Undocumented of the Marianas can turn economies around if Biden goes further in immigration policy

“You can live in France, but you cannot be a Frenchman. You can go live in Germany or Turkey or Japan, but you cannot become a German, a Turk, or Japanese. But anyone, from any corner of the Earth, can come to live in America and become an American.”

In January 1989, those were the words recited by the president, then Ronald Reagan, of a letter he once received. It was made in one of his last speeches in office. The republican mantra on immigration has changed quite a bit since and both parties are now embroiled in the most divisive politics in living memory.

“President Biden believes that securing the border is essential,” a news release from the White House issued last week says. The news release announced orders from the president to the Department of Homeland Security that will affect an estimated half-a-million undocumented people – including 50,000 children – living in the United States and its territories to attain legal status. “He also believes in expanding lawful pathways and keeping families together, and that immigrants who have been in the United States for decades, paying taxes and contributing to their communities, are part of the social fabric of our country.”

Building on the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood arrivals (DACA) policy while strengthening the southern border at unprecedented levels (no matter what the MAGA advocates lie about), Mr. Biden has ordered a legal pathway for non-citizen undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens who have lived in the country for at least 10 years (as of June 17, 2024) and their children.

“Those who are approved after DHS’s case-by-case assessment of their application will be afforded a three-year period to apply for permanent residency,” the White House says. “They will be allowed to remain with their families in the United States and be eligible for work authorization for up to three years. This will apply to all married couples who are eligible.”

And while I appreciate this step forward, I wish Mr. Biden would go further, at least for the (believed to be) thousands of undocumented residents of the Marianas.

It breaks my heart when I’m in Saipan speaking with my kababayans who have not been to their homes in the Philippines in years. Some weren’t able to be there for their mothers and fathers before they died. Many have not seen their children in 12, 15, even 25 years. Saipan is the home they’ve known (for some by now – most of their lives) for quite some time, making an under-the-table income as laborers that feeds their children in the Philippines. Because they no longer have legal status, if they take a four-hour trip to the Philippines, they won’t be able to come back.

These are the same issues undocumented Chinese people face in the CNMI. Families torn apart by a pursuit of the American Dream interrupted by the racist petty politics of overinflated egos who can’t see that undocumented residents in the CNMI provide hope for the economies of the Mariana Islands.

Many of the undocumented traveled legally to Saipan as contract workers decades ago, had families there, and stayed.

They were teachers, nurses, laborers, construction workers, accountants, textile workers, you name it. But they can’t work legally because now they are undocumented.

Imagine if they could work. Imagine if the president granted them legal status or at least a pathway to permanent residency and onto citizenship.

Think about what that can do for the CNMI’s ailing public education system and economy. Think about what can happen in Guam’s housing market once hundreds more skilled laborers and construction workers currently living in squalor in Saipan are able to travel to Guam and be employed in the construction industry. Think about the hospitals and clinics throughout the Marianas that would be more fully staffed with qualified medical and nursing professionals. Or the restaurant and hospitality industries in desperate need of workers in both territories.

This is a practical solution being blocked by right wing extremist ideology that refuses to recognize one important fact: These people already are here. They are an untapped resource that can transform our economies. All that is good, but for me, I just want these people to be able to reunite with their families and see their homelands again. No more broken families. No more broken hearts.

If the president is scrambling for heart-wrenching reasons why migrants entering the country be given accommodation, he need not look any further than at what is happening in the CNMI.

The inability for undocumented residents to work legally has led to prostitution and human trafficking. Crime victims are too scared to report assaults, rape, theft, and cons to the police because they don’t want to be deported. Undocumented people who get hurt refuse medical attention because they don’t want any trouble. There’s also a safety and associated money factor. They can’t get drivers licenses, so some of them drive without them and some of them get into accidents for which they are uninsured.

There is a bill in the CNMI Senate by Donald Manglona that would allow the undocumented to get drivers licenses, but it hasn’t moved out of committee yet. It’s a step in the right direction. The local government, however, can only do so much. The Biden administration can make all the difference here.

It’s funny whenever I hear that ridiculous chant from the American Nazi Party, er, I mean the Grand Ole Party. Make America Great Again.

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Leah Beth Crisostimo-Blas immigrated from the Philippines to Guam as a child in 1972. She has been a hair stylist, store owner, grocery worker, and teacher. She is retired and resides in Dededo, looking forward to the weekends when her grandkids come by.