Northern Mariana Islands Covenant Implementation Act

NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS COVENANT IMPLEMENTATION ACT -- (House of Representatives - December 11, 2007)

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Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3079 would apply the Nation's immigration laws to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). For too long, the CNMI has managed its own immigration system outside of the constraints and protections of Federal law. The result has been a massive influx of exploited workers and victims of human trafficking, with concomitant increases in sex slavery and other abusive labor practices.

Recent investigations and prosecutions have uncovered terrible stories of enslavement and forced labor. Thousands of young women and girls lured to the CNMI with promises of good jobs with good pay only to be enslaved and forced into prostitution. Others forced to toil in harsh conditions and for little money in garment sweatshops, made profitable by their ability to exploit cheap labor yet still use the ``Made in the USA'' label.

And to understand the depth of the problem, one only has to look at the statistics. For years, foreign workers have actually outnumbered the indigenous population. It is like the United States bringing in over 300 million foreign workers to the mainland, without giving them any rights or protections.

We have known about these problems since the 1990s, but we have done nothing about them. It is time to change that. H.R. 3079 would extend the protections of the country's immigration laws to the CNMI, using a balanced approach that takes into account the CNMI's vulnerable economy as well as past abuses. It would reign in the islands' lax immigration policies while appropriately considering the labor needs of legitimate businesses. It would also provide for a regional visa waiver program along with Guam, which would provide both increased security and the tourists needed to help sustain the economies of both territories.

This bill is strongly needed to break from the abuses of the past. It is backed by the Administration, and it has bipartisan support in the House and Senate.

I want to thank Chairman RAHALL of the Natural Resources Committee and Chairwoman CHRISTENSEN of the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs for caring deeply about this issue and shepherding this bill through Congress. I also want to thank Chairman CONYERS for his leadership, as well as Mr. LAMAR SMITH, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, for working with us in a bipartisan fashion to improve the bill. I urge its passage.

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