[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 135 (Thursday, October 2, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1897-E1898]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


       SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT: THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. DANA ROHRABACHER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 30, 1997

  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, Wednesday evening, my colleague from 
California, Mr. Miller, resumed his nonstop, politically driven attack 
on the government and people of the Commonwealth of the Northern 
Mariana Islands. The gentleman's remarks and accusations, along with 
those of Mrs. Mink and Ms. DeLauro are simply untrue and need to be 
corrected and clarified.
  I respect and agree with their position that more Federal resources 
and efforts need to be directed to the Northern Mariana Islands to 
enforce the laws of which the Federal Government has jurisdiction. 
However, I believe their unwarranted attacks on the CNMI were 
misdirected, especially upon examination of the Federal law enforcement 
presence on the islands. In addition, I do not agree with their 
solution to increase the Federal law enforcement presence in the CNMI. 
When one takes into consideration that there are only two assistant 
U.S. attorneys on the islands--not to mention the fact that there is no 
U.S. attorney stationed on the islands--using American taxpayer dollars 
to increase funding for the Federal Victims' Assistance Program, as Mr. 
Miller and Mrs. Mink proposed, is bad public policy.
  The Northern Mariana Islands, with very few exceptions, is governed 
by the laws of the United States of America. Both the U.S. citizens on 
the islands and the guest worker population reside under the protection 
of the U.S. flag and its Federal laws. For these reasons, the people of 
the Northern Mariana Islands willingly entered into a unique covenant 
with the United States in 1976. The people overwhelmingly voted to 
accept their self-government status, along with the responsibilities of 
being part of the American family. I am here to tell you that the CNMI 
Government and its people are living up to their responsibilities--they 
have established a self-reliant economy enabling the local government 
to fund its own operations without the assistance of Federal dollars 
through free enterprise; enforcement of local labor and immigration 
laws in the last 5 years has improved significantly and are continuing 
to be addressed stringently today; and the CNMI is promoting democratic 
values in Southeast Asia, where the American way of doing things is 
beginning to become the norm.
  Unfortunately, the Federal Government is not fully living up to their 
Federal law enforcement responsibilities in the Northern Mariana 
Islands. The CNMI does not have authority to enforce U.S. laws. 
Enforcement of U.S. laws in the Commonwealth is the sole responsibility 
of the Federal Government. It is disingenuous for my colleagues to 
assert that the CNMI Government is not enforcing its local labor laws 
when the vast majority of alleged violations--nearly 90 percent--of 
labor laws in the

[[Page E1898]]

CNMI are violations of Federal laws, which the U.S. Government has sole 
or concurrent jurisdiction. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, you can see why I 
am concerned with my colleague's, Mr. Miller, proposal to fund anything 
other than an additional assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern 
Mariana Islands.
  I hope the chairman of the Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations 
Committee, my good friend Mr. Rogers from Kentucky, will work to 
include language in the statement of the managers to direct some of the 
increased funds from the fiscal year 1997 bill to the U.S. attorney's 
office for the purpose of providing an additional Assistant U.S. 
attorney to be stationed in the Northern Mariana Islands.
  At the request of Mr. Rogers, I agreed to address the allegations 
made regarding the CNMI at a later date due to the chairman's wishes to 
move forward with the bill. Had I had the opportunity to elaborate on 
the statement I presented in response to the attacks on the CNMI, I 
would have pointed out the fallacies in my colleagues' remarks.
  Mr. Miller suggested that the guest workers on the island are 
routinely subjected to gross violations of their human rights and are 
provided few of the legal protections afforded to workers on American 
soil. He cited a Reader's Digest report and an Inside Edition expose 
done on the islands as documented evidence proving widespread abuses.
  Let me reiterate that the CNMI Government has combated and continues 
to combat violations of their local laws. For example, in the case 
highlighted by the Reader's Digest involving the rape of a Chinese 
contract worker by former Immigration Officer Isidro Cabrerra, the CNMI 
Attorney General's Office has successfully prosecuted this unsavory 
individual. In addition, the CNMI's Department of Labor and 
Immigration's Administrative Hearing Office has eliminated its entire 
backlog of cases by conducting more than a thousand hearings over the 
past year. This has resulted in more than $2 million in payments to 
workers, the transfer of more than 1,000 workers to new employers, the 
deportation of 200 workers illegally employed in the CNMI, and the 
barring of 75 employers from hiring guest workers. Most recently, the 
CNMI Attorney General's office has facilitated the successful 
settlement of a civil action suit for the underpayment of garment 
worker wages totaling $996,000--the largest settlement ever collected 
by the office. These examples of enforcement and punishment of worker 
exploitation clearly do not reflect the picture painted by my 
colleagues who took the floor to chastise the CNMI Wednesday night.
  In regard to the Inside Edition expose, Mr. Miller stated that this 
TV tabloid ``captured the horrific conditions in the Marianas on 
film''. With much interest, I viewed the expose the night it ran, and I 
am puzzled as to what it was my colleague witnessed that was so 
horrific. The program I watched did not document the widespread abuses 
that my colleague alleges. The hidden camera investigation I saw turned 
up CNMI garment factories that their own reporter described as ``clean 
and modern'' and ``beautiful''. Unable to find the ``sweatshops'' they 
were looking for, the Inside Edition investigative team turned its 
attention to the dormitory accommodations made available to the guest 
workers by their employers--inexpensive living accommodations where the 
workers freely chose to live in order to send home more of their 
earnings to their families. Although the dormitories may be considered 
by some to be crowded by mainland standards, they are comparable, and 
in many cases, superior to other housing in the South Pacific region. 
In fact, the living quarters I examined on my visit to the Northern 
Mariana Islands were much nicer than the barracks provided to the 
migrant workers on the mainland.

  Mr. Speaker, it was also stated on the floor Wednesday evening that 
my defense of the Northern Mariana Islands in relation to the guest 
workers has no ``independent validation''. I take personal offense, as 
probably many of my colleagues do who have witnessed first hand the 
successes in the CNMI, to this remark and would like to set the record 
straight on this implication. Members and staff from both sides of the 
aisle, journalists and think tanks have traveled to the NMI to examine 
the Commonwealth. The Republicans and Democrats who have participated 
on these fact-finding delegations have come to admire and respect the 
CNMI during the past 2 years. In fact, the distinguished chairman of 
the Resources Committee, Mr. Young, has organized a CODEL to travel to 
the NMI and the other U.S. territories in January to address the 
concerns of the Congress and set the record straight. I strongly 
suggest that the gentleman from California [Mr. Miller]--who is the 
ranking member of the Resources Committee--join the chairman's 
delegation.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to address one final concern raised by my 
friend from Hawaii, Mrs. Mink. It is in regards to the 16-year-old girl 
in Hawaii now awaiting resolution of her complaint against a Filipino 
night club owner who hired her to dance nude in his club. Sadly, 
stories like this are reported all too often in the media today. 
Incidentally, the Washington Post just ran a similar story in late 
August about a Virginia man who pleaded guilty to the importation of 
teen prostitutes from Canada to work here on the streets of our 
Nation's Capital. Stories like this put the situation in the NMI in 
perspective. I know that my colleagues would agree that these abuses--
crimes--depicted in both of these stories are unacceptable. It is 
regrettable that in a great country like ours human beings can subject 
other humans to engage these type of behavior. The issue, however, is 
not that they occur but what is being done to prosecute the offenders 
and prevent this type of conduct in the future.
  In all fairness to the CNMI, it should go on record that the 
statement made by my colleague is somewhat misleading. Mrs. Mink stated 
that this individual cannot obtain justice for the alleged crimes 
committed against her. According to the CNMI Attorney General, this is 
not true. The Federal officials are currently investigating the 
possible violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the CNMI 
Attorney General's office is continuing their ongoing investigation and 
will file charges once the Federal prosecutors have completed their 
case.

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