Local
Monday, April 06, 2009

16,000-plus alien workers sent home in past 3 years

By Ferdie de la Torre
Reporter

In the last three years, the CNMI Department of Labor processed and completed the repatriation of over 16,000 alien workers, according to Labor deputy secretary Cinta Kaipat.

Labor is also making good progress in placing U.S. citizens in jobs, she added in her interim progress report submitted Wednesday last week to the Legislature on the implementation of the Public Law 15-108. Kaipat was the author of the controversial labor reform law when she was a congresswoman.

She said the repatriation of 16,000-plus foreign workers in 2006, 2007, and 2008 was an enormous administrative task that involved completing labor cases, securing repatriation tickets, and making voluntary arrangements for departures.

“The department has done this work quietly and efficiently, working cooperatively with foreign workers and their representatives to accommodate hardship concerns and to honor requests for the timing of repatriation,” Kaipat said.

Labor is not involved in any non-voluntary departures as the Immigration Division handles deportations.

The deputy secretary said Labor has assisted Immigration by using its new automation system to generate quarterly overstayers lists.

The lists, when published, she said, assist in obtaining voluntary departures or correction of the records for those whose status entitles them to remain in the CNMI.

On hiring local residents or U.S. citizens, Kaipat said they initially reported only those U.S. citizens who came to Labor in person for assistance in finding a job.

However, she said, they have improved their website so that they can report on all U.S. citizens who find jobs with the assistance of Labor either through the website or through in-person assistance.

“Our new capabilities will allow us to review resumes posted online by persons who have not come to the office,” Kaipat said.

Labor also added the capability for employers to more easily create lists of potential U.S. citizen candidates who have the qualifications for the job to be filled.

Kapat said that since October 2008, they have processed transfer requests for 615 foreign workers who have been displaced from their jobs by U.S. citizen hires.

“That is only one informal measure of our success because not every foreign worker who is displaced elects to request permission to transfer; some elect to be repatriated,” she added.