Now that the CNMI's Labor and Immigration system will be under the Federal management, the buzz around the island is that the Labor Department has been very busy looking at the contract workers or foreign national workers' documents submitted to their office when they were hired to work in the CNMI from the beginning.
I've heard at least three cases where the Labor has deported recently one contract worker due to false documents submitted to the department when he was hired to work here years ago. One has a pending labor hearing case due to a fraudulent employment certificate submitted to the employer. The contract worker submitted his employment certificate from his/her country of origin that was actually non-existent. However, the employer went to the hearing and backed the contract worker for his/her competence at work, despite the major "glitch."
The Labor is deemed serious into verifying the documents submitted to them.
Now the question to the employers, if you found out that your best employee falsified documents, would you retain him/her?
72 comments:
Tough to keep a liar around the office. How would I ever know if they weren't lying to me or fixing my books in order to skim profits?
I think the answer to your question depends on how long the employee has been working for me and how well I knew them.
This all should be verified before employment takes place. The employer is also guilty for not reviewing and verifying the application. Both are at fault. There is also a thing called an honest mistake. Give the employee the benifit of the doubt until there is positive proof the employee was trying to be deceptive. Employees are often decieved by unscruplious employers and given false information.
What, in the CNMI? No way! You're out of your mind! Our Department of Labor has got the highest level of credibility.
Sheesh, thought you knew that, Glen.
When things are going well, and there's an imbalance in supply and demand, people tend to ignore "cut corners." When things tighten up, folks have more incentive to "follow the rules."
It happened in the mortgage foreclosure scandal. People were inflating incomes and assets, brokers were "winking" at it, and auditors were shoveling the loans up the chain for securitization.
Now all hell is breaking loose.
You reap what you sow. The CNMI has been a haven for scammers, and some are going to be going home on that basis -- especially if the employer is in financial straights and needs to choose who to let go, or the CNMI needs to get rid of unskilled workers to bring in skilled ones.
But those whose employers need them and are still performing well will probably manage to get by.
Until it is time to apply for federal status, in which case reliance on those bogus documents would be a felony.
And USCIS does check.
Falsified which documents? Like his police record? Like his medical doctors license? Like his personal medical information to hide his TB?
“Federalization: You asked for it, you got it!”
“ICE Hearing: Kathryn Gibney,” http://youtube.com/watch?v=PUu8_glWWsI
Thank you Ombudsperson!
Your post headline is a bit of a stretch. It should read "CGW's who falsified documents days.. might be numbered".
Mrs. Doromol, the Ombudsperson, and Lil (above) certainly are seething with bitterness and a (misplaced) sense that the Contract Guest Workers will be bullied and victimized by the application of the federal immigration law they themselves lobbied so adamantly for. It's pretty ironic, and it's pretty ugly.
Hence the shrill calls for amnesty, and the likely counterproductive draft regs.
How dare you second-guess Al Gore or the Ombudsperson?!
I'm sure that whatever is drafted by the USSR Poon Dem B will be miles ahead of Public Law 15-108.
And the Ombudsperson's regs won't quibble about technicalities like valid paperwork, not if Miss Wendy has her way with Jim in a dark, secluded room, as happened with federalization.
Don't forget “smoke-filled.”
And keep the Saipan Chamber of Commerce far, far away from anything to do with drafting regs for our noble Contract Guest Workers.
"Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses longing to be free..."
Those days are over. The influx of illegal immigrants into the USA dwarfs the war on terrorism. The influx of Filipinos and Chinese into the CNMI has created a monumental headache for the United States Department of Homeland Security. This is what Federalization is all about. Sweep these people out. It's still really funny that Doromal, Lil'Hodges, MP, Tina Sablan and others are now scratching their heads and sweating profusely. They are being very careful not to celebrate. There is nothing to celebrate. US Federal Immigration is run by the Department of Homeland Security. This department is responsible for our Nation's security. Do you think that Wendy Doromal can convince them that these Filipinos and Chinese workers whose background checks are IMPOSSIBLE to obtain or too expensive is worth the risk of a USS Cole like attack? Get real. I know, respond with some emotional rant and some weird fantasy about the plight of workers. You helped the Department of Homeland Security do exactly what it has planned along. In fact, you acted as lobbyists, but for free! LOL!
Thank you, Ombudsperson!
I would not call the deportation of a one year worker who cheated the system a mass exodus.
The post above sarcastically refers to a serious issue for CWs, and that is to not let the "chamber" have anything to do with making regulations or they will be SCREWED.
"Federalization...you asked for it and you got it"
That is correct. Many decent residents were tired of the failed and broken system that does not protect workers against abuse and has internationally shamed our community. Pro fed residents succeeded in ending an era plagued by corruption and abuse.
The Department of Homeland Security has already directed the transitional Department of Labor to process people out. This is not payback by locals you idiots, this is directed by the Federal Gov't. Lil'Hodges is in total denial. If you remember when Wendy stated that it 'might still be possible' for long term residents to gain 'some' kind of status. Might this and may that, the contract workers are on their way out. The Filipinas who married these scraggly old fucks are the lucky few. They are IR. The Filipinas and Chinese who bred here and are unwed are a little bit in luck but not really. The Holy Grail is the blue passport for these leeches.
Oh, anonymous. I really am trying to meet your needs, but you're not giving me much to work with. As we have gone over at length in a previous post, your feelings of impotence are not going to go away as a result of your taking potshots at me; sure, it may make you feel good momentarily for you to deliver rejoinders you deem clever, or insults you think sharp, but in the end, you will still have to face the fact that your own inadequacies and cowardice are the source of your unhappiness, and not me.
It's hard to address these issues, especially so late in life. You will have to open up old wounds, things that you would rather not think about, in order to gain some self awareness. But it will be worth it. Once you have faced up to the fact that you are imperfect and human, you will forgive yourself the little foibles and faults that we all have. You will find out you are not such a bad person, and that will save you from having to constantly reinvent reality to mask your own shortcomings.
Once you give yourself a break, you will find that others' shortcomings are also forgivable, and your interpersonal relationships will improve as well.
I wish you luck, my friend. Endeavor to persevere!
Jim Benedetto
This anti-fed guy, and it is the same person, just posts comment after comment after comment. You must have alot of time on your hands. More power to you I guess.
Who said I was anti-Fed Monkey? Talk about time on your hands, look at your blog! LOL!
You stupid guest workers! You chose to believe Ombudsperson, Dekada Shyster, Miss Wendy and Tina Sablan, with their evil lies! We told you that Fitial, Howard Willens, Deanne Siemer, Willie Tan, Matt Gregory and Cinta Kaipat were really the ones that were on your side. But no, you chose to become the willing dupes of the federalizers. The shameful ones who ambushed the CNMI in the dead of night, pushing through their evil, vindictive agenda in secret, behind closed doors, in smoke-filled rooms, without a single hearing, without allowing us to submit hundreds of pages of bullshit testimony with logical holes that you could drive a truck through, without allowing the best lobbyists that our money could buy the chance to use underhanded tactics to kill the bill. Shameful! No, you stupid guest workers, you will get what you deserve! Since you didn't follow us, your true friends, you will now all be deported immediately! That's right, immediately! Read the bill!!! It says you must all be deported immediately!!! Right now!!! Ha, ha, ha! You're getting what you deserve! See you in the Philippines, suckers! We tried to protect you with PL 15-108, but noooooo, you marched against us. And Ombudsperson, Dekada Shyster, Miss Wendy and Tina Sablan can't save you now!
[Diabolical laughter]
talk about some deep seated animosity for not being picked for the team!
Ombudsperson,
You have been on Saipan too long my friend and have forgotten your place.
The Hatch Act grew into a general tradition of electoral reform. In essence, it finally did away with the last vestiges of patronage, and one could say it was the end of the civil service reforms started in the 1880s. But the most significant impetus, affecting both its timing and its content, was the widespread allegation that Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds had been misused by staff members and local Democratic Party politicians during the congressional elections of 1938.
Although criticism of WPA workers centered on Kentucky, Tennessee, and Maryland, the political clout of federal dollars nationwide in the midst of the depression was undeniable; even without malfeasance, programs like the WPA attracted votes. Many Republicans, however, were convinced that WPA workers had gone further, intimidating staff members, pressuring clients, and using public funds for political purposes.
The Act was sponsored by Senator Hatch following disclosures that WPA officials were in fact using their positions to win votes for the Democratic Party, just as many had alleged. Hatch, himself a Democrat, saw this as outright corruption which should not be tolerated under any circumstance by either political party, a feeling shared by most of his colleagues in the Senate.
The original Act forbids intimidation or bribery of voters and restricted political campaign activities by federal employees. It prohibits using any public funds designated for relief or public works for electoral purposes. It also forbids officials paid with federal funds from using promises of jobs, promotion, financial assistance, contracts, or any other benefit to coerce campaign contributions or political support.
The most restrictive measure was brought about by Republicans in the Senate. It dictates that persons below the policymaking level in the executive branch of the federal government must not only refrain from political practices that would be illegal for any citizen but must abstain from "any active part" in political campaigns.
An amendment on July 19, 1940 extended coverage to state and local employees whose salaries include any federal funds. This amendment also set an annual ceiling of $3 million for political parties' campaign expenditures and $5,000 for individual campaign contributions.
I love these little known Federal laws. Doh!
The people without jobs should leave, oyherwise we have beggars everywhere.
The workers that stay will be in better position for fair treatment.
The small sleazy businesses will close...ideally.
Population will drop which should be perfect for bike riding.
We will have a certain reductions in lawyers.
The chamber should close or move to Guam.
All our days are numbered. The good book says:
"I came naked into this world and naked I shall return."
Going after contract workers for false statements on the original applications is the cheapest of all possible cheap shots.
Virtually every one of them has some kind of "false statement" on it. Many were signed by the workers while still blank, with the actual information filled in later by a home-country labor recruiter. Often, the workers could not even read the documents, and was simply told they were something necessary for their job application, not something they would be held strictly accountable for the truth of years later.
The recruiter then just made up whatever information seemed necessary, such as that the worker graduated from some non-existent high school in Shanghai, when in fact she had graduated from some other high school in some suburb of Shanghai.
"False statements" like this are harmless and completely non-culpable on the part of the worker.
The feds will be fingerprinting every single Foreign National Worker before or near the beginning of the Transition Program scheduled to begin on June 1, 2009 or no later than November 28, 2009.
Armchair Loser Civility Aficionado, classic! You really have the style down.
Ombudsperson, thank you for sharing your insights gleaned from counseling or self-help books. Let's hope that those who need to learn these lessons do so.
The newspaper said our retired economic expert, Bill Stewart, like David M. Sablan for representative.
HAHAHAHA
Hell, we would be better off with Lynn.
Excerpt from the Hatch Act (A real Federal Law)
"The most restrictive measure was brought about by Republicans in the Senate. It dictates that persons below the policymaking level in the executive branch of the federal government must not only refrain from political practices that would be illegal for any citizen but must abstain from "any active part" in political campaigns."
The Federal Bureau of Investigation along with the Department of the Interior should look into Federal employees here on Saipan who may have violated the Hatch Act. This is a very serious crime. If ANY Federal employee has broken this law then justice must be served. I certainly hope that the local FBI office here is looking into this. If not, they should be recalled back to the mainland and a new batch should be put in place.
Someone should be sweating right now, just a little bit.
That's right! Someone should be sweating right now, because the FBI is going to investigate them and take them to jail! Just like the FBI is going to investigate Ombudsperson, Dekada Shyster, Miss Wendy, Tina Sablan and all of those evil federalizers for duping all the CGWs into supporting their vendetta against the CNMI, with the result that each and every CGW is going to be deported right now!! Ombudsperson, Dekada Shyster, Miss Wendy and Tina Sablan are all guilty of violating the anti-duping law, and the FBI will investigate them and send them to jail! In fact, the FBI will investigate all of the federalizers and send them to jail for violating the anti-duping law! Mark my words! You asked for it, you got it! You reap what you sow! What goes around comes around! Don't do the crime if you can't do the time! All of you guys who opposed us, who exposed us for being the idiots that we are, now it's time for you to get yours! You won't be laughing so hard when you're in jail, suckers!
[diabolical laughter]
The Hatch Act is actually aimed at partisan political activity, in particular actively supporting partisan candidates on public time. It does not apply to the Ombudsman commenting on proposals for their potential impact on the ability of CGWs to protect their basic rights, which is his job. Just because you think that he may be "political" in common parlance does not even come close to qualifying as a violation of the Hatch Act. If anyone is sweating in the CNMI right now, it's because the air conditioners don't work because of the #8&%@ CUC!
It was funnier the first time.
The Ombudsperson is a former CNMI Deputy Attorney General, and self-evidently capable of doing research on the Hatch Act.
Who do you guys think he is, Allen P. Stayman? (!)
Unlike Mrs. Doromol's allegations of the late 1990s, the FBI will waste no time on this self-evidently specious new charge.
It sounds like some folks are still bitter they didn't succeed at having Mr. Benedetto fired. Get over it.
Maybe they are just parodying the groundless and “specious” allegations against the CNMI Governor of unspecified indictable offenses, proffered by Hodges and his cohort all over these blog pages.
They are all equally laughable and absurd. Sadly, however, some are humor-impaired and take them at face value.
Just like “promises” of Green Cards to foreign national workers.
;-)
Maybe the CGW days that are numbered start at one and grow from there. Did you ever think of that?
By the way, CGW is the Coalition of Guest Workers, right? Sounds a little overstated.
Why not change the name to "Group of Dudes," or GOD? It would work in the headlines and in the stories.
Imagine reading, "GOD said that..." or, "According to GOD..."
LOL! or "GODS days are numbered" :} haha
Most of the posters to these blogs are atheist, agnostic, or “spiritual but not religious” anyway, so why not?
How can Miss Wendy, Mr. Woodruff violate the Hatch Act when they are not federal employees? In fact Doromal does not receive pay from anyone to carry out her human rights work.
Diabolical laughter person - stop the lies and threats.
Idiot. There are Federal employees on Saipan that actively participated in political campaigns,i.e Dekada movement, etc. This is a violation of the Hatch Act and should be investigated. A letter will be sent to the local FBI office and the Dept of Interior in DC in the next few days to ask them for an investigation. If it is determined that there were violations, i.e using Federal money (gas, ANYTHING no matter how small)was used for a political party (dekada) then that individual should be brought up on charges and put in front of a Federal Judge.
Wendy promised "Green Cards". Woodruff promised "Green Cards". And in the end they are unable to back up what they promised.
The CGW's were played and played well. Wendy walks away with a false sense of accomplishment, Steve walks away with money in his pocket and the CGW. Well they get a plane ticket out of here. What a stupid scenario.
“GOD proclaims: Let us pray to the Ombudsperson for Green Card status.”
Here -read about the Hatch Act http://www.osc.gov/hatchact.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatch_Act_of_1939
And stop calling people idiot.
Don’t you have your blogging license?!
See http://www.osc.gov/hatchact.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatch_Act_of_1939
Thank you very much for taking the time to supply these links. I’m sure the Ombudsperson was aware of and reviewed their substance before beginning the social advocacy that he considers part of his job.
"Thank you very much for taking the time to supply these links. I’m sure the Ombudsperson was aware of and reviewed their substance before beginning the social advocacy that he considers part of his job."
Ok moron, I read it over and over and over again. Here is what it says shit for brains:
"The Hatch Act restricts the political activity of executive branch employees of the federal government, District of Columbia government and some state and local employees who work in connection with federally funded programs. "
Hmmm. Now, let's see if you can put this together. Look at the word political, yes political. Now, has the Omsbudsperson been completely unpolitical and objective? Can you please answer that question, Lil? Hodges? Wendy? Anyone?
Excuse me, sir, but the term “political” has a specific meaning within the context of the Hatch Act and generally refers to partisan political activity or labor organizing. The latter is also a term of art within the meaning of the NRLA, and may or may not include “pre-organizing” activity.
The only way to know for sure is to do the research in the case law. One cannot just rely on a statute (or a wikipedia summary of same) and a dictionary.
I confess, I have not done the research myself.
But given how clever the Ombudsperson has proven to be on the pages of these blogs, and the sly underhanded way he was able to achieve total success in federalization over both elected branches of the CNMI government, it would surprise me greatly if the Ombudsperson has not fully checked out the limitations imposed on his behavior by the Hatch Act, and planned his activities to comport with them.
After all, his mentor, Allen P. Stayman, came very close to being charged criminally in Washington, D.C. for exactly such a statutory violation around 1999, which is why he was not nominated as Ambassador for Micronesian Compact Renegotiation.
The Ombudsperson also retains his rights during his own time, so long as not inconsistent with the law.
I have no doubt that the Ombudsperson is well intentioned, and he is certainly no fool.
Can anyone answer the question of why someone who is dumb enough to think "unpolitical" is a word has the nerve to call other people "shit for brains"?
Referring "the sly underhanded way [the Ombudsman] was able to achieve total success in federalization over both elected branches of the CNMI government" is a very strange reading of what happened. Opponents of federalization want to cling to the delusion that they would have won on the merits, but that they were somehow cheated. What bullshit. It's true that the Ombudsman has much more credibility in DC than the Governor (deservedely so), but it's silly to suggest that he brought about federalization all by himself. His latest report was quite moderate, was absolutely accurate, and Deanne Siemer's over-the-top attempt to discredit it was deservedely not taken seriously on Capitol Hill. Opponents of federalization should look themselves in the mirror and ask why their credibility is so low. It isn't always someone else's fault.
But sometimes it is.
Not in this case.
Any regular reader of these blogs knows that references to the sordid accomplishments of the Ombudsperson with respect to federalization necessarily include those of his clique, including its single-minded architects Allen P. Stayman and Rep. George Miller, III. It is unnecessary to list each person deserving of blame in every comment.
Similarly, while the federalizers are wont to “credit” the Fitial Administration for the exclusion of Green Card status from Public Law 110-229, in fact that can be attributed to Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) and Del. Madeleine Z. Bordallo (D-GU), neither of whom wanted the CNMI’s surplus unskilled workforce to migrate to their constituencies.
Foreign national workers should remain mindful of whence the real opposition to their desired status originates, lest they again tilt at windmills and spin their wheels, as Dekada Shyster and Mrs. Doromol did for their clients in the futile federalization bill, and they continue to do in a pathetic attempt to turn the CNMI Department of Labor into a collection agency flailing at foreign and bankrupt former employers during the final 12 to 18 months before the Transition Program begins.
Keep your eye on the ball. As Zaldy Dandan has learned about this issue, no one wants to listen to the bearer of bad news, and people willingly listen to those saying what they want to hear. Even if it’s not true.
Thank you for your endless repetition of your bitter, sore loser version of history, where the fact that you lost a policy battle could only have resulted from "sordid" misdeeds of nefarious conspirators. You really need to get over it.
That's the point I have been trying to make, anonymous: you have so much invested in this personally and emotionally that you cannot see the forest for the trees. You have blinded yourself, in your impotence and powerlessness, into thinking that something nefarious HAD to have happened, since your ideas were not followed. You must twist and skew everything (such as leaving "partisan" out of the Hatch Act's prohibitions, or seeing far-flung conspiracies behind every disagreement or setback), to the point where you appear hysterical and messianic to everyone else. Your fragile ego--indeed, it appears the whole of your self-esteem--is dependent upon a delusion where you are true and RIGHT and everyone else is an idiot or a criminal. You sound like someone who was pushed around a lot on the playground in school: "You'll be sorry, you'll all be sorry! I'm the great _________. Someday you'll realize how wrong you were and what a terrible mistake you all made by not listening to me! All the alien workers will be deported! The CNMI and its people are all DOOMED! The Ombudsperson, Dekada Shyster, Wendy Doromal and Al Stayment will all be jailed! Then you'll all be forced to admit that I, the great ______, was RIGHT."
Don't you see how pathetic you are, anonymous? How childish you seem? Can't you hear the derisive laughter that your sniveling inspires? It's no wonder you hide behind your anonymity; If you revealed your true identity, you would not be able to escape the jibes and taunts of even your own colleagues.
Think about it. Suppose everything you predict comes true. We are all felons and ne'er-do-wells, and you are the wise, would-be saviour who was RIGHT about everything all along. Where does that get you? Will you finally give yourself a break and accept that despite your faults, you are a worthy human being capable of being loved? I don't think so. It sounds like it would only provide you a moment's respite, after which you would move on, forever having to justify your existence and prove your self worth by being RIGHT in all your interpersonal dealings. You will never escape the cycle of loathing yourself and alienating others until you accept responsibility for your happiness and stop projecting onto others the reasons you loathe yourself.
Jim Benedetto
Ombudsperson:
Please link to this site:
http://www.themediareport.com/oct2006/latimes-stayman-abramoff.htm
Here is an excerpt from that site that might be some interest to you:
"4. SUMMER 1999: The House Resources Committee begins an investigation into illegal activity at the OIA. The committee is chaired by Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska). The investigation looks into whether North and others at the OIA violated the Hatch Act, which forbids on-the-job campaign and lobbying activity at government offices. Stayman becomes the subject of a separate investigation by the Office of Special Counsel (OSG). (Stayman retains Washington lawyer Plato Cacheris, whose clients reportedly have included Monica Lewinsky and CIA spy Aldrich Ames. ("Congress to examine politics in the Pacific," Washington Times, September 14, 1999)) North and Stayman resign from their positions."
LOL!
Yes, anonymous. North was coordinating with the media to target members of a certain party in Congress that were opposed to specific policies. That is partisan. Thanks for proving my point. You can't tell the difference between partisan political activity and legitimate reporting about labor and immigration conditions in the CNMI.
You continue to evade the issue of your own cowardice, impotence and delusions of grandeur. You may well be "laughing out loud," but I'd say it is more whistling in the dark.
Jim Benedetto
Ombudsperson:
Be aware that there are more than one person posting to these blogs as "anonymous." [Indeed, it was you, or someone with your point of view, who castigated and mocked the use of pseudonyms.] This could be verified by our generous blog host through confirming the variety of ISPs and MAC addresses.
So your conflating of various personalities, and selecting the worst qualities of each to perform an armchair psychological diagnosis and treatment -- whether well-intentioned or to score further (non-partisan) political points as you did so skillfully with the CNMI media in the federalization "debate" -- is fundamentally flawed.
As for delusions of grandeur, those holding them would be only too happy to be proven "right" and reveal themselves. So that is an implausible motivation.
Why not take at face value the anonymous claims that the person fears retaliation at the hands of the federal government?
Also, the correctness or incorrectness of the federalization and the process used to enact Pub. L. 110-229 (with Committee Report published after the vote, for instance) will be relevant in any substantive due process litigation, and in evaluating the wisdom of any regulations proposed to implement the legislation.
So the debate is still ongoing on various fronts. Indeed, your actions will have a strong effect on how the Commonwealth legislature and executive branches decide how to deal with the ever-increasing consequences of your (collective) sordid actions.
I personally think federalization could have been a good thing if handled properly, that is, with the consent of the governed -- either through their elected legislators and governor, or through a plebiscite (search this and Lil Hammerhead's blog).
And in the long run it will help the locals and hurt the unskilled foreign national workers -- which is good or bad, I suppose, depending on one's place within one of these groups or not. But in the short run it will have terrible repercussions to both groups, the latter more severely.
These consequences are exacerbated by the minimum wage increases. See Lil Hammerhead's 400+ comment thread.
Thank you for your endless repetition of your bitter, sore loser version of history, where the fact that you lost a policy battle could only have resulted from "sordid" misdeeds of nefarious conspirators. You really need to get over it.
The point is not that Pub. L. 110-229 “could only” have resulted from dirty pool, but that it did so in fact.
And as set forth in the post immediately above, this is relevant to several ongoing public and private debates, including the content of and CNMI reaction to the implementing regs, the CNMI's implementation of its waning control in the next 12-18 months, whether the CNMI or private citizens should seek an injunction against the law, and many other related issues.
The obdurate refusal of the Ombudsperson to admit to any wrongdoing whatsoever by the United States either in the process by which the law was enacted, or in its failure to provide adequate federal law enforcement resources over the past three decades, or in its complicity in the slander of a generous and loving indigenous people, does not auger well for a smooth run-up to the Transition Program.
Fundamentally, the issue is about truth and respect. The latter has been particularly lacking in the uncivil behavior of the Ombudsperson toward the people of the CNMI over almost the past decade.
For some yet unknown reason, the bad guys are intensifying the propaganda campaign as though the fed bill has not been signed.
I am at a loss as to the strategy for these sordid misdeeds of nefarious conspirators.
They must include some mudslinging accusations against Jim B. The Ombudsperson here is a stand up guy to all who know or have had dealings with him.
The Ombudsperson here is a stand up guy to all who know or have had dealings with him.
Hear, hear!
But I haven't noticed much mudslinging. Just discussion relative to the impending Transition Program and how it will be implemented.
The events leading to the passage of Pub. L. 110-229 remain highly relevant to that discussion.
So what do you think, Mr. Hodges, about persons here on fraudulent documents?
Here's what I think.. Biba Benedetto. He's a good man. I'll take him over the slime on the "other side" any day.
The federalization law resulted from "dirty pool"? The process by which it was enacted constituted "wrongdoing"? How so? A bill was introduced. Hearings were held. Written statements were submitted. Congress revised the bill. Congress voted on the bill. You guys had ample opportunity to present your case. Congress is not obligated to see things your way. What a serious wacko.
Didn't Benedetto write an angry letter to Ms. Magazine after their story on the CNMI because he thought they weren't being fair? IMHO, Benedetto calls it the way he sees it, and these people who are obsessed about him are off the deep end.
anon - 2 up
"So what do you think, Mr. Hodges, about persons here on fraudulent documents?"
It doesn't matter what I think as I am not a federal employee or an attorney. I have never liked the broken system here and do not have all the answers for addressing past inadequacies. If a NMI residency managed by the US made all sides happy I would be in favor of that. If improving the status of workers here to green card so CWs could travel to find employment and leave more jobs here for locals, I would be in favor of that. If a general amnesty were offered for people who survived a broken system, I would also be in favor of that. I would be in favor of any answer that would help the NMI while being fair to CWs. A peace that all sides can live with is a peace that lasts.
I think the US must address the problems facing the residents here in regard to power, water, and our emergency economic circumstances. I think the local administrations adversarial stance toward federalization has, and will prolong our dire reality here. I think the NMI should accept the federal intervention and capitalize on opportunity regarding the planned military build-up before we get left out.
Omsbudsperson,
You should be looking to this attorney: Washington lawyer Plato Cacheris.
Could you please stop trying to “scare” the Ombudsperson into thinking he’ll need a legendary criminal defense lawyer like Plato Cacheris? Of course, he’s too clever to fall for your persiflage, anyway.
But I’d much rather he get some good draft regs out -- consulting with the Saipan Chamber of Commerce and CNMI Department of Labor along the way -- rather than worrying about bogus threats of lawsuits from “obsessed” bloggers. We really don’t want CNMI taxpayer resources wasted on a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia due to flawed takeover regulations.
I wonder if the civil rights lawsuit against federalization might include as additional defendants, in their personal capacities, the perpetrators of racist, malicious conduct by the likes of the Ombudsperson and Allen P. Stayman?
In that case they'd need civil defense lawyers, not criminal counsel for bogus Hatch Act prosecutions that are never going to happen.
Except to the extent that the conduct is found by DoJ to be personal vengefulness, as opposed to official acts, the DoJ Federal Programs Branch would be sure to do a good job for such individual federal employee defendants, requiring no financial outlay on their part.
As to Mr. Stayman, though, such a determination of scope-of-employment eligibility might be challenged in court. The U.S. government has no official interest in revenge against the CNMI.
No offense, Anonymous (the last three were the same person pretendng to argue with himself or herself), but I've never seen so much clueless pontificating. Your posts are complete mumbo jumbo. A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Does anyone remember the convict character that Damon Wayans used to play in "In Living Color"? The one who kept misusing big words, spewing out gibberish with great confidence? That's what the previous set of anonymous comments reminds me of (except the last one, which was me).
6/02/2008 12:50 PM
6/02/2008 1:06 PM
I'm sure our generous blog host could confirm that these posts have wholly separate IP and MAC addresses, likely from widely separated parts of the island, Commonwealth, or country.
The Department of Homeland Security has already directed the transitional Department of Labor to process people out.
BS !
Who's telling you this? Come on, name names. Then readers can properly consider whether the "source" should properly be called -- LIAR!
Anon,
From what did you plagiarize that long, boring, utterly irrelevant and meaningless passage on the history of the Hatch Act?
If you click through the links (perhaps in another thread), you can see he got it from Wikipedia. As I said above, however, the Ombudsperson will not be “scared off” by such comments.
Also, my own posts above are not “gibberish.” Those with the need and professional background to understand them will do so; and those with the need but without the specific education or training in the particular sub-field involved can easily consult an appropriate professional.
Finally, as to DHS, while the above reference nearby was not my post, DHS clearly wants to get a handle on who's legal and who's not. Registration of aliens is required by Pub. L. 110-229. So at the very least, DHS would support any CNMI Labor actions to make their work easier.
Illegal aliens can run, but they can't hide. Unregistered: Deported! Registered: ???
Amnesty?
Anyone want to take odds?
Anonymous said...
“The Department of Homeland Security has already directed the transitional Department of Labor to process people out. This is not payback by locals you idiots, this is directed by the Federal Gov't. Lil'Hodges is in total denial. If you remember when Wendy stated that it 'might still be possible' for long term residents to gain 'some' kind of status. Might this and may that, the contract workers are on their way out.”
5/28/2008 5:55 PM
truth seeker said...
“BS !
Who's telling you this? Come on, name names. Then readers can properly consider whether the "source" should properly be called -- LIAR!”
6/04/2008 11:01 PM
The source is Public Law 110-229 itself. This law imposes a cap on the number of foreign national workers in the CNMI.
If the CNMI needs more workers for new construction projects, hotel staff, et al., ipso facto it must deport overstayers to make room for them.
Workers are not fungible. Each is a unique human being, with specific talents and abilities, and infinite human worth. Most garment factory workers are not skilled construction tradesmen.
Indeed, workers are not fungible, if they have different skill sets than employers need. But we have all skill sets (and non-skill sets) on island already.
Pub. L. 110-229 only prohibits the CNMI from increasing the number of alien workers in the CNMI. In a declining economy, as is the case, this should not be a problem. Pub. L. 110-229 says nothing -- repeat, nothing -- about ramping up deportations.
Workers continue to leave voluntarily for reasons of their own. The emergency regulations provide a sound system for managing the slots thus created. There is no need or justification for artificially creating slots through mean-spirited and misguided government actions. Indeed, the most probable motive for such an approach would be an attempt to by government officials to create a commodity (slots) they can manipulate for profit or political reward in dealing with businesses.
Most importantly, the federalization legislation has absolutely nothing to do with any such venal behavior, contrary to Anon's suggestion.
Moreover, Anon stated that "the Department of Homeland Security" had directed the "process[ing] out" of people. Now it is claimed that "[the law] itself" is what is doing the directing. Since "the law" and "the Department of Homeland Security" are not the same thing, it seems someone may have just admitted to a lie.
DHS will certainly want to get a handle on who is here -- once they assume responsibility for immigration here. That is: on the transition program effective date.
Pub. L. 110-229 provides for registration then, not before. Further, DHS has NO AUTHORITY in the CNMI until then. They can work with CNMI officials, give ideas and views, but that is it.
Stop trying to make registration sound like something it is not, a threat to alien workers. Someone who does not have status will have problems, then and now. So what? The only issue for an alien in the CNMI is how to make sure they have status when they need it.
Surely Anon does not want or mean to say that the CNMI presently ignores whether a worker has status or not? And that therefore the present system is better for aliens than federalization?
By the time we reach the transition program effective date, DHS will have a new head, not the jack-booted thug who is there now. Indeed, comprehensive immigration reform may have already been passed by Congress.
The deceptions, distortions, and misrepresentations the anti-federalization folks are putting out on the blogs are getting especially tiresome.
One thing I forgot to mention in my comment above on the "federal moratorium" imposed by Pub. L. 110-229:
The only sanction for violation of the legal prohibition on the CNMI increasing the alien workers in the Commonwealth between now and the transition program effective date is that any worker who enters the CNMI when the Commonwealth is in violation of that restriction will be deemed deportable as of the transition program effective date.
In short, as a matter of law, the CNMI does not "need" to create any slots. It can violate the federal moratorium with impunity. It is only the new worker entering the CNMI during this period (and his or her new employer) who will be at risk.
Of course, it would be morally reprehensible and irresponsible for the CNMI to take the attitude that it can just go ahead and issue however many permits it pleases.
Anyone out there want to bet on responsibility and morally upright behavior among our great leaders?
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