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Policy Papers
7/25/01
S. 507 Opens Dangerous Floodgate to Communist
Nationals From China and North Korea
Summary:
The Senate is on the verge of passing S. 507, legislation
that federalizes the immigration process in the Commonwealth of
the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), an American territory located
in the Pacific Ocean. Unknown to most members of Congress, however
is a provision contained in the bill that threatens the security
of the United States and its allies. If enacted into law, the bill
will open America’s borders to an potential influx of Chinese
Communist nationals.
Background:
The Northern Mariana Islands is a chain of islands
in the Pacific, approximately half an hour flight north of Guam.
In 1975, the islands petitioned the Washington, DC to become a commonwealth
of the United States. As part of the agreement that was signed,
the CNMI retained control of its immigration and minimum wage laws.
The CNMI and its new 29,000 citizens used its relative autonomy
to reduce taxes and regulation to create and attractive investment
climate that sparked an economic boom that others in the Pacific
looked to as a model.
Since the late 1980’s, labor unions and the garment industry
have undertaken a campaign to end the autonomy. Spurred on by media
reports that suggest the islands are a haven for companies taking
advantage of underpaid workers, some members of Congress have tried
to enact legislation that undermines the democratic rights of the
citizens of the CNMI destroys the compact that the CNMI and the
United States voluntarily entered into. Senate bill 507 is one of
those bills.
The bill, introduced and supported by Sens. Daniel Akaka (D-HI)
and ___ Murkowski (R-AK), would take away the right of the citizens
of the CNMI to control their immigration process and impose a federal
takeover. Specifically, the bill provides that during the transition,
the Attorney General of the United States is permitted to grant
E-2 visas to certain aliens. This provision, however, creates a
dangerous loophole in federal law that threatens the security of
the United States and undermines the ability of the INS, the Attorney
General and the State Department to police who can enter into our
country.
The Threat to National Security:
By way of brief background, the E-2 visa is reserved
for nationals of countries that have treaties of friendship, commerce,
and navigation or bilateral investment treaties with the United
States. General prerequisites for E status are: 1) treaty exists,
2) foreign national is from the treaty country, and 3) commercial
entity is owned at least 50% plus by nationals of the treaty country.
A national of a treaty country may enter the United States in E-2
status if, as a treaty investor, he or she is entering to develop
and direct the operations of an enterprise in which he or she has
invested. The State Department maintains the list of qualifying
treaty countries.
Section 6(e) of S. 507, however, states that no treaty will be required
for E-2 visas to be issued by the Attorney General. In addition
to allowing the Attorney General to supercede the State Department’s
authority, investors from non-treaty countries, such as China and
North Korea, will be able to enter the United States through the
CNMI. This provision is exceptionally dangerous because E-2 visas
are indefinitely renewable. They allow investors to enter into the
United States at any point of entry and travel freely, regardless
of where their investment is located.
While the drafters of S. 507 believe the E-2 loophole is narrow
in that it applies only to those aliens who qualify for "long
term investor status" in the Commonwealth (Section 6(e)(1)(A)),
the CNMI Attorney General states that the term "long term investor
status" is not defined in CNMI statutes or regulations. This
term does not match any of the CNMI language and is therefore overly
vague.
There are two distinctly different types of visa holders to which
this language may be referring. One type is known as "Regular
term" or "Long Term" Business Certificate Holders.
The CNMI Government has issued several thousand of these certificates.
Many of these certificates have been issued to Nationals of countries
not currently holding treaties with the United States, including
China and North Korea.
By allowing nationals of non-treaty countries, such as China, to
obtain E-2 investor visas, S. 507 dangerously opens the U.S. border
in a manner not allowed under current federal immigration law. S.
507 should not be passed until this dangerous provision is fixed.
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