Gregorio Sablan: “Let me read from the administration's letter. ``H.R. 559 would provide for the admission of certain aliens who are…”

“Let me read from the administration's letter. ``H.R. 559 would provide for the admission of certain aliens who are currently present in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, CNMI, and who had been parolees. . . . In doing so, the bill would establish an alternative regime to the now-terminated categorical parole program for the CNMI. DHS believes that the bill would address the discrete needs of this alien group in an equitable and lawful manner. . . . It is the Department's hope that the full House of Representatives will take up and pass the measure expeditiously.'' Signed: Christine M. Ciccone, Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs, Department of Homeland Security. To be completely transparent, the bill before us has been altered slightly from the original. The bill now includes an administrative appeal procedure if an applicant believes an error was made in processing their petition for permanent status. But that new language was also drafted, at my request, by the administration. So the bill remains 100 percent as drafted by the administration. Again, the bill provides permanent status in the Marianas only, with no right of entry to any other part of the United States and no right to any public assistance, to a small group of people who have lived and worked in the Marianas, always lawfully present, since before U.S. immigration law was ever extended to our islands. The Trump administration agrees.…”