OVERSIGHT HEARING ON THE ENFORCEMENT OF FEDERAL LAWS AND THE USE OF FEDERAL FUNDS IN THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON RESOURCES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SIXTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION SEPTEMBER 16, 1999, WASHINGTON, DC Serial No. 106±60 Printed for the use of the Committee on Resources ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/house or Committee address: http://www.house.gov/resources U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 63±071 u WASHINGTON : 1999 COMMITTEE ON RESOURCES DON YOUNG, Alaska, Chairman W.J. (BILLY) TAUZIN, Louisiana GEORGE MILLER, California JAMES V. HANSEN, Utah NICK J. RAHALL, II, West Virginia JIM SAXTON, New Jersey EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts ELTON GALLEGLY, California BRUCE F. VENTO, Minnesota JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee DALE E. KILDEE, Michigan JOEL HEFLEY, Colorado PETER A. DEFAZIO, Oregon JOHN T. DOOLITTLE, California ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American WAYNE T. GILCHREST, Maryland Samoa KEN CALVERT, California NEIL ABERCROMBIE, Hawaii RICHARD W. POMBO, California SOLOMON P. ORTIZ, Texas BARBARA CUBIN, Wyoming OWEN B. PICKETT, Virginia HELEN CHENOWETH-HAGE, Idaho FRANK PALLONE, JR., New Jersey GEORGE P. RADANOVICH, California CALVIN M. DOOLEY, California WALTER B. JONES, JR., North Carolina CARLOS A. ROMERO-BARCELO, Puerto WILLIAM M. (MAC) THORNBERRY, Texas Rico CHRIS CANNON, Utah ROBERT A. UNDERWOOD, Guam KEVIN BRADY, Texas PATRICK J. KENNEDY, Rhode Island JOHN PETERSON, Pennsylvania ADAM SMITH, Washington RICK HILL, Montana CHRIS JOHN, Louisiana BOB SCHAFFER, Colorado DONNA MC CHRISTESEN, Virgin Islands JIM GIBBONS, Nevada RON KIND, Wisconsin MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana JAY INSLEE, Washington GREG WALDEN, Oregon GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California DON SHERWOOD, Pennsylvania TOM UDALL, New Mexico ROBIN HAYES, North Carolina MARK UDALL, Colorado MIKE SIMPSON, Idaho JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado RUSH D. HOLT, New Jersey LLOYD A. JONES, Chief of Staff ELIZABETH MEGGINSON, Chief Counsel CHRISTINE KENNEDY, Chief Clerk/Administrator JOHN LAWRENCE, Democratic Staff Director (II) C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held September 16, 1999 .......................................................................... 1 Statement of Members: Hon. Don, Young, a Representative in Congress from the State of Alaska . 1 Miller, Hon. George, a Representative in Congress from the State of California ....................................................................................................... 2 Tauzin, Hon. Billy, a Representative in Congress from the State of Lou- isiana, prepared statement of ...................................................................... 87 Statement of Witnesses: Babauta, Juan N., Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands ......... 20 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 21 Benavente, Diego T., Speaker, Northern Mariana Islands Legislature, Saipan MP ..................................................................................................... 16 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 138 Berry, John, Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC .................................... 84 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 87 Galster, Steven R., Executive Director, Global Survival Network, Wash- ington, DC ..................................................................................................... 160 Gess, Nicholas M., Associate Deputy Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC .......................................................................... 99 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 100 Kinsella, Raymond, Founder and President, Grace Christian Ministries, Saipan, MP .................................................................................................... 167 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 168 Knight, Lynn A., Vice President, Saipan Chamber of Commerce, Saipan, MP .................................................................................................................. 132 Manglona, Paul, President of the Senate, Northern Mariana Islands Leg- islature, Saipan ............................................................................................. 14 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 16 Meyerhoff, Albert H., Partner, Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP, prepared statement of ......................................................................... 66 Tenorio, Pedro T., Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands, Saipan, MP .................................................................................................................. 5 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 6 Sablan, Ronald D., President, Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands, Saipan .............................................................................................. 143 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 145 Shruhan, Donald K., Jr., Executive Director, Domestic Operations West, U.S. Customs Service, U.S. Department of the Treasury, Washington, DC .................................................................................................................. 95 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 97 Nousher Jahedi, Washington, DC ................................................................... 165 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 134 Teitelbaum, Michael S., Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, New York, NY .......... 140 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 151 Wei, Christian, Ph.D., Christian Way Missions, Inc., Chinese for Christ International, Greenville, South Carolina .................................................. 163 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 164 (III) OVERSIGHT HEARING ON THE ENFORCE- MENT OF FEDERAL LAWS AND THE USE OF FEDERAL FUNDS IN THE NORTHERN MAR- IANA ISLANDS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1999 House of Representatives, COMMITTEE ON RESOURCES, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to call, at 11:03 a.m., in Room 1324, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Don Young [chair- man of the Committee] presiding. The CHAIRMAN. The Committee will come to order. First let me thank the members that have braved the elements of nature and weren't frightened by a little bit of rain for attending this I think very important hearing. STATEMENT OF HON. DON YOUNG, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ALASKA The CHAIRMAN. Today's hearing by the Committee on Resources will primarily focus on the enforcement of Federal use and the use of Federal funds in America's newest territory, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. In particular, the Committee will examine the effectiveness of millions of dollars of Interior funding that's been earmarked by the Congress each year by the Clinton Administration to enforce existing Federal laws in the Mariana Is- lands. The Committee will consider labor, customs, and immigrations management efforts by both the Federal and CNMI governments and their effect on economic self-sufficiency in the islands and the extent of the use of Federal capital improvement grants by the CNMI. In 1975, I supported the transition of the Mariana's district of the United States nation's trust territory to become the Common- wealth as a territory of the United States, the first since 1917. I also voted for the 1976 law implementing the Covenant estab- lishing local constitutional self-government for Mariana's, giving them the specific and flexible authority for economic development. Since that time, the Mariana's have seen progress and difficult challenges in the pursuit of self-government and economic self-suf- ficiency. After the determination of the trusteeship and the conferral of U.S. citizenship to the people of the CNMI by President Ronald Reagan in November 1986, the economy developed rapidly and the reliance on Federal funds decreased significantly. The dramatic de- (1) 2 velopment of the economy in the Marianas was due to the flexible provisions of the Covenant, the infusion of Federal funds for the capital improvements, and local Mariana's policy supporting eco- nomic diversification. The growth of the newly emerging tourism and textile industries increased locally generated revenues and pro- vided additional subsidy business and employment, but without the necessary Federal presence to enforce virtually all the same Fed- eral laws that apply in the United States. These growing sectors of the economy also required an increase in alien guest workers. In the early 1990s, the Federal Department of Labor cited a number of garment factories in CNMI with viola- tion of Federal wage and labor laws. In addition, the Occupational and Safety and Health Administration, OSHA, began to cite busi- nesses in the Mariana's, including barracks for housing and alien guest workers. This gave