New Law to Protect OFWs in Saipan from Abuse

More than half (71%) of the population of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) is composed of foreign workers. The move to improve the working conditions of alien workers paved the way for the approval of bill H.R. 3079 or the NMI Immigration, Security and Labor Act (ISLA) by the US House of Representatives.

This law that transferred the US federal government's takeover of immigration control from the CNMI government aims to end abuse of foreign workers in the CNMI

Rep. Nick J. Rahall II, a Democrat from West Virginia and chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, said, in a statement, "With the enactment of this legislation, the dismal and degrading era of slave labor, forced prostitution and other horrific worker abuses by employers … will be put to rest."

If the rights of the foreign workers are limited, an employer may be encouraged to do the following: non-payment or delayed payment of wages and overtime, unauthorized deductions, barracks lockdown, forced prostitution.

According to Donna M. Christensen, Virgin Islands Rep. and chairwoman of the House subcommittee on insular affairs, the reports concerning workers’ abuse over the last 20 years made it necessary to pass the bill.

Christensen added, "It is no secret that over the last 20 years, the CNMI came under great criticism for its immigration policies which left the territory with a nationwide, if not also an international, reputation – making this legislation necessary on several fronts."

Filipinos on Saipan are employed as accountants, clerks, engineers, construction workers, farmers, housekeepers, hotel or restaurant food servers, and journalists.POEA News

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