Local
Monday, November 30, 2009

OAG, Labor: No 'umbrella permits' for overstayers
Kaipat says Labor not consulted on broad protection for overstayers
By Ferdie de la Torre
Reporter

The “umbrella permits” are not part of an amnesty program for overstayers and, as such, will not be issued to these out-of-status aliens, according to a joint statement issued Friday by the Office of the Attorney General and the Department of Labor.

The joint statement came shortly after acting Labor Secretary Cinta M. Kaipat expressed disappointment with Attorney General Edward Buckingham's decision to grant conditional “umbrella permits” to overstayers.

Kaipat and Buckingham explained that their joint statement would clarify the situation with respect to overstayers.

The two officials said the “umbrella permit” program implemented by Labor was never meant to be-and is not-an amnesty program.

Kaipat and Buckingham said overstayers were given the opportunity to legitimately return to the Department of Labor's guest worker program and their names were published in newspapers on more than one occasion, but they failed to rectify their status.

“They are excludable aliens on many counts. They do not meet the statutory requirements to be legitimately put back on the system,” Kaipat and Buckingham said.

As a result, they said, these overstayers remain excludable today and Labor and the OAG agree that no further processing of applications from this group of overstayers is appropriate.

They said the list of overstayers will be forwarded to federal immigration.

“No further review will be conducted by the Office of the Attorney General,” Kaipat and Buckingham said.

In a press release prior to the joint statement, Kaipat said Buckingham's decision to give broad protection to illegal overstayers was a complete surprise to Labor.

“The AG never discussed this plan with us and, so far as we know, he never discussed it with anyone on his interagency working group-not the Chamber of Commerce, the representatives of foreign workers, the Department of Commerce, Customs, or anyone else,” Kaipat said.

She said the AG formerly had legitimate interests in prosecuting illegal aliens, but as of Nov. 28, 2009, Saturday, those duties were to be taken over by the federal agency Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“The AG certainly could use these applications from overstayers for law enforcement purposes. And all these records could be turned over to the federal law enforcement authorities so that illegal aliens could be deported,” Kaipat said.

She pointed out that there should be no general grant of permits to illegal aliens.

“We do not know what the Attorney General plans to do, but Labor will not grant any permission to work to any person that Labor has not approved for an umbrella permit,” she said.

Kaipat said only Labor has the legislative authority to allow aliens to work in the Commonwealth.

Kaipat said that, by making an informal agreement with the Division of Immigration, which is not in writing, Labor has not delegated any of its authority to the AG.

Labor is simply cooperating with another Commonwealth agency, she added.

“We will no longer be certifying overstayers to the Attorney General,” Kaipat said.

Buckingham on Thursday issued a public notice granting conditional “umbrella permits” to 628 aliens who have been classified as overstayers.

Labor started issuing “umbrella permits” on Oct. 26. Last Friday was the supposed to be the last day of issuing the permits. As of Friday at 8:30pm, Labor stopped entertaining less than 10 alien workers, mostly Chinese, who requested for “umbrella permits.”