Saturday, October 17, 2009

CNMI Immigration countdown

Rep. Gregorio C. Sablan's bill to delay federal immigration control for one year and Rep. Madelline Bordallo's similar bill to delay the Guam/CNMI Visa Waiver Program seem to have fallen into a cone of silence.

I've had problems with broken links to searches of the Library of Congress' Thomas database in the past and both bills are short, so I pasted Sablan's H.R. 3647 and Bordallo's H.R. 3770 here for easy reference.

Nov. 28 is only weeks away, and both bills have been referred to committee. "No news coverage" of H.R. 3647 or H.R. 3770, says opencongress.org. The Pacific News Service blurb I mentioned last week didn't include the bill number. The Marianas Variety ran a press release from Bordallo's office Wednesday, but it doesn't appear to be on their website.

Legislation that's not controversial doesn't sail through the House and Senate in six weeks, and these bills are bound to face opposition. I haven't seen this elsewhere, but an immigration attorney in Japan says "Legislative Hearing on the H.R. 3770 amendment is scheduled to take place on Thursday, October 22, 2009, at 10:00 a.m."

At this late date, I wonder how many people just want to get rid of the uncertainty.

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