Last week, the US House of Representatives took the final legislative step needed by Congress to approve legislation to extend US immigration laws to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and to authorize a CNMI non-voting Delegate to the House of Representatives.  According to The Pacific News Center, the legislation, which passed by a vote of 291-117, will now be sent to the White House to be signed into law.  

"For too long, abuses took place in the CNMI, and for too long, remedial legislation was held hostage in this body.  Let this legislation bring forth a new dawn, a start of a new era, and with a Delegate to this body, let the voices of the people of the CNMI be heard," said House Natural Resources Committee Chairman and bill co-sponsor Nick J. Rahall (D-WV).  

The Northern Mariana Islands Immigration, Security and Labor Act (ISLA) and the Northern Mariana Islands Delegate Act (HR 3079), which would extend US immigration laws to the CNMI and establish a federally administered guest worker program on the island, was unanimously approved by the House on December 11, 2007.  HR 3079 later was incorporated into a larger bundle of legislation, the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008; this legislation was approved by the Senate on April 10, 2008.  

Delegate Donna M. Christensen (D-VI), Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs and co-sponsor of HR 3079, praised the legislation’s passage: "The Congress’ approval of ISLA will ensure that employers have the ability to fill jobs, continue vocational training to empower CNMI residents with skills needed to succeed in their economy, foster partnerships with neighboring Guam to diversify the region’s economy, maintain adequate protections for the non-resident guest worker community, and strategically secure the Marianas archipelago."  

"Extending federal immigration law to the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas closes the guest worker loophole under which so many were held in modern slavery.  The Constitution’s guarantee of freedom must apply everywhere in the United States , no matter how remote," said House Judiciary Committee Chairman and HR 3079 co-sponsor John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI).  

The Bush Administration has testified before both the House and Senate in support of the legislation.  Chairwoman Christensen, expressing strong concern that all people in the CNMI have an opportunity to voice their opinions on this legislation, held the first ever Congressional hearing on the islands in August 2007.