Local
Saturday, December 05, 2009

'Labor will assist overstayers who want to claim repatriation tickets'

By Ferdie de la Torre
Reporter

The Department of Labor will help overstaying alien workers who want to claim their repatriation tickets and voluntarily return to their countries, according to acting Labor Secretary Cinta Kaipat.

“Anyone who entered the Commonwealth as a 240K foreign worker is entitled to claim a repatriation ticket from his or her last employer of record,” Kaipat told Saipan Tribune yesterday.

She explained that a voluntary return means that the overstayer has a chance of re-entering the United States at some future time.

Kaipat also emphasized that deporting overstayers is now a federal function when the federalization law took effect on Nov. 28.

She said the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will deal with all deportations, according to federal laws and regulations.

“A deportation means that the overstayer will never be allowed to enter the United States in the future,” Kaipat added.

Attorney General Edward Buckingham recently issued a public notice granting conditional “umbrella permits” to 628 aliens who have been classified as overstayers.

Buckingham later backed off from this position when Kaipat objected, saying Labor was not consulted with the granting of conditional “umbrella permits” to overstayers.

Buckingham and Kaipat later issued a joint statement, saying that the Office of the Attorney General and Labor would not issue “umbrella permits” to overstayers as such is not an amnesty program.

Kaipat clarified that Labor never issued any “conditional umbrella permits” and that no “umbrella permits” were issued after the Nov. 27, 2009, deadline.