A bill to increase by 2,000 the numerical cap on a foreign worker visa scheme for the Northern Marianas has failed to pass in the United States Senate.
Gregorio Kilili Sablan authored the bill to increase the cap on a foreign worker visa scheme. Photo: USDA/Lance Cheung.
Last week the CNMI-Only Transition Worker Non-immigrant Visa program passed in the House of Representatives.
The CNMI's Congressional delegate, Gregorio Kilili Sablan, who authored the bill, blamed the failure on West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin and objections to the passage of immigration legislation from the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Mr Sablan said his bill's failure proves again that immigration is one of the most difficult issues to manage in Congress, even if the direct effect of any legislation is confined just to the Mariana Islands.
He is promising to keep searching for a solution to the alien visa crisis in the CNMI, which has already forced hundreds of foreign workers to leave the territory.
