also expedited the resolution of various cases and the enforcement of court

decisions. Monthly seminars conducted by the Consulate for OFWs have also increased their awareness.over their rights and privileges, and this has resulted in a

dramatic decline in labor complaints including frivolous labor complaints which had

proliferated for some time as an excuse by workers with expiring work permits to

gain extended permission to stay in the islands.

There are an estimated 21,000 OFWs in the islands, consisting of nurses, accountants, engineers, businessmen, teachers, workers in factories and hot-els/restaurant

clubs, construction workers, farmers/fishermen and domestic helpers.

Most of the 380 OFWs working in garment factories are holding managerial positions. The OFWs employed as unskilled workers earn salaries higher than Philippine rates.

The Undersecretary also praised the Consulate for being attuned to the various

concerns of the OFWs, for responding quickly and thoroughly to their needs and

problems, and for being persistent in investigating reports of human rights abuses.

He said that this approach has been effective in rectifying cases of abuse and fraud

which victimize OFWs. The close collaboration of the Consulate with the local and

Federal authorities have resulted in the prosecution of offenders or in moves towards the extradition, and this has served as an effective deterrent. Since mid-197

no magic maltreatment case has been reported to the Consulate.

On reported sexual abuses against Filipinas, Mr. Caday cited a case filed by a

Filipina in October 1996, for unpaid wages and being forced to perform lewd acts,

which resulted in investigations conducted by both the U.S. Departments of Justice

and Labor, and the issuance on 26 March 1999 of a warrant of arrest for Eugene

Zamora Sr., Filipino operator of the Kalesa Club, for ‘‘transportation of illegal sexual

activities in the CNMI’’. It was the Philippine Consulate which uncovered that the

Filipina victim is a minor, and this provided the basis for the swift action of the

Federal authorities.

In another case, on 28 November 1991, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation

arrested two Filipinas, Elizabeth Castaneda and Liza St. Maria, owner and manager respectively of several karaoke bars and clubs, ‘‘for transportation generally of

sexual activity’’. The case stemmed from the testimonies of six Ripino, waitresses.

The first court hearing is scheduled for the end of April 1998. The Philippine Consulate is providing assistance to all the Filipinos involved. It has provided job placement to the complainants, and food and shelter for them at the OWWA Center. It

is also attending to the basic needs of the accused Filipinas.

Mr. Caday also said that cases of illegal recruitment in the islands involving Filipinos are being addressed firmly by the Consulate and the local and Federal authorities. Filipino illegal recruiter Segundino Ubongen, who fled the islands after

victimizing Filipinos and Bangladeshis, is now the subject of a manhunt, and the

Attorney General’s Office has requested the assistance of the Consulate in bringing

him back to the CNMI for prosecution. The possibility of extradition in accordnace

with the procedures prescribed under the RP-U.S. Extradition Treaty is being explored. With the help of the Consulate, the Filipino victims quickly found suitable

employment in the islands. Similarly, the Consulate assisted the 21 Filipino victims

of illcgal recruitment by a certain Filipino Methodist Pastor, Rev. Rolando Perez,

who acted in behalf of the foreign-owned Petrina Enterprises. The case is now in

the hands of Marianas labor officials, and the United Methodist Church defrocked

Mr. Perez and offered assistance to the victims.
190

STATEMENT OF HOTEL ASSOCIATION OF THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS

Dear Chairman Young and Committee Members:

The rights and privileges of the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to control our own immigration, minimum wage, trade and tariff policies have

enabled these islands to become self sufficient in just 21 years since the end of the

United Nations Trusteeship Agreement. This has not been achieved without growing pains that have become the subject of congressional debate. However, a Federal

takeover of the Commonwealth’s immigration and minimum wage—a massive

change of rules in the middle of the game—will break industries, both large and

small. It will be a nightmare for the islands of Saipan, Tinian and Rota, where the

standard of living will plunge back 20 years or more. U.S. Congress should not place

the same restrictions and limits on the growth of tiny, isolated islands as it would

a powerful country of 250 million people nearly half a world away.

The Northern Marianas: A Fragile Island Economy Jeopardized by the

Asian Economic Crisis

For the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), the past

two years have been the worst in economic history since World War II ravaged the

islands. Due to the Asian economic crisis, tourism, the leading industry is down over

30 percent. Many hotels—particularly small, family-run operations-are barely hanging on to their businesses. The community is reeling from an unprecedented downturn, which began suddenly and severely in late 1997.

With fewer tourist dollars circulating in the Northern Marianas, every segment

of the economy is suffering. From 1995 to 1998, tourism-based employment decreased from 48.3 percent to just 34.5 percent. More than 1,300 companies did not

renew their licenses from 1997 to 1998, resulting in a net business decline of 11

percent. Among the worst hit by the economic crisis, retail and auto sales have been

cut nearly in half. The number of empty storefronts continues to grow at an alarming rate.

For the Northern Marianas, it was previously unimaginable that such a huge drop

in tourism could occur over such short a time. In 1996, Saipan enjoyed an 85.6 percent average hotel occupancy rate—healthy by any international standard. Today,

even the largest 5-star resorts are suffering. Based on declining airline access from

Japan, some travel agents are predicting that the island will see no greater than

43 percent hotel occupancy through the end of 1999. The Hotel Association of the

Northern Mariana Islands (HANMI) has forecast a total occupancy in the low 50

percent range for the year. For many businesses, this is below the break-even point.

Nearly every hotel has cut working hours and laid off employees. Some have temporarily closed blocks of hotel rooms in efforts to cut costs while waiting out the Asian

economic crisis. (See Appendix A—Hotel Occupancy and Appendix B—4th Quarter

Arrivals Forecast.)

As the economy has declined, the public and private sectors have begun working

proactively to capitalize on our islands’ unique identity and strengths, identifying

opportunities for diversification, and promoting more local hiring. These efforts will

take time. However, the instability of the investment climate has become virtually

impossible to manage with the threat of a potential Federal takeover of immigration

and minimum wage.

Meanwhile, the people of the Northern Marianas read the newspapers and watch

TV reports about the robust American economy and the troubling crusade against

our garment industry. Some feel it is a conspiracy fueled by unions. True or not,

the media attacks on Saipan have reached a level of yellow journalism that has hurt

us all.

The Hotel Association is not presenting this paper to defend the garment industry, although we are highly concerned that if that industry should leave, the entire

community will suffer. Without garment exports, containers leaving Saipan will

leave empty. For the hotels, the added cost of doing business will be immediate, as

prices will rise and schedules will decline in the shipping industry.

A Tourist Economy Dependent on Japan

The Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands, representing 67 percent

of the total 4,588 hotel rooms in the Northern Marianas, is just one part of a fragile

industry that is almost completely dependent upon the economies of Japan and

Korea. Members of the association employ 2,118 people or roughly only 3 percent

of the total population of the CNMI. Of these, 39 percent are resident hires (U.S.

citizens and Micronesians) and the balance—1,451 or 61 percent—are contract foreign workers.

Since the hotel industry began 25 years ago, employees have been recruited from

the Philippines and other nearby Asian countries out of necessity due to the fact
191

that the small local population could not meet the demand for a skilled work force.

Since many hotels were developed by Japanese investors marketing to Japanese

tourists, many personnel in both the executive and semi-skilled positions were naturally recruited from Japan. Indeed the right of Japanese businesses to employ their

own supervisors and managers was in fact agreed to under the Treaty of Friendship,

Commerce and Navigation between the United States and Japan entered into force

on October 30, 1953.

When the Asian economic crisis began, the outbound Korean and Japanese markets immediately declined both in the number of visitors and in what they spent

abroad.

Two years ago many Japanese travelers would dine in fine restaurants and fill

their suitcases with designer goods to take home as gifts. Today it is not uncommon

for visitors entering the CNMI to bring dried noodles to eat in hotel rooms.

This downtrend has also meant a declining pool of money to promote the Northern Marianas. The budget of the Marianas Visitors Authority, dependent upon hotel

room occupancy tax and container tax revenues, has been cut from $8.4 million in

1997 to just $6 million this year. Less money to promote in Japan correlates to reduced market share for the CNMI—from 3 percent down to just 2.4 percent of the

15.8 million Japanese who traveled overseas in 1998.

In this time of recession in Japan when many destinations are competing to attract more of a declining outbound travel market, we wonder what the reaction will

be if U.S. Congress takes over our immigration and the minimum wage. We’ll be

forced to scale down our staffs, reduce the quality of service we offer, and raise

prices at precisely the same time we most need to be competitive. Additionally, what

will happen if Japanese employees of the Japanese hotels and travel companies on

Saipan are mandated to return home to be replaced by American mainland workers

from 6,000 miles away—or Micronesian subsistence farmers and fisherman who

have no training nor ability to speak the language of visitors?

The Hotel Association of the Northern Marianas cannot predict when the Asian

economic crisis will end, nor when the visitors will return. But we do know this:

if the CNMI loses control of its immigration and we lose our ability to hire skilled

workers to run our hotels and travel-related businesses, there will be no recovery

of this industry for the foreseeable future. The fragile connection of marketing to

the Japanese—and to a lesser extent the Korean market—is something the Northern Marianas has been good at managing in the past. But the message of a potential Federal takeover of immigration and minimum wage has already damaged our

business climate and begun drying up investment here.

The hotel industry is a captive one. Japanese, Korean and American investors

have spent over a billion dollars developing resorts and family-run hotels which cannot be abandoned. Behind the swimming pools and landscaped gardens are elaborate infrastructure systems, built with private funding to include fully capable

power and water desalination plants, necessary to bring fresh drinking water to

guests.

The travel industry of Japan, however, doesn’t have to promote Saipan. They can

open and close representative offices at will. If the CNMI becomes more expensive

as a destination and we lose our quality of service, the Japanese can easily choose

Guam or other non-dollar-based destinations.

What is the Difference in Operating a Hotel Business on Saipan Compared

to Guam?

In the debate over immigration control and minimum wage, we are often asked,

‘‘If Guam can do it, why can’t the CNMI. Our economy is vastly different than our

neighbor to the south, an island with four times the U.S. citizen population and the

major hub of transportation, shipping and telecommunications for the region. Guam

has been a part of the American political family for more than 100 years—the CNMI

only 21 years.

Since World War II, Guam has enjoyed the multiplying benefits of thousands of

high-paying Federal jobs and many millions of dollars in infrastructure improvements made through the U.S. military presence. Guam has grown with military investment; the CNMI’s economy has grown due to private enterprise.

With the exception of wages, virtually every cost of operating a hotel is more expensive on Saipan than on Guam due to smaller economies of scale, shipping costs

and inadequate infrastructure. While some Guam hotels have invested in backup

power generation capability for emergencies, hotels on Saipan have always had to

be fully self-sufficient from the time they opened because local infrastructure could

not meet the demand. Many Saipan hotels are still 100 percent reliant on their own

in-house water and power-generating capabilities. The cost of water desalinization

and power plants has ranged as high as $3 million per resort hotel, with more than
192

$800,000 in annual maintenance costs and specialized personnel to run the equipment. On Guam, hotels can simply get water from the tap.

The cost of goods and building materials is at least 15 percent higher in the

CNMI than Guam due to the added shipping costs. For the island of Rota, shipping

costs are virtually double. Most ships stop at Guam first and are then transshipped

to Saipan by weekly barges. At great inconvenience to the CNMI’s visitors, most

flights on the way to Saipan lay over first at Guam’s newly expanded $300 million

airport.

Another significant factor in recovering the cost of investments is that most businesses cannot own the land they are built on. On Guam anyone can own land; in

the CNMI, land ownership is restricted to people of Northern Marianas descent and

businesses can only lease land. Construction costs are high due to smaller economies

of scale in importing building materials.

How Does Guam Meet Work Force Requirements and Why Can’t the CNMP

A larger local population, including many American military families, makes it

easier for Guam hotels to find both full and part-time employees. Indeed the ratio

of hotel rooms to the citizen population of Guam is 1 to 18, while in the CNMI, it

is only 1 to 8.

A significant number of the people working in the tour and travel companies on

Guam are Okinawans or Japanese-speaking Filipinos married to U.S. military personnel. The past 50 years of having military bases with personnel frequently traveling betwee Okinawa and Guam have resulted in multinational families and as

such, have helped the tourism industry labor pool. Saipan has had no such advantage.

In Guam, a Manpower Development Fund provides millions annually in training

people for the trades. The CNMI has no programs to compare to this. The Northern

Marianas College continues to question how they’ll even meet the payroll as its

budget has declined with the economy. College officials reported just this month

that less than a handful of students were enrolled in the tourism program, and

more classes would be canceled in the fall.

In comparison, Guam has been able to attract many people from Saipan and Micronesia who come to the island to attend the University of Guam. In many cases

their families come with them and as a result, a large pool of people are available

to work in hotels.

Would the CNMI Fulfill its Employment Needs from Micronesia?

The Compact of Free Association allows Micronesians to immigrate to the CNMI

and they are considered ‘‘local’’ for purposes of hiring. Approximately 10 percent of

the Hotel Association’s total work force are Micronesians.

There are currently 140,000 people living in Micronesia, where the median age

is only 17.8. This leaves very few people of legal employment age. The vast majority

of Micronesians engage in subsistence living. Mandatory education in the Federated

States of Micronesia carries its citizens only through the eighth grade level. The

minimum wages paid to the small number of hotel workers of these islands start

at only 9 per hour in Kosrae, to $1.50 in Pohnpei, to a high of $2.50 per hour in

the Republic of Palau.

Recruitment from the neighboring islands of Micronesia has been utilized with

some success, although most people come with no job skills. It may help in understanding the hiring of Micronesians to give an example of a hotel in Guam: in 1990,

the Palace Hotel experimented with recruiting 200 unskilled Micronesians. The Palace brought these people to Guam for intensive hospitality training. After providing

for their housing, food, uniforms, and medical care for several months, the hotel discovered the sad truth: most of the training time was spent not in teaching job skills,

but in basic hygiene and other skills that would help them cope with living in a

developed society. By the end of the program, 75 percent had returned home or left

to work for other businesses.

Currently less than 20 people remain from that original staff. Other Guam hotels

learned from the example and no recruitment program of this magnitude has been

attempted since.

Significant social impacts and costs to local governments have become the subject

of regional controversy as more Micronesians have migrated to Saipan, Guam and

Hawaii to join their employed family members. Unlike the typical Asian worker who

remits most of his money home, the paychecks of Micronesian workers are often utilized to bring family members to live with them. Those who don’t work enjoy all

the rights of U.S. citizens to utilize the maximum of food stamps, health and educational facilities, and other government services. Micronesian leaders have stated

that they are concerned about the ‘‘brain drain’’ of the best and brightest workers
193

leaving their islands and the impact this is having on their own development. Preliminary discussions regarding mass recruitment from Micronesia have taken place

between the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands and other regional

business and educational organizations. These discussions have indicated that if

Saipan were to phase-out its alien work force and suddenly need to recruit nearly

25,000 workers from Micronesia, a regional economic and social crisis would occur.

Can the Hotels Train and Hire Locally?

A priority for HANMI and our individual hotels has been to develop programs to

train and hire more local people. However, there simply aren’t enough workers

available locally to keep hotel businesses operating around the clock, 365 days a

year. From chefs to busboys, to power plant technicians, to accountants, entertainers and marketing experts, jobs in the hotel industry cross a wide spectrum.

In an effort to improve professional standards in the human resources function

and keep businesses appraised of local and Federal employment laws, the Hotel Association organized the Society for Human Resources Management, a chapter of the

American organization by the same name. HANMI is also a member of the American Hotel & Motel Association, which gives member hotels access to nationally produced training materials. Additionally, the association has established an education

fund, which will be used for scholarships and other training. We are currently working with the University of Las Vegas, Hospitality and Tourism Industry Management School on specific programs for our islands’ students. Each hotel has its own

on-the-job training programs as well.

But scholarships and training aren’t the only issues when the work force simply

isn’t there. One economist has calculated that it would take until the year 2065 for

there to be enough local people of working age to fulfill every job that existed in

the Northern Marianas as of the year 1995.

A sensitive issue and another problem for private sector employers is the local

work ethic. During the Japanese administration of Saipan prior to WW II, indigenous citizens were limited to an elementary school education. This followed with

years of isolation, Federal control and subsidy after WW II. When the Northern

Marianas were finally opened to visitors and foreign investment, a boom in the tourism industry began. In the 1980’s, many local people became wealthy overnight

after leasing their land. This left a generation of young people uncertain about the

need to work.

The poor work ethic, adversity to manual labor, and shyness in serving others has

handicapped the ability of many indigenous people to be successful in the private

sector. Regardless of wage rates, very few indigenous citizens will work in food and

beverage, a critical area of the hospltallity business. It is essential that hotels have

access to employees with a service-oriented mentality. While the downturn in the

economy will eventually contribute to the perceived value of stable employment, attitudes will take years to change.

Could the CNMI Tourism Industry Continue to Operate Under the Tight

Restrictions of the U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Act?

Without enough local people to fulfill the need for private sector employees, one

of the most significant problems that the CNMI’s tourism industry would have if

the U.S. I.N.A. system were to be mandated here is that hotel and tourism jobs are

not temporary. The U.S. labor certification process lists 49 occupations in the Code

of Federal Regulations, Title 20 for which the U.S. department of Labor has determined that there are, ‘‘. . . sufficient U.S. workers who are able, willing, qualified

and available to work.’’ Therefore, I.N.S. will not allow certification for permanent

employment of aliens for these occupations. These are virtually all of the jobs in the

tourism industry.

For example, a prohibition on Category 3, ‘‘Attendants or Service Workers’’ will

eliminate half of the Saipan-based personnel of the Japanese travel agencies and

ground handling companies. We worry about the harsh message this will send to

the Japanese management of these companies, which bring roughly 90 percent of

the Japanese tourists to our islands. Although Americans may be, ‘‘able, willing and

qualified’’ to work in this category, how will these companies afford to recruit Americans for entry level or semi-skilled jobs from the U.S. mainland? If the CNMI is

mandated to hire outside of the region, recruitment costs will skyrocket. In turn,

if the cost of doing business escalates during the Asian economic crisis, there will

be no way we can pass these costs on to our visitors without completely losing our

marketability as a destination.

In our remote location, it is only economically feasible to recruit from the nearest

area with a sizable population, and that is Asia. Even if hotels were to attempt re-
194

cruitment from the U.S. mainland, it is highly unlikely that large numbers of people

would be ‘‘ready, willing and able’’ to leave homes and families for entry-level jobs.

Furthermore, a round trip ticket from West Virginia or Alaska—the states of the

highest unemployment in the nation—cost approximately $2,600 to Saipan. It is unlikely that employers could undertake such great expense and risk for anything less

than managerial positions.

The CNMI Cannot Raise Wages in the Midst of a Recession

U.S. Congress is considering numerous bills to raise the minimum wage on the

U.S. mainland. These bills indiscriminately include the CNMI, which could mean an

immediate 84 percent jump in our minimum wage, 102 percent by September 2000.

This does not include local benefit mandates.

It is false to assume that $3.05 an hour, the legal minimum wage of the CNMI,

is not a ‘‘living wage.’’ A wide variety of locally, mandated benefits-including 1000

percent health care coverage and employer-provided flOLISing—ensure that employees are well provided for. Many foreign contract workers are able to remit anywhere

from 50 percent to 90 percent of their income back home to greatly better the standard of living of their families.(See appendix D.) It would indeed be rare for any minimum wage earner in the United States to be able to save such a huge portion of

their income.

In more prosperous times several years ago, the Hotel Association of the Northern

Mariana Islands supported local legislation that would require a gradual increase

of 30 per year until the CNMI reached the U.S. minimum wage. This gave businesses ample opportunity to plan ahead. However, at this time when we must reduce costs in order to survive, a mandated wage increase would mean that hotels

would be forced to reduce staff even further than we already have. This will translate to further decline in the quality of service we can offer and therefore as stated

previously, less competitiveness as a destination. For this reason, we do not support

an increase in the minimum wage at this time.

The CNMI must have the local flexibility to determine what appropriate wages

are given our unique economic circumstances. We feel that a locally based committee, such as our own Minimum Wage Review Board is best equipped to do so.

Let the CNMI Continue its Own Path to Economic Maturity

The free market economy of the Northern Mariana Islands is a living, breathing

thing. If the laws are too tight, we must loosen them. If they are too loose, they

must be tightened. We have this necessary flexibility with local authority over our

own immigration and minimum wage.

We expect that the intentions of the various pieces of legislation are to help clean

up immigration problems of the past. However, we must respectfully disagree with

the approach of a complete takeover, which will not solve the problems. A more

flexible solution given the uniqueness of this island economy would be to provide

Federal assistance, resources and possibly oversight to local control.

In conclusion, the people, businesses and government of the CNMI have the commitment to correct our own problems and are in a better position to know the needs

of the Northern Marianas community. Our local government has made significant

reforms and has the continuing flexibility to make adjustments as the economy ebbs

and flows.

Last year when we testified before the U.S. Senate on these same issues, we had

asked for the Federal Government’s assistance in enforcement; however, we feel

that the approach the Federal agencies took was more to find faults and capitalize

on how to attract negative media attention. We ask for genuine assistance by Federal agencies in cooperation with our local counterparts to enforce applicable statutes, similar to the successful relationship between local and Federal drug enforcement agencies.

The CNMI is in the midst of what could be called an economic depression. Our

economy is closely tied to Asian economic conditions. When Asia recovers, we expect

tourism to recover. However, U.S. policies that are rooted in a strong, robust American economy have no relevance at this time and will only cripple our efforts. If the
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220